Project Reflections
| Date | Place | Reflections |
| 1-18-06 | Longhouse | I had a chance to meet with the group of people, including faculty and students, who are heading up planning for the Lunar New Year. I'm really excited to be a part of such a big project and am looking forward to seeing how it all turns out. |
| 1-23-06 | Lunar New Year Route | Victoria and I drove around through Olympia, Lacey, and Tumwater delivering posters to businesses to get the word out about the Lunar New Year. With my children in the back seat we took turns running in and posting. We neglected to ask for sponsorship and donations, however I will attempt to get money in the near near future. |
| 1-24-06 | Classroom Observations | Brentwood Preschool--It is so good to be back in school. The kids are so much fun--I really missed them. I am thankful for this opportunity to be forced to hang out with 3-5 year olds, however by the end of three hours I was completely waisted. |
| 1-25-06 | Creating Agenda | Hirsh asked me to create an agenda for our LNY meeting. I appreciate his recognition. I can see this planning group needs to be structured as there is so much to be done. |
| 1-25-06 | LNY Meeting | Its true that when we get excited about our event, others will get excited too. Mukti especially and others in our planning group are an inspiration for me to get out and spread the word of our exciting event. |
| 1-25-06 | LNY debrief | We spread the word about the work needed to be done to our program cohorts. People who I thought would be more involved in this project don't seem to be too interested in doing the dirty work of advertising. Thats okay though because I am then left with a challenge, causing me to leave my comfort zone and make things happen. I was put to the test of getting our event on television. This will be fun. I didn't think I'd be taking such an important role in this program, but here I am.... |
| 1-26-05 | Contacting Komo 4 | I heard back from Nick regarding our public service announcement for the LNY. He made it clear that in order to get our event out to the public we need to have at least 15 people come up to the show and be a part of the audience and submit a script by Sunday. I thought this would not be a problem right??? |
| 1-29-05 | Creating Script | Wrong!!! I couldn't get anyone to reply to me emails. Were they not interested or not getting their emails? I assumed that people, if in fact they heard about the opportunity, would be jumping at the chance to get program hours to either write the script and/or drive up to Seattle and if nothing else, be on T.V.!!! Oh well, Once again, I planted the seed and therefore I must take care of it and help it grow. The script was written and Hirsh polished it for me. (Thank you for not making me say "Chungliang Al Huang" on public television!!!!) The next task is to get 15 people to carpool up to Seattle to make this thing happen. |
| 1-31-06 | Trip to Seattle for commercial | Only 7 people showed up at the bus loop at noon to drive up to Seattle. I am so grateful for their efforts!!! But we still needed 6 more! (Because Stephanie and her husband were planning on meeting us there) Luckily I checked my phone messages hoping for a miracle, and Genevieve left a message saying, "If you really need more people, I would be willing to come along." What an angel!!! So TEN bodies were headed up to Seattle and I still didn't know if they would accept us on their show without the minimun of 15. I was very stressed out because I not only wanted to get our LNY concert info out to the public, but I didn't want to let down all of the people who were making a gallant effort to drive North I-5 on a Tuesday afternoon. Thank you especially to Crystal, Melanie, and Stephanie who all drove through the pooring rain and aweful traffic on the way home. |
| 1-31-06 | Script | I will post the television script here when I find it. |
| 2-3-06 | Tai Ji experience | Chungliang al Huang No right and no wrong an ancient child hunting and gathering chi Offering fire to those above me Juggling, no Ingredients put into the mix put my heart back into love A renewal Opening my arms to the world......WOW!!!!! A perfect circle freeing my mind, freeing my body, freeing my spirit. Dance and drop the dime Dance and open your heart Dance and move freely Stirring up the chi Because today is a special day of renewal Today is my birth-day. |
| 2-4-06 | LNY Concert | What a fantastic experience!!! I have to say that I had no expectations for this event and it was absolutely phenomenal! I was very moved by the lion dance. The drum beat through my heart and the colors and movements were so fun and entertaining to see. The other performers including the dancers, instrument players, and singers were great! It was so inspiring. I felt honored to be a part of such a fun project and very proud of our collective efforts to make it work smoothly. My only regrets were that I was on the side of the stage and could not experience the whole show from the audience perspective, however I was very moved by the whole thing. Hirsh was talking about the new year bringing a sense of renewal to oneself. I didn't grasp the meaning of his words until driving home after the clean up of the concert. I felt so great and refreshed, knowing that this great event, with so much energy, thought, and spirit invested, possibly changed people on the inside. A celebration of renewal and change and beginnings...so delightful. I felt so good, not only because it everything went smoothly, but becuase I felt it was over and it was time to move on. I took many cleansing deep breaths and I remembered renewal. I felt renewed. |
| 2-15-06 | Post production meeting | It was a great event, well worth reflecting on. I really enjoying meeting the people in the group, all inspiring in different aspects. It is sad that it is over but it was so much fun. Heather was right when she compared our planning to the motion of a Tsunami. I am glad that she is going to invest time into helping the next years group prepare for the celebration. Perhaps I will include myself again, I will have to wait and see. |
| 2-23-06 | Classroom Observations | The kids are so much fun! I always look forward to experiencing their preschool enjoyment. This group of children is really beginning to intermix. Little groups are expanding and mixing and the younger are playing with the older. I have noticed their growth in the last 6 months, and I find myself in awe and excitement to be able to see it. |
| 2-27-06 | Project preparation | This quarter I wanted to bring the element of cooking (preparation) to the kids. I decided to have them create "decorative and scented wall-plaques" that we will just call ornaments. Please see curriculum for further info. |
| 2-28-06 | Project intro | Today the kids learned how to knead dough. They all seemed very enthusiastic, in fact they could hardly wait until it was their turn to get their hands in the dough. A success. |
| 3-2-06 | Project final | After the kids cut out their ornaments on Tueday I took them home and carefully sorted them as not to lose who's is who's and baked them until they were set. Everyone's turned out perfect. In school they were excited to paint and see their finished product. I was so pleased at how their art project turned out, and Teacher Irene reminded me that it is the "process, not the product" that really counts with this age level. I feel that through this project they learned a cooking skill, what is involved in baking certain foods (i.e. bread), and enhanced their fine and large motor skills through kneading and painting. And it was fun too! I've learned more and more each day that I attend preschool. Everything from temperments, patients, problem solving skills, patience, attention span, to following directions, independence, easy thrills, smiles and so many more fullfilling attributes that children possess. I find myself analyzing my own day to day activities and relating them to the preschool-aged processess. It is always a little upsetting for this experience to come to an end, however, I am looking forward to next quarter. And I will begin my part-time job working at Brentwood preschool in the fall. There is so much to learn through these kids, it's such a fullfilling experience. I always leave with a smile. |
