Week seven 26/5/20

26/5/20

Challenges in managing and organising CCAs

The term “co-curricular activities” means that the activities must at least be able to co-exist with the main academics such as the topics, lessons taught in normal school hours. This is to ensure that the students know and understand the purpose of learning these subjects in school.

School
When selecting CCAs, the school must ensure that they are aligned to their curriculum design. When that is achieved, the school also has to consider whether they have adequate resources such as funds or even the qualifications of the teachers who will be acting as advisors in the CCAs. Not only that, they also have to ensure whether there are enough staff or teachers to man the CCAs. This often times happen in public schools where they rely on the funds set by the school or the parents to ensure the quality and the quantity of the facilities of equipment of the CCAs.

Ways to overcome:
Determine whether the CCAs are achievable by student standards, such as if the CCAs will cause more workload to the students’ schedule. The school can also shut down CCAs that are not active. Professionals and alumni can also contribute to the quality of the CCAs.



Teachers
Due to the workload, the teachers also face difficulties in time management as they not only have to create lesson plans, mark student homework, but also to manage CCAs. This will cause the quality drop in the CCAs and will affect student morale. Another major factor that contributes to this challenge is that some teachers may not have the necessary skills and experience to manage the CCAs.

Ways to overcome:
Teachers can plan the schedule of both CCAs and their timetables to ensure the activities go smoothly. Discuss the budget the with school. Teachers can also seek help or receive training for the necessary skills to contribute to the morale of the CCAs.



Students
Students may experience stresses from school work and CCAs, this will cause them to not only unable to properly manage their time, but it will also demotivate their interest in school. Another reason is due to that they don’t feel like they’re a part of the school, there are cases where they don’t get the chance to choose their favourite CCAs.

Ways to overcome:
The activities should be accommodated to their timetable so that they don’t feel overwhelmed. The school should also ensure that the students are given the choice to pick CCAs they are interested in. And finally, in order to boost the quality of the CCAs, the school should also encourage a balance between both aspects so that they students will value the implementation of both CCAs and academics.



Parents
There are times where parents have little regard over their children’s progress and performance in school due to their dedication to work, and sometimes, their ideology of prioritising academics which also result in their children to lose their motivation and interest in school and even in CCAs. Other factors include financial difficulty when contributing to the funds of the CCAs, lack of good relationship, trust and even commitment from the side of the school.

Ways to overcome:
The primary suggestion to ensure the parents are educated and informed about the purpose and importance of CCAs. Not only that, it is suggested that transparency and communication are needed in order to improve the quality of the CCAs and even the school. This will not only allow the parents to see the value of the efforts of the school but also motivates the students in participating in academics and CCAs.

2/6/20

We were tasked to pick 2 categories of CCAs and to design activities that must match with the curriculum.

Beverly
Transportation research club and film makers club

Transportation research club

Source: Steam Engine Evolution

It is a cultural club where the students will build train models from the course of history, they will learn and discover how trains have changed and evolved, such as how steam engines changed to bullet trains.

Film makers club
Both a club and society, students will make use of their ICT skills and create a film in a topic they are interested in. They will take the opportunity to use different types of film-editing software ranging from Adobe, Final Cut, iMovie etc.




Xin Tian
Kendo
A combination of uniformed/ sports based club with a touch of history and art. Students are given a chance to design based on the history of kendo and the uniforms such as the materials and designs available during each era. Once they have designed their uniforms, they are to test the practicality and sturdiness of the uniform.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Irdina
Performing arts and cultural club

Source: WebStockReview

Performing arts
Students are given the opportunity to showcase whatever talents they have on stage to convey a message. They can express their knowledge about art, physical education, literature, language, history and even global education.

Cultural club
Students will organise a cultural conference to educate people about the various cultures of the world. They can use multiple skills such as organisation, speaking, communication and even creative arts with a touch of history and some moral values from the themes of different culture and history.



Ainsley
Tabletop and computer club



Tabletop club
Students will make use of their scientific knowledge to stop the spread of the pandemic around the world in a tabletop game called Pandemic which is related to the current issue.

Computer club
Influenced by the current pandemic, students are to design an interactive website that gives prompts for users to do everyday. Students will have to use their English to provide to write out as much prompts or ideas as possible for the website.



Tong
Basketball and performing arts club

Source: The Badger Herald

Basketball club
This sports club involves mathematics when carrying out this activity. Students will record themselves on how many balls can they throw in the loop, how fast can they dribble the ball in 5 seconds and calculate the average.

Performing arts club
Each student is to say out a word that fits a story given by the teacher, but they must ensure that the story makes sense.





Link to presentation slides here.

Week five 12/5/20

12/5/20

Also a continuation of week 3-4's task

Performing Arts

Source: DLPNG

There are 3 categories, namely:

1. Music- Choir, Jazz, Marching band, Glee, junior voices etc
2. Dance- Traditional dance, ballet, cheerleading etc
3. Drama- Theatre, storytelling, Improv etc

Aims of Performing Arts:

1. Develop musical proficiency
2. Encourage and develop creative expression
3. Improve various skills
4. Develop understanding and appreciation on historical and cultural context
5. Improve intra and interpersonal communication
6. Improves one as a human being

The benefits of this CCA includes:

1. It allows us to appreciate culture and the beauty of arts throughout the generations
2. Boosts our confidence as we gain proficiency in performance
3. Improves our intra and interpersonal communication skills 
4. Allows us to be adaptable towards different situations
5. It allows us to become cooperative as performances require good timing and chemistry in order for the performance to go very well

Performing arts, though can be popular or unpopular depending on the culture and values of the school. The 3 major challenges this CCA faces are the culture of the school, as mentioned before, the implementation of this particular performing art project could be based on the demographics of the school, at the same time, there is also a possibility that the students are not interested in the culture and arts of their heritage, another possibility is due to the fact that they prioritise other types of CCAs besides performing arts as they sometimes, may not be good at performing or creative arts are not something they are interested in. And finally these 2 factors may also contribute to the funding of this CCAs, should there be a demand, the supply will appear. It could also mean that the school lacks enough funding for it despite the popularity of the CCA.

Clubs and Societies 

Source: Lancaster University

Definition of clubs
An association of people united by a common interest or goal.

Definition of societies
A group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large
social group sharing the same spatial or social territory.


The aims of these 2 CCAs are to:

1. Develop a sense of belonging to the school/club
2. Develop responsibilities as an individual
3. Develop people skills
4. Develop personal/professional interests
5. Acknowledge one’s talents and abilities

How clubs and societies are organised

1. When the establishing a CCA, the school must ensure that they have aims and values present in order to choose for the suitable CCAs.
2. The school will search for CCAs are are suitable for their school aims and values.
3. They will set out to look for qualified professionals from both the school and external sources to establish the CCAs.
4. Once the school and professionals have established a particular timing, a timetable will be given out, where the students and parents are notified about the availability of the CCAs in the school.
5. Once the students are enrolled into the CCAs, the professionals will start developing and cultivating their talents and interests.
6. The students will be given the opportunity to make use or showcase their skills in competition, their achievements will be acknowledged.

19/5/20

There was no class, but we were tasked to watch a videos about the importance of creative arts in CCAs and schools.

Creative arts in primary schools

Even though it is a no brainer, but learning arts as a child does change a child’s perspective as it develops their cognitive capacity.

Source: Anaheim Elementary School District

A lot of schools especially primary schools don’t usually incorporate art into education but rather to treat it as a separate entity in the children’s learning experience. The benefits of incorporating arts into education include allowing students to be able to link ideas from one to another which it enables the students to have a broader and wider perspective in seeing things. It also develops their creativity which also causes them to become critical thinkers.

Students or individuals who are well versed in creative arts are more likely to be able to think outside of the box and are much better at creating linkages between 2 separate ideas into 1. This is due to the fact that critical thinking from their creativity has enabled them to see things through a different perspective rather than those who are used to a single view point. This also makes these individuals flexible and adaptable.


Here are the points from the videos regarding the importance and benefits of creative arts:

• The digital age demands that creative arts should be included in the co-curriculum
• It requires us to be creative and have visual literacy
• Individuals need to be able to express well
• Need to know different ways in disseminating information
• There is a Demond for us to interpret the information correctly
• To function in creative and innovative way
• To negotiate meaning
• Observation is one of the important skills in creative skills
• It results in visual interpretations
• Cognitive and motor skills develop when they observe and mimic
• Executive function: cognitive skills
• When doing something hands on in creative arts, you engage in many ways
• Allows diverse ideas in our brain
• Creativity allows children to strengthen gross and fine motor skills allowing for good eye-hand coordination and it allows them to explore especially through play and social interactions
• A good outlet to express emotions and self
• Self-expression through art helps individuals manage their emotions
• Satisfaction is obtained from self-expression and increases self-esteem/ self-identity
• Helps develop new views, identities, feelings, beliefs and thoughts
• Develops respect and understanding and respect for diversity
• It encourages imagination and expands on children's creative potential
• New ideas are borne from imagination
• Creative arts strengthen the creative thinking skills
• Individuals become better communicators and collaborators and have the ability to respect others
• Life is full of ambiguity and people can be overwhelmed by them if they don't engage in creative arts
• It helps individuals cope with different ideas and stresses

Importance of creative arts

• Allow children to explore their creative potential
• It fades as we grow older so it should be nurture from a young age
• Despite the importance and features of incorporating creative arts in schools, it is not prioritised by education and society as they are viewed as skills that are not immediate and income-driven.