Since the end of March 2020 when the impact of Covid-19 Pandemic changed the way we were working with young people, I have used the given space created by the pandemic and acknowledged the ability to be aware. I have observed myself transcend deeper into a learning journey that covers all aspects of my chosen career path. With this awareness, it has enabled me to better my professional knowledge in order to take action and find solutions to keep learning alive, fun and achievable even through dark times.
In this blog, I want to share an example of work achieved that will hopefully bring an understanding to what has been mentioned above. The young person I was working with had begun exploring needle felting. I wanted to give an opportunity for the student to go further with the material and together we explored wet felting techniques with needle felting. While we were exploring these techniques and through our conversations we came up with the idea that we make a doll each.
In between our sessions, I prepared my doll. This enabled me to explain my experience and what I had learned. During our sessions, we continued to work together and sometimes it would be in pure silence. Concentration was important due to working with needles. Moreover, in silence, we also learn.
Our dolls developed individual characters and hence we communicated this experience and decided to name our dolls, which was very fitting to our situation. We laughed; talked; shared ideas; learned together and most importantly had fun. The young person was able to see for herself her achievement , self-discovery, reflection on her work, the responsibility of improvements in learning and change. Most importantly accept and have pride in what she had accomplished. Her smile was my reward.
I have also shared this work on our FB page entitled: Two Schools/Two Cultures Dos Escuelas/Dos Culturas. The page celebrates students working beyond the classroom. The objective is to share learning experiences and cultural ideas between two schools. The two schools are Catch22 Include Oxford and Centro de Education de Personas Adultas (CEPA) Fernando Marrero Pulido-Arucas y Firgas. Located de las Islas Canarias y Espana.
