October of freshman year was a pivotal month for me, and it all started with a meeting with Dr. Newman-Norlund, an exercise science professor who directed the Brain Stimulation Lab at USC. The night before, as I ironed my new dress shirt in my dorm room, my roommate and I talked through my resume and interests, practicing what I was going to say to this esteemed researcher. This formulaic speech I had prepared was forgotten immediately as Dr. Newman-Norlund had already printed out my resume and immediately started asking specific questions. I had only been acquainted with him for a few minutes when he asked me if I wanted to be his right hand man for a project he was about to start at a nearby YMCA. My advisor at the Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) had told me to think before accepting positions to see what other offers I could get, so I attempted to walk the thin line of sounding excited and reserved as he explained the main concept for the project. I don’t think I was too successful; my enthusiasm for his research was pretty apparent, and the meeting ended with me sputtering out a run on sentence- “That sounds amazing- let me just check my schedule- it really sounds awesome- thank you so much.”
Joint Action Mini Camp, lovingly called JAM Camp, was the first of three research projects I worked on during my time at USC. Our goal was to promote teamwork and cooperative skills to a large groups of kids at the YMCA ranging from 5-15 years old by playing theory based games and activities. The purpose was not necessarily to test a scientific hypothesis, but rather to implement this as a pilot program and test effectiveness in later years. I was awarded the Magellan Apprentice grant for $700 worth of salary for the January-April project. The team that lead JAM Camp consisted of Dr. Newman-Norlund, a sophomore (who was doing a different but related research project), two seniors, and me. We were in charge of leading a group of junior Exercise Science students (who were enrolled in the Exsc 342 B class) to teach the sessions, and JAM Camp was part of the class for them. The juniors had not been taught explicitly about the theories behind the games which we were focusing the sessions on, but they were familiar with writing lesson plans and teaching groups of kids from their previous coursework.
Now I’ve had plenty of experience working with kids, but directing a group of students that were two years older than me? Totally different. JAM Camp was an awesome experience for me, but not because it was fun and productive; in fact, most of the days were whirlwinds of unruly kids, unmotivated juniors, and uncooperative staff. The juniors had to come up with lesson plans that had to consist of a variety of teamwork games each week, which I had to grade and return back. Dr. Newman-Norlund taught us the concepts that he wanted included in the sessions as the semester continued, so there were a lot of moving parts and new ideas introduced throughout the semester. This proved exceedingly difficult for me because the juniors would slack off, but I didn’t want to make this 2 credit hour class hurt their GPAs. |
Here is my Magellan Application that I wrote to get funding for this project.
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During the sessions, I felt like I was constantly scrambling to keep it all together. The kids would sneak off at every opportunity, the juniors would pull out their phones and waste their time, and the YMCA staff would actually leave during the sessions, which was a problem because they were supposed to be in charge of discipline. Once the unorganized chaos was complete, I’d almost always call my mom to complain about how rough JAM was. Dr. Newman-Norlund gave good feedback and applauded my efforts, but I really didn’t think that this was accurate because he didn’t attend many of the sessions. The kids themselves were confused about most of the activities we were doing, and they complained that the camp wasn’t fun.
A year later, I ended up in that exact class, Exsc 342 B, and got to experience this from the other side of the gradebook. (In this class, I worked in a program called JUMP, which is very similar to JAM except we worked with younger kids.) This class was really a full circle moment for me because I got to see what life was like for the juniors, including reasons why they weren’t always preforming at their best. That semester was packed and the class was busy, but I really tried to remember how important it is to commit fully to the moment and not become complacent or lazy. I also had a unique advantage in this class because I had already seen what it was like to write and teach lesson plans because of JAM Camp. During this class, I was teaching a group of 4 year olds in JUMP, and though this was a different group than I worked with freshman year, I was able to build upon my JAM knowledge to be a better teacher. As you can see in my artifacts, my lesson plan writing skills improved dramatically from my JAM plans to the JUMP plans. This is due to classes like Exsc 303, Exsc 342A, and my early exposure to lesson plans from JAM. Everyone else struggled with trying to think of games and got nervous in front of a large group of kids, but I had already gone through that period of unknowing and was now very confident and informed. I tried to lend a supportive hand whenever my peers were struggling with ideas and organization. To the left are two lesson plans, one which I wrote for JAM and then one I wrote for JUMP. Notice how much more detailed and complete my plans became after taking more classes (Exsc 303 and 342A) and participating in JAM. (Since JUMP was part of a class for me, I am including this as a Within the Classroom Artifact.)
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Through this research project, I learned what it meant to be in charge and what it meant to be a leader. Though I had been in leadership roles before, this was the first time that I really had to question my mentality of what leadership is in its essence. The first few sessions of JAM, I was in charge, which meant that everything had to be right, and whatever was out of place would not be tolerated. My thought process was reactive and abrasive: The group was small because some of the kids had to go do homework? How dare the staff not tell us ahead of time! I was frustrated because I was holding it all together, and in doing so, I was the one breaking down. Every session was a disappointment, and I knew that no one would ever want me on their project again. Things only started to change after one of the sessions that Dr. Newman- Norlund observed. He only could make it to a handful of sessions, so he wasn’t usually there to see the haphazard lessons at the YMCA. The day was getting out of control because the kids didn’t like playing this perfectly theorized teamwork game- it was truthfully too challenging and supposed to be done in silence. So Dr. Newman- Norlund changed it on the spot to have more competition, more running, and more talking. The kids really liked it, and though we didn’t get to see them complete that specific game we had prepared for, we were able to help them have fun as a group, which is in and of itself an important part of teamwork.
I began to realize that leading isn’t always sticking to the schedule, and the best leaders can handle whatever is thrown at them with grace and expertise. The leader I want to be doesn’t just react, but rather interacts with the present. JAM Camp provided me with this semester long test of patience, and I actually grew to enjoy the not knowing, the unplanned, and the chaos. I would walk into the YMCA with a general idea of what we were supposed to be teaching and make sure that I didn’t focus on too many moving parts. This is a practice that I have carried over to other leadership and speaking roles; when I am leading a group, I try to remember to feel the room, listen to feedback, and change slightly to best suit the environment.
The concepts highlighted in JAM Camp were touched on in several classes, especially my Perceptual Motor Development courses (Exsc 303, Exsc 342A, and Exsc 342B). In these courses, we learned skills that were developmentally appropriate for kids of different ages. We learned about cooperation and group play, as well as ideas about how to refocus kids and lead a group. I am so glad to have had this research experience before the courses, because by the time I was teaching for a grade, I already had toned down my bossiness and had experience with changing to fit the environment. During the lecture parts of Exsc 303, I learned the more concrete developmental stages and theories about how to work with kids, which supported what I had come to learn on my own in JAM. These courses gave me the structured knowledge of how to work with kids, while JAM taught me how to apply myself to teaching roles in a more realistic and encouraging manner.
Through this project, I gained a whole new perspective about what kind of leader I want to be.
I began to realize that leading isn’t always sticking to the schedule, and the best leaders can handle whatever is thrown at them with grace and expertise. The leader I want to be doesn’t just react, but rather interacts with the present. JAM Camp provided me with this semester long test of patience, and I actually grew to enjoy the not knowing, the unplanned, and the chaos. I would walk into the YMCA with a general idea of what we were supposed to be teaching and make sure that I didn’t focus on too many moving parts. This is a practice that I have carried over to other leadership and speaking roles; when I am leading a group, I try to remember to feel the room, listen to feedback, and change slightly to best suit the environment.
The concepts highlighted in JAM Camp were touched on in several classes, especially my Perceptual Motor Development courses (Exsc 303, Exsc 342A, and Exsc 342B). In these courses, we learned skills that were developmentally appropriate for kids of different ages. We learned about cooperation and group play, as well as ideas about how to refocus kids and lead a group. I am so glad to have had this research experience before the courses, because by the time I was teaching for a grade, I already had toned down my bossiness and had experience with changing to fit the environment. During the lecture parts of Exsc 303, I learned the more concrete developmental stages and theories about how to work with kids, which supported what I had come to learn on my own in JAM. These courses gave me the structured knowledge of how to work with kids, while JAM taught me how to apply myself to teaching roles in a more realistic and encouraging manner.
Through this project, I gained a whole new perspective about what kind of leader I want to be.
[Artifacts: Within the Classroom- JUMP lesson plan. Beyond the Classroom- JAM Magellan grant, JAM lesson plan, observations, Discovery Day presentation]