My Reflections for bits of phase one

Many references come from the video

It is interesting that Evan was able to see the need to connect to the community in one of the first days of discussing this project, yet the class as a whole had difficulty in seeing past their own needs and wants. It was to take another three days of class discussions before they came to their own understanding.

With the input from family members the night before the ideas just multiplied. Yet surprisingly many continued to bring up the ideas they had presented initially only with much more enhanced versions. Dustin kept building on his initial idea of a wading pond, and the waterpark kept becoming more and more elaborate. Taking on a civic project like this is not an easy undertaking. There is much give and take; questioning whether your interruption is the best idea at a given point in time. Their conversations and discussions took many crazy turns, but somehow, one way or another, things would come around and work out just fine. In this case Jayme finally interrupts the third day of waterpark and skateboard park ideas to say, “Wait a minute, how are we ever going to make a decision when everyone wants this or that, or this or that! How can we make a decision without disappointing someone!”

Then there is Brittany not listening or accepting the fact that this idea of the waterpark had finally found its final resting point. But as I look back I wonder, I realize that the conversation we just naturally found an ending point or ‘It’ found us. They were learning conversational techniques, queing off of each other to make a entrance into the conversation. Brittany honoring Erin, “I don’t mean to be mean Erin, but . . . “

Often time constraints of the school day brought us to a premature end. I wish now I had worked to help them see that some of the ideas that were raised in those initial meetings actually came to be a part of the final product. It would have helped to bring together connections or revise ideas that were brought up in the initial discussions.