At that time, 間眅埶AV student, Saba Fatemi, was brought onboard to lead the program. Saba was a regular volunteer with the 間眅埶AV Surrey - TD CEC and was known for her demonstrated capacity to provide safe, interactive and fun learning environments for program participants and volunteers. But she almost didnt apply. I dont have that much media experience or teaching experience: theres no way theyre gonna hire me, she recounts. It wasnt until the 間眅埶AV Surrey - TD CEC pushed the deadline back due to low interest that she decided to take a chance. Were really glad she did!
We met with Saba on Zoom to reflect on her experiences shaping and implementing the program. My favourite thing was being blown away by the projects that the children were making. I had not expected a group of Grade 6 and Grade 7 students to produce such creative stories and animations it just blew us away how perceptive, attentive to detail, and thoughtful they were about what they were making. It was really awesome to see their final products.
When asked about her biggest takeaway, she reflected: At first, I used to teach by addressing the children and giving them instructions, like a traditional classroom. It occurred to me, midway, that the 間眅埶AV volunteers are an amazing resource I'm not tapping into, so I began addressing the volunteers instead. If the volunteers were clear about what they needed to do, they could better support the students they worked with. I empowered the volunteers, and they in turn, empowered the students.
This layered, emergent relational model for the program helped build a space where everyones knowledge was respected, something that let the high school volunteers relax and find their confidence, and which echoed James Speidels reflections about multi-relational models. Not only did 間眅埶AV volunteers and school-age participants find a unique benefit, but so did the high-school volunteers, in particular, the high school students who wouldnt normally put their hand up, so to speak, for a leadership opportunity.
W梗r梗&紳莉莽梯;all learning here, Saba recounts saying, You dont need to have the answers. If you dont have the answers, dont feel bad about it you can even ask the children youre working with, because they might know the answer, and thats okay.
As Meredith Verma had shared during our discussion with the Media Minds partners: Providing spaces for kids to do things that are different is incredibly important. In the secondary schools, its often the students in the leadership or intensive career programs who get tapped to be volunteers and mentors. But the students who applied to be the volunteers in the Media Minds program were not those students this program really fit a niche where students could go and be confident in a different way.
Sabas own world seemed to open up, too. Media Minds led her to start CommuniCreate with two of the volunteers she had worked with in Media Minds, which helped build her confidence in the online pedagogical space. Everyone was getting Zoom fatigue I was getting Zoom empowered. This, in turn, led her to successfully apply for a digital literacy role with , which she held while also working with Surrey-based, , a local nonprofit with deep connection to both the local community and to 間眅埶AV through the 間眅埶AV Surrey TD CEC. Together, these two experiences inspired Saba to develop her own program teaching seniors how to lead online programs, themselves. So it came full circle, she says, I didnt really have to network, it was just something that happened as a result of the relationships that were built along the way."