BIBLIOGRAFÍA Y FUENTES DOCUMENTALES

Taking Action at the assisted living center was the most formative experience that cultivated the student’s sense of internal team. They tried out “new ideas, behaviors or situations in ways that [were] neither too easy nor too dangerous or difficult, based on the synthesis of what [they] have learned in [their] explorations” (Holzer, 2009, p. 12). Although dismayed by the challenges at the start, four of the eight students began to work as a team in a collective effort to engage the residents in the activities. The other four students experienced the service-project quietly, thoughtfully watching, engaging with the group when they felt comfortable to do so. Together, the first four students tried out a variety of new ideas to encourage community participation based upon their synthesis of previous experiences with the elderly, especially those residing in assisted living centers or nursing homes, and their explorations in the previous stages of service- learning.

Their first attempt was to begin making cards individually and invite the residents to join them. They hoped that this method would inspire the residents and generate an interest in creating together. They asked, “Would you like to color?” “Which stamp would you like to use?” “What did you think of the big wildfire a few years ago?” These four students shared ideas back and forth across the table, offering suggestions and talking to multiple residents. Then, they took the ideas and tested them in the situation, which was new to them. Thus, constructing the cards with the residents help to make visible this next stage in team building. Through the aesthetic service-learning experience, the students demonstrated the desire and interest to collaborate and work through their shared challenges.

While collaboratively creating Thank You Cards for the fire department with the residents, the students also tried to engage the residents by sharing about their encounters with the wildfires. At the start of the gathering, Lisa remembered,

I was thinking about how the Fire Department helped us during the wildfires. They came really close to our house and our house was saved. Areas around were ravaged by it actually. We were driving home and saw a big fire behind our house. We wondered if it was close to our house. That night the [neighbors] called us and said that we had to evacuate. We watched the news all day. It was always on. They kept saying the wildfire was coming down [our road], and we were like, “Wow...!”

In response to her reflection, she constructed two cards with the residents. In the first card, she included the stamped quote, “Memory is the treasury and guardian of all things” (Figure 21 below). She also expressed on her first card through stamps and writing, “Thank you for saving my family’s house.” In the second card were more stamped quotes regarding memory. She wrote alongside them, “We will always remember and thank you for your fine service” (Figure 22 below). Stamped images of trees and a photo of anonymous firefighters that I printed and provided for the students to use emphasize her reflections regarding the wildfire. (I provided the image for students to reference if they desired to draw a firefighter, and Lisa desired to include the image itself in her card.)

Figure 21: Lisa's first Thank You Card (cover; inside)

Figure 22: Lisa's second Thank You Card (cover; inside)

Clearly, Lisa was significantly impacted by the theme of memory, and creating the cards accordingly facilitated her ability to express her contemplations. Sharing her thoughts and

memories with the group was her method of attempting to take action amidst the challenging situation. She was testing her method in a new situation. Her efforts were outwardly expressed as she talked to the group, which included peers, parents and siblings (not her own), the residents, and the staff.

Two weeks later, The Box 3D Project further helped to make visible the students’ desire and interest to collaborate and press through their shared challenges. Immediately upon their arrival to the subsequent general meeting, the students began discussing the experience and their reflections upon it. (The week in between was rescheduled due to illnesses, so the students had two weeks to allow their thoughts develop.) Opening their Box 3D Projects for the group to see, the students launched into further reaches of discussions before the last student arrived and the meeting formally began. While presenting her Box 3D Project with the group, Hanna reflected, “I felt like I was a part of the group. I felt like I was a stranger at the nursing home. But I felt like I was part of the group. I told my mom, I wouldn't have felt comfortable if I was there by myself. So, I wouldn't have felt like I was a part of them, but I felt that I was more a part of this group.” The ease with which the students disclosed their private reflections demonstrated to me that they were becoming more comfortable with each other. They resembled more of a team, and Hanna’s reflection articulated my observation.

Taking action also enabled the students to feel like they were more a part of other levels of community as well. Extending beyond how she felt at the internal group level, Petin offered, “I always felt that I am not a huge part of the community because, first of all, I don’t have much reach into the community. I have always felt like I am kind of just a resident, not helper.” When I asked if her feeling about her role in her community changed because of taking action at the assisted living center specifically, she concluded, “Yes, to some degree. It made me feel happy

that I was going to go and spend some time with people who probably were not appreciated, maybe don’t get enough visitors, and might be forgotten there. I was blessed to know what we were doing. It felt wonderful to have an impact on my community in this way, a community that is sort of forgotten.” Solomon felt similarly, sharing that he felt a little more like he was a part of the local town community, but not levels of community extending beyond that, such as the city or national levels. Thus, I observed that teambuilding at this stage was more present at the internal level than it had been prior to taking action, but was being considered at external levels.

The teambuilding process continued as the internal community, demonstrating aspects of teamwork, worked together with the external community in reciprocity. The internal community coalesced with the external community as they took action through effecting the project’s goals, plans, and challenges with the external community. Taking Action and Testing in New Situations formed a bridge between the internal community and the external community, in reciprocity allowing the exchanges of experiential learning to flow between the communities. They facilitate the next border-crossing stage in the process of internal and external community building (Figure 23).

Figure 23: Stage three: crossing borders in internal and external community building