RE-SL 3069

Weekly Progress Update [T2W4]

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 10:15:00 +0000

No blog post between this and last week's WPU doesn't mean work has gone stale. We've been busy the past week as you'll soon see.

What we did this week

1. 1st draft of Literature Review done

2. 1st draft of Lesson Plan done

3. Made notes on our End-of-Year report template in accordance to the reports of past-year groups

4. Hit a stalemate on our groupname

5. Identified areas where we can learn from the system adopted by sheltered workshops

What we're doing next week

1. Get unit plan approved by VWO and teacher-mentor

2. Draft lesson plan (it is based on the unit plan so we have to wait for our unit plan to be approved before drafting out a lesson plan)

3. Get lesson plan approved (if possible, give 1 week additionial grace just in case)

4. Get draft emails for contacting sourced corporations approved by VWO/teacher-mentor

5. Settle on group name once-and-for-all (hopefully)

Weekly Progress Update [T2W3]

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 11:42:00 +0000

Wanted to say "Hi!" but that greeting is way too overused here, instead I will give no greeting which will ironically serve as a greeting.

Anyway we thought it'd be more organised and easier for readers (if any) to follow our progress if we started a weekly progress update (WPU) post, much like our school's "What's up this week" system (but without the inbox spamming part). Each WPU covers what we did for the present week as well as our plans for the next, so lets get started.

What we did this week

1. Sourced out a list of several potential project providers (y'know, those corporations like Popular bookshop that might offer our project a packing job or two)

2. Sourced out a list of several sheltered workshops with a mission similar to ours (so we can learn from their system)

3. Began work on drafting our lesson plans

4. Went to our school library to pour through some archived research journals of previous award-winning RE-SL groups. (learn from others)

5. Found possible candidates for literature review articles

What we're doing next week

1. Contact the sourced corporations and sheltered workshops (give 1-2 week's grace)

2. Churn out at least a 1st/2nd draft of our lesson plans

3. Churn out 1st draft of literature review

4. Get lesson plan approved by teacher mentor & VWO's external mentors

5. Come up with a spanking-cool-new group name (the current one, "Mafia Owls" really doesn't fit a RE-SL project, however hilarious it may be)

/Jin

Literature Review:Sourcing for Information

noreply@blogger.com (Ken) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 05:01:00 +0000

I had a real tough job getting Reynard and Rui Liang to source for online information on Interacting With Autism. 3 days after when they were supposed to give me their articles, I finally got them to find some articles, 6 in all in fact. As for Xuan Ru, he had found some books for the literature review. Now, I am going to have to read though the books, online articles etc., select some important parts, scrutinise those parts, THEN start writing the first draft for the literature review.

For Grace Orchard, the group will have to find some time to do the Unit Plan for the lessons so that they can begin ASAP. If no one is willing to do it, I'm somehow guessing I'm going to be the one to do it in the end.

/Ken

Why special education is important

noreply@blogger.com (Ken) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 07:31:00 +0000

Our modern society is harsh and ever-changing. No one can predict what may happen tomorrow and one can never be prepared for everything. Even people without disabilities struggle to keep up with times. Upgrading and improving themselves every moment, many are all so afraid that they would left behind. People with disabilities will definitely face problems in their lives and if deprived of a proper education, they may stand no chance when they start to move on into work life. Thus, special education becomes essential at this point to make sure these people with disabilities can be just as good if not better than others at their own niche areas, so as to ensure that they can secure a job and at least become an independent individual in the future.

Special education hones the skills of an individual inflicted with disabilities, guiding them in not only their studies but also in some technical skills like for example, baking. By coaching them in basic academics like basic English or simple Mathematics, they provide the base for them to further their studies in other areas related to these topics. For example, with the knowledge of simple English, they will have little difficulty when reading books on baking. As for the work skills they are taught, they will no doubt be given them the edge in that specific area that they study. With courses such as life-skills also provided, these children undergoing special education are actually being prepared to take on the daunting task on being independent instead of always turning to another for help. This will greatly benefit them more greatly then the education any normal school can provide.

Also, special education also allows them to start to “open up” to others at a slower pace. This gives them the opportunity to bit by bit grow more confident at speaking to others as well as telling others about their feelings. This gives them a chance to improve on their interaction and communication. This will also benefit them much in their work lives as they interact with others. With the skills given to them through special education as well as their abilities to interact better with others, they can actually excel and demonstrate to others what they can do. Through this, they can gain and earn the respect of others and this also lets them become part of the society. Instead of letting the disability rule their lives, they can take control of it and become a confident individual who is just the same as any other.

With special education, students’ talents can be harvested and nurtured. Their potential can also be developed and allow them to achieve beyond what many feel they can. This is due to the fact that special education focuses hones specific skills to improve and nurture. A great example to illustrate the fact that even people with disabilities can do amazing things would be Chris Burke. Despite his mental retardation, he is now a successful television actor and has even acted a main role in the show, Life Goes On.

The above points clearly illustrate the importance and need for special education. From allowing the students to become independent individuals to allowing them to lead fruitful and meaningful lives, schools providing special education are indeed essential institutions in society, allowing people with disabilities to lead their lives in their own “unique” ways as well as giving them equal chances to excel in society.

Inventory list!

noreply@blogger.com (Rui Liang) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:18:00 +0000

Hi guys,

I have done up the inventory list. Here are the items.

Item	Number	Quantity
Blue toyogo trays	1 to 8	8
Grey toyogo trays	9 to 16	8
Yellow toyogo trays	17 to 24	8
Dustbin	25	1
Toyogo cabinet collection	26	1
Shelves (with the cabinet collection)	59 to 63	5
Water Jug	27 to 28	2
Blue mini cupboard	29	1
Small blue office trays	30 to 33	4
Medium blue office trays	34 to 37	4
Large blue office trays	38 to 41	4
Ladder	42	1
Transparent boxes	43 to 48	6
Tables	49 to 58	10
Cup and saucer sets	64 to 67	4
Mop wringer	68	1
Cleaning in Progress sign	69	1

Please take care of the items we bought and make sure they do not get lost.

Also, here are some pictures.

The messy state =)

After arranging =)

Labelling of the first blue toyogo tray =)

Grace Orchard Visit

noreply@blogger.com (Ken) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 11:20:00 +0000

Really very tiring day and after getting a whole bunch of demoralizing marks, I went down with the RE group to Grace Orchard to set up all the stuff we bought from our previous Toyogo trip. We also sat down to discuss about the lesson plans for a while.

Well, the process of arranging all the things as well as labelling all the items so that we could keep track of the things we had took approximately two to three hours and I can say we were quite pleased with the "end product". While the room had really been in quite a "bad condition", I believe we did a commendable job in tidying things up.

Most of the pictures of the place is with Rui Liang but I have some here...

Rui Liang and Reynard trying to fit on the wheels on the stupid cabinet while Jin holds it up

Jin trying to fix back the wheels after HE ACCIDENTALLY MADE THE WHEELS COME OUT

Reynard, our secretary, staring blankly at his reflection in the cabinet.

Extra tables and a push trolley shoved to a corner

/Ken

Grace Orchard visit (4/1)

noreply@blogger.com (Rui Liang) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:48:00 +0000

Hi guys,

For tomorrow's Grace Orchard visit, we shall meet at the RAJA block foyer immediately after the 4th period (when our RE period starts). Jin will be bringing his camera while I will be taking pictures using my phone and posting it up here. Please think of how to arrange our stuff.

Regards,
Ruiliang

Add on:

Ken, please remember your hardcopy of the unit plan templates and receipts for the purchased items. I'll be bringing a hardcopy of the timeline + a backup camera in addition to Rui Liang's camera.

/Jin

"Meaningful" post

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Well, it's written on the panel to your left. I'm Jin, the Communcations ~~Manager~~ Guy for RE-SL Group 3069. Our leader, the "Ken", requires all group members to post a "meaningful message reflecting the group's recent progress throughout the course of the project", so here I am.

I added a hits counter to our blog.

It counts hits everytime it logs a new IP address instead of everytime it logs a visitor, this will prevent inflated numbers from people repeatedly refreshing the page to bump up the counter in times of severe boredom.

That's all from me for now.

/Jin

RE Shopping Trip!

noreply@blogger.com (Rui Liang) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:22:00 +0000

Hi guys, this is a post on our progress today and what furniture we bought.

Since we already cleaned up the work skills room, we went to get the furniture today and was really happy with what we got. So, after school, we made our way to the Toyogo warehouse to do some furniture shopping. We started with some walking around and waited till Ms Yvonne came. When she came, we noted some stuff of what to buy.

In the end this was what we bought.
1 x Electric Airpot
2 x 2L Water Jug
4 x Tea Cup and Saucer Set
1 x Tray
1 x Dust Pan set
2 x Mop set (stick and mopping cloth)
6 x model 9707 container
1 x 903-5 drawer (brown in colour with an extra mini drawer free)
1 x welcome mat
8 x YELLOW tray
8 x GREY tray
8 x BLUE tray

This is a rough idea of what we bought. We hope to post this to keep track of what we bought as to provide records.

Also, the long overdue pictures of our cleaning up session.

Some of the stuff we used to clean the window.
Look at how clean the shelves are! And the floor!

A picture of Ken, our Group Leader!

Nature of our Project

noreply@blogger.com (Xuan Ru) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 12:44:00 +0000

Hi! This is Xuan Ru. I will be posting about the nature of our project.

We are actually a Service Learning group from Raffles Institution, teaching students with mild learning disabilities work skills. These work skills are related to that of a "production line" concept. However, as doing these repetitive tasks in such a controlled environment might be boring, we will be decorating our class room with fun and lively decorations to lighten up the mood of the students.

Teaching and educating is and so, my groups and I will give our all to this project, making sure it is an impactful success.

Progress so far

noreply@blogger.com (Ken) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:48:00 +0000

Hi! I am Ken, the supposed leader of our RE-SL group. I guess that I should note the progress of the group so far in my first post so, here it is.

Firstly, we have gone down to Grace Orchard School once already. That was just two days ago, during our RE (Research Education) periods, on 11/2/09, a Wednesday. Basically, after the trip, we cleared up the administrative things (e.g. logging in and out of the school), got a much better idea of what our project entailed and what we needed to accomplish in this project. This will be further elaborated on later, but for now, I will continue.

Secondly, Lim Jin, in charge on communications for our group, has just sent an email to Ms. Esther Kwan to enquire about the next time we can make our way down again. This is estimated to be next week. Also, we asked about the takeaways she wanted to see in her students. This would enable us to get a better understanding of our end product as well as make sure that our methodology for conducting this project is on the right track. Jin has also sent her our contact list so as to ensure efficient communication.

Third, I have began to look at how to write our literature review and a draft has emerged. However, it needs much editing and will not be ready for quite a while. Reynard is in charge of the proposal and is close to completetion.

That should be it. There you go. Our progress thus far.

I think that one point to note would be that the team is making steady progress so far. However, perhaps we should speed things up a little and delegating more tasks to be completed in a shorter time span. After all, most of our school syllabus for this term is still revision of past years' topics. Even though the exam period is already here, I believe that we should be able to juggle both this project and excel in our exams all the same. That is all I have to say for this post. For the next post, perhaps the specific nature of the project will be elaborated further before anything else.

First Post

noreply@blogger.com (Rui Liang) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 13:30:00 +0000

Hi! This is Ruiliang, the webmaster of RE-SL group 3069.

This is the first post of the blog, so we shall start off with a little of what our group is about. We are doing a Service Learning project with Grace Orchard School and we are from Raffles Institution. Our group consists of 5 members (you can see from the side of the blog). We hope that this can be used for our Group Portfolio and for us to keep track of our progress.