Wednesday, June 30, 2010

- sarpino's le individual :D -

Hi Readers,

It’s been a long time since I’ve made a blog post on this RE blog and it kind of died during the holidays because I was really busy with shooting camp and other whatnots. Anyway, I’m stuck with boarding now with no internet whatsoever so this post actually originated from a word document, which may explain the more formalized typing.

Before the holidays I think I mentioned something about planning a camp for the GOS Choir Members? We spent some time during the June Holidays planning it too and after that we executed the plan which was good on many accounts, as this blog post will seek to recount.

I hope our team blog has already been updated. If I’m not wrong I made the post there which was why I totally forgot about my personal blog because I sort of remembered that I blogged for this before.

After some planning and a little bit of miscommunication and a little confusion amidst our group members, we finally got a proposal submitted to Ms Phoon and Ms Kwan who were really receptive to our ideas for the camp. We fined-tuned the activities together, and on the 16th of June 2010, all our efforts in planning had to be converted into execution.

For finer details of the day’s proceedings please refer to our team blog, more information is there and the blog post is also by me.

So, what have I learnt when I went for the camp? A few things and here goes nothing:

Communication (or lack thereof);
Vital in almost every aspect of any project and our RES-L project was never excluded from the common characteristic. When the first plan for the camp came out, which was churned out by the admin-based group members, myself and Benedict, Wenye had a little problems with the plan because it wasn’t what he wanted exactly. Initially, Wenye had wanted us to allocate time for National Day songs, but the plan was focused on teaching the students the elementary skill of the Canon. There was a little conflict here and there but after using our ultimate goal of a National Day performance, we went along with the Canon, since the National Day performance consists of a medley that requires, most fundamentally, the skill of Canon.

The lack of communication had somewhat pushed the team apart but even so, after the camp was carried out, we were, of course, patched back together. Yet, we must still learn from this as an important lesson because communication is always the big problem no matter what project anyone undergoes. This is a never-ending lesson that constantly needs improvement, especially in our technologically-reliant age.

Clear and detailed planning is important;
In planning for the camp, our proposal had been very detailed and every minute was actually accounted for. In doing this, the execution on the day was very smooth because there was enough buffer time and adequate time allocated for each activity. It occurs to me that the camp was well planned and in fact well executed, and this actually highlighted the importance of planning detailed-ly, since the execution of the camp was followed extremely closely to the detailed plan in the proposal. Thankfully, thanks to this, we managed to pull off a great camp.

Better choir lessons;
The first part of the camp was dedicated to Ms Chan, who is a hired conductor for the morning choir, but on camp day she was down to coach those who were supposed to be at Opening Ceremony. We went there at 10am, which was the start of her session, and wanting to improve our lessons further, we had to observe her lessons. It occurred to me how well thought out her lessons were. There were barely any breaks and things moved really fast-paced. Not saying that the fast-pace was bad, in fact, it was really effective because the choir members were kept alert and moving and it helped along in keeping their attention level up. Also, in the short time when she was here, she has seemed to have picked out the strengths and weaknesses of each student in the classroom, and she could cater her lessons to all of them. To me, this is really respectable. She also does things in such a way that there is individual assessment, which means that time is used up to “test” (but really, in fact, it is a short one-to-one coaching” the students, but then again, I noticed that this was really effective. She had her way of convincing the students to break out of their shells because they weren’t really shy at all, frankly. After observing her lessons, I guess it’s time to change what our own choir lessons are like, and try to make things better for the students.

The meaning of being happy;
Throughout the camp we spent quite a fair bit of time interacting with the students, and they have really thought me the meaning of being happy. Although it may sound childish, but these choir members, despite themselves, are able to stay cheerful no matter what. I’m glad that our team had brought some of their smiles, but most of the time, it was their smiles that brought smiles to our own faces. They seem contented at the smallest things, they are ever-cheerful and it’s always a good experience to be with them. Being happy doesn’t need to involve money or tangible object, it can always simply involve the people that are around you and the experiences we gain with every special day.

More friendship;
With this camp, we have also forged bonds with the morning session choir as the camp was a session for both the morning and afternoon session choir. There are more personalities to deal with, but all the same, they are all friendly and always smiling. Throughout the camp, they were making my day an awesome one. I noticed that the morning session choir consisted of more mature students that seemed to be around our age, and these people were those I could really relate more with. I think it’s time for me to try and hang out more with the afternoon session (younger) choir members for they are the ones I interact most with.

The meaning of friendship and care;
As I have mentioned before, the morning session choir consisted of more mature students that were more responsive and attentive. However, what struck me about these students is the care and concern that they actually showed to the younger counterparts. They are actually my role model. Time and time again I have problems communicating with the choir, but when I see the seniors actually being there for the juniors, it actually made me realize how much these students actually care for each other. They may be less fortunate than we are, but they are those kind of friends that you can actually put trust in and believe in.

Leadership;
From time to time during the camp it was necessary to take up a leadership role when things started straying away. We all had our ways and means of doing it, but perhaps during this camp we were exposed to a different form of leadership because the camp was completely (or almost) under our care, and we were responsible for every activity during the camp. Unknowingly, this experience had actually inculcated a sense of leadership into our hearts and minds, and perhaps it is an experience difficult to forget.
Success;
When we finished the camp, we received a resounding “yes” to the question “did you enjoy yourselves?” during the debrief. At this point of time, the satisfaction and happiness inside me was indescribable. At the very least, even at the expanse of our mental and physical energy, we had given the students an enjoyable time in bonding, learning and playing. I’m very glad to say that we’ve pulled of the camp very well and I’m very proud of myself and the team for doing such a good job in this event.

It’s lights out already and I’m more or less done with this post. I think after doing this post it finally occurred to me how significant the camp was. I’m reminded that my visitor tag is still with me since the camp (we left in a great hurry because they were closing the school for the day), so I’ll have to return it this Friday.

Looking forward to meeting the choristers once again this Friday and I hope, as always, we can bring joy to them as much as they have brought joy to us.

Till then,
Benjamin

Benjamin took a walk down memory lane at 1:38 PM

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