Three Main Reasons Why We Do Group Reflections
During our high school immersion programs, the EdOdyssey educators likes to focus on the positive energy and challenges of every day. Each day presents itself with its own meaning and our job as students and educators is to explore that significance.
When we travel, we have fun experiences in new places with fellow classmates and teachers, we come away with life lessons think. In each trip, we have a lot of different personalities and a wide range of perspectives so we like to hear and learn from our students and teachers at the end of each day that we’re together in a group.
Here are three main reasons why we do on group reflections:
1. Build Trust & Communication
In small and big groups, we want to learn about all our teachers and students. Although our teachers and classmates go to school together, we encourage everyone to participate and speak because we’re outside of a school setting and in a new culture.
A big first step of breaking into a new culture comes with communication. The point of travel is for all of us to learn together, and we can’t learn if we don’t discuss with each other what we’re feeling and seeing each day to understand why we feel that way.
If we don’t share our laughter, your surprises and your awe, we might miss the beauty of our respective environments. Along those same lines, we can embrace and respect these observations and moments together because it’s how we build trust and confidence in each other.
2. Unpack Our Observations
All of us, teachers and students, come together during these group reflections to hear and understand the emotion that came to you during the day because we’re picking up on the same surroundings but we’re perceiving them differently.
Our ideas, and our thoughts, go in different directions when we travel together and we need to embrace honesty if we’re going to make the most of the experience. Sometimes we feel a certain way and we don’t know why, which is why we like to talk about what we did and what we saw during the day.
3. Embrace Emotions
We know that each student faces their own challenges and fears before and during each trip so it’s best for all of us to take these head on together. For some students, we know that stepping on a plane can create a lot of stress while others might get more nervous around new foods.
We want to help our students manage and understand the emotion that comes from travel because academic education. In any day a trip, you can swing between moments that are fun, scary, exciting, unnerving, confusing, and funny within seconds and minutes of each other.
All of us manage these challenges the best when we take them on together. Even though you feel like you’re the only one who feels shocked or confused during your trip, you might be standing next to a friend going through it too but we all show and express our feelings differently.
When we go abroad, our senses get overloaded with everything that’s different and we want you to know that you’re never alone! Your fellow classmates, your teachers and EdOdyssey staff are with you every step of the way, and if you want to learn more about how we help each other, please check out Five Tips For Diving Deep Into A New Culture!
