Reflecting on My Capstone Project for a Service Learning Organization

Capstone Project Paper

My final Capstone assignment is a stand-alone project, Which I created for my service learning organization using the skills and knowledge from my course background and life experience. My skills, course background and life experience that I used values education and language. I studied two years of a foreign language and took numerous education classes as I was an Education major prior to switching to my major to MDS. I love reading and took children’s literature, young adult independent study, and world literature.

Therefore language is important to me along with education. I had to obtain an organization that had the same values as I did about Education. My service learning organization was the English Language Center (ELC) in Boise.

English Language Center mission statement is, To develop the skills necessary for social interdependence and lifelong learning through English language training, within an emotionally, spiritually, and physically safe environment, for refugees and other language learners (ELC Main).

I established that I wanted to find an organization that values education and language. Shortly after reading their mission statement I felt I found a great organization to serve. The project I created as my stand-alone project for the English Language Center was to help the students and teachers. I had 15 hours to serve them and in doing, so I wanted to know how I could help. I reached out by email to get more information. That is where I met Sharon Seid she is an English Instructor at the English Language Center and I decided I wanted to be involved in her nightly advance class.

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Sharon and I soon talked in person I learned that she along with other instructors are having issues with technology. I learned that she wanted to use Quizlet but it looked difficult, and she didn’t have the time. I told her I could help I had little experience with Quizlet but heard great things. During her evening class, I assisted Sharon and the students as I wanted to service in an educational setting. I did this by supporting and engaging the students in small groups and one on one.

I also help the students practice their English speaking skills using conversation. Any freetime when I was outside of the classroom, I was creating and improving learning materials for students and instructors by using communication and technology… Quizlet. I had to make sure I knew the ends and outs of Quizlet. I had to do research to make it clear and an easy tool for all. If you haven’t heard of Quizlet you are probably wondering, What is Quizlet? Quizlet is a website that allows users to learn vocabulary by means of flashcard sets using a variety of game- like learning tools (p 2). This is a great tool for the ELC as Sharon’s students know English, but their vocabulary is limited. Words or sayings we use may not be in their vocabulary that is why in the classes at the ELC the instructors help the students with life skills and their communication. It amazes me how the students are so well spoken. I took two years of a language, and I could barely speak, read, and write, but some of the students at ELC have been here in less time and speak, read, and write quite well. I wanted to find out more about this learning tool and hoped to provide this opportunity to have them use it.

As it was observed, the merits of Quizlet are concerned with the provision of enjoyable learning, generating learner autonomy, persistence, focus, and attention, as well as engagement (p 10). In the classroom, we had two tables and a sitting area and even a spot for children to play. It was nice, but it could be distracting for the students as the play area was right next to the main table. Some children would come and play when the students worked at the table. Quizlet provides learning in a way that is engaging and fun for students. It is a learning tool on the computer, but also an app. Creating free accounts on Quizlet is quick and easy! (Help Center). When you sign up you can as a student or teacher. After you have an account, you can create a set or find a set that is already created. As I helped the students in Sharon’s class I learned how I can contribute to communication by helping the language learners improve their communication as well. The students learn about money, health, and much more. It is hard to continue teaching one topic in such short time intensely. Quizlet offers five study modes and two games that help students review whatever they’re looking to learn (Help Center).

To use these study modes could help them with their vocabulary. During an evening class, Sharon was talking about health and how it relates to different body parts. She had an image of a human body and arrows pointed to certain parts to see if the students knew them. It made me think about Quizlet and if they had something to help with that situation. I looked it up in my research, and they do. The option to review their Quizlet flashcards in the context of a larger diagram is a nice improvement (2017). Sharon could share the diagram with her students, and they could each practice the terms before, during, and after class. The new feature could prove handy for students of subjects heavy on visuals like geography, anatomy and architecture (Kolodny 2017). I can see the positive support Quizlet could provide for both the instructors and students. Students could take learning at their own pace and have fun doing so. Engage your students in and out of the classroom, with interactive study material, learning activities and games (For Teachers). Quizlet has five study modes; Learn, Flashcards, Write, Spell, and Test. What are these study modes?

Learn mode takes the guesswork out of studying by creating a personalized study plan based on your familiarity with a study set so you can master everything you need to know (Study Modes). It makes sure you really know what you are studying. The more you get right the harder it gets until you master it. You can use Flashcards mode to review terms and definitions or questions and answers on the Quizlet website and mobile apps, just as you would regular paper flashcards (Study Modes). It is the basic flashcard tool, but very helpful. I like this study mode the best. Write keeps track of how well you know your terms and definitions and what you miss so you can focus on that content later in a study session (Study Modes). This is where you could type the terms and definition. Spell reads a term or definition aloud using Quizlet’s text to speech (TTS) audio and prompts you to type what you hear (Study Modes). You also type but you get to hear the term or definition. Which could help on understanding sounds and words better.

Test mode provides an opportunity to see how you might perform on a test you take in class (Study Modes). This one is what you could see if you actually take a test and it could be helpful for instructors as the could print these as review of the terms. As I mentioned before Quizlet is also available as an app. Today, Quizlet dominates the U.S. study app market (Kolodny 2017). It is very popular and is being used by many students and teachers. The online education platform had 36.1 million average monthly U.S. visits, engaging users for an average of 9 ? minutes per session, visiting an average of 6.8 pages (Meller 2016). That is a lot of people using this tool. I learned a lot about Quizlet. I learned a lot about ELC. I saw how Sharon teaches and how the students are amazing people wanting to learn. The project I created was a PowerPoint that had the basics of Quizlet.

How to make an account, How to make changes to your account, How to create a folder, How to create a class, How to share, Where to find already made study sets, How to create them, and What the study modes look like. At the end of my 15 hours of service, I presented some of my researched and answered all those questions and helped Sharon with any other questions she had or might have had after the presentation. I also helped her with an account for her class and she was so pleased she ended upgrading her Quizlet account. I had three learning goals; 1. By Spring 2018, I will be able to guide students through learning challenges through the completion of ED- LLC 300 Foundations of Linguistics and Con 301 Guidance and Counseling which will help me as I learn how to support others by developing my People Skills. 2. Through the completion of Dispute 400 basic mediation and Dispute 390 conflict management by Fall 2018 to better handle difficult situations by problem solving in my educational profession and my personal life.

Through the completion of dispute 401 negotiation in summer 2018 I will develop my listening and speaking skills which will help me as I learn to both understand and support others by managing my Boundaries. In my project, I guided students through learning challenges, with the help of Sharon problem solved, and developed my listening and speaking skills working with the students. I believed what I did could be helpful to other instructors as I could do the research on any topic, and help the instructors with the resources to use it. Whatever it is. I made a PowerPoint, but I could have made any visible aid. I even shared the PowerPoint so Sharon and her coworkers could all use it if they wanted to use it in their classroom.

My main goal when creating my project was making sure it used communication I wanted to share what I learned. The team I worked with was Sharon, ELC, and the students and our goal was to use learning tool like Quizlet for language learning. I feel that this project helped me as a lifelong learner help lifelong learners. I learned about my perspective of language learners and how I sometimes talked fast and used saying they did not know. I had to beware of my speed when talking and make sure the students understood when we communicated. This was a valuable project as it showed me the need of using resources and the value of teamwork with communication as fundamental.