Integral TasksWhile in the coffee shop, students were engaged in activities for a clear
purpose; that is, they contributed to the operation of the coffee shop through
the completion of integral tasks, such as preparing baked goods, serving
customers, and operating the cash register. Their active involvement in these integral
tasks impacted them in two ways: it helped students to work together, and
it gave students a taste of the realities and pressures of an actual employment
setting. Hannah and Marion described how the activities of the coffee shop
supported and in fact demanded collaboration and interaction amongst the
students. Hannah then explained how this kind of communication occurred only in the coffee shop and not the classroom. [The coffee shop] is different from other classes because when you are in class, when we are in the class, or other students are in the class, there's not a lot of time to talk. Everybody is busy for learning. But our class, we go to the kitchen, we work together. We talk. We help each other. Rouda who was actively involved in her placement at the time of her interview, saw the link between the integral activities she did in the coffee shop and the activities she did in her placement. Despite the fact that they were two very different settings, she felt that she was prepared to work in the childcare after being in the coffee shop. The cafeteria [coffee shop], is like a real job because you are doing everything as work. You are not thinking about doing it for nothing. this is your job and you have to do it. |
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