307 Last Free Write

The end of the semester is usually a very stressful time-as this semester comes to a close i have to admit that i've never been more stressed out in my life thus far. Not only is there a lot of work to complete between my EDU classes, especially my 312 and 309 classes. In 312 we have an integrated unit, and in 309 we have a child study. In addition to a good 40 pages i'm in the process of writing i am finishing up my fieldwork at the elementary school. I have completed all of my hours but haven't taught my 3 lessons yet. April vacation at the school was last week, but i was told by administration it was the week before, therefore my lessons were pushed back because of this mistake and miscommunication of information. In teaching my lessons i will be doing on thursday and friday i have a lot of planning to get done for them.

I am completely done with projects, papers, and lessons for this class (EDU 307) which is good that i had time to get it done ahead of time, however, i still have my paper for 414 to finish which is honestly stressing me out because i'm stuck a little bit in how i want to organize it. I have some good ideas but no real direction for it because i haven't had time to sit and think about it to map it all out. 

The end of the semester is a stressful time for college students-getting work done and wrapping up the year. Being a residence life employee (Resident assistant: RA) even more stress has been added to my life. The end of the semester is difficult for me, but i've been through it many times before. However, my residents (the majority of them freshman) have yet to go through finals and move-out time. in addition to helping my residents get through their finals as one of 10 RA's in my building i am required to check out residents that are moving out during finals week-sitting at the front desk of my building for a total of 35 hours the week of final exams. Residents that are moving out of the building during finals will move their things out, and come downstairs to the front desk to let the RA's at the desk know that they need to be checked out of their room. RA's will grab the appropriate paperwork and go to the residents room with them to collect their key and fill out the forms. each shift is 3 hours and each RA has 30 to 35 hours of desk sitting to check out residents from the building. After residents are completely out of the building on friday of finals week RA's clean the rooms and inspect the rooms so that we too can leave for summer vacation. In addition to all of this i need to find time to study for my finals, pack my own room up, and clean my own room to move-out the day after all residents on campus have left. 

I am also coordinating relay for life for my sorority's chapter of Delta Phi Epsilon and planing a final community service project for my sisters. FIguring out if everyone is registered, making sure there are enough tents for sisters to sleep in and much more is a headache and a half but i know once this weekend is over, it will be better!

to say i am stressed is a complete understatement. I know i have been stressed before, but for some reason this semester is just killing me slowly. The upside is that it will be over in 3 weeks and the summer vacation will be here. A summer full of 4 summer classes, and working 60 hours a week. Not much of a break, but i'll take it for a change of pace at this point. 

EDU 414 blog post: Free Write

One of my best friends got married last weekend on April 14th, i was one of her bridesmaids! My friend is 27 and got married in clinton ct. it was a wonderful weekend of activities! on thursday the entire wedding party went to dinner, friday night we had the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner with everyone followed by the bridal party sleep over. it was quaint and a fun weekend! on saturday we all woke up early to get ready and have our hair done and get ready for the wedding. The photographer came over to take pictures of everyone getting ready, then the florist came over and we grabbed our flowers and headed to the limo to get to the church. The ceremony was short and very lovely. the entire wedding party got into one limo and we all headed over to the reception in cromwell. after we arrived the bridal party was taken to a separate  area in the hotel to have a little bit of food and take more pictures before our entrance into the hall with the guests. At the wedding, there was lots of dancing and good food. I loved seeing everyone from camp -which is how we all know each other. it was a great ceremony, a wonderful reception, and a very memorable day. I love weddings, and this was the only wedding i've been in to say we had a great day would be an understatement!

Free Write EDU 307

Today was the hall olympics-an event where each of the 9 residence halls on campus gather together to compete against each other in various sports like dodgeball, volleyball, clothes-relay, 3-leg race, spirit cheer, bouncy ball relay, tug of war, scavenger hunt and more.
Each hall designs a t-shirts for the participants to wear with something creative on it. This year the building im a CC (RA) in decided to get dark blue shirts that say "Farnham 2012" on the front, the F is the facebook "F" and on the back they say "you know you LIKE us" brownell hall had black shirts with a danger label on them. Wilkinson went with a jersey shore theme with " we ARE the situation" and hickersons "hick "earth" son" tried to win over the judges with their go-green reference.

Farnham participated in the spirirt cheer which is a dance that each hall creates. Every year dodgeball, basketball and tug of war get very competitive. This year farnham made it to the very last round of the dodgeball competition! it was intense! Farnham beat our 3 halls to get to the last round, and lost in the last few seconds of the game. For basketball Farnham had a shot this year, a lot of the basketball players live in farnham and it came in handy for the olympics today! we won the first game but lost the second. at the end of the day, we didn't come in last so thats fine by farnham!

Which picture book touched your life?

The silver slippers book was the picture book that touched my life. Many books from my childhood i remember reading, my parents read to my brother and i a lot as children and encouraged us to read and enjoy reading from a young age. This book was my favorite book and would read it with my parents and grandparents until it was so worn out that it was falling apart and had to get  new one. I think i got this book at the book fair at our school when i was in or K-2 school and probably only wanted it because it was about ballet and because it came with a small necklace of silver ballet slippers. I remember reading this book over and over with my parents until i could almost recite the entire book to them. Something about this book made me happy, it might have been the subject of dance, and the pictures which i loved how they were drawn! This book is all about conquering something. I think i enjoy the message of this book as well. A little girl did not think she was a good enough dancer even though her parents reassured otherwise, so the little girl put in practice time and her parents bought her silver slippers on a necklace and the little girl did very well in her dance recital. I like the book for the message it conveys "good things happen when you believe in yourself" growing up i was always the tallest girl in my class, and for that reason was sometimes picked on in the younger grades-i usually just brushed it off but i think it hurt my self esteem. I think this was one of the main reasons my parents really liked this book for me. I don't know where my copy of this book is, but i loved and still continue to love this book. 

Poetry EDU 307

Growing up i loved shel silverstein poems the most! i had books of his poetry and i used to read them all the time! my favorites are:

I partially liked his poems but i also enjoyed the illustrations he puts into his books!

As for my own poetry-i don't really write poems in my free time. Being in a sorority there are certain times when we have to write little poems for a sister or little sayings. I've written a few that were sufficient for the occasion. 

It makes me hurt to see you leave,

But I will never forget what you’ve taught me

We've gone through a lot together through the years

Sometimes laughter and sometimes tears



I'll always be there for you,

Even after we’re grownup

I’ll always love you my big sister



You are my sister,

And my very best friend



You are a part of my life,

And never will you ever leave my heart.

All the times we've shared together

Our hearts will never part.



Don't let anyone take my place as your lil sis,

They'll never change our years together.

But even if they do just

Remember we’ll be big and little; sisters forever





I’ll love you all through life

I'll never let us part,

Because you'll always have that special place

that only a big sister can have that’s right here in my heart. 

Another poem i had to write for a sorority function about my sister-

My little sister has a generous and loving heart

She is funny, caring, and smart

I love her so much as only a big sis can

When life gets rough I’ll hold out my hand

Big and little sisters forever you and me

Together forever and always that’s how it’ll be

from the moment we met I just felt a connection

and as your big sis I will always be here for your protection

you’re driven, a leader, accomplished and kind

sweet, beautiful, and DPhiE refined

A special branch on my family tree you will be

Smiling in pictures right here next to me

A big sister hug, plenty of surprises and laughs

A shoulder to cry on, and adventures on many life paths

I love you little sis, and I hope you love me too So little sis-won’t you be my Delta Mu?

basically the only poetry i have written has been for sorority and for my sisters. 

My sister is my heart

she lights my darkest days

with the sparkle in her eye.

my sister is my past

i have memories only we can share

she remembers, she forgives

she accepts me as i am

my sister is my strength 

she helps me find my smile

my sister is like no one else

she is my most treasured friend

she is my rock, my inspiration,

though impossible to define

in a word-she is my sister.

EDU: Free Write: Dreams

Most people say that they don't remember their dreams, i however dream a lot at night and usually remember at least some of what i dream. Typically these dreams are absolutely ridiculous and make absolutely no sense. I'm not so sure if i believe that dreams mean something that are connected to your subconscious but i'm willing to read up about it and have this theory backed up with scientific facts.

Apparently the recall of dreams is very unreliable and according to studies done, women recall dreams better than men do. Recall of dreams usually occurs when someone wakes up in the midst of a dream causing them to recall what was happening easier. According to studies almost every mammal-humans and animals alike dream every night. There are 4 stages of the sleep cycle which repeat a average of 4 to 5 times a night. Most people dream every night and multiple times per night it's just that we don't remember most dreams unless we're dreaming them in the earlier morning before we wake up.

Some believe that dreams mean something and stand for something in your life. Online you can even find what symbols of your dreams mean. While i'm not sure if this is completely true it might be fun irregardless.

Last night i had the strangest dream that i was in a kayak and saw people on the side of the river i was kayaking on.

now-1.) i've never kayaked in my entire 23 years of existence and 2.) i don't know anyone who would stand on the side of a river at night who i would come into contact with to talk to on the side of a river.

apparently in an online dream dictionary having a kayak appear in your dream means:

Kayak

To see a kayak or go kayaking in your dream indicates that you are emotionally well balanced. You are in tune with your feelings. Alternatively, the dream means that you are succeeding through your own willpower, determination and drive. Keep up your energy!

to see a river in your dream means the following:

River

see a raging or an overflowing river in your dream signifies that your life is feeling out of control. You are feeling emotionally unsettled. Alternatively, this dream means you are ready to confront life's challenges and life's twists and turns. 

to have people in your dream means that you have been thinking about them a lot, or you are trying to solve a problem with someone in your life.

I must say that i honestly don't believe this about the dream dictionaries and what symbols in a dream mean but its still fun to think about how ridiculous some dreams can be and what they might have meant. 

EDU: What/ why do you read?

I typically don't have time to read during the academic year, if i do have time to read it's required reading for classes that take up my time.

It sounds absolutely pathetic that i don't know what i like to read, but i don't. I think this is partially because i don't have time to really settle down and read a good book.  As a kid i was a slow reader, I was a good reader and was good at pronouncing words and sounding things out but i had trouble comprehending what i read and i read it really slow. As a result, reading was something that i enjoyed doing but it took me longer than other students and i recognized this. In 4th grade i thought i was not as smart as the other kids in my class but it happened that i needed a little bit of extra help and after that i was good to go. I think that 4th grade is a pivotal time for students and literature and i think that because i was so discouraged at this time in my life because of reading and literacy i think it translated into my teen years as well.

Sophomore year in high school we had to do a book project where we read a book and watched the movie afterwards and compared the two together. I thought this was interesting because you go to compare and contrast the similarities and differences between the two. Since then i have really enjoyed reading books that are also movies and comparing the two with plot, characters and details.

i've enjoyed: the blind side, the last song, the sisterhood of the traveling pants, the lucky one, and when i was in middle school i had a strange obsession with the princess diaries series.

In high school we were required to read the catcher in the rye and while everyone else in my class hated the book i somehow found it interesting and  a good read. I think this was partially thanks to my english teacher; she was so passionate about this book, she really always liked the book and she was my favorite teacher so i found the book interesting.

I also enjoy poetry in books like-where the sidewalk ends. I like when things rhyme and i found these poems a great source of entertainment when i was younger. I also enjoyed a joke book when i was younger that i only remember one joke out of but i thought it was the funniest thing i had ever heard and asked my parents this joke probably everyday. "how do you know which end of the worm is the face?...tickle it and see which ends laugh!" i thought it was hilarious and felt the need to ask everyone i came across this joke until one day this book went missing. My parents probably hid the book because i was annoying back then especially with this book.

I enjoy reading, i wish i had more time to find books to read that i liked-i'm getting a kindle so i think that perhaps that will encourage me to have the opportunity now to finally find what i like the most with literature.

Free Write EDU 307: Fieldwork

This semester i am taking 2 EDU classes that require fieldwork-312 and 309. For EDU 312 i am in a 2nd grade class and for EDU 309 i am in a kindergarten classroom. Both of these placements are in the same elementary school: Jerrome Harrison Elementary School in North Branford. I only go to the school on fridays all day as the rest of the week i have full days of classes where i start classes early and don't get out of classes until late at night. This friday my fieldwork placement experience was a unique one to say the least!

Yesterday was Dr. Seuss' birthday-and read across america! The school had a school-wide celebration! it was hollywood themed. The students were dressed up-the boys wore suits and dress pants with jackets and ties and the girls wore dresses! the entire school was dressed up including teachers who were wearing tuxedos or floor length dresses and sunglasses. The students throughout the day would get to go to the gym where they had a red carpet set up with plants lining the side of the red carpet, velvet ropes marking off the red carpet, tents with strings of lights, an area where students can get interviewed on the red carpet and video recorded. Students were asked "what are you wearing?" "what is your favorite book?" "what book do you have with you today? whats it about?"

students then got to go to the other side of the gym to the snack tent where they had rented a wedding tent they put round tables with center pieces, had different snacks like red velvet cupcakes and juice in fancy plastic cups. There was a violinist playing music in the gym as well. When students left the snack area they went out the gym doors onto a party bus limo to set a 15 minute timer and read on the "rockstar reading limo" then they went back into the gym where they were read a story by someone who works for the town and they went back to their classroom. taking about 45 minutes all together. Its a fun day set aside for students to have some fun and have the emphasis on reading and literacy. After the kindergarten class got back into their room they talked about their favorite things that they saw and that happened and wrote it down.
all in all the day was somewhat interrupted by this unique section of their day but the students loved it, as did all the teachers.

EDU 414: Free Write- Life of an RA

Resident Assistant...known to SCSU as CC's (community Coordinators) or CA's (Community Advisors) don't just get free housing, we work for it. There are many responsibilities that CC's face everyday especially in a freshman / sophomore residence hall that aren't necessarily always seen. To better understand some of the questions residents ask or some of the things they do that all RA's, CC's or CA's encounter watch a short youtube clip from another university.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5XA7_8_FvA

i can give you a different account-things residents say or do and think that their CC's won't find out or don't know:

-drinking in their room with loud music on-as if we don't know

-stealing things out of the common area, or bathroom.

-moving tables and couches in the common area into their bedrooms and claiming that "thats just a big pile of clothes" in their room covering it up.

-locking themselves out of their rooms and blaming their roommate

-"forgetting" their hootloot they needed to swipe into the building and somehow they "lost it last week" 

-choosing to not leave the building during a firedrill

-coloring on floor meeting signs hung on the CC's doors or walls

-vandalizing door tags

-ripping things off bulletin boards

-not showing up to mandatory floor meetings and saying they "didn't know we had one" oh? you didn't see the signs we put up ALL over the floor? 

-i "fear for my life, living with my roommate" 

-"if i get hit by a car in the crosswalk... i get free tuition

-"this building is a communist community" 

Most residents don't notice all the things we do to make the floor and building a welcoming, positive community. 

-monthly bulletin boards

-monthly door tags

-9 programs per semester, per CC or CA

and so much more.

the residents who do remember 

Free Write: EDU: Volunteering!

"I was taught that the world had a lot of problems; that i could struggle and change them; that intellectual and material gifts brought the privilege and responsibility of sharing with others less fortunate; and that service is the rent each of us pays for living, the very purpose of life and not something you do in your spare time or after you have reached your personal goals." 

I have always been an involved person since i can remember. As a child my parents used to take us to volunteer at walks, and charity events all the time for various causes. I grew up understanding that volunteering was a good deed that doesn't require a pat on the back or any recognition.  

In middle school i was involved in after school activities and of course dance class everyday after school. When i got to high school i was on the track and field team and i danced everyday after school after practice, i was also the editor of the yearbook junior and senior year, i was on the latin JCL team, peer mentors, helping hands, SADD, service crew, both the musicals, as well as volunteered outside school with MADD including MADD Youth Leadership Power Camp every summer. Being involved and volunteering was just something i did-it makes me who i am, and i enjoy it! 

When i got to college i decided to join Habitat for Humanity because i had always wanted to volunteer with habitat but my high school didn't have a habitat chapter. While in habitat i had the opportunity to go on builds in the new haven and hamden area as well as 2 spring break trips in 2010 and 2011. These experiences were some of my very best times in college. I held office on the E-board of Habitat for 2009-2010 school year as the Treasurer. During the same year i was also the treasurer of Southern's Future Teachers Organization where i attended CEA (Connecticut Education Association) once a month on friday nights where we had the opportunity to sit in a board room in hartford with CEA state members and discuss education as well as plan events for the connecticut universities: SCSU, CCSU, QU, UCONN, ECSU, and WCSU. This was an experience like no other, i really looked forward to those late night friday meetings every month to talk about the career i have always been so passionate about! because of my office position and my subsequent affiliation with NEA and CEA i was able to volunteer with kids at schools as well as attend conferences with elementary school teachers. 

After getting into Delta Phi Epsilon sorority on southerns campus i decided to run for a position my first semester and for this year i was the coordinator of community service! i was able to coordinate community service for our chapter to participate in! This year we were able to participate in the day of service with SCSU service team, we made cards for the troops, mailed care packages to the troops, wrote cards to the hartford children's hospital, wrote personal cards to 3 girls on the website 'make a child smile', held 3 American Red Cross Blood Drive's on campus, and are working on planning an event at a elder care facility to have a tea party where we do arts and crafts and get to know them! 

We just finished our 3rd and final blood drive of the year! in total this year over 900 lives were saved from the 3 blood drives that were held on southerns campus. 

I have always known community service as a part of life, i try and live by the quotation: 

"Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you." -Princess Diana

I whole-heartidly believe that if everyone were to give to others and do nice things for others then the world would be a better place. 

Blog Post 414: Free Write-Stumble Upon

The internet can be a great resource as well as a place to kill time or distract yourself if you're a procrastinator. I myself, don't procrastinate- but sometimes you can get lost on the internet and kill an hour.
A friend told me about a website called "stumbleupon" stumble upon is a website where you can get random web pages based on the interests you input.I put traveling as one of my interests and have been stumbling upon traveling places! I love to travel-i didn't get on an airplane until 2009 and i was a junior in college. My older brother was graduating from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott Arizona and my family flew out there to see him graduate. After flying to Arizona in 2009, in 2011 i flew to florida with SCSU habitat for humanity. After taking these trips it has made me have the itch to travel ever since. I want to teach during the year and travel during my summers. A few of the places i want to go to:

-California
-Florida
-colorado
-Nevada
-North Carolina
-South Carolina
-michigan
-minnesota
-Arizona
-Ireland
-Italy
-Greece
-norway
-Austria
-Australia
-England, london
-Canada
-Oregon
-France
-Netherlands
-stonehenge
-Chicago
-Switzerland


Stumble upon website: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2oGtWA/consumerist.com/2010/08/10-tips-for-first-time-travelers.html/

tips for 1st time travelers! good information to know!

I want to travel during the summers and take tons of pictures and collect artifacts to bring back to my classroom to make my classroom a culturally enriching environment!

Free Write: CC All Hall Program!

As a CC at Southern each hall staff is required to do a an All-Hall program where all the CC's work on an educational program together! Each semester this is a requirement. Last semester my staff decided on doing a program as a spoof off of the book "The other Wes Moore" This book was the freshman read book so we decided to use it to help us in creating an educational program around choices. Because our building has 2 CC's named Marcus-we decided to make our program called "The other Farnham Marcus!" each floor in our building had a different activity and a different choice. I was on the student involvement floor which helped students get involved and learn about the different activities that were offered on our campus!

This semester our staff decided to do an education program about southern campus myths called "better watch yo back!" Our program is all about what myths students hear about our campus since freshman year, just a few:

-Everyone gains the freshman 15
-If you get hit by a car in the crosswalk you get free tuition for that year
-if your roommate commits suicide you get a 4.0 GPA for that semester
-if theres a fire in your dorm and all of your stuff gets ruined, southern pays for everything
-all of the dorms are haunted

For our program all of the CC's took videos of each scene and made a movie out of it for our program presentation! Basically its a video with serious myths proven wrong while the CC's that the resident usually see as strict or "the bad guys" completely embarrassing ourselves. It was so much fun to film as well as fun to plan, i think our residents will really enjoy it! and hopefully learn something about the SCSU myths!

Blog Post: Free Write 307-my life as a tall person

What is societies definition of "tall"? for women its far different than for men. A 6 foot man is considered average height while a 6 foot woman is considered tall. 

"ok everyone, line up by height: shortest to tallest." ....my worst nightmare. I'm not quite sure when it dawned on me when i was tall, but i've always been taller than most people my age since Elementary school. I think i might have realized i was above average in height when i was 13 and a random woman in the grocery store asked for my autograph because she said she saw me on TV and couldn't believe she saw a UCONN Husky basketball player in person-i'm no UCONN husky-but i was also only 13. I've been told since i can remember that i was tall-but never really thought i was. In my house-i'm the shortest person-growing up in a house with a 7 foot tall dad, a 6'1 mom, and a 6 foot 6 older brother, I never thought i was out of the ordinary. 

Why is it that in society people feel its necessary and socially acceptable to approach a stranger and rudely ask them about their height or comment on my appearance and the fact that i am somewhat taller than average? i have come up with a few creative answers for the ridiculous questions people ask me about being tall...

1.) Do you play basketball?

Response No...do you play miniature golf? 

2.) You dance? you don't play basketball?

Response: i'm also a gymnast and i clothesline myself on the uneven bars every time!

3.) wow! you're really tall...for a girl! 

Response: since when is it not ok for girls to be tall? ...i'm human too.

4.) You're so lucky you're tall! 

Response: ...try finding clothes that are long enough...not so jealous now are we?

Questions people have asked my dad:

1.) hows the weather up there?

response: its sunny up here...but if i spit on the ground it'll be raining where you are.

2.) are your legs real?

response:  there is no answer to this question...this is merely peoples stupidity and inconsiderate behavior for human kind. 

On a daily basis being tall is something i have to accommodate to. My old car wasn't the most roomy car for someone who has unproportionately long legs. I wouldn't consider myself to be an out of the ordinary tall-person but i get used to people staring wherever i go. I would love to be average height, i've always wished this-but i guess ya get what ya get and ya don't get upset!

EDU 414 Free Write: Dance

I am a dancer. I have always been a dancer for as long as i can remember. When looking back at my life in retrospect i cannot remember a time without dance. My first memories are going to pick out ballet shoes and tap shoes and going to dance class. I started dancing when i was 4-my parents saw me dancing around the house and didn't know where i picked up acting like a ballerina but thought it was time to sign me up for dance classes. I started at age 4 taking ballet and tap classes for 2 hours a week. Wednesday nights were dance night and i looked forward to wednesdays all week because i knew it meant dance day!    As i got older every year my parents would sign me up again for dance classes-each year adding a new dance. I took Ballet, Tap, and Jazz from the age of 5 to the age of 10 when my dance teacher put me on the competition team and i took Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Lyric, Modern, and Hip-hop. I danced 15 hours a week-3 hours a day 5 days a week and depending on when competitions were that season-i'd have practices on saturdays and sundays or be away at competitions all weekend. 

For a few years i took pointe as well but never competed in modern or pointe. When i got to high school i still danced, everyday. I would go to school all day and after school have club meetings, then i'd run off to track and field practice and go straight to dance rehearsals at night, go home, do homework, eat dinner. My days were busy and full of involvement! My parents would always tell me that maybe i should stop dancing because it took up so much of my time-but i got good grades in school and enjoyed being involved and really active! When i graduated high school i thought that would be the end of dance for me, but i got to college and after that many years of continuous dancing i couldn't just not dance. Out of all the styles of dance i've done Tap dancing is hands down my favorite. I decided to keep dancing Tap and hip hop at my studio once a week just to keep active and try and have a form of stress relief in my life still. 

I'm 23 and i still Dance, i help teach kids dance classes and take adult tap classes with my dance studios alum on tuesday nights. Dance has made me who i am. Dance has taught me so much since i was 4 and the past 18 years wouldn't have been the same without it. I live, breathe, talk, and obsess over dance still. I could have far worse habits and i remind my parents of this. I love to dance, i love everything about it. Dance taught me discipline, hard work, team work, perseverance, commitment, dedication, and has brought me nothing but happiness. I've been injured so much in the past mostly from running injuries and dance injuries but i wouldn't trade it for anything and i would take all the injuries all over again if it means i can dance. 

Tap dancing is something that i think you can't just decide one day you're going to pick it up and start tap dancing. Tap dancing is something that usually you have to start learning at a younger age to gain the basic skills. I think this is what i like about it! i also love the way that you can make music while you dance. Making sound and an expression of art i just adore. 

I don't have time for TV much these days with everything else going on in my busy life but my favorite TV show is "So You Think You Can Dance?"  here is a youtube clip from So you think you can dance-a tap dance clip!! one of my favorites!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul1RJ0gvdLg&feature=related

EDU 307 Free Write

Resident Assistant...known to SCSU as CC's (community Coordinators) or CA's (Community Advisors) don't just get free housing, we work for it. There are many responsibilities that CC's face everyday especially in a freshman / sophomore residence hall that aren't necessarily always seen. To better understand some of the questions residents ask or some of the things they do that all RA's, CC's or CA's encounter watch a short youtube clip from another university.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5XA7_8_FvA

i can give you a different account-things residents say or do and think that their CC's won't find out or don't know:

-drinking in their room with loud music on-as if we don't know

-stealing things out of the common area, or bathroom.

-moving tables and couches in the common area into their bedrooms and claiming that "thats just a big pile of clothes" in their room covering it up.

-locking themselves out of their rooms and blaming their roommate

-"forgetting" their hootloot they needed to swipe into the building and somehow they "lost it last week" 

-choosing to not leave the building during a firedrill

-coloring on floor meeting signs hung on the CC's doors or walls

-vandalizing door tags

-ripping things off bulletin boards

-not showing up to mandatory floor meetings and saying they "didn't know we had one" oh? you didn't see the signs we put up ALL over the floor? 

-i "fear for my life, living with my roommate" 

-"if i get hit by a car in the crosswalk... i get free tuition

-"this building is a communist community" 

Most residents don't notice all the things we do to make the floor and building a welcoming, positive community. 

-monthly bulletin boards

-monthly door tags

-9 programs per semester, per CC or CA

and so much more.

the residents who do realize all that we do for the building, enjoy stopping by my room when my doors open or come to programs we put on for them. residents come and ask for help with homework or just talk to you about whats going on with their day. I love my job for the  wonderful hall director and CC staff i have and i also love my job for my residents-even the ones the cause issues or unnecessary floor/ building drama. It happens that there are times when my CC phone will ring at 4am and i have to wake up and respond to an incident and at that moment i'm not entirely too fond of my job or the residents causing the issues. However, at the end of the day-its all worth it. 

This semester i am taking 2 EDU classes that require fieldwork-312 and 309. For EDU 312 i am in a 2nd grade class and for EDU 309 i am in a kindergarten classroom. Both of these placements are in the same elementary school: Jerrome Harrison Elementary School in North Branford. I only go to the school on fridays all day as the rest of the week i have full days of classes where i start classes early and don't get out of classes until late at night. This friday my fieldwork placement experience was a unique one to say the least!

Yesterday was Dr. Seuss' birthday-and read across america! The school had a school-wide celebration! it was hollywood themed. The students were dressed up-the boys wore suits and dress pants with jackets and ties and the girls wore dresses! the entire school was dressed up including teachers who were wearing tuxedos or floor length dresses and sunglasses. The students throughout the day would get to go to the gym where they had a red carpet set up with plants lining the side of the red carpet, velvet ropes marking off the red carpet, tents with strings of lights, an area where students can get interviewed on the red carpet and video recorded. Students were asked "what are you wearing?" "what is your favorite book?" "what book do you have with you today? whats it about?"

students then got to go to the other side of the gym to the snack tent where they had rented a wedding tent they put round tables with center pieces, had different snacks like red velvet cupcakes and juice in fancy plastic cups. There was a violinist playing music in the gym as well. When students left the snack area they went out the gym doors onto a party bus limo to set a 15 minute timer and read on the "rockstar reading limo" then they went back into the gym where they were read a story by someone who works for the town and they went back to their classroom. taking about 45 minutes all together. Its a fun day set aside for students to have some fun and have the emphasis on reading and literacy. After the kindergarten class got back into their room they talked about their favorite things that they saw and that happened and wrote it down.
all in all the day was somewhat interrrupted by this unique section of their day but the students loved it, as did all the teachers.

307 Free-Write-Habitat for Humanity!

Spring break is a time for relaxing, having a break from school, and recharging your batteries to finish out the rest of the semester. My sorority sisters have gone to Florida to disney, a cruise to the bahamas and other fun things. However, for the past 2 spring breaks i've gone away with SCSU Habitat for Humanity! i will be graduating next may 2013 and when i look back on my college career i remember habitat as one of my favorite experiences hands-down! Last year i was the treasurer of SCSU Habitat For Humanity and the treasurer of Southerns Future Teachers Organization. I have to say that although i really enjoyed SFTO i more so enjoyed Habitat.

In high school i really wished we had a habitat chapter or habitat club, but we didn't. As soon as i got to SCSU i really sought out habitat and went to as many events as i could. It wasn't until my 2nd year in habitat that i went on the spring break trip. My first year going on the spring break trip myself and 12 others ventured to Harrisburg Pennsylvania to help the habitat for humanity chapter work on hundred year old houses or fix up already finished habitat homes in the area. Our group split into 2 teams, 1 team went to fix up the already finished houses and my team went to completely gut hundred year old habitat homes! I absolutely LOVED this-i got to use power tools that my parents would have never let me go near before this experience, i learned new skills, conquered a few fears, got really messy in dirt and dust and had an absolutely phenomenal time with my fellow SCSU habitaters! We ripped up old floor boards and could see straight into a basement, climbed a latter into the basement because there were no stairs, ripped out walls, sawed out posts and boards, cut out floor boards, ripped up a deck and installed new boards in a deck. I also sawed the long ways through a nail and got to keep it as my souvenir-its sitting proudly on my bookshelf at my house. For this trip we stayed in a church rec-house and slept on air mattress' on the floor, played ping pong in the church rec house basement, played old school N-64, played pranks on each other and our advisors, went to hershey chocolate world on our day off and made friendships into a habitat family i will never forget. We were exhausted this week, we didn't sleep much, and we worked a lot but i wouldn't trade this experience for anything in this world. Looking at a finished product of what we did to help someone else in need is a feeling that cannot be replaced or forgotten. While my sisters were soaking up the sun in Florida i was wearing a hard hat and ripping up floor boards in the freezing PA cold-it was wonderful! 

My second habitat trip was to west palm beach florida! This was only the second time i had been on an airplane and when we got to florida i had to drive the other van of our habitat members around for the week. We stayed at Florida Atlantic University in their dorms-which was a nice change to have a bed but it wasn't as fun because we were in rooms of 4 people and all of our habitat family was split up in a dorm hallway-we wanted to all be together like we were in PA-one house all of us. We spent the majority of the time all in the same small dorm room all 13 of us-playing games late at night. Our work this week consisted of painting the exterior of 2 houses-trim and boards in the sweltering 89 degree florida sunny heat. Sunscreen was our best friend that week. I had never been to florida before so it was a great experience to go somewhere new! SCSU also got to work all week with UCLA habitat-it was so interesting to hear all about where they were from, what their school was like and how they were different from us! on our day off we went to the beach, and took a boat taxi to a little island for the day, we went to some really neat restaurants and had a great time!  it was such a wonderful experience that nothing can relate to and nothing can top that feeling of satisfaction of a spring break well-used! 

This year however, i haven't had time to volunteer with habitat, so i won't be going on spring break. This thought upsets me so much just because i want that experience again and i know that people wait to have that experience and i need to let someone else have the habitat experience and the habitat memories of their own-its just something i really love to do. I'm lucky i was able to go twice! This spring break for a few days my sister and i will be going up to boston to visit one of my best friend who goes to Boston University. It won't be the same as helping habitat families but i know it will still be fun for the time we have away from CT staying in her apartment and exploring our favorite city! 

I still love habitat for humanity and hope that some day i'll have the time and the money to contribute even more to such an awesome cause!

EDU 307: Write about writing

Writing: The activity or skill of marking coherent words on paper and composing text, the activity or occupation of composing text for publication, written work especially with regard to its style or quality, books, stories, articles, or other written words, a sequence of letters, words, or symbols marked on a paper or other surface.

I'm not entirely sure what to write about writing. I think that writing is not only writing on a paper so you can visually see words on a page but also spoken. In the new digital age that our society is in we have to start opening our eyes to not just the written word but also put more weight on the spoken word. Sometimes people will talk about how if its not written down its not a "contract" or its easy to go back on your word if you're frequently a dishonest person-this i find to be true. However, i feel that the spoken word has much more than the written word in some circumstances. Spoken word has inflection and emotion attached to it-yes it is true that written word can be interesting and have emotion but spoken word is attached to a person.

EDU 307: Collaborative learning

Does collaborative learning support literacy? 

Collaborative learning activities such as jigsaw activities and think, pair, shares are helpful for students to better understand material. In a jigsaw activity students will boost their self confidence when they become the "expert" when they are with their groups discussing their section or topic. When students share their answers with other groups or teach other groups about their section they start to build self confidence because other students are turning to ask them questions and students get the opportunity to act as student and teacher. 

Think, Pair, Shares are great for students because they get to think independently about their answer and then get to pair up with other students and share how they feel about a specific topic which helps students see other opinions and other answers or thoughts about the topic which they didn't originally see. 

These and many other activities help students collaborate with each other as well as learn collaboratively. This supports literacy in the classroom because students will be able to think outside the box and be able to see other opinions which broadens their horizons and allows them to become even more literate. 

414: Topic of choice Due 2/19

Vehicle: A thing used for transporting people or goods, especially on land, such as a car, truck, or cart. 

Most people have to have the newest gadget, phone, or most upgraded car or newest year SUV. I however, only wish for my vehicle to get me from point A to point B most days. I don't commute because i'm an RA on campus but needing a sturdy car is something i've thought about since my car started going down hill fast. My nissan is my 2nd car-my first was a purple sparkly station wagon a hyundai elantra-of course the highlight of owning this vehicle was my brother had to drive it all through high school until he went to school in arizona and bought his own car-a enormous truck. My Car is one of a kind...my car is falling apart in every sense of the world and is referred to as "The egg carton" by many-this i feel makes it unique. I drive a 1995 Nissan Altima and while i love my car because it gets me (usually) to where i need to be and generally gets me there on time i am in desperate need of something, shall we say in this decade.

 

when bringing my car to the auto shop to get something fixed (yep you guessed it, this happens often. The mechanics and i have quite the first name basis relationship) they can't even start my car. My car has a trick to start it-you have to use a certain side of the key and pull the key out slightly and wiggle the steering wheel to get the car to start. If this doesn't work remove the key, try it on the other side, and repeat. while it took a few months of having this car to develop this ever so scientific systematic trick i would rather be able to start a car the usual way that cars usually start-insert key, turn. 

sadly that is one of the easier things that my car has to deal with a general list of tricks i have developed to combat these issues has been developed along the last 6 years:

-The dash lights and tail lights flicker and go out while driving-usually at night because whats more convienet than that? Of course the only thing that is lit up on the dash is the clock when this happens-because i can tell you what time it is, but i can't tell you how fast i'm driving. These lights have been replaced 3 times and still the mechanics are stumped to figure out what this could be. To combat this minor issue i thought of 2 options 

   1.) Stop driving at night (not the most realistic option for a 23 year old with a very active social calendar)

or

   2.) Purchase a 10 dollar book light at barnes and noble and clip said book light onto the signal light switch pointing towards the dash. When interior lights go out i can still vaguely see how fast my car is going. The issue of the tail lights going out when this happen still prevails but the only option i see fit to combat this:

1.) don't drive near the cops-they will pull you over.

-i don't have a passenger side mirror any longer. About 2 years ago someone in the brownell parking lot decided i no longer needed my mirror....i however, beg to differ. After calling campus police to see if it was illegal to drive without a passenger side mirror i decided to combat this in the following ways:

  1.) Drive with passengers-especially on the highway who are able to look into the lanes to the back right corner of your car so they can tell you if you can switch lanes to the right and exit the highway. 

2.) Duck-tape the mirror-less nub with black tape so strangers and other road users do not point and laugh or take notice of your lack of mirror

3.) option number 1 is the only option for this situation so far which i see fit.

-The center console in my car between the drivers seat and the passenger seat falls off into the back seat on a regular basis while trying to remove and replace my GPS. I see two options to combat this issue:

1.) Glue metal part of console back onto its hinge using any sort of very sturdy glue or multiple glues-duck-tape is also an option.

2.) when option 1 doesn't work and the box falls off anyway after trying every glue sold in every store within a 20 mile radius-have the passenger in the vehicle hold onto the center console top and remove and replace GPS as necessary.

-My car has no hub caps. This i don't feel has been especially pertinent in fixing for my car as hub caps are nearly decoration to me in this situation. However, hub caps that fly off the car like paper plates taped onto the wheels is a less than convienet condition for driving. 

1.) hub caps found that were once on the car are stored in the basement for the day when you finally "get around to putting them back on" so your car isn't a complete disgrace. 

-The cassette player and radio in my car don't work any longer and the antenna doesn't revert back into my car. My cassette player has a tape that is stuck in it (the tape with the wire so you can plug your ipod into it) turning off the car and jamming various items into the cassette player helped to partially extract the tape and let the radio work for a few weeks until the radio itself stopped working. There are no ways to combat this other than to sing to yourself while you're driving-Being tone deaf this isn't an option passengers enjoy too much.

-My Heat doesn't work unless its on full blast. The heat doesn't work on settings 1,2, or 3 but works on blast. Wearing contacts in my car is never a safe option in the winter as your eyes would get so dried out from the heater in your face. 

1.) usually i just don't turn on the heat and wear mittens instead, unless I'm driving someone and they don't enjoy the winter months as much as i do in which case we turn the heat on and off regularly to try and regulate the internal temperature of the car. 

-My gas cap door doesn't open when the gas cap door button is pressed several times. As usual gas doesn't last forever and eventually this issue had to be creatively handled to solve.

1.) Hit gas cap door button several times a hyper speed, next take the gym membership key card and slide it in around the side of the gas door to pop open the door, fill up tank, body slam car and kick door closed. Try not to travel long distances where gas stations seem to be far and few between, repeat as necessary

2.) option 1 is the only successful option i have found for the past 4 years.

-Wheels squeak and shake any speed over 55. to combat this minor issue i see one option:

1.) remind the "jolly green giant" that you have places to go and it would be preferable to arrive in one piece. 

A 1995 green nissan Altima that looks much better than mine does.

The moral of the story is that yes, would it be nice to have had a new car 6 years ago when i got this car and it started going down hill? yes, it would have been helpful, and a heck of a lot safer. However, this car has gotten me through some of the best times and the worst times. Does it make me nervous that if something were to happen the air bags wouldn't necessarily deploy...yes it does but at the end of the day, it builds character and assists for a humorous blog post of my choosing. Saturday at 3pm i will be picking up my Tan/ Gold barely-driven, like-new 2006 Nissan Altima. In 11 years since the 1995 model i have to say Nissan has made some vast improvements to the model and i have to say i approve. 

My new Nissan Altima. Couldn't be happier!

I don't need the newest gadget, or the best car on the lot, or the most expensive anything because I'm creative, and sarcastic and am perfectly able of working with what i have. Life is all about working with the cards you're delt and it builds character if you approach it with the right mindset.

Family Fun Night

I've always loved school If i didn't love school then i think its safe to say i'd be going into the wrong line of work. As a kid our school used to have a lot of different things for families to do. We had book fairs and family field days, family fun nights, ice cream socials and days when parents could sign up to come into school and bring a snack or teach the class a craft to do or help out in the classroom- in kindergarten. My family was always really involved and i think that is a lot of the reason i have such a positive attitude towards learning and school in general.

One memory that jumps out at me is family fun night! every year in the spring time our elementary school:  Brewster Elementary School in Durham CT  (K-2) used to go across town to my high school: Coginchaug Regional High School's Gym and we would participate as a family against other families in fun and silly activities. My mom and my brother (who was in 2nd grade while i was in Kindergarten) were paired together and my dad and i were paired together. we participated in events like the bean bag toss, the potato sack race, the scooter race, and the broom race. My favorite was the scooter race of course. I got on the little scooter and my dad had to push me across the gym running behind me to touch the line at the far side of the gym and push me back, at the other line we would switch and he would get on the scooter and i would push him to the line and back. Of course a small kindergartener pushing her 7'1 tall father on a mini scooter made for children under 7 was quite the sight to watch. We also did something like this in the fall before it got too cold and it was family fun field day! we did water games where you have a cup with a hole on the bottom and a bucket across a line on the pavement where you had to fill up your cup at one end and put it on your head and run across the pavement to empty the cup into the other bucket and hope to fill it up to the line and beat the other team. Looking back my parents were such good sports about participating in events like this with my brother and i. They came to every book fair, every conference, my mom made all the costumes for the 2nd grade play for both my class and my brothers class, my dad showed my 1st grade class how to build a bird house and my mom made sea otter beanie babies for my classes project about the ocean unit. Inspiring, good hearted , supportive people help create children who love to learn i fully believe that.

Readers workshop

Going into readers workshop I'm not really sure what to envision to be completely honest. I googled readers workshop to maybe gain a better idea of what exactly to think. Basically this is what i found:

http://www.readersworkshop.org/

from this website i surmised the following:

1.) Readers workshop will teach students how to read and how to love reading
2.) students will explore different genres and different authors throughout the readers workshop course.
3.) students will learn how to "ask questions, make connections with prior knowledge and previously read texts, and ask questions to clarify faulty comprehension"
4.) Have peer conferences and teacher conferences
5.) mini-lessons
6.) independent reading
7.) sharing with peers
8.) Teacher instruction of small groups

this website i found to also be informative:

http://www.alpine.k12.ut.us/depts/curriculumDept/subjects/langArts/Framework/ReadersWorkshop.pdf

So far this is what i have gathered from what readers workshop means. I'm excited to explore the possibilities and to figure out what activities this entails. I'm still feeling slightly clueless about readers workshop for some reason but i am a hands-on learner and need to be fully submerged into something to get the most out of it. I think after Tuesdays class i will have a much better concept of this.

EDU 307. Glogster mishap

Last night i was working on my homework and decided to start my glogster. After getting used to the layout of glogster and all the tools right there at my disposal i started to work. An hour went by and i was so enticed and concentrated on it. I loved that it was a cool dynamic online poster and i'm always up for anything creative. I would consider myself a very artsy and creative person so i really enjoyed adding photos of my favorite books, i added photos of my favorite children's books, i even added a video of my favorite song that puts me in a good mood whenever i hear it. The background i chose was very much like my personality and i liked dragging and dropping all the elements of my page exactly where i wanted them. Each element that i added i think really represents who i am as a person.
1.) the photo i added of myself is me taking pictures with my nikon digital SLR-one of my most favorite past-times-photography!
2.) the tags i wrote words on represent luggage tags for me-i love to travel and can't wait to have the opportunity to travel outside of the US and go to all the countries or even just other states i dream about.
3.) the shadows behind the book covers because in photography i enjoy black and white photography with a lot of contrast and shadowing.
4.) the background is my favorite print because i for some reason think its happy.
5.) the children's books that i used to read as a child or the children's books i read to my preschool class in the summers when i teach!
6.) my favorite song "good life" by one republic just puts a smile on my face. life is short and it makes me happy.
7.) the notecard i wrote on halfway down my glogster is because i have always been organized-at times even too organized.

After spending a good amount of time playing around with glogster and moving things around i finally finished-i tried to save it and it wouldn't save. I tried to save my glogster a dozen times and it still wouldn't save. I'm blaming this issue not on my computer-as macs in my opinion are the far superior form of technology, But rather on the residence hall internet. Needless to say i took screen shots of my glogster so i can try my best to recreate it when i am not within range of any residence hall wireless. Having backup plans is always a good idea-especially when you're a teacher-you have to always be prepared to expect the unexpected.

Memory of Language Arts EDU 307-02

6th grade was my very first memory of language arts. 6th grade was also the first year we moved around to different classrooms-we had reading and writing: language arts. In this class i remember reading a lot! we always had reading assignments for homework and writing responses or summaries of our readings for homework as well.  I also remember one big project we had to do in our language arts class was writing a story. We had a story book packet and had to fill out and answer the questions in detail before moving onto actually writing our story. We had to answer questions about who our main characters were, what their personalities would be like, how they would dress and their role in the story. Questions about the setting were a big part of our story book packet as well-where would this story take place? describe in detail the setting and draw a picture of it. During the writing of our story book we would write and draw our pictures for our book. I also distinctly remember doing drafts and revision after revision after revision and peer review after peer review until we had our final copy. In language arts we also sang songs my favorite was the preposition song sang to the tune of yankee doodle. In 7th and 8th grade we didn't call it language arts-we just had english class. I remember a vast majority of my 6th grade year but don't remember 7th or 8th grade english classes that well-they start to blend together with my first 2 years of high school. I always remember enjoying language arts because i always loved to read. Its a sad reality that in college there isn't quite enough time to read what i want to read- doing so much reading of what is assigned to read-and some of the time they do not coincide.

"The Road Less Traveled" Reaction

The article "The Road Less Traveled" i thought was a great article to read. I felt that it had many great points that i don't think i necessarily would have thought about otherwise. "Teacher knowledge of the social, emotional, and cognitive domains, coupled with the ability to effectively apply strategies based on developmental principles, translates to increased student engagement and improved learning outcomes." Its a simple point that you need to know who you're teaching in order to successfully teach them. "In a national sample of over one hundred thousand sixth to twelfth graders, only 29 percent indicated that their school provides a caring, encouraging environment" After i read this statistic i thought back to my public school career in grades K-12. I have to say that maybe it was just me or maybe it was my town or school district but i loved my school system and my classrooms so this statistic was a little bit shocking to me. "Youthful energy, excitement, and enthusiasm often reside in the hallways and lunchrooms-not in the classroom." So many times i have asked the kindergartners i assist and teach for camp "whats your favorite thing about school?" i get the answer "recess" or "lunch time" one child even said "the bus ride to school with my best friend" This is the same as in middle school and high school if you asked me what my favorite thing about high school was i would probably throw back the answer of either track practice after school or child development and future educator courses i took. I also find the quote "In the past, pundits might have concluded that the best teachers are born-not made." I have to say that i agree somewhat with this statement. I feel that teaching is a profession unlike any other." I know it used to be said that teaching is a "calling" something you're meant to do above all else, for me i feel like this is true. In kindergarten i came home from school on the first day and told my parents i wanted to teach just like Mrs. Foreman. Year after year, grade after grade, it held true and i couldn't picture myself doing anything else nor did i want to think about other life paths. Spending time with children, helping them learn and that wonderful "ah!" moment they have when they finally understand something, and reading about teachers, education, or anything involving the development of children really intrigues me! I really enjoyed this article and honestly can't wait to see what other readings my education courses this semester will expose me to!