Friday, May 22, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
classes
I registered for classes on Tuesday! The previous Friday I attended the registration info session, where we got all kinds of information on what classes we had to take, etc. I had already done my homework, so most of it wasn't news to me. I did learn some useful information though, such as specifically how to register for classes. It was a bit complicated. What happens is that as soon as registration begins, the School of Social Work (SSW) closes most of the classes and requires students to get a permission number to enroll in each class. I think that they do this to make sure that everyone is getting the classes that they need, and also to make sure that the weekend classes are reserved for the weekend exclusive students.
So what I had to do was e-mail all the classes that I wanted to register for, including the specific section number and day/time to a woman, Jan, at the SSW. She then goes through all the e-mails in order that they are received, and sends us permission numbers to enroll in a class. If a section that we want is full, we get offered a different section. I e-mailed her right after the session on Friday, and received my permission numbers on Tuesday morning. Registered Tuesday afternoon!
So in the fall semester I will be taking the following classes:
Monday 5:10-7:00PM Advanced Social Work Practice with Diverse Populations
Thursday 8:30-11:30AM Advanced Practice with Children and Adolescents
Thursday 1:55-3:50PM Program Evaluation
Saturday 8:00-11:00AM Child Development: Risk and Resilience
In addition I will have a field seminar that meets bi-weekly, but we won't find out when that is until around July, after everyone is given their field assignments. Speaking of field assignments ... we also found out that they will begin sending out e-mails with field placements beginning tomorrow. About half will receive their notice tomorrow, the other half next Tuesday, after Memorial Day. So possibly as soon as tomorrow I will know whether I got one of my placements or if I have to go in for the second round. I will update as soon as I know!
So what I had to do was e-mail all the classes that I wanted to register for, including the specific section number and day/time to a woman, Jan, at the SSW. She then goes through all the e-mails in order that they are received, and sends us permission numbers to enroll in a class. If a section that we want is full, we get offered a different section. I e-mailed her right after the session on Friday, and received my permission numbers on Tuesday morning. Registered Tuesday afternoon!
So in the fall semester I will be taking the following classes:
Monday 5:10-7:00PM Advanced Social Work Practice with Diverse Populations
Thursday 8:30-11:30AM Advanced Practice with Children and Adolescents
Thursday 1:55-3:50PM Program Evaluation
Saturday 8:00-11:00AM Child Development: Risk and Resilience
In addition I will have a field seminar that meets bi-weekly, but we won't find out when that is until around July, after everyone is given their field assignments. Speaking of field assignments ... we also found out that they will begin sending out e-mails with field placements beginning tomorrow. About half will receive their notice tomorrow, the other half next Tuesday, after Memorial Day. So possibly as soon as tomorrow I will know whether I got one of my placements or if I have to go in for the second round. I will update as soon as I know!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
baby news!
Mrs. Logan, the teacher that I have been working with all year had her new baby yesterday. A 7 pound baby boy that they named Noah Nicholas. She had a feeling that she was having a boy because of how she was carrying, but they waited until the birth to find out. I think it's funny that they named him Noah because their daughter, who will be less than a year apart in age from him, is named Nia. I was commenting that people will probably mistake them for twins when they get a little older -- Noah and Nia.
I was greeted with a surprise this morning -- Rachel, our long-term substitute was out sick with a migraine. Since it was so last minute there was no sub for her, so they had to use staff members to fill in. Tyrone, our principal, watched the class in the morning and then Deirdre, the music teacher, took over in the afternoon. It was sort of a crazy day. I wanted to go to my car during lunch and take a nap! Then tonight was the 2nd and 3rd grade exhibit night, so I stayed after school to help set up and then serve pizza to the families. We had about a ninety minute break between set-up and when families began to arrive so Kat (one of the other AmeriCorps members at my site) and I went and cleaned up some in the kindergarten room. The room is kind of messy -- the tables haven't had a good cleaning all year. I was never able to stay after school to clean, which I would have been willing to do, because Mrs. Logan always left right away and for some reason the administration felt that us AmeriCorps members aren't trustworthy enough to have our own keys. Those weren't the words used of course, but that's what it feels like. I'm still really bitter about that, because I am pretty much a full-time staff member in that classroom. Why shouldn't I get a key to the room? Especially because I always got there in the morning at least twenty minutes before Mrs. Logan, so I'd have to go down to the office and borrow the key from Judi, our secretary. Anyway, back to the cleaning ... we spent about an hour vacuuming and cleaning tables. Yet I only got three tables finished. I had to scrub at least four times per table to get all the glue and everything off. We even used a paint scraper. I wish we had been able to get all of them cleaned, but we ran out of time.
Tomorrow we have a day-long AmeriCorps conference at Augsburg College in Minneapolis. It was for National Service Week. I'm not sure what to expect, but at least it will be a nice break from the ordinary routine.
I was greeted with a surprise this morning -- Rachel, our long-term substitute was out sick with a migraine. Since it was so last minute there was no sub for her, so they had to use staff members to fill in. Tyrone, our principal, watched the class in the morning and then Deirdre, the music teacher, took over in the afternoon. It was sort of a crazy day. I wanted to go to my car during lunch and take a nap! Then tonight was the 2nd and 3rd grade exhibit night, so I stayed after school to help set up and then serve pizza to the families. We had about a ninety minute break between set-up and when families began to arrive so Kat (one of the other AmeriCorps members at my site) and I went and cleaned up some in the kindergarten room. The room is kind of messy -- the tables haven't had a good cleaning all year. I was never able to stay after school to clean, which I would have been willing to do, because Mrs. Logan always left right away and for some reason the administration felt that us AmeriCorps members aren't trustworthy enough to have our own keys. Those weren't the words used of course, but that's what it feels like. I'm still really bitter about that, because I am pretty much a full-time staff member in that classroom. Why shouldn't I get a key to the room? Especially because I always got there in the morning at least twenty minutes before Mrs. Logan, so I'd have to go down to the office and borrow the key from Judi, our secretary. Anyway, back to the cleaning ... we spent about an hour vacuuming and cleaning tables. Yet I only got three tables finished. I had to scrub at least four times per table to get all the glue and everything off. We even used a paint scraper. I wish we had been able to get all of them cleaned, but we ran out of time.
Tomorrow we have a day-long AmeriCorps conference at Augsburg College in Minneapolis. It was for National Service Week. I'm not sure what to expect, but at least it will be a nice break from the ordinary routine.
Monday, May 11, 2009
maternity leave, ringworm and birthday thanks
We're gonna start off with the last of the things listed in the title of this blog entry, which is birthday thanks. I know that I haven't gotten the chance to send out thank you cards for the wonderfully generous birthday cards/gifts that were sent to me, and I apologize. I have had such a busy and exhausting past several days, I just haven't gotten to it yet. But I will, and I want everyone to know how thankful I am!
In other news, my classroom teacher at Museum had her last day this past Thursday. Her c-section was scheduled for this morning, so hopefully soon we will be hearing news about the baby! She didn't know the sex yet, so everyone is anxious to find out. They already have a boy and a girl. Today was the second day with the long-term sub, Rachel (Ms. White). I like her so far. The kids are adjusting (slowly). It has been a crazy two days though, and I'm sure it will be a difficult rest of the week. It's a short week for me though, as Wednesday we have a day-long AmeriCorps conference and Friday I have an AmeriCorps service project in the morning and a registration session at the University in the afternoon.
Today one of my students noticed a strange, circular rash on his arm. He asked if he could go to the nurse before gym class, and I sent him off. I stopped in her office afterward, and she told me that she thinks he has ringworm. Lovely. She covered it and sent a note home, so hopefully he will get treated. I'm all concerned now about getting infected. I'm going to be washing my hands like crazy from now on I'm sure. Hopefully we don't have an outbreak in the class!
In other news, my classroom teacher at Museum had her last day this past Thursday. Her c-section was scheduled for this morning, so hopefully soon we will be hearing news about the baby! She didn't know the sex yet, so everyone is anxious to find out. They already have a boy and a girl. Today was the second day with the long-term sub, Rachel (Ms. White). I like her so far. The kids are adjusting (slowly). It has been a crazy two days though, and I'm sure it will be a difficult rest of the week. It's a short week for me though, as Wednesday we have a day-long AmeriCorps conference and Friday I have an AmeriCorps service project in the morning and a registration session at the University in the afternoon.
Today one of my students noticed a strange, circular rash on his arm. He asked if he could go to the nurse before gym class, and I sent him off. I stopped in her office afterward, and she told me that she thinks he has ringworm. Lovely. She covered it and sent a note home, so hopefully he will get treated. I'm all concerned now about getting infected. I'm going to be washing my hands like crazy from now on I'm sure. Hopefully we don't have an outbreak in the class!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
MayDay!
The MayDay Parade and Festival has been happening in Minneapolis for the past 34 years, the first one being celebrated two weeks following the end of the Vietnam War. It is meant to bring together the community to tell the story of what is important to the people of the Twin Cities. It is put together by In the Heart of the Beast Mask and Puppet Theatre (HOTB). In their words, "Since 1973, In the Heart of the Beast Mask and Puppet Theatre has been using water, flour, newspaper, paint and unlimited imagination to tell stories that explore the struggles and celebrations of human existence."
While MayDay is produced and created by HOTB, it is a community endeavor. Beginning in February of each year, a community meeting is held. Any one who wants is invited to come and brainstorm ideas on that year's theme. Following that meeting, HOTB artists create a storyboard for the parade based on the ideas that the community came up with. From then until the actual event in May, there are community workshops in which anybody is welcome to come and assist in the creation of the floats, puppets and costumes for the parade. All are welcome to participate in the creation of the parade, as well as the parade itself. For AmeriCorps we went to the theatre a couple of weeks before MayDay and helped create things for the parade!
This year's theme was "Our Common Treasury." The MayDay website describes the thoughts and values behind the 2009 theme: "We celebrated the great merging of the human social justice movements with the environmental movements to remember humans as responsible relatives of the earth. As we experience the failure of our economic systems built on debt, consumer waste, the theft and sickening of earth resources, we gathered to rebuild an economic system that protects and sustains our Earth as a Common Treasury for All." The parade itself told various stories. The first scene was "Save Our Assets: Dig the Real Economy." There was a cracked egg, with all the king's horses and men trying to come to the rescue. There were people trying to keep a stinky pile of waste propped up under a house of cards. There were pigs digging up the waste heap and leveling the ground, followed by bugs, worms and other creatures laying the foundation for fertile soil ready to sprout. Which leads to the second scene: "Sprout!" There were grass sprouts, wind energy, and a giant spider spinning a new web. The final scene was "All We Have." There was a tree of wisdom, with the idea of weaving the wisdom of the past with the abundance of the earth. There were birds (that I helped make!), buffalo dancers, and dragons as a thank you to ancestor spirits.
Overall, it was an amazing event. There were literally thousands of people there of so many different backgrounds. It truly was a community gathering. Afterwards, there was a festival in Powderhorn Park with music and a ceremony, canoe rides, food and more. I'm so glad that I got the opportunity to go this year, and I'm sure it will be a yearly tradition for as long as I'm living in the Twin Cities.
While MayDay is produced and created by HOTB, it is a community endeavor. Beginning in February of each year, a community meeting is held. Any one who wants is invited to come and brainstorm ideas on that year's theme. Following that meeting, HOTB artists create a storyboard for the parade based on the ideas that the community came up with. From then until the actual event in May, there are community workshops in which anybody is welcome to come and assist in the creation of the floats, puppets and costumes for the parade. All are welcome to participate in the creation of the parade, as well as the parade itself. For AmeriCorps we went to the theatre a couple of weeks before MayDay and helped create things for the parade!
This year's theme was "Our Common Treasury." The MayDay website describes the thoughts and values behind the 2009 theme: "We celebrated the great merging of the human social justice movements with the environmental movements to remember humans as responsible relatives of the earth. As we experience the failure of our economic systems built on debt, consumer waste, the theft and sickening of earth resources, we gathered to rebuild an economic system that protects and sustains our Earth as a Common Treasury for All." The parade itself told various stories. The first scene was "Save Our Assets: Dig the Real Economy." There was a cracked egg, with all the king's horses and men trying to come to the rescue. There were people trying to keep a stinky pile of waste propped up under a house of cards. There were pigs digging up the waste heap and leveling the ground, followed by bugs, worms and other creatures laying the foundation for fertile soil ready to sprout. Which leads to the second scene: "Sprout!" There were grass sprouts, wind energy, and a giant spider spinning a new web. The final scene was "All We Have." There was a tree of wisdom, with the idea of weaving the wisdom of the past with the abundance of the earth. There were birds (that I helped make!), buffalo dancers, and dragons as a thank you to ancestor spirits.
Overall, it was an amazing event. There were literally thousands of people there of so many different backgrounds. It truly was a community gathering. Afterwards, there was a festival in Powderhorn Park with music and a ceremony, canoe rides, food and more. I'm so glad that I got the opportunity to go this year, and I'm sure it will be a yearly tradition for as long as I'm living in the Twin Cities.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
near death experience
Okay, not really near death. But it was scary, nonetheless. This week I started working at one of our other AmeriCorps sites, Seward Towers. We used to have two members placed there, but both of them ended up leaving so they have been in desperate need of extra help. Seward is part of CommonBond Communities, a nonprofit developer and provider of affordable housing. It also happens to be where Multicultural Communities in Action (MCA), my Corps, gets our funding. Many of us are placed at schools, but we also have a number of members at various CommonBond sites. The CommonBond sites are much like Bayview, where I did my undergraduate social work internship. Within the housing communities, they have a center where services are provided for residents, such as youth programming, career support, computer access and mentoring. Many of the CommonBond sites serve Somali and other East African families. The sites where we have members serving are Cathedral Hill (in St. Paul, close to the St. Paul Cathedral), Westminster Place (St. Paul), Torre de San Miguel (West St. Paul), Skyline Tower (St. Paul, about a mile from where I live) and Seward Towers (in Minneapolis).
Anyway, as I said, Seward needed extra help after having both AmeriCorps members exit. Since Museum's after school program finished up at the end of April, I volunteered to help out in the after school program three nights a week from 4:30-6:30. So on Mondays I am at Seward Tower East doing Camp Fire USA (a youth development organization that does after school activities), Tuesdays I am also at Seward East doing homework help and on Wednesdays I am at Seward West doing Camp Fire. Monday was my very first night, and after doing some indoor activities we went out to the playground to do some outdoor games. We were in the middle of a game when a couple of the other adult leaders suddenly made all the kids start running down to the end of the field. At first I wasn't sure what was going on, then I heard shouting and looked over and realized that there was a group of people arguing in the alleyway of one of the houses right near the Tower. One guy came running out with a baseball bat, shouting. We had moved pretty far away by then, and were encouraging the kids to ignore what was going on. In the meantime, one of the leaders called the police who arrived within a minute. As soon as the police got there, two guys fled across the street to a gas station. We went inside pretty soon after, passing by the alleyway where we could see a mass of police. I found out afterwards from the girl who called the police that there had been a big fight going on, with knives and guns involved. Yikes!
So that was an exciting/scary way to begin my volunteering. Apparently there has been trouble at that house all year, according to the program coordinator. Needless to say, we didn't go outside the following day. It doesn't seem like that's a normal occurrence, as the kids were all really shocked/interested in the whole thing. So no one needs to worry that I'm working in some den of gang activity. Other than that, things are going well. It's tiring to work so late every day, but it's only for the rest of May. The kids are all really cute and fun. So far they are all Somali/East African, which is a population that I haven't worked with much before but is quite large in the Twin Cities.
In other news, I am mailing in my field placement form tomorrow. Looks like I might be only putting two places on it, and hope that I get placed at one of them. If I don't, I'll have to go through the second round of interviews in June. I spoke with Mira and a couple others, and they all suggested that I shouldn't put down any of the places that I wasn't really enthused about. In the end I think I agree.
Hopefully in the next couple days I'll get around to putting in a post about May Day, the parade/celebration that I went to on Sunday. I have lots of wonderful pictures to share. So stay on the lookout for that!
Anyway, as I said, Seward needed extra help after having both AmeriCorps members exit. Since Museum's after school program finished up at the end of April, I volunteered to help out in the after school program three nights a week from 4:30-6:30. So on Mondays I am at Seward Tower East doing Camp Fire USA (a youth development organization that does after school activities), Tuesdays I am also at Seward East doing homework help and on Wednesdays I am at Seward West doing Camp Fire. Monday was my very first night, and after doing some indoor activities we went out to the playground to do some outdoor games. We were in the middle of a game when a couple of the other adult leaders suddenly made all the kids start running down to the end of the field. At first I wasn't sure what was going on, then I heard shouting and looked over and realized that there was a group of people arguing in the alleyway of one of the houses right near the Tower. One guy came running out with a baseball bat, shouting. We had moved pretty far away by then, and were encouraging the kids to ignore what was going on. In the meantime, one of the leaders called the police who arrived within a minute. As soon as the police got there, two guys fled across the street to a gas station. We went inside pretty soon after, passing by the alleyway where we could see a mass of police. I found out afterwards from the girl who called the police that there had been a big fight going on, with knives and guns involved. Yikes!
So that was an exciting/scary way to begin my volunteering. Apparently there has been trouble at that house all year, according to the program coordinator. Needless to say, we didn't go outside the following day. It doesn't seem like that's a normal occurrence, as the kids were all really shocked/interested in the whole thing. So no one needs to worry that I'm working in some den of gang activity. Other than that, things are going well. It's tiring to work so late every day, but it's only for the rest of May. The kids are all really cute and fun. So far they are all Somali/East African, which is a population that I haven't worked with much before but is quite large in the Twin Cities.
In other news, I am mailing in my field placement form tomorrow. Looks like I might be only putting two places on it, and hope that I get placed at one of them. If I don't, I'll have to go through the second round of interviews in June. I spoke with Mira and a couple others, and they all suggested that I shouldn't put down any of the places that I wasn't really enthused about. In the end I think I agree.
Hopefully in the next couple days I'll get around to putting in a post about May Day, the parade/celebration that I went to on Sunday. I have lots of wonderful pictures to share. So stay on the lookout for that!
Saturday, May 2, 2009
decisions, decisions
I am all finished with my internship interviews, so now comes the hard part of deciding whether or not I'd actually want to be placed at each agency and then deciding what order to rank them in. I have my first and second choice down, but I am confused about the other three. I feel ambivalent about whether I'd want to be placed at them and none of them really stick out as being more preferable than the others.
My student choice of placement form is due by May 11th, so I still have a couple of days to sit on it and think things through. Obviously I'm hoping that I get my first choice, but it isn't always the case. Mira's first year she got her third or fourth choice, although I think that as a second year you are more likely to get one of your top choices. As an advanced standing student, I'm considered a second year.
Once I turn in the choice of placement form, I'll find out my placement by late May. So by the end of this month I'll know where I'll be spending 500 hours of my life next year!
My student choice of placement form is due by May 11th, so I still have a couple of days to sit on it and think things through. Obviously I'm hoping that I get my first choice, but it isn't always the case. Mira's first year she got her third or fourth choice, although I think that as a second year you are more likely to get one of your top choices. As an advanced standing student, I'm considered a second year.
Once I turn in the choice of placement form, I'll find out my placement by late May. So by the end of this month I'll know where I'll be spending 500 hours of my life next year!
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