CyberFair Project ID: 5347

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International Schools CyberFair Project Narrative
Title: The Yanping Elementary School Drama Club (Consists of Householders as volunteers)
Category: 2. Community Groups and Special Populations
URL: http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2008/gsh5347/index.htm
Bibliography: http://librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2008/gsh5347/e6.htm

School: Taipei Municipal Yanping Elementary School
    Taipei, Taiwan, Taiwan( R.O.C.)

13 students, ages 9~12 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on January 25, 2008. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2008

Classes and Teachers: Shih Tzuhui

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://

Project Overview

1. Description of Our Community

Yanping Elementary School is located at Datong district, the smallest Administration Area in Taipei. The area is best known for its popularity of literary works. The place gained its honor by being able to meet a scholar just every few steps. There are many historic spots in the area, and the Confucian temple is the most well known of them all. Yanping Elementary School is located at the Dalongdong in the Datong district, which means “the area with countless scholars.” There are three public libraries in nearby areas, which are Datong library, Lanjhou library, and Yanping library. Also, the Yanping Elementary School Library is continuing to increase the amount of books in stock. Therefore, it is the best environment for promoting reading.

However, the hardware alone is insufficient. The first step towards reading needs to be guided. Therefore, this is the reason for the establishment of the Yanping Elementary School Drama Club. The storytelling and drama performing volunteers are the planters that spread the interest in reading, and under their planning, the children's interest in reading becomes stronger, which will make them better readers as they grow.

2. Summary of Our Project

The Yanping Elementary School Drama Club (Consists of householders as volunteers) has been established for eight years. During the eight years, the group has expanded from being just a storytelling group traveling between classes in the school to an all-range support group handling all the activities in the school, which include: storytelling, drama performances, competitive activities, fund raising activities, and supporting the school's promotion activities.

The research team wishes to gain more in-depth understanding of the operation styles and their services in order to observe and learn how a small organization is able to operate by a conscientious style to expand their beliefs and services. We hope the research team can understand how the group took shape as well as the volunteers' spirit in their services through interviewing, observation and taking part in activities.

Through this study, we hope the research team can transfer the understanding of the volunteers' spirits into promoting them, or even putting them into practice.

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:more than 50%

B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:2-3

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:more than 6

E. Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional):

(1)There are two computer classrooms in the school. (2)There is one computer in every classroom. (3)Each school grade owns two Single beam projectors placed on the carts. (4)There is a built-in single beam projector in the audio-visual classroom, science classroom and English classroom. (5)The wireless network is installed throughout the school.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

There are two problems that need be overcome. 1. As the team members are from the third, fourth, fifth and the sixth grades, it is a bit difficult to arrange the meeting time for the group. Especially with the children in higher grade levels, who are engaging in many activities. The children participating in the cyberfair are also participating in other activities such as science exhibits and chorus. Because of this, some members will find difficulty in trying to keep up with all the scheduled activities and are forced to drop out from one of the other activities. Therefore, overcoming the problem with time is the major difficulty encountered by the team in the study. In the end, the children participating in the cyberfair can only use the lunchtime hours on every Tuesday and Thursday for discussions and the morning activity hours are used for arranging interviews, researches, and taking part in activities. 2. Because the topic of the study is based on the Yanping Elementary School Drama Club, and the main activities of the volunteer mothers are focusing on the mornings, almost all the volunteer storytelling mothers will go to each classroom for storytelling or hosting activities. Therefore, it is very difficult trying to arrange time for interviews during the morning hours. Thus, most of the interviews can only be arranged in the lunch time.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

After participating in the cyberfair and going through the research, interview, and taking part in activities, we then discovered the small organization of the drama club, which also runs in a conscientious manner. It is just like a small commercial organization, with everyone taking serious responsibility carrying out each mission. The other impression we got from the group is the volunteer mothers' learning spirits. They continue to self-improve by continually learning different storytelling and drama skills. They have touched our hearts with their motivation in learning and the enthusiasm in their services. I wish someday in the future I can be just like one of the volunteer mothers, able to transform compassion into being enthusiastic in serving others. This will allow me to care about the happiness of others at the same time I am taking care of my own happiness.

6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?

In this case study, we combined the social territory, art and humanities, language territory, integration territory, and applied the skills learned in the computer lessons into the study. In the social territory, by in-depth probing into the drama club, the research team can have a deeper understanding on the establishment, operation and growth of a volunteer organization. In art and humanity territory, by going through the Logo design and mascot, the members of the research team can present the connotation of the volunteer organization through graphics. In language territory, Ms. Chen Huei-mei of the drama club will be guiding the research team in the skills of storytelling, and allowing them to practice their skills in the first grade classrooms. In the integration territory, group leader Ms. Ciou Siou-sang will be guiding the study member to know the shaping of a drama, which allows them to understand the process of forming a drama from sketch to complete performance. Also, the research team was allowed to participate in the fifth grade's drama activity to help them know many details are needed for composing an activity. In the end, during the production process, from the interviews, sending and organizing the surveys, organizing and analyzing the data, experiencing the activity, making the pie chart and creating of online puzzles, we are able to realize that continuation of exploring, thinking, and organizing are needed in a study. At the end, we will organize and present the entire case study on the web page. There, the presentation of the entire web page is the integrated exhibit of the outcome of our learning.

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Project Elements

1) What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your CyberFair project?

We use computer, voice recorder, digital camera, Internet, USB flash disk, copier, printer, computer softwares and interviews. We are used Computer and single beam projector during group discussion meetings. The digital camera and voice recorder are used to record the content of the interviews. The flash disk is used to store the data processed in the computer classroom. We are used copier and printer for copying and printing information for the team members to read. We can use E-mail and message boards for communication and leave messages, and also we can use Google and Yahoo Answers for finding information. Telephone is used for contacting the volunteer mothers. We are using Namo for making web pages, using Dreamweaver and Course builder for creating online puzzles, using PhotoImpact for processing photos and graphics, using Microsoft Word for inputting organized data, using Excel for creating pie chart based on the data collected from the surveys.

2) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person.

Yanping Elementary School Drama Club, has been established for eight years. In this case study, through the help of the group leader Ciou Siou-fang, we were able to contact the other three past leaders, who are Ms. Cai Shu-fen, Ms. Gao Yu-jhu, and Ms. Chen Huei-mei to help us with our study. First, we asked the group leader Ciou Siou-fang and Ms. Cai Shu-fen for giving us brief introductions into the establishment, the operation style and the contents of the jobs of the drama club. Then they were asked to be interviewed by the research team in order to allow the children to gain further understanding on the jobs of the drama club. Then, through the introduction from Ms. Chen Huei-mei, the children were able to gain the initial understanding on the skills of storytelling. Also, through the introduction of the group leader Ciou Siou-fang on the topic of the process of the shaping of a play, the children were able to realize that a play is formed by a series of labors and cooperation by many people. Through participating in the activities with the volunteers, such as storytelling activities, Christmas play rehearsals, and fifth grade competitive activities, the members of the research team also gain a deeper impression on the giving and the effort of the drama club.

3) What has been the impact of your project on your community?

Even though the Yanping Elementary School Drama Club has been established for eight years, the people only help with a blurry impression about this organization. The people are not familiar with the actual jobs and operations about this drama club. After the completion of this web page based on the case study, which will be placed on the school's web site, it will provide a good reference for the teachers, parents of the school and also for other volunteer associations in other schools. It will allow others to gain more understanding on the operation and the services of the volunteer association. It will allow the spirit of volunteering to sprout and grow slowly like a tree and reach into the hearts of the people in the community.

4) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?

We want to thank Ms. Cai Shu-fen,Ms. Ciou Siou-fang ,Ms. Gao Yu-jhu and Ms. Chen Huei-mei. They helped us a lot with our project. (1)They told the story about the Yanping Elementary School Drama Club. (2)They provided written and graphic information on the web page and blog information on the Yanping Elementary School Drama Club.

(3)They provided us the chance to participate in the activities with the Yanping Elementary School Drama Club. (4)They helped us in contacting the members in the drama club and help in completion of the surveys.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

Before studying the Yanping Elementary School Drama Club, we had only a shallow impression about the drama club to be just some people telling stories and performing out dramas. However, after a few months of interviews and probing, we discovered that the drama club is a group with conscientious structure. They set up perfect plans for activities no matter whether it is a big deal such as the Christmas drama performances or a peanut job like supporting the classes' morning activities. They have also set a standard of self-improvement, talent lessons, and reading and drama lessons. Therefore, the drama club is able to keep growing and expanding. After completing this case study, the impression of the operation models of the drama club has become more and more impressive. We have discovered that each success of an activity is accumulated from a series of careful planning on every small detail. It was done by the effort of many volunteer workers behind the scene, and it was shaped by countless discussions and reviews. We have seen the best example of cooperation in the Yanping Elementary School Drama Club through the dividing works and cooperation by the volunteer mothers, which we should all learn from.

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