Service Trip Reflection

I had never had much responsibly thrown my way, I was typically the one in group projects who took the back seat, who just did what others told me to do, But at the beginning of my junior year my whole school was about to embark on a service trip, I was going to treat it like I had the year before, let my fellow students take the lead and I’ll just help out. I ended up taking the lead of my group and for the first time learning about what it means to be a leader. Before the trip there was a lot of preparation, we where going to visit and teach at a school 2 hours away in Shanghai. Our large group split into 4 teams, I was in Art group. Our goal was to help the kids learn English through art. Our group did not have a leader in the beginning, but there was a lot we needed to do before we went on our trip, such as plan our lessons and get the art supplies we needed. My whole group was a bit confused none of us really knew how to plan a lesson. Finally I decided to write up a lesson plan, we were going to be teaching the kids how to make paper machine maracas. I came up with a list of all the materials and a list of English words that we would teach the students. As the head of the group I designated the positions in our group before we left, one person was to translate if any kids had trouble understanding, others would hand out materials, and I would teach. When we finally arrive to the middle school on an overcast day the kids seemed a bit scared but also excited to see us, I was also a bit scared. I wanted my hard work and planning to all work out, and I also wanted to walk away knowing I taught …show more content…
I no longer shake and stutter when I am giving a presentation in class, I speak with confidence. In groups I want to take a leadership role rather then step back, and I like sharing my ideas. Stepping up and taking that role helped me learn skills that will stick with