Natasha Nitsopoulos
Reflection of
Mosaic Approach
Louise Jupp
Friday November 5,
2014
EAD 610
Environmental Design
Our group overall worked well together and tried our
best to make all meetings. My individual role was to provide some cameras,
print pictures, show up to every meeting, and working on the blog. I made sure
the center knew when we were coming and made sure it worked with all other
members in the group. We kept a group chat constant and made sure no one was
left out. This was more of a positive aspect rather than a negative. All group
members contributed and made an effort to show up at the center. The negative
aspect was working on getting everyone there especially when the center didn’t
always co-operate. There was one time where we couldn’t get anything done due
to the fact of bad timing, so rescheduling was hectic but worked for the best.
I felt this was a major group assignment and having a group was more of a
reward. We were able to communicate ideas and help one another out, when
someone was having a hard time puzzling piece together. It was like having four
different brains thinking about the same concept. Everyone put their own input
and we were all glad that we stayed on the same topic. This experience was
amazing and really made me realize children don’t have a voice and it’s time to
put that into perspective. Being a researcher in this assignment was new and
helped show the real evidence that the assignment was portraying. The tools
were so successful in giving children an opportunity to communicate and overall
come to a conclusion of what it means to be in this place. I now know a great
way to start finding information that is unknown. Our research was difficult to
grasp but knowing that we gave them a chance to tell someone, helped and gave
them the opportunity to know someone is trying to understand. Our results were
heartbreaking as we found that the children overall didn’t have privacy, the
authority over powers which means the children have no voice, and they are
unable to show their identity. We also felt horrible leaving the center and
knowing the teacher didn’t want to participate gave us a feel that she didn’t
care. We took the next step and tried to show the observations in a calm and
respectful manner. We were glad someone in the center wanted to listen. Overall
I had the ability to grow and learn how important the design and environmental
process truly is.
Alicia Vacca
Reflection of Mosaic Approach
Louise Jupp
Friday November 5, 2014
EAD 610 Environmental Design
Each role in the mosaic assignment
was done together as a group as we went to the meetings together and completed
the assignment together. We each worked together to complete this assignment
and shared roles, which made the assignment a lot easier and more enjoyable to
complete. My roles in the assignment were to print pictures, buy Bristol board
for the polo’s, attend all the meetings, and helped with the assignment blog
and set up. It was quite difficult to set up meetings as the teachers were not
that cooperative and made our visits there difficult to do. I felt very rushed
to complete our tasks and I could notice the children felt the same way. It made
my part of the assignment a negative experience because I couldn’t have the
children for a long period of time. This made taking pictures, tours and conferencing
a stressful experience not only for myself but for the children too. The positive
aspect was being able to see how the children feel and having them express
their needs and concerns in their own way through pictures, their guided tour
and talking with us. Even certain comments they would say had an impact on me, although
it was negative, it felt positive to me as I felt they trusted me. I didn't find
working in a group to be a difficult task as we all shared the roles together
and collaborated our ideas. We each were able to add our own ideas to our
project and express any feelings or thoughts we had that should be added. All
of us worked hard together and made completing this project a rewarding one. Doing
this project has helped me to really understand and see through the children’s
perspectives on how they feel in their learning environment. It has helped me
to analyse their pictures and art work, along with what the teacher’s view was
to really see where the problems are and what things can be improved in order
to help the children really thrive in their learning environment. It breaks my
heart to see children in an environment where they feel trapped, sad, and not
part of a space where they can grow. After doing this assignment it has made me
appreciate the child’s view so much more and has given me the chance to hear
their voice and make changes to help them feel comfortable in their learning environment.
Jenna Dillon
Reflection of Mosaic Approach
Louise Jupp
Friday November 5, 2014
EAD 610 Environmental Design
Within
this mosaic assignment, it was full group collaboration. All meetings
were held with each member present, and each played a role in the assembly of
all parts. Distinctive roles were not given out as we felt this needed to be
done as a group. Natasha purchased cameras, and developed them while Sarah also
developed photos she let the children take on her phone. Alicia purchased the
materials for the polo’s, and the costs of all materials were split evenly
between all members. I enjoyed working within this group, and found we all
accommodated to best suit each member’s schedule. I feel like this was a
good assignment to have in a group, as working with other members make the
assignment more enjoyable, and give opportunity to together give an overall analysis
of the centre. It was rewarding to collaborate with others because it gives you
a view outside of your own, introducing multiple ideas and perspectives. One
negative I found, was not with the members, but with the centre. We found it
difficult to get things done as a lot of our meetings were rushed, and eve one
had to be rescheduled. The experiences held within the centre were difficult
for us as a group, as we felt our time was simply and inconvenience to the
staff, and they rushed all interactions with the children. I feel like this
approach is one that is new to me, but I can now see an extreme importance is
this type of assignment. Children are the ones spending majority of their days
within the centres and its not very common they are asked for an opinion on how
things are run, as well as how they feel about being in the location. This is
such a crucial aspect to running a childcare setting, as you want to keep their
best interest at heart and make sure the centre has good practice. The environment
is so crucial and can support healthy development in so many ways; it is
disheartening to complete a mosaic like this one at such a place with so
minimal care in their walls. The child perspective on the environment is
important, and should be taken into account for.
Sarah Brennan
Mosaic Approach, Personal Reflection
Louise Jupp
EAD 610 Environmental Design
Friday December 5th, 2014
Through collaborating with my group members for the
Mosaic Approach Assignment, we all definitely took on equal parts in order to
complete it. My role for the assignment was to provide digital cameras for the
children to use and print them off afterwards. I attended all group meetings
and took a role in the creation of the blog. The group worked extremely well
together and we all equally agreed on what needed to be done in order for
everything to flow smoothly. Working with my group members really made the
creation of this assignment enjoyable and memorable. In regards to the daycare
visitations, the overall environment of the daycare was not much of a positive
one. We constantly felt rushed during our visits, the teachers were quite pushy
when it came to spending time with the children and it made it difficult to
plan for our following visits. Working with the group, I didn’t experience any
difficulties with the group members themselves. I felt as though this
assignment allowed us to come together and put our input on how we thought we
could complete it to our best abilities. This was definitely a reward in my
eyes because it was such a positive experience. This experience has opened my
eyes in terms of seeing through a child’s eyes. They require a rich learning
environment in order to gain knowledge and develop appropriately. To see
negative reinforcements like the “bad apple” chart, it was quite upsetting.
Although I have previous knowledge about reinforcements on children, viewing
this classroom as an outsider (one who isn’t constantly in the room) opened my
eyes to see all of the negatives. Based on our observations, we were able to
take the next step and speak to the supervisor about ways that we could make
the classroom a positive one, all while being respectful to her job title as
well as her employees. This assignment has made me see just how crucial it is
to provide a positive learning environment for children because that is what
they need!
