About Me

For this CBH&R Program, I was assigned to the program entitled, “Play to Cope, Learn to Hope.” This program is a program that was made by the Educational Component and was designed with the intention of using play activities as a way to educate the children on how to manage symptoms that may hinder their participation in informal and formal education. This was not my main component, however, I think I can still relate my experience in terms of the process of gathering data to make a program. It was a struggle at first to understand how the process of everything goes just by going by the information from the book. Theoretically, I felt that the group and I understood what each process or analysis is for but we were unsure on how to go about it and how to properly implement it. However, once the class got together and we were able to get the feedback from the teachers after a rather bad stakeholder’s meeting, we were able to do much better and be more cohesive in our ideas and thought process. Once we were able to gather data, as the point person of my component, I had the task of initiating how to proceed with the discussion and designation of tasks. I think it helped that my group was very forthcoming with their ideas and as we tried to come up with a program that would cater best to what we think the community needed or would benefit from. When the three programs were picked, I was able to also learn what the thought process of the Education Component was when making their program and was able to also give my suggestions. It was great that the education group was also very open to our collaboration and took our ideas and suggestions into consideration. Once the design of the program was revised, I was assigned as the Program Committee Head, so I had the chance to work on my people skills because I had to communicate and collaborate with the other committees, as well as my organization skills as I broke down the tasks needed and found a way to distribute it fairly. Unfortunately, i wasn’t able to see properly the fruit of everyone’s effort and hardwork during the day of the implementation because of personal reasons, however, hearing the feedback from the instructors I was able to conclude that, while there were things that we could have done better, we were able to execute a good program that the children enjoyed very much and learned from.

This subject has really been a struggle for not only myself, but also some of my classmates apparently, in completing smoothly. I don’t think there was a time where we were able to pass an output where we didn’t need a lot of revisions for and that was pretty disappointing. However, something that stayed consistent and what made trying again and revising not so discouraging, is the way that our instructors were able to give their feedback. Every time an instructor would give their comments, it was in this subject in particular that I was always reminded of that time another instructor told us that for every negative feedback given, there should be a corresponding or two positive comment as well. It was exciting to know that we would implement a program to a community, as I remember joining the higher up’s own CBR program once. It was even more exciting when we were told that we were approved for a face-to-face implementation. I’m really glad that we were able to send some of our classmates to the center, especially because I felt like the children would appreciate it and enjoy it more if we were able to interact with them face-to-face. Furthermore, I feel like it would have been more challenging to capture the children’s attention and encourage them to participate in the programs if it was purely virtual. When we were actually able to implement the program, with the small glimpse I was able see when I went into the Zoom, it really made the effort and struggle of making the program, gathering the materials and setting up the materials worth it when you see not only the children and parents but also the facilitators themselves enjoy what they’re doing and hearing. I think that this course really made us brush up and work on a lot of our individual skills. I, personally, was placed in a position where I had to use my leadership skills, my organization skills, and my practical life skills. While I’m not one to usually volunteer to take up a big role, I find that I don’t particularly mind anymore or feel nervous if I am placed in that position where I have to take the lead or make the initiation to get things going. The subject has definitely made me more responsible overall and more conscious of my time management skills. I am happy that despite the rocky start the whole class had with this subject, we were able to really work together as a unit to pull through the three programs and end the subject on a strong note.