Journal 5-Miscommunication-Nightmare or Dream?

Our fifth visit to Loyola was unlike any of our other visits. For one, our entire group was there on time. In addition we actually had a structured game plan for what we wanted to accomplish during our hour with the students. Our objective was to pan out the details for our final group project, and obtain the remaining information we needed to complete the project. When it was time for 4th hour to start, my group and I encountered a locked door leading to an empty U.S. History classroom. A few minutes later, Mr. Gonzales showed up and gave us some bad news. Much to our dismay, we exposed a communication error between our group and Mr. Gonzales regarding the high school’s recently altered schedules. As a group we were a little bit frustrated, but at the same time, we took advantage of the opportunity to talk face-to-face with each other, and determined the best solution to satisfy the needs of the group project. This was extremely beneficial, seeing as almost all of us were extremely lost with the task at hand. We also took the time to get to know each other a little bit better.

Journal 4-Teaching What We Just Learned

Our next visit to Loyola Academy would entail my group and I acting as teachers to share what we recently learned within the class this semester. In fact, the students, collectively, completed a project we freshly compiled individual for Film 150. As a group, our task was to explain connotative and denotative analysis when examining images. Afterward, we asked the students to evaluate the “codes” within the images we selected. After moderating a class discussion, and guiding the high school students into the right mode of thinking, we found that their analysis of the images were strikingly similar to the evaluations conducted by ourselves, and our service learning group collectively. It seemed like the students as a group built up their analysis, almost in a sequential snow-balling fashion, facilitated by the commentary of Mr. Gonzales. Each student seemed to expand off of what the previous student would suggest. Although I wouldn’t go as far to say that my overall perception and social constructions built around the images we viewed has changed because of the students, I can say my personal process for investigating the “codes” within an image are a little bit improved. By following the students’ step-by-step approach to decode an image, I can be more cautious and perhaps avoid missing something critical in the image.