MY SOCIAL ACTION PROJECT.

The effectiveness of the social action project

When considering all the components of my social action project. It is imperative to note that unfortunately, I was unable to implement my social action project. Therefore, based on the work that I have prepared and planned to implement the following can be noted about the effectiveness of my social action project. When zooming into creating awareness I believe that I was effective, I made sure to make the awareness component age appropriate to encourage learners’ engagement in the social action project. I created a poster that was to be the first awareness step, this was created to be placed around the school, where learners would read the poster and ask questions. Additionally, selecting the grade threes to be the focus of the social action project allowed for the learners to be involved in creating awareness. The learners were therefore meant to create emotion posters which were to be placed around the foundation phase block. When looking at the next component of educating the school on my initiative, I found this challenging as I was not allowed to go further with implementing my social action project. Therefore, when looking at what I was going to implement the following would have been effective. I had planned for a Grade 3 lesson on the topic of feelings to introduce emotions to the learners. Furthermore, the component of education was to be implemented through daily tasks, discussions, and activities. With regards to uniting I believe that through the mindful tasks and activities that were planned, I believe that across the foundation phase learners would have had a mindful adjustment, and be kinder and more considerate of peers, teachers, and families’ emotions. When zooming into the parent, and community involvement, I believe that this least effective component as I was unable to reach out to the parents and the community. I had planned to send a letter out to the parents creating awareness of the social action project, as well as holding a fundraiser to invite a guest speaker.

The successes and challenges of the project.

When reflecting on the successes and challenges of the social action project the following is noted. I believe that this initiative would have been a great success and a great opportunity for the learners to engage in an age-appropriate project that would contribute to their well-being. I believe that this project was to be a success, as when looking at the resources and knowing the learners I see how they would have loved the tasks and learning about being mindful. When looking at the challenges is noted the lack of support in the implementation of this project. I felt as if this project would have been an opportunity for the school to have a shift in viewing the well-being and emotional regulation of learners. Unfortunately, all tasks I had planned were to be viewed by my mentor teacher who guided me through the social action project. Therefore, the biggest challenge was not sharing the project, and the passion I had developed for the initiative.

How has service learning changed me?

According to Mokitimi, Jonas, Schneider, and de Vries, 2019: 2 “50–80% of all adult mental health disorders emerge before the age of 18”. With this statistic and the passion which I uphold for children, I believe that it is a responsibility to create an awareness of mental health disorders in children. As a pre-service teacher who has had the pleasure of four years of teaching experience and observing the development of children from grade R-3, as well as an individual that has suffered from anxiety and PTSD from childhood to my adult years. I believe that it is imperative to create an awareness of the silent effects that mental health disorders place on the foundation phase of learners before they reach adulthood. Through researching the best ways to implement this social action project I was able to find out that I do have a passion for this topic, and initiative. I believe that this social action project has served as a tool for me to navigate my own emotions and even make use of the tools that I had created for the learners.

How has service learning developed me professionally, and what skills and new knowledge have I gained?

I believe that from a professional standpoint, I have gained a new perspective on the mental well-being of learners. Through researching this topic, I have been made aware of new methods and approaches I believe I will implement in my classroom. I am now aware of new classroom management tools, teaching methods and strategies which have intertwined relationships with professionality and the well-being of the learners in the classroom. I have noted that the classroom serves as more than a safe space for learners to gain knowledge but also an imperative place where social and emotional development is harnessed.

Description of the benefit of this initiative at the school and its sustainability.

Overall, the benefit that this initiative would of has lies in the overall school environment that would have had a shift. I think when creating an awareness of this topic all individuals involved have a shift in perspective, it can be so easy to get caught up in the busy life of being an educator, where you tend to forget about mental health and the silent battles that everyone faces. Therefore, this project would have allowed a moment of reflection on the important factors of being mindful, learning how to regulate emotions and being aware of emotions. In terms of the sustainability of the project, my goal was to implement a calm area in the classrooms where learners were able to complete a range of activities that would aid in their emotional outbursts, doing so would allow a positive relationship with their mental wealth to be developed.