Habitat For Humanity

Saturday, December 15, 2007 was dedicated to Habitat for Humanity day. We had to go to Newark and help with the building of homes for the communities people. It was bitter cold that day and I remember bundling up with layers of pants and shirts. Still, it was freezing. As we arrived, we were greeted by a few workers who host the event and watched a video to ensure our safety. Then it was time to walk to the house that we were going to work on. As we got there we found out we would be working inside with some others. Wonderful!!! I was so happy because I did not want to work outside in that cold. We met a women named Mary Lou and she showed us what we would be doing. The house was almost complete and needed finishing touches. We were put to work scrapping Spackle off the windowsill and the sides of the windows in the house to make it look more professional and cleaned up. This wasn't that bad to do, using some gunk remover and a paint scrapper. It was fun to talk with the other people who worked on the house and to listen to their stories on where they came from and how they ended up with Habitat. We met the woman who would be moving into the house. She had 3 kids and a single mom. The stories that were told were so heart warming that it seemed to really make a difference in the little work that anyone does around involving the homes. I actually felt good that I had been able to pitch in and help with the completion of making someones home perfect.

Arts Fieldwork Visit

Last week I had the pleasure of attending a Fieldwork visit at Art's High School with my cooperating teacher, Miss DeAnna Whitley. As I arrived I was pleased to see that they had welcomed me into their PLC meeting which was the start of a meeting involved with the HESPA testing and what can be done to improve the students writing until the day of the test. I listened in and made notes and was interesting to see the way teachers were tested on their own ideas by the principal in how they personally thought of changes.
As I entered the classroom of Miss Whitley, I was surprised by the warm smiles and friendly welcomes from the students. I introduced myself to each of her classes and they began their lesson for the day. some things I liked about her way of teaching was the way she kept in the classroom a list of homework assignments for the week on a big bulletin board so everyone could not forget any homework. also, she had reward status for the amount of students who chose to participate during the classroom discussions. This to me was a very good way of promoting students to get active in the classroom lesson. also I liked how the students were in groups and did a lot of group work that led back to a whole classroom discussion. This to me makes sense because it allows a student to understand at all times what is or is not expected of a certain lesson. A student is less likely to fall behind or short of work because of the risk of not understanding a lessons instructions. Everyone seemed to get along very well with each other and with the teacher as well. She was very polite to me at all times and seemed to care deeply about what she has done to accomplish teaching students.

Field Experience # 2 Thanksgiving Dinner

Every year for Thanksgiving, International House of Pancakes gets together with the Clifton Fire Department and host Thanksgiving dinner for the less fortunate. This Thanksgiving I decided to get involved. It is held in the morning hours of Thanksgiving at the Municipal Complex building on Vanhouten Avenue in Clifton. Department Chief Thomas Lions is the head of the organizing as well as General Manager Kevin O'Neil from Clifton IHOP who supplies the food. It was interesting to prepare food for people in a manner in which I never had to do. I did not cook it but some dishes I was able to prepare myself. In preparing for the dinner it gave me a different feeling that I never experienced before because I never knew anything else on Thanksgiving then coming home to a hot, large meal. I never stopped to think that some people do not have this luxury and that these people rely on us to bring them a hot meal on the biggest dinner night of the year. It truly was a pleasure seeing how grateful a person can be just to get a meal from a friend who wants to help.

Field Experience #2 Newark High School

In choosing a community meeting for my # 2 question of field experience, I went to a Newark public school board of education meeting. It took place at Newark Public High School. It had to do with No Child Left Behind and how every high school in the country is now required to provide military with access to secondary school student's names and addresses adn phone numbers. If the parents wanted to detest this, forms were filled out and were required to have the signature of the parents of the student. Secondly, they talked about the fact that Newark was getting state help and in return, the memebers want to have Newark schools reach an 80% mark in goverance to get off the state help. They used Jersey City and New Brunswick as examples. They feel that the control of the schools should be returned to district ablility. There was talk about the state haveing control for 12 years and think that the baord meabers need to do something about this. For the record, this is their ultimate goal.