Peace cadre is designed to deal with behavioral issues in our school and ensure that a peaceful learning environment is maintained. A member and I were in charge of grade 9 where we had to ensure bullying or behavioral issues were to a minimum. We had to explain to students who were misbehaving to improve upon their behavior. 

LO1:

My strength was that I had good interpersonal skills. This allowed me to resolve issues without any major problems and easily as I could communicate well with the students. Although there were some incidents where I found difficulty. However, my communication skills improved after those instances.   My weakness was not being able to visit the classes more often because of other work or commitments. I improved upon this later, by making sure I make a regular and appropriate number of visits. (improved time management and overall management skills) I also had poor leadership skills because I had been in a few leadership roles before. Participating in this, however, definitely improved it because it was student-led.

LO2:

This activity was challenging because some of the students would not follow our instructions after repeatedly explaining them. For example, a student would not stop bunking classes. This made it very stressful and difficult for us to ensure that students follow all the rules. Another challenge was committing to such an activity as this would go on for a year. As a result, I had less time for studying in my free slots as those were used to monitor these students. This increased the burden of education on me. Another challenge was forming connections with students because we needed them to be open to us in order to understand their problems. This was difficult because some students were reluctant to share information. We had to use our communication skills there.

LO3:

Because it was a student-led event we had to organize ourselves and devise a plan. My partner and I along with teachers made a schedule that was to be updated every week. I planned the visits and coordinated with my team. Planning was very easy for me and I also discovered that I have decent management skills. It was important to gain this experience because in the future this can be helpful for pursuing business management.

LO4:

Showing perseverance was necessary because this activity’s duration was a year and to make the school environment more habitable and friendly. Therefore, my partner and I had to ensure that we visit classes assigned to us every week twice or thrice. If not done then issues would increase a lot. This would make me feel worse. Therefore, perseverance was necessary. Although, it was difficult for me to commit to this activity because plenty of times I would forget making a visit to the classes because I had a lot of work to complete in my free slots. This made me feel terrible because a lot of students had many complaints which were to be resolved immediately.

LO5:

Working in groups is generally easy for me because I play a lot of team sports and I have also managed many events such as the FSMUN and FSCUP. Therefore, working as a team was a good experience for me in the Peace Cadre. It was also important to work as a team because at times, I was not able to explain to some students because I could not communicate with them very well. Also, some of the students were my friends so it was difficult for me to explain the consequences of their actions with a straight face. Therefore, being in a team helped because my partner was able to communicate with them effectively.

LO7:

It was important to be ethical by not showing any form of bias to my friends or making sure I treat everyone equally and fairly. This issue can affect me directly because if I do not adhere to it, my supervisor could remove me from my position and students would also not take me seriously. Also, we had to make sure we get our point across without shouting or being aggressive because that could have a negative impact on the student.

LO6:

The issues were good health and well- being. This is because bullying in any form can have a toll on the mental health of a student and therefore, affect their well- being. This issue bothers me because mental health is extremely important and it should be ensured that it is maintained and in a good state. Also, a healthy learning environment is a necessity and a right.

Overall, this experience has helped me a lot. I developed communication, leadership, time management, and overall management and ethical skills. I am also grateful that I had the chance to reduce bullying in our school.

Evidence: