Winterim 2009

Tomorrow is my last school day at Prep! I do not want to go home and leave all the friends I’ve made, both Upper and Lower School students. I have had so much fun here! It has really been an experience that I won’t forget, and I know it will have a lasting impression in my life both because of the relationships and connections that have been fostered and learning experiences I’ve had. I know that teaching is definitely something I’d like to do if possible after college.

The reason why I’m posting so late tonight is because Dana and I just got home from opening night of the play! The play is absolutely hysterical and everyone did such a good job. It was even better being at the play because I feel so connected with the cast now. I could feel even more proud of them after tonight, too. After the show, it was all laughing and hugs and dancing. All in all, a great night.

In Comedy, we’re just starting The Importance of Being Earnest, which I am so thrilled over because I think the play is absolutely brilliant and hilarious. We all were assigned roles for each act and spent the period rehearsing them. It didn’t take long, so then I got to talk more with the kids in my class. This was yet another experience to remind me that I am not ready to leave yet.

I was back in with Mrs. Carcich once again this morning, and all the kids were excited to see me. This morning, I helped them with their Jumpstart worksheets and reading. At the end of the day, I came back to go to recess with them. I played with them and took lots of pictures once they found out I had a camera with me. All the kids are just so cute! I’m so glad I got to meet each one of them. I will definitely have a lot of classrooms to visit and kids to say goodbye to during my last day tomorrow.

I also visited the Junior Kindergarten classroom with Mrs. Lippencott today. She has a class of twenty (wow) four and five year olds on her hands: Jack, Andy, Logan, Minaal, Ayush, Milenka, Kayla, Kailiyn, Jake, Vikram, Amani, Meredith, Gairick, Liam, Matthew, Sara, Azfar, Kira and Ben. She also has two assistant teachers helping her set up activities and keep an eye on the kids in the classroom. When I came into the classroom, the group was returning from Library and transitioning into centers and play time. I could see the clear difference in development between the Pre-K and JK. The JK kids all talked to me and invited me to play with them very quickly, and weren’t very shy or nervous like the younger ones. I’m excited to spend more time with the class tomorrow since I was only with them for an hour today, and already I can see their unique personalities and habits. It is so fun to be able to observe classes that contain so many children at different levels of development; the classroom seemed to have a center, station, or project to accommodate everyone with personalized learning. So tomorrow it will be interesting to see more of that classroom of mixed skill and development levels.

Other than that, it’s 11:41 and I want to actually be awake for my last day, so I better get some sleep!

I’ve learned so much on this trip so far, but one thing I wish I knew was how to stop time! I can’t believe I only have two more school days left before I have to leave. My time has gone by so quickly, much too quickly! I am finally becoming close friends with so many people and becoming involved in so many things. All day long people have asked me when I’m leaving, and we both say how much we regret not having more time to get to know each other. I’m making plans for the next few nights to spend as much time with Prep kids as I can.

Back to today’s schedule: I did quite a bit of moving around today. I spent another morning with the fourth grade, Mrs. Jablow’s class. Mrs. Jablow wasn’t actually in the class, though, because she had conferences with parents during the day. Instead, Mrs. Benfield was watching the kids. There wasn’t too much for me to do while they worked on homework and in-class assignments. They had long division problems for their math homework so I could help them with that at least.

Afterward, I had a study hall period, so I hung out in the lounge reading and talking to the seniors, who were the only students with a free period then. Then I attended another Excelsior literary magazine meeting during community time. We were reviewing a packet of poetry submissions. Like last week, we discussed what we liked and didn’t like about each submission and gave suggestions to the author about how to edit and improve the piece. We got through about four poems that way. So it was slow-going, but I think it was a positive thing for the authors present, especially newer ones, to hear constructive criticism about their writing. Once again, it was nice to talk with people who appreciated creative writing and language like I do.

I got to go back to first grade this afternoon with Mrs. Carcich. I went to music class with the kids. They of course sang some songs and rhymes and practiced a little dance. I have so much fun with that group. They aren’t perfect, but they just have the best personalities; they’re excited, smart, outgoing, curious, serious, and so cute. They all make me laugh so much. Going out to recess with them was a great way to end the day.

Tomorrow is opening night for the play, so I had to attend dress rehearsal at 5:30 to do makeup again. but before that, the cast and crew, including me, filmed a video ad to announce the play. Mostly it was a lot of running around and screaming, but parts of it are funny–to us at least. We all have dinner together at 5 before rehearsal, which is a great time to just hang out and talk with everybody. All the play kids are great. They have been so welcoming to me and so fun to be around. I can’t believe how lucky I am to be able to participate in this play. It will be a very exciting night tomorrow, and I can’t wait!

For now, time for some homework, some cookies and watching NCIS with Mrs. Vitrano–a lovely ending to a lovely day.

Another move complete! It’s my last week, and I’m with my last host family for my trip, the Vitranos. Dana and her mom have been so nice to me even just tonight. It was quite a process transferring all my bags from Adrienne’s to Dana’s but everything worked out. I’m all unpacked and settled in comfortably once again.

Besides the move, today was a very full day. I had Comedy Writing first thing this morning. We spent most of the class critiquing and analyzing my paper, which Dr. Loy had erased my name from and passed out to everyone. This went much better than I thought, but it was still nerve-wracking for me. The class’ feedback was mostly positive (Dr. Loy agreed). They pointed out a few vague spots and wordy sentences. Overall, they thought the thesis was intriguing and the flow and logic was solid. Dr. Loy said that I wrote with confidence and clarity. I was really proud of being able to write effectively a new style and in a subject area that I wasn’t incredibly familiar with. It was also good practice for developing my instincts as a writer, being able to notice the things that the class pointed out to me on my own. That class was a big relief.

I spent part of the morning back in Ms. Kazal’s fourth grade. It was uneventful at best. Ms. Kazal was feeling under the weather, and I got the impression that I was inconveniencing her to be there. There wasn’t much for me to do, either. I observed while the students worked on spelling and social studies announcements. They also went over their word of the day: dissertation. Ms. Kazal asked the class to come up with a definition for the word based on what they thought it meant; I thought that was a really good exercise to help organize thoughts and put them into clear language. I think it’s a good exercise for almost any level of education fact.

After spending an hour or two with fourth grade, I had a break in my schedule. I headed to the Upper School Lounge and got to hang out with some Prep seniors. I was having such a good time talking with them that it made me think about how soon I would be leaving. I really hope I get a chance to see my friends at Prep more outside of school, but it’s hard because everyone has so much homework.

After school, I went with Dana to play practice. It’s tech week for their play, She Ventures and He Wins. I got to watch their run-through and then help to do makeup for the dress rehearsal that followed. The play is very funny and the group has done a lot of work on it. The cast and crew are all so nice and so much. I felt included and welcome as soon as I arrived and spent a little more time with them. It was so much fun working with them, and I can’t wait to do even more as the week goes on. It was also a great opportunity to help with drama because I don’t usually get to do that at Maumee Valley.

And now time for watching House with Dana!

I’ve had a very nice weekend, but I can’t believe I will be leaving New Jersey in less than a week! It seems like I haven’t been here very long at all, but I am starting to miss home a little bit. Mostly I just miss knowing where everything is in my own house and school and not having to rely on other people to do things for me. Plus I miss knowing everyone I see when I walk down the hallway at school. This experience has shown me a lot of things to appreciate.

This weekend i was treated to two lovely french toast breakfasts, one at the Somerset Diner and one at home with the Mireaus. (Mr. and Mrs. Mireau are both very good cooks, so I’m that much luckier to be staying with them.) I also got to visit the Zimmerli Museum at Rutgers University nearby. I really enjoyed it. There were a wide variety of exhibits: pre-Columbian ceramics, non-conformist Russian artists, and a special exhibit of color woodcuts. I had no idea what a woodcut was until seeing that exhibit Saturday, and even now I don’t totally get it. Anyway, it was an enjoyable experience followed by a brief tour of the city of New Brunswick. We had dinner at a restaurant called Rafferty’s which was apparently known for their desserts, a.k.a. my kind of restaurant. Needless to say I had some of the best cheesecake I’d ever eaten that night after dinner. It was nice to get out and see a little more of New Jersey.

Today was another packing day. After breakfast, I spent most of the afternoon packing up my giant suitcase of stuff and looking for my ipod which I could not find for way too long. It ended up being under a recliner that I probably sat in twice the whole week. But it was really a bummer that I was stuck inside getting ready to go, because the weather was absolutely gorgeous today. It was so sunny and got up to seventy degrees! Oh well.

I also finished my Comedy paper and emailed it off to Dr. Loy with a little disclaimer telling him that I wasn’t really sure if my response would be what he expected but I had done my best. I definitely put a lot of work into that paper so hopefully that comes through to him. Also, he said if it wasn’t disastrous (in so many words) that he was going to take off my name and give it to everyone in the class to look over and critique. Yikes. My writing voice obviously isn’t one the class is used to hearing, so I hope it isn’t obvious that it’s my paper, or that it’s really out in left field. We’ll find out I guess….

Moving to Dana’s house tomorrow should also be interesting. I have to lug all my bags to school and put them in Mr. Santawasso’s office, then take them on Dana’s bus to get to her house. It’s going to be really ridiculous. I have no idea how I’m going to get it on the bus. No idea at all. This should be interesting.

Finally the weekend! I’m ready to get out and see more of New Jersey and to hang out with some kids from Prep….and to sleep in again, of course.

I moved up to observing fourth grade today. Ms. Kazal’s class was a very mature and independent group: Peter, Pavani, James, Jalen, Sachin, Alan, August, Devan, Julia, Lauren, Holden and Ben. In the morning, they went through an entire routine of copying down homework, turning in assignments and beginning a worksheet with almost no direction from Ms. Kazal, and they did it quietly, too. I was very impressed with how well they worked on their own. When they were done with those tasks, a few of them explained to me what they’d been learning and doing so far that year. There were book reports, ethnic pride projects, immigration simulations and a mock gubernatorial election.

Also this morning, the class worked on vocabulary, math and grammar. They also had quiet reading time to read different versions of the Cinderella story from different cultures around the world. They had to list the setting and plot and make a character list for each book. Once again, they did this all on their own, so Ms. Kazal and I mostly just talked. I found out that she played field hockey in college, the same position that I played. That was cool. She also showed me old copies of the fourth grade class newspaper, which was fun to read and to see how much work the kids must have put into that paper.

The kids were pretty polite and intelligent, so I’m not sure why I didn’t really enjoy being in their class as much as the littler kids. I don’t know. I just really like being with the P-K – 1st graders.

In Comedy, we didn’t really have class. Everybody just magically knew to go the library and start working on their papers, but that was fine because I needed to work on mine , too. I have an intro and first paragraph, so I need another support paragraph, a qualification paragraph, and a conclusion. Then I’ll have to revise it all….so I’m gonna get going on that now!

Today was a very full day in third grade. I was with Mrs. Thumann’s class: Matt, Akul, Muddasir, Isabelle, Ryan, Will, Shubha, Lauren, Danny, Pansy, Brynn, Ethan, Devin, Divya, Hemanth, and Simran, for the entire day, because I didn’t have Comedy Writing.

There were two specials today: Choir and Art. In art, the kids were finishing up paper sculpture projects. They cut paper into various shapes and stuctures and glued it on a piece of card stock. The projects ended up looking really creative and cool. I even got to start one myself. Art was one of the few times everyone was quiet, so it was very relaxing making those sculptures with the class. Choir was pretty crazy, because it was fourth and third grades combined. They sounded pretty good when they sang, but so much talking was going on that it was hard to notice.

In class, the kids are trained to be very independent and to try to think on their own or solve their own problems without coming to the teacher so much. Because of that, there wasn’t a lot for me to do today. I did get to help the kids with their book report drafts. They were supposed to discuss what their favorite part of the book was and why. We worked on crafting catchy opening lines that weren’t, “my favorite part was” and including sentences that described what about a certain part made it appealing or interesting. I really enjoyed helping the kids organize their thoughts and translate them into clear sentences. Some of them were already very good at that for third graders.

I also helped the kids with a social studies project and some math worksheets, but like I said, the they are all pretty independent. They were very capable of doing things on their own too, but they seemed to ask questions as a way to get out of thinking or trying. Imagine that. I liked that Mrs. Thumann always made them try and wouldn’t let them get away with that.

Other than that, I have my paper to work on. I will be writing about how coincidence works to produce comedy more effectively in Seinfeld than in Black Books. I’m arguing that this is because the characters in Seinfeld are so closely connected and have very interrelated lives. This means that the coincidences have extreme, exaggerated effects in many ways, in many characters’ lives. On the other hand, the coincidences in Black Books effect characters lives individually. They don’t really echo in the lives of all the characters together, so they aren’t as exaggerated. And since comedy is partly produced by exaggeration and absurdity, the coincidences in Black Books aren’t as funny. That’s my paper in a nutshell, and as you can tell it needs a little organizing. Good thing I have till Monday.

Today was a little rough. I’m really starting to feel like I’m coming down with something, but I don’t want to miss out on anything! Hopefully some extra sleep will knock out those germs.

Also, the third graders today were just crazy. They seemed to be wired all day and could not sit still and listen for anything. In gym, they were in the wrestling room which is covered in mats, so they were literally bouncing off the walls. The school counselor came in to speak about friendship, but it was disastrous. The boys made paper airplanes and threw them across the room, two girls cried because the activity was confusing, and no one was ever just sitting down facing forward. It was the first time I’d felt annoyed at a class I’d been in. It’s made me consider asking if I can skip going to fourth grade classes and spend two extras days back in the kindergarten or first grade, where I really clicked.

My time in the third grade wasn’t all bad, though. Mrs. Millers group–Nick, Avani, Raghav, Dhruvah, Sammi, Zack, Neel, Sophia, Amay, Rachel, Lucas, Cameron, Matangi, David, Nicole, and Parth (whew!)–were kind of sweet in general; there were just a few in the bunch that liked to shake things up. But I’d still say all of them had trouble listening; Mrs. Miller has to be one of the most patient people I’ve ever met. I got to help the kids with a writing workshop, computer research activity, math worksheet, and practicing a skit adapted from a Native American myth.

In Comedy Writing, I got my first real homework assignment! I had the option of doing nothing, helping classmates edit papers, writing a dialogue, or writing a paper. I picked writing the paper because I didn’t have a partner like the other dialogue people did, and I thought it would be an interesting challenge to see how I would measure up in the class. The prompt asks whether Seinfeld or Black Books uses coincidences more effectively to generate comedic effect. It’s going to be an interesting challenge, but I’m excited to finally be able to fully participate in what the class is doing.

I had the opportunity to go to the meeting for the RPS literary magazine, Excelsior. Today they were reviewing photography submissions. Their review process was completely different than ours. They apparently take submissions year-round and have a fall and spring issue. The submissions are divided into packets and reviewed every week. Today, the photograph was also projected in front of the class, and everyone, including the photographer, made comments on why they liked it or why not. I have to admit, there was some serious over-interpretation going on. People repeatedly pointed out the contrast between technology and nature or a symbolic combination of textures, and would ask the photographer if it was intentional. It never was. Anyway, it seemed like the head editor noted all of the feedback and then would make the final decision later. Again, the whole meeting was just different.

That’s about all for today. I’m going to go have some Chinese food, work on my paper, and go to bed early.

I had a lot of firsts today. Today was my first day to go to Computer and P.E. specials with a class. It was the first time I had to tell all of the first and second graders apart when they said hi to me, because they were all combined in gym class. (There are a lot of repeat names and twins, so it was tough). Today was also the first day I had Indian food. I went out to lunch with Adrienne to Pooja, an Indian restaurant close to RPS, and I’m not totally sure what I was eating, but it was really good.

I was in Mrs. Vinchur’s second grade class today. She has eleven very bright kids on her hands: Emma, Charles, Siya, Justin, Gurnoor, Noor, Carla, Ali, Daria, and Macey. They were one of the nicest classes I’ve been to so far: encouraging classmates who got a correct answer, saying excuse me and “May I”, and giving me lots of hugs. I had a great time helping them learn about scales on a map by showing them where Ohio was on the map and teaching them to use the scale to determine how great the distance was between Ohio and New Jersey. (Before they knew how to use the scale, they guessed that Ohio was 12 days, one month, or 2 hours away.) I also got to help check spelling homework and Jumpstart worksheets. I helped go over vocabulary words and sentences that demonstrated their meaning, and, my favorite task so far, I got to help edit creative writing essays that the kids wrote last week. They were surprisingly vivid and detailed considering they were written by seven- and eight-year- olds! And as I said before, I also got to go to two specials with the group: Computers and P.E.

I had a nice chat with Mrs. Vinchur today (by the way, the kids asked if I was her <em>older</em> sister, which was hilarious even though I’m not sure what it implies). I once again explained Winterim and why I chose this experience specifically. I mentioned that part of my reason for coming to the RPS Lower School was to get an idea of what grade I might want to teach–if I didn’t end up hating the idea altogether. She said that personally, second grade was her favorite because the kids could read, and that opened up so many doors and opportunities for learning. I thought that that was definitely a good point. However, I find myself favoring the younger kids, kindergarten and P-K, maybe first grade. I really value the idea of teaching really foundational things like how to treat other people, how to solve problems and how to read. I guess I’ll see if that changes at the end of all this.

In Upper School world, I had Comedy Writing class again today. We watched a British sitcom called Black Books. It was about a man who owned a little bookshop, the lady next door with a jewelry boutique, and one of their customers, Manny. Just like when we watched Seinfeld, we were on the lookout for the role of coincidence, anticipation and opening scenes in regard to how they built the humor in the show. Dr. Loy said he will be assigning an essay in which we compare and contrast the two shows. I’m excited for my first real homework assignment for the class.

That’s pretty much all that happened today, but for some reason I’m exhausted. Hopefully I won’t end up with the flu or swine like 40 (120 at a nearby school) Upper School students have….

I spent today with Mrs. Withum’s second graders. There were only six students in her class today because of so many staying home sick. However, it was fun in a way to have such a small group. It was easier to get to know the kids and see their unique personalities, especially when I don’t have very much time with them. I got to help the class–Sarisha, Vijay, Libby, Ira, Jaiden, and Vaughn–with their morning assignments, math lessons, reading, and music. I actually attended their music class with them and learned a dance that they had been working on for a few weeks. We also worked on reading rhythms, which they were very at good for seven-year-olds.

I think it’s great that music plays such a big role in these students’ education. Most of them play instruments, sing songs to help them remember things from the classroom, and can count and keep a beat better than a lot of adults.

I had a good time helping this group, but I did notice that they weren’t quite as well behaved as the younger classes I’ve been with so far. They had more trouble waiting and sitting down quietly, and they were definitely sassier. That was something I sort of expected from working with kids in the past, but today was still a good experience for maybe helping me decide which grade I might want to teach. Not that I’d have a lot of leeway as an elementary school teacher, but oh well.

In Comedy Writing, we watched more Seinfeld, the calzone episode. After watching we made a list of all the “coincidences” in the episode that worked to further the plot. There were so many more than I expected! Tomorrow, we are going to analyze the role of coincidence in Seinfeld and whether or not its what makes the comedy effective–especially because comedy is often based on surprise, and the unexpected. We’ll also be writing a paper about Seinfeld and something called the Black Books. Fortunately this will be a project I can actually do! I’m excited for my first chance to really see what the class, and being graded in it, is like.

Mr. Kendall, the English and A.P. Writing teacher, gave me the two most recent copies of the RPS literary magazine, Excelsior. It was really cool to read them and give a creative voice to the student body.

Finally, I did a little interview about my Network experience for an RPS press release. It was about the twentieth time I’ve had to explain what Winterim is and how I’m not missing any work at school. Of course, I confirmed that I was having a blast in the lower school and upper school at RPS and that I looked forward to what the rest of my time will bring.

The weekend’s almost over already, but it was a fun one.

The highlight of my Saturday was probably sleeping in, which I’d say is a serious luxury among MV students. That was so nice. I spent most of the day just hanging out, working on college apps and reading. I felt bad for Jackie dealing with a Junior-year workload, while I didn’t have any “real” homework. That was nice, too, not to have massive amounts of homework hanging over my head.

Later that night we (me, Jackie, and her friends Jackie and Monica) went to the “Fall Ball” concert in Sayreville, New Jersey–which I thought for a long time was “Saraville”. The Academy Is…, Mayday Parade, and three opening bands all played. It was a fun night out even though I didn’t really know the bands at all. We got home a little before one o’clock, so once again it was nice to sleep in the next day.

Today, Sunday, I packed up all my stuff to move to my next host family, the Mireaus. They live just down the street from the Marotto’s in the same sub-division. I’m still on the fence about whether or not I like the idea of having three different host families. On the one hand, it’s a great opportunity to get to know more people and their different ways of life. But on the other hand, it would be nice to have one family that I could get used to and get to know even more and not have to move around so much. Anyway, the Marotto’s were so courteous and generous to me–they really made me feel part of the family even though I was only in their house for a week. Of course the Maroes have been very nice, too, and I know I’ll have a great time with them for this second week.