Final Reflection

My capstone project was aimed towards finding ways to help students with special needs to be less affected from the pandemic. Although we have faced many hardships because of COVID-19, special education students have suffered a lot. I found ways to teach them with the use of virtual readings, worksheets on matching, patterns and animals as well as finding and creating resources for the classroom to run smoothly for the staff and students. I wanted to be able to provide as much aid as possible because seeing how both staff and students feel overwhelmed with being online and in-person I wanted to make it a bit easier for them. Being in a different state away from the school I was volunteering with, online was the best way of communicating with my mentor, but fortunately I was able to visit the classroom one day to better understand my role. I found by observing and working with students along with listening to conversations within the classroom I had a better understanding of my involvement. I was able to give an outside perspective to the teacher to give her ideas and options with being able to accommodate students and staff. Due to my visitation, I found more ways I could help the classroom with finding a middle ground for everyone to work together in harmony. Although I mainly aided with online activities, being in the classroom I made sure for students to feel comfortable with me, especially with it being difficult for them to know me better. 

Senior year was something that every senior prior to me claims to “be a breeze” but personally for me and being a student during the pandemic, everything for senior year was difficult. I had to find different, unconventional ways to learn and do things. For capstone, I personally wanted to be ahead of the game with knowing and starting my project. At first I wanted to work with the elderly and spend time reading with them, but as easy as that sounded it was extremely difficult to achieve because of the strict lockdown and rise in COVID cases, it was impossible. Due to me finding it difficult to work with older people, I decided to shift my focus to younger people. Based on researching and thinking I felt as if working with younger students would be easier. I originally wanted to work with my old elementary school and work with the pre-k or kindergarten classrooms, but volunteering in person would again be difficult, so although I wanted to work one on one with students I felt as if I needed a different approach, which was to ultimately work with special education. Working with special education allowed me to virtually be present without feeling like I wasn't doing much. Also the location of the school I worked with couldn't allow me to physically be there as the school was located in Hawaii. Personally my connection to my project spanned from finding research that students with special needs have been going through more hardships since the start of the pandemic, so I wanted to challenge myself by working in a special educational classroom. After all my ideas, this was the most fitting for me to work with and contribute to.

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For me I found using technology difficult with understanding how to upload and work with different mechanics involving tech, so with this pandemic and only being able to communicate virtually I had to find and learn different ways to do certain things. For one of my contributions was virtual reading which I conducted. I found this very difficult from many aspects as I am not a very loud speaker and I don't like to be the center of attention, but with these readings I found a way to overcome these challenges by being able to work on those things. I found it difficult and nerve wracking sometimes, but practicing before  recording allowed me to eventually read at a pace I felt as if the students would be able to follow along with. After overcoming my camera shyness, figuring out how to upload these recordings was difficult as I never had any prior experience with uploading a video or recording before. I found after experimenting with different and being able to communicate with my mentor I was able to figure out a way to upload them for her use.  With the difficulties of the videos, once I learned that some students were watching and listening to them I was very happy, and when I visited the classroom I was able to read in person with one of the students who watched my videos which we were both very excited about.

Overall from this experience I feel as if I would like to continue this, although I felt I really haven't done much because I am not physically with the students in the classroom, I am reassured by my mentor that my efforts are helping a lot in her classroom. Capstone and this project have made me feel as if I am able to overcome any difficulties that are an obstacle for me, especially with being virtual and the pandemic,nothing is impossible once you think outside the box. Starting off online and creating videos and worksheets to eventually visit and work in the classroom made me feel like I was making a difference with the students who knew me through a screen now in person. Also getting to meet these students who I have been working with during the school year allowed me to better understand what I can do for each individual student and for the whole class. I feel as if I had accomplished finding ways to be useful and I won't ever forget my service, but instead continue to find ways to help many other individuals.