Hello everyone!
I am currently sitting at the airport in "Nawlins" waiting for the plane to arrive in less than an hour. We plan to arrive in Milwaukee around 5:40 and be in De Pere by 8. Thus, we won't be able to watch the Packer game, but we will listen to it on the way home. We all had an AMAZING time here! Some are even contemplating on doing some student teaching here. I have a couple of post from other classmates. All of the photos are currently uploaded on my Facebook account. I'll probably post one or two more time next week.
Em
Thursday
Today was a fantastic day. I did some word work with some kindergartners in Guided Reading. We read "The Oak Street Party." We made "sight word" cakes. If the students heard a word that was on their candle, they could rip off the flame. Once all of their flames are out, they could make a birthday wish! After school, we took a trip over to Dr. M's condo. We waited for the Street Car for about 20 minutes when we decided since we were young college students, we could just make the trip on foot. Two miles later, Em was huffing and puffing but sitting in Dr. M's condo putting together a quilt. Noelle and I worked really hard on making this quilt. We laminated sentence strips and construction paper for about 30 minutes. Then spent about 30 more minutes cutting it up. We used my Baby Alpaca yarn to tie the patches together! I also was bound and determined to buy glue sticks for our students: none of them work and resources are minimal. I picked up some pencils, crayons and a sharper as well. Twenty bucks to supply a classroom. That's all it takes. As I look around, it is 12:15 and I am the only person in the lobby. This means that I really need to get to bed!!! Tomorrow will be a bittersweet day as it will be our last day teaching. However that doesn't mean I can slack on the sleep part, after all, Noelle and I are teaching for most of the day!!! We are going to need all the sleep we can get!!!
Friday
I cannot believe our time at Jeff Morris is over :( The hardest thing to do today was to say good-bye to our students. Two were crying so hard it broke our hearts. They wouldn't leave for their bus and almost missed it. We told our children they were special and to dream big. Our lesson on MLK was absolutly amazing! Noelle and I got a little tangled with our quit, but nevertheless, it was a true success. It was an honor to work with them. I want to return to New Orleans to teach one day; I have never felt so much at home.
Until I blog again,
Mr. Tim
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Almost Done
Hello Ladies and Gents,
Overall, we would say today has been the most difficult with classroom management. Nevertheless, we realized we are not the "actual" teacher in the classroom and we would have different management systems. In my "neck of the woods" I taught a lesson on the Aesop's fable, The Jay and the Peacocks. It was quite good in my opinion! Throughout this day, I have realized how much I will truly miss this place. I love the students and the staff. Morris Jeff Community School is an actual community. They take care and look out for each other. Even though it has only been four days, I feel like I have been here for four weeks. It was very quick to adjust to this place...and very slow to get back on track. Tomorrow will be our last day at the school and I hope it will be a memorable one.
Here are some other comments from the group
Lauren:
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Andrea:
Hey Ya'll!
I am loving this place. The students have touched my heart. Today I had a student who had not talked much during the week. She rarely did her work and never followed directions. Today, however, we made a break through with her. She was working hard, helping other students, and smiling. This was the first time I saw her smile all week. I am enjoying my time here and have fallen in love with the people, the city, and Morris Jeff school. Maybe someday I will be back to teach! (Fingers Crossed) I miss my great family at home - But I LOVE NOLA!
- Ms. Fiestadt :D
I am loving this place. The students have touched my heart. Today I had a student who had not talked much during the week. She rarely did her work and never followed directions. Today, however, we made a break through with her. She was working hard, helping other students, and smiling. This was the first time I saw her smile all week. I am enjoying my time here and have fallen in love with the people, the city, and Morris Jeff school. Maybe someday I will be back to teach! (Fingers Crossed) I miss my great family at home - But I LOVE NOLA!
- Ms. Fiestadt :D
Good Night, Good Luck, and God Bless!
Mr. Tim
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
School Days
Hello everyone!
Here is what everyone has been saying for the last couple of days!
Rachel (Gundy)
Today was a great experience teaching a very regimented management class a whole group lesson. The experience was something I will learn from forever. I feel as if I have a new direction to strengthen in my teaching: management. The walk/street car back and forth to school is getting difficult. The chiropractor is going to be getting a call. Tomorrow, the principal wanted students to bring all winter attire because it is supposed to be about 40 degrees… I don’t miss Wisconsin when she says that.
Lauren
I am in a kindergarten classroom which is interesting overall because I am not the biggest fan of kindergarten. When I first got to the classroom I loved it and fell in love with the students and they are just so sweet and willing to learn. On the other hand when teaching today, although the sight word bingo went great, I released again why I don't want to teach kindergarten. The students do not have the behavior control or the prior knowledge that I wish they would have. Overall today was great and my connection with one of my students has just grown. He has touched my heart and I am going to be extremely hurt when it is time to say goodbye. I think about his smile and the confidence growing within him because of me and smile. I am truly blessed to meet him and can't believe how much he's impacted myself in just three days. He is the reason I get up every morning and the reason I want to be a teacher. I want to impact students for a whole year the way I have impacted this boy is three days.
Brittany
Hello! It's Brittany here!
Here is what everyone has been saying for the last couple of days!
Rachel (Gundy)
Today was a great experience teaching a very regimented management class a whole group lesson. The experience was something I will learn from forever. I feel as if I have a new direction to strengthen in my teaching: management. The walk/street car back and forth to school is getting difficult. The chiropractor is going to be getting a call. Tomorrow, the principal wanted students to bring all winter attire because it is supposed to be about 40 degrees… I don’t miss Wisconsin when she says that.
Lauren
I am in a kindergarten classroom which is interesting overall because I am not the biggest fan of kindergarten. When I first got to the classroom I loved it and fell in love with the students and they are just so sweet and willing to learn. On the other hand when teaching today, although the sight word bingo went great, I released again why I don't want to teach kindergarten. The students do not have the behavior control or the prior knowledge that I wish they would have. Overall today was great and my connection with one of my students has just grown. He has touched my heart and I am going to be extremely hurt when it is time to say goodbye. I think about his smile and the confidence growing within him because of me and smile. I am truly blessed to meet him and can't believe how much he's impacted myself in just three days. He is the reason I get up every morning and the reason I want to be a teacher. I want to impact students for a whole year the way I have impacted this boy is three days.
Brittany
Hello! It's Brittany here!
I am having a WONDERFUL time in New Orleans. I love everything from the school we are working in, to the sight seeing that we are doing, to the beignets at Cafe du Monde! I honestly would not be having as great of an experience if it wasn't for all of the people I am with and all of the people I have met. This trip is meant to be a time for us to learn and develop as pre-service teachers. But, honestly, we all have already grown so much more beyond just development as teachers. We have learned first hand stories about the impacts of Hurricane Katrina, the struggles of some of those living in poverty in New Orleans, and we have learned an unexplainable amount about each other and teaching. I am so grateful for this priceless experience/rollarcoaster that we are all on. Part of me feels like I never want to get off the rollarcoaster, but another part of me cannot wait to get off it and sleep more than 4 hours at night!
Em
Today was sure a change of pace. In addition to our kindergartners, Noelle and I are now helping out in Miss Leah's Pre-Kinder room! We both worked on writing Nursery Rhymes on sentence strips. Tomorrow I will be teaching guided reading and helping out in centers. School has been keeping everybody busy, but last night, Tim, Noelle, Brittany and I we were able to enjoy ourselves at Cafe Du Mount for a quick adventure out to get excellent hot chocolate and other goodies.
As Noelle and I are wrapping up what we are going to say on our last day at morning meeting, I have tears on my face. I can't believe our trip is over halfway over. I really hope to return back to New Orleans or teach in another urban city school in the future.
Many thanks to everybody's love and support!
E
As Noelle and I are wrapping up what we are going to say on our last day at morning meeting, I have tears on my face. I can't believe our trip is over halfway over. I really hope to return back to New Orleans or teach in another urban city school in the future.
Many thanks to everybody's love and support!
E
Noelle
These past couple days have been such a great learning experience!I have created some really good sight word games and brought technology in the classroom. Seeing my students eyes light up when bringing in Ipads melted my heart! My guided reading lessons have been a blast, students are making book covers concentrating on what a title is, and the author and illustrator! I have learned so much from Mrs. Krebs with intervention. I think its a great way to target a specific area of reading a student needs to help grow. Morris Jeff keeps surprising me with how much compassion the teachers and faculty have for the students. Being able to show the students love by hugging has helped me build very strong connections with my students that will be greatly missed!
Andrea
Today was a great day. I love spending time with these students. Everyday they teach me how to be a better and stronger person and put a smile on my face. I will forever let my light shine all around the world just the way Morris Jeff is teaching me to do! I love ya'll!
Katie B
I can't believe it is already Wednesday! This week has been amazing and is going by so fast! I love the 1st grade class I am in and I am going to be so sad to leave them! I have grown so much as a teacher and as a person while at Morris Jeff and I can't wait to let my light shine all around the world. :)
Katie H
Today, I was able to make even deeper connections to my students. Around lunch time my student Veronica was very sad. I promised her I would save her a spot at the table right next to me! She came, but would only sit on my lap. The whole lunch period she sat and I helped make her smile which she defiantly needed! It was such a wonderful experience to have with her.
And last but not least, the only human being on this TRIP with a Y chromosome...ME!
I feel as if we have been a part of this school for the whole year. They accepted us within the first day and it keeps getting better and better. I can honestly say that this has been the best pre-service teaching throughout my entire college career. Gundy and I have been blessed with a great teacher and class. My "exploding fists" have been a popular positive reenforcement throughout the school as various students are now using it. I would love to write more, but my brain can't function anymore because I have been working on lessons and reflections for the past four hours (after the eight hours of being in the school)! The constant homework and lack of sleep is the only drawback, but in all honesty...it is completely worth it.
Peace,
Mr. Tim
PS: Beignets are must when traveling to NOLA (especially at Cafe du Monde)!
Monday, January 10, 2011
First Day of School
Hey Everybody this is Em!
We have had a fantastic (and hectic) day!
First we all awoke up around 6AM, freezing. Good news, we decided to relocate our beds so at least it is darker where we sleep. For breakfast, we had grits, hashbrowns and eggs. Although the meal was delisiocus, we did not get a chance to enjoy this opportunity because we were pressed for time. We left St. Jude around 6:45AM for Morris Jeff School.
Lauren and Katie: Ms. Williams’ kindergarten classroom is AMAZING. The students are great and so is the school. The school feels like a family and the students are happy to be there which is refreshing. The relationship with the teachers and students are something we have never seen before. You can see the love and passion they all have for each other. Today we learned a new reward skill being kiss your brain. This week we are doing guided reading groups involving technology and a social studies lesson about Wisconsin which will be AWESOME!
-
-Mr. Muldoon: I will say that Ms. Smith is one of the best teachers I have ever observed! She has high expectations for them and is very fun to be around. I was very impressed with a second grader. After she was done with her work, she helped one of the students read! As Lauren and Katie noted, the school feels like a family. I am definitely going to enjoy this week!
-Miss. Gray: Mrs. Gula’s kindergarten classroom was wonderful. The teacher uses music to help learn sight words, and new vocabulary. Mrs. Gula has different centers during the day to help students understand new material. I thought the school was amazing in general. The school holds morning meetings that I find very inspirational and motivates the students to learn. Having a morning meeting helps create a school community and brings high expectations for the students and the faculty. It was a very uplifting experience! I am really excited to be in her classroom and at the school!
-Miss Rachel had a great day in Ms. Smiths classroom she was an exceptional teacher who has extreme passion. I am extremely excited to begin teaching! The entire school as a whole is built from excitement and drive without this would there be anything significant in the world?
-Miss Em: School was crazy! I was shocked to see couches in the building. I really love how the students sing the song “This Little Light of Mine” and incorporate a lot of different verses such as “all around the world, I’m going to let it shine,” etc It was a true inspiration to hear. I really liked how the teacher, Mrs. Gula used cheers to help the students understand why the students were learning what they were learning. The school is a gemstone. Today Miss Noelle and myself taught an impromptu lesson on neighborhoods. Our students really enjoyed the activity and the book. Tomorrow I will be teaching a group of students how to use sight words using the book “Have you seen my Cat” by Eric Carle.
After school, we had the opportunity to hear about the history of the New Orleans School System. We learned about the impact of segregation, the Civil War, Jim Crow and Hurricane Katrina left on the school system.
We arrived home, tired and hungry around 6PM. Dr. M joined our group for dinner for the evening. Everybody had at least 2 pieces of the best bread in the entire world.
Now we are working on our lesson plans. Tired and excited from our day, we are about to move onto our relfection portion of the evening. We are so thankful for all the love and support everybody is giving us. This has been a challenging yet rewarding experience thus far and we cannot wait for what the follow days will bring us.
We have had a fantastic (and hectic) day!
First we all awoke up around 6AM, freezing. Good news, we decided to relocate our beds so at least it is darker where we sleep. For breakfast, we had grits, hashbrowns and eggs. Although the meal was delisiocus, we did not get a chance to enjoy this opportunity because we were pressed for time. We left St. Jude around 6:45AM for Morris Jeff School.
Lauren and Katie: Ms. Williams’ kindergarten classroom is AMAZING. The students are great and so is the school. The school feels like a family and the students are happy to be there which is refreshing. The relationship with the teachers and students are something we have never seen before. You can see the love and passion they all have for each other. Today we learned a new reward skill being kiss your brain. This week we are doing guided reading groups involving technology and a social studies lesson about Wisconsin which will be AWESOME!
-
-Mr. Muldoon: I will say that Ms. Smith is one of the best teachers I have ever observed! She has high expectations for them and is very fun to be around. I was very impressed with a second grader. After she was done with her work, she helped one of the students read! As Lauren and Katie noted, the school feels like a family. I am definitely going to enjoy this week!
-Miss. Gray: Mrs. Gula’s kindergarten classroom was wonderful. The teacher uses music to help learn sight words, and new vocabulary. Mrs. Gula has different centers during the day to help students understand new material. I thought the school was amazing in general. The school holds morning meetings that I find very inspirational and motivates the students to learn. Having a morning meeting helps create a school community and brings high expectations for the students and the faculty. It was a very uplifting experience! I am really excited to be in her classroom and at the school!
-Miss Rachel had a great day in Ms. Smiths classroom she was an exceptional teacher who has extreme passion. I am extremely excited to begin teaching! The entire school as a whole is built from excitement and drive without this would there be anything significant in the world?
-Miss Em: School was crazy! I was shocked to see couches in the building. I really love how the students sing the song “This Little Light of Mine” and incorporate a lot of different verses such as “all around the world, I’m going to let it shine,” etc It was a true inspiration to hear. I really liked how the teacher, Mrs. Gula used cheers to help the students understand why the students were learning what they were learning. The school is a gemstone. Today Miss Noelle and myself taught an impromptu lesson on neighborhoods. Our students really enjoyed the activity and the book. Tomorrow I will be teaching a group of students how to use sight words using the book “Have you seen my Cat” by Eric Carle.
After school, we had the opportunity to hear about the history of the New Orleans School System. We learned about the impact of segregation, the Civil War, Jim Crow and Hurricane Katrina left on the school system.
We arrived home, tired and hungry around 6PM. Dr. M joined our group for dinner for the evening. Everybody had at least 2 pieces of the best bread in the entire world.
Now we are working on our lesson plans. Tired and excited from our day, we are about to move onto our relfection portion of the evening. We are so thankful for all the love and support everybody is giving us. This has been a challenging yet rewarding experience thus far and we cannot wait for what the follow days will bring us.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Enlightenment
This is Andrea and Tim! Today was 'Inspirational' and 'Life-Changing' despite the damper of the weather. Today was pretty chilly and rained all day. However, the clouds couldn't stop the shine of the day. (Cheesy) We woke up around 8 after a rough night of sleep for all and headed to a nice little cafe named Fleur de Lis for breakfast. After, we headed to the Center for Jesus Our Lord for mass. It was much different than mass in Wisconsin as the music was extremely upbeat! The people of the congregation were very welcoming, they not only welcomed us but also added us into their petitions. After mass we headed to their social were we ate a traditional dessert called king cake. The story of the cake goes back to Mardi Gras, each color represents something special of the culture and whoever finds the baby in the cake has to have the next king cake party. After the social and getting to know some of the congregation we helped take down their Christmas decorations. We had a lot of hands and it was finished in no time. Tim even had time to dance on the ladder scaring us all to death that he was going to fall off. After, we headed to the flea market, did some bargaining, and got ourselves some souvenirs. After lunch, we went back to the the church to help with 'feed the homeless'. This is a project the church completes every Sunday. They cook a hot meal and serve it to the homeless and those in the men's shelter. We helped prepare and pack the food and then headed to the shelter to help serve. This was an amazing experience for us all. We got the opportunity to help serve these grateful men and woman. Engaging in conversation with them was the highlight of our night. Jose was one of our favorites who was the jokester of the group. We broke many stereotypes tonight. These men and women lost their homes for reasons out of their control and are trying to get back on their feet for the most part. These men and women are not lazy, do not spend all their money on drugs and alcohol, and are truly wonderful people who are caught in the cycle of poverty. Afterwards, we headed back to the church for dinner. We were able to here the stories of some strong survivors of Hurricane Katrina. Many of them had lost everything and are only just starting to see rebirth in the city and around and in their homes. They said the city is only 60% rebuilt after almost 6 years and will take 5-7 more years to be at 85% or above. Never the less they were able to find the silver lining and share all the great things they now have because of this tradgey. We found that the media skewed so much of the information and sugar coated the things they did tell us, and today we heard the uncut, unscripted version of those whose lives are forever changed from the hurricane. This was so moving to each and everyone of us.
On a lighter note, Homework time and a great group reflection up a head for the night. Plus the girls switched beds and we are no longer under the blaring bright fluorescent light! :D YAY However Tim may have to deal with shutting off alarms of his roommates that do not wake up to their alarm ringing at 3:30 am!! NO
Peace and Love!
NOLA TRIP!!
We have arrived!
Hello ladies and gentlemen,
Sorry this latest entry is a little late, but we were VERY busy yesterday. All of us first met a St. Norbert College around 8:15. We soon ventured out to Milwaukee as this is where our plane was located. Many thanks to Breanna Mekuly and Bryant Scherer getting us there safely! We departed for New Orleans at 12:25 p.m. and arrived two hours later. The flight was very smooth from my side. Once the plane landed, I knew we couldn't be in Wisconsin anymore as there was no signs of snow or cold weather! We took an "airport bus" to our living quarters. We are staying at the St. Jude's Community Center in the downtown area of the city. This place is reserved for volunteer groups from around different parts of the country, striving to help out the local community. I believe everyone's first "eye opener" were the rooms. There is only one room for all of the people who are staying here (men on the first floor, women on the second). Beds were stacked in threes. We were very nervous about this situation as we would leave our personal belongings with complete strangers. However, we realized that everyone here is working on the same goal: to help the people on New Orleans. Thus, we are confident that no one would take our stuff. After we became situated, we took the trolly to Jacques-imo's. Wonderful food! ----To be continued.
Yes, the food was incredible! The food ranged from grilled grouper, quail, and rabbit. After that, we decided to hit up the French Quarter. It was such a riveting experience! We had the famous beignets at Cafe du Monde and had our reflection near a fountain. We came back around midnight, ready for another exciting day!
Quotes of the Day
"You know how ta say hello in Nawlins? Hey baby, how's it goin?" - Bus driver
"I can't believe I ate birds!" -Carrie Roberts
Peace,
Mr. Muldoon
Peace
Sorry this latest entry is a little late, but we were VERY busy yesterday. All of us first met a St. Norbert College around 8:15. We soon ventured out to Milwaukee as this is where our plane was located. Many thanks to Breanna Mekuly and Bryant Scherer getting us there safely! We departed for New Orleans at 12:25 p.m. and arrived two hours later. The flight was very smooth from my side. Once the plane landed, I knew we couldn't be in Wisconsin anymore as there was no signs of snow or cold weather! We took an "airport bus" to our living quarters. We are staying at the St. Jude's Community Center in the downtown area of the city. This place is reserved for volunteer groups from around different parts of the country, striving to help out the local community. I believe everyone's first "eye opener" were the rooms. There is only one room for all of the people who are staying here (men on the first floor, women on the second). Beds were stacked in threes. We were very nervous about this situation as we would leave our personal belongings with complete strangers. However, we realized that everyone here is working on the same goal: to help the people on New Orleans. Thus, we are confident that no one would take our stuff. After we became situated, we took the trolly to Jacques-imo's. Wonderful food! ----To be continued.
Yes, the food was incredible! The food ranged from grilled grouper, quail, and rabbit. After that, we decided to hit up the French Quarter. It was such a riveting experience! We had the famous beignets at Cafe du Monde and had our reflection near a fountain. We came back around midnight, ready for another exciting day!
Quotes of the Day
"You know how ta say hello in Nawlins? Hey baby, how's it goin?" - Bus driver
"I can't believe I ate birds!" -Carrie Roberts
Peace,
Mr. Muldoon
Peace
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Getting Ready
Hello Everyone!
This is the first time St. Norbert College is combining a TRIP program with a J-term (winter) class. This will be a very interesting experience for all of us as we will teach literacy instruction in a New Orleans school. This is the first time any of us will teach in this part of the United States. The school is Morris Jeff Community School and we will teaching kindergarden through second grade. Currently, we are preparing this week by creating comprehension and sight word games. We are also creating lesson plans that incorporate various literacy strategies (KWL charts, hot seat, clusters, etc.). Another part of this programs include donating children's books to the school. In fact, we went to Butterfly Books to spend the money we received from SNC's education department on books to donate to the school. Tomorrow we will be examining different iPad application teachers can use for teaching literacy (We will be bringing iPads to use during this trip). All of us are very nervous, but very excited to go to teach in New Orleans!
Many thanks,
Tim Muldoon
This is the first time St. Norbert College is combining a TRIP program with a J-term (winter) class. This will be a very interesting experience for all of us as we will teach literacy instruction in a New Orleans school. This is the first time any of us will teach in this part of the United States. The school is Morris Jeff Community School and we will teaching kindergarden through second grade. Currently, we are preparing this week by creating comprehension and sight word games. We are also creating lesson plans that incorporate various literacy strategies (KWL charts, hot seat, clusters, etc.). Another part of this programs include donating children's books to the school. In fact, we went to Butterfly Books to spend the money we received from SNC's education department on books to donate to the school. Tomorrow we will be examining different iPad application teachers can use for teaching literacy (We will be bringing iPads to use during this trip). All of us are very nervous, but very excited to go to teach in New Orleans!
Many thanks,
Tim Muldoon
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