When I reflect on the work I have done with the Groove Girls project I see a learning process. Not the linear type of learning associated with more conventional classes, but a series of mistakes which forced me to adapt my approach to the project. One of my first assignments for the class was to craft an essay which listed important things to keep in mind while working on a service project. That essay can be read here.
These are the things that I came up with based on the readings in Writing and Community Action.
1. You are not a savior to those you are serving.
2. Do not tell those you are serving how you can help.
3. Ask how you can help those you are serving.
4. Write about the things you did to help.
5. Take in art that relates to your service.
When I started working for the Groove Girls Project I kept exactly none of these things in mind.
I did not provide any meaningful service to The Groove Girls Project until I stopped to reflect and realized that I had broken all five of the maxims I had laid out for serving a community. Fortunately from that point on, I kept those maxims in mind and was able to do some meaningful work on the project.
Page 426 of Writing and Community Action describes some methods for reflecting upon a semester’s worth of community service. Because of my experience with the Groove Girls I find that my best option would be to reflect on myself as a writer while writing to an audience of future students or portfolio readers. My final reflection would probably work in a similar manner to the sample essay which starts of 433. This essay details a student’s self centered approach to a project, and his recognition that this mindset was ultimately foolish. Although I demonstrated an understanding of why community service without reflection is ineffective, I approached Groove Girls with a vision that was not at all in line with the goals of the project. I told Dr. Hodde how I wanted to help the project without asking how I could be useful and I did not study any sort of art that would have helped me to better understand what the Groove Girls do. Even so I went forward with my ideas. I was not able to write about the project until I realized my error and started making the content that Dr. Hodde needed for the Groove Girls website rather than trying to create content that really had no place in the project.
My meaningful contribution to Groove Girls began when I started making content with the goal of inspiring resiliency in the girls who Dr. Hodde works with. I dropped my own goals for the project and instead considered what resiliency means to middle school girls, and more importantly how to write for that sort of audience. In its final form, my contribution will be a page that discusses the different forms that resiliency can take. It will also feature a list of women whose actions may inspire resiliency in the girls. The page contains links for more detailed information about the women and the work they do to inspire resilience in others.
With my reflection organized here I feel that I am ready to present to the English department on my work in the project. Specifically how even with a disastrous start like mine, I was still able to do good work for the site and to develop as a thinker and a writer. As Dr. Hodde puts it, “A girl is a work in progress.” A field work student (and even the Field Work class) are works in progress as well. Hopefully my reflection will help the future Field Work classes develop as well.