Junior Year English Journal #13

What are the "Things You Carry"?

I carry with me my wallet which contains all my necessary identification and any money that I might have at any given time. I also carry my house key, so I can always get inside however I find a way to get home. I carry with me at all times as sense of who my parents are, where they came from, and where they are coming from. I also carry with me a general sense (that every American should possess) of the affairs of the world and what the overall world attitude is toward the United States at that particular moment in time. I carry with me all of my best memories, memories of birthday parties long since over, or vacations enjoyed by many in our family. Finally, I carry with me what I remember of family members who have passed away while I have been alive.

Junior Year English Journal #12

Response to An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.

After reading the story and watching the short film of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, I would definitely say that I feel Ambrose Bierce is very good at tugging at the different emotions and reactions of his readers. At times, I felt disbelief at what his main character, Peyton Farquhar, was doing, and at other times I almost felt a sense of happiness at the fact that a person was returning home to his family after a near death experience, and was going to appreciate his family more, even though he was a confederate, a dirty rebel. Of course, Bierce has to snatch that semi-sense of happiness away, with the excellent twist at the very end of the story. As for the French-directed movie, I felt without the help of the story, I would have been a little lost, but the French director's choice to keep the dialogue to a minimum kept me intrigued with the cinematography, wondering how they were going to portray each scene from the short story as they went along.

Junior Year English Journal #11

What does it mean to be a minority?

To me, a minority in this day and age usually involves race. I hear it all the time on the news or read it in the paper, "Blacks and other minorities, Hispanics and other minorities, Asians and other minorities..." And so on, but when I think about it, I realize that I do not have a problem with the word minority being used, simply because minorities are minorities. Whites, if I recall the 2000 Census figure correctly, make up about 70% to 80% of the people in the United States, this is clearly more than half, so whites are the majority and all other ethnic groups are minorities, but it seems to me that the minority with the highest percentage of people of the U.S. would become the majority of the minorities, but this is most likely irrelevant. I also have an impression, although I don't know for sure because I am white, that being a minority is unpleasant, most likely because of the fact that a minority is probably surrounded by those of the majority and feels, perhaps excluded, but hopefully, in the United States there will be a gradual equalization somehow so that there are no minorities, maybe the entire country could blend together.

Day Number Ten: 11th Grade Service Project

My last day at Creative Options was by far my easiest. I spent my time in Rob's class again, and about the same number of kids were in there as last Friday. The day went normally, same little squabbles that apparently happen among kids every day. In Travis's classroom there was a crisis near lunchtime, as a kid threw up right as everyone got their food. Rob and I went over and helped keep the other kids in line. It was pretty funny, the kids were discussing the other kid getting sick as if they were journalists discussing an international event. Recess also went normally, with the kids playing on the equipment and running around like they do everyday. Rob's class also held a cupcake party to say goodbye to him, the most amusing thing about this was the kids lack of understanding that it was not a birthday party they were celebrating. Other than what I mentioned, not much else happened. I am glad that my service project is finally over. I don't think I would have lasted much longer, I think I would have collapsed eventually and slept for a long, long time, which is what I plan to do tonight after dinner. As for the Grad at Grad, I definitely did not do anything for my intellectual competence by hanging around with five-year-olds for two weeks. However, when it comes to being open to growth, I definitely comprehend how hard a day-care teacher's job is, I will definitely never take them for granted again, but if I ever have children and need to put them in a day-care, I will choose the day-care wisely.

Day Number Nine: 11th Grade Service Project

Since my classroom does not ever have classes on Fridays, today was my last day in each of the sessions. I feel that the day went remarkably well, even though the kids began to get cabin fever because we could not go outside as the temperature was below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Thankfully, none of the kids really acted up at all. I also found out that "David" had a mild concussion from hitting his head on something as he fell trying to support himself yesterday, apparently getting out of his chair from lunch. This concussion was the apparent cause of his vomiting and crying. It also worried me because while the afternoon session was outside yesterday he fell asleep in one of the teacher's arms (lap, whatever). This was apparently a real scare for the teachers (the entire incident), as they talked about it frequently during the day with what seemed to be almost a fear of lawsuit, repeatedly justifying their own actions to themselves. I suspect David's mother is probably a little more than miffed at the daycare staff, as any normal parent would be. Other than what I have mentioned (what I remember, it's all a blur) it was an average day, there were no long clingy goodbye sequences from any of the kids, in fact, I did not say goodbye to any of them, which I feel is for the best.

Day Number Eight: 11th Grade Service Project

Today was the most hectic day that I have experienced so far in my time here. I was a little disappointed when "J" "borrowed" me and Armando from our classes to make copies of student evaluations. I missed the morning session recess, which I like because the fresh air helps me wake up a little bit. Thankfully, Armando apparently has lots of experience with a copy machine at his father's office, so we were able to copy all the evaluations speedily, with only a few paper jams. It made me think of the old Rob Schneider "Makin' copies" skits on early nineties "Saturday Night Live"'s (which I guess seem old to me but probably recent to some, because it's relative). Of course, since it was unlikely Armando ever saw (or has seen) SNL reruns I figured it would be best if I did not say anything so as not to confuse him. The afternoon session was more frantic than the morning session, towards the end of it, a kid named "David", who had been crying for quite a while, threw up while in the lap of one of the teachers. While they were trying to clean-up and make sure the kid was okay, the phone rang for one of the teachers with an apparently urgent call and the rest of the kids began to make a ruckus, so I was the one who tried to keep them away from the area of the classroom with the huge mess ("David's" entire lunch). I managed to keep them under control and then it was snack time, and right after snack, two of them decided it was "tug-on-and-hit-my-arms-until-they-fall-off time" until they had to leave with their parents or on the DPS school bus. So, in the calm after the storm everything turned out okay, but as usual, I am very, very, very, very tired. I'm beginning to think that Daycare teachers must be born with the ability to go months without enough sleep, because I know I could not possibly last much longer than these two weeks.

Day Number Seven: 11th Grade Service Project

Well, looking back now I suppose I should have suspected it would happen sooner or later, considering the age group that I am working with, but I was still very surprised when one of the kids in the morning session bit me. Luckily, the teeth did not break the skin, and the bite did not really hurt, but I was shocked that a little kid would try to take a chomp on my arm. In fact, the dialogue immediately went something like this: I said, "You bit me!", Him: "Yep (with a cheery matter-of-fact manner).", Me: "That wasn't right!", Him: "Maybe, but it was funny! (cheerily again)." Obviously I need to watch myself and try to make sure I never get into an argument with a little kid over the right way to turn off the classroom computer. Other than that incident, my day went normally, except for the fact that the Spiderman-obsessed children in the morning class now refer to me as, "The Green Goblin", when it is recess time.

Day Number Six: 11th Grade Service Project

I started out this morning feeling refreshed because of the weekend, but by the end of my service hours I felt exhausted again! I do not understand the fuss over nuclear power, the world should instead be intent on finding a way to harness the power (/energy) of little kids. I honestly do not remember myself as being unexhaustable, yet these children never run out of energy. It does, however, give me a bit of an ego pickup to hear some of them shout my name like I am Michael Jordan, Gretzky, or Elway. They are a lot of fun, and I am doing my best to try to teach them simple things that I think would be cool for them to know, such as how magnets work. I am also curious as to why there is a huge obsession with Spiderman, as I do not really remember one super-hero in particular being especially popular when I was in daycare.

Day Number Five: 11th Grade Service Project

Today was a day that sort of shook me out of my routine. My assigned classroom of one A.M. session and one P.M. session does not have school on Fridays. So instead I went and helped in fellow Regis Student Rob's assigned class. The first adjustment I had to make was to the different arrangement of the room, it was flipped around and felt foreign, yet familiar to me. The new kids I met seemed more accepting of me than when I first met my assigned class. They also run on a different schedule, their class goes an entire day and they also get a naptime! Even though the other kids are around the same age level as mine, they seem more normal than the kids in my class, which is weird because my class seems full of average-joe kids without major problems. I will most likely be in Rob's class again next Friday, and I am surprised to find myself looking forward to it, after all, the constant boredom of doing the same things twice each day was starting to wear on me. I definitely know I want to go to college and do something, not involving pre-school, with my life, because it is very tiring basically being a day-care teacher. On a side-note, I have found a paradox today, or at least rediscovered it, because of the preschoolers resistance to nap-time, which I would gladly take, but when you are young and have available naptime, you do not want it, when you are older and long for naptimes, you do not get them. I am sure this has already been realized by many people.

Day Number Four: 11th Grade Service Project

I really felt today that I have become an accepted member of the classes (both sessions) by the kids in the classes with a few exceptions. I believe most of the children feel that I am more of one of them than one of the teachers. The few exceptions include a child named Marco, who does not often speak sensically and often seems like he is in his own little world, talking to himself and obsessing over Dr. Seuss stories. Not that being infatuated with "Green Eggs and Ham" is unique, there is a kid named Ethan who cannot read, yet has memorized the entire story with the help of an interactive book on the classroom computer. Obviously, I feel that I should try to reach out to Marco and try to get him to interact socially more. Also, I had an awkward moment today when I met one of the kid's parents. I had become good friends with the kid by playing soccer with him at recess and even though he has a limited English vocabulary (first language: spanish), he seems to enjoy me reading to him. When his dad walked in, at first I thought he was his brother or something, I did not think he looked that much older than me. Clearly, I need to realize that this is not South-East Aurora, but I was still pretty shocked. It made me think of what my life will be like in the near future.

Day Number Three: 11th Grade Service Project

Today was my best day yet, as I found myself becoming more and more comfortable in my service site. I was able to effectively solve many micro-conflicts among the children, which seemed to me to be petty disagreements over toys, but when I think back to the days when I was three, four, or five, I remember that toys were pretty important to me. I also discovered something I would not have guessed, an "I.P." child named "Peyton" has real athletic talent. It was basically during the morning session's "recess" time that I played soccer with some of the kids. Peyton decided that he wanted to play. Amazingly, despite his social inabilities (mainly a lack of speaking...fluently) he kicks and runs quite well. I was impressed and later discovered he plays multiple sports and apparently his family is obsessed with Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts. After the A.M. session and my lunch I began to clean out the shed with the three other guys from Regis. At one time, it looked as if someone had tried to maintain order inside it, but gradually the daycare workers became overwhelmed. In fact, the lady that helped us out (I'll call her "J") could best be described by the phrase: "Constantly frazzled." Hopefully, I will be able to help reduce the overall stress level of Creative Options by working hard and continuing to help out in the classroom.

Day Number Two: 11th Grade Service Project

My second day started out better than the first day, mainly because the children of the A.M. session recognized me and were not terrified. Reviewing what I did today, I realized that I definitely related to the A.M. session more than the P.M. session. I questioned the teacher I worked with about this and she pointed out that the P.M. session of five-year-olds has more Individual Placement (I.P.) children, basically children with Cerebral Palsy. So I definitely realize that I should make it my goal to interact better, and connect more with the afternoon group. I also had my first conundrum. There is a girl in the afternoon session who is having her first social interactions because she had previously spent all her time with her mother in her home. She has no sense of right and wrong. She punched, kicked, threw sand at, and pushed several of the other kids in the session. I first realized she has a serious problem when she began chucking blocks at me, without visible anger at all, in fact, she seemed to think she was just playing. It isn't possible to be angry with her, simply because she does not have any empathy, or maybe it would be better to say, she does not understand emotions. Hopefully the staff here will help her on her way to normal interaction, and in my limited time here I will try to do the same, but I know I am never going to turn my back when scissors are present.

Day Number One: 11th Grade Service Project

Today was my first day at the day-care United Cerebral Palsy: Creative Options. As I walked into my assigned class, the smell immediately made me recall my own time as a youth, spending the hours at play with some of my first friends. I looked around, seeing the different activity stations and trying to familiarize myself with the room. The first children were already there when I arrived and there was a customary period of time when the kids looked curiously at the stranger three times their size. Eventually, the ice was broken and I began to form relationships with all the kids by playing, supervising, and helping them with their activities and routines. Hopefully tomorrow will be as successful.