Final Blog Reflections on Service Learning #3

3. Connection to one of our readings:

I relate two of my experiences to the Mike Rose book, Lives On The Boundary. The biggest thing I took away from that book was the idea of students being left behind by the school systems because they struggled with learning disabilities, but without one-on-one attention, they weren't able to break out of the stigma of having a learning disability or from simply being left behind because no one cared enough to pay specific attention to them. I experienced two students who were both older gentleman that I guessed had some type of learning disabilities, who had never surpassed the literacy level of a 4th grader. I could not believe that something like that could happened, but I immediately thought of the Mike Rose book and wondered if either their disabilties had been ignored and they had just been pushed through the system, or if they had also been labled as learning disabled, and no one ever cared enough to pay specific attention to them to help them become more literate and receive the individual attention they needed. They may have also experienced feelings of inadequacy that caused them to feel like they were "stupid" or "dumb" and not smart enough to learn or excel  in school. It really upsetted me to see that this continues to happen so frequently in society. I wondered how their lives may have been different if they had had a mentor/teacher that took an interest in them like Mike Rose did, and I wondered how they had gotten through their lives so far only having the limited knowledge they did. It also reminded me of Rose's book because it really hit me how important knowledge is, and how critical it is for students to learn and obtain and education to help them to reach their fullest potential and benefit society as a whole.

Final Blog Reflections On Service Learning Experiences #2

2. Consideration of materials and/or social space:

In these sessions, the materials most frequently used were books, computers, pens/pencils, dictionaries, and computers. I feel all of these materials were adequate for providing the full learning experience. It was such a blessing that the students are able to access these resources at the NALC, because they are all essential in improving upon one's literacy. The books were probably the most commonly used material because they contained the key information for the students, as well as essential guidance for the teachers. While it seems obvious that students require a book/textbook for literacy learning, the information given to the teachers can be undervalued because the student will not learn what they need to know unless the teacher is well-prepared and well educated. The teacher should be well-informed so they can know the students' needs and give them the appropriate information. If a teacher does not have access to materials that are expanding their knowledge and providing the students with neccessary knowledge, there are many obstacles the student will have to face. The computers are also a useful tool for learning literacy because the students can do additional excercises as well as learn how to navigate and work a computer, which is usually an essential skill for potential job opportunities. Having online and hard-copy dictionaries are also incredibly useful because they help students and teachers to grow in their knowledge of vocabulary and be able to look up something they may not know. Another important material was the different handouts and posters they have that provided hints and outlines for phonetic skills. These are useful tools for students because they provide quick references for students as they work on activities. They are good reminders for the rules of phonetics.

The arrangement of space is organized so that mutiple students can work and get tutoring at the same time. There are about 8-10 desks and 4-5 computers that are set up in the room for students during their lessons as well as students who have just come in to use the computers or study. While there are multiple tutoring sessions going on at once, it is not distracting or too loud. I have always felt as if the student and I were in our own room because the desks are set up with cubicles that allow for privacy and concentration. The materials mentioned in the previous paragraph are all easily accesible in the room creativing an environment that fosters learning and exploration.

Final Blog Reflections on Service Learning Experiences

1. Connection to your own literacy experience:
In comparing my own literary experience with one of the students that I tutored, I would say that our literary experiences may have been pretty similar up to a certain point. For our lesson, we were primarily focusing on grammar and the pronunciation of long and short syllables. I remember learning a lot of this material when I was in elementary and middle school, but until now, had completely forgotten most of it. He seemed to have a similar experience, he kept saying that he must have learned all of it at some point, but I think he may have had some learning disabilities that had prevented him from being able to fully understand it. I believe he probably did learn all the material in school at some point, but he was able to only partially learn it because of some learning disability, and was passed through the system without someone realizing he never actually learned some fundamental knowledge because he needed to know. Not only that, it is possible the teachers assumed he was just being lazy or wasn't smart enough to learn the information, when in fact he had a disability preventing him from learning it the way he should. I was so fortunate in my education because I was always in very small classes where the teachers were able to be fully in tune with each student and their needs. I always knew that if I didn't understand something, I would be able to get the individual help I needed from a teacher. It was really interesting that my experiences have opened my eyes to the differences and similarities in our formative literary experiences.

Video Storyboard

Last literacy training session!

Last week I also had my last literacy training session. The session was awesome because it was with one of the girls I had worked with before, that I had specifically requested to work with again. She was a really sweet young woman from Taiwan and we spent most of the time talking about "Falling In Love", which was what the lesson plan was about, which was fun because I was able to learn all about love and relationships in her culture. We went through a lot of vocabulary and reading comprehension relating to this and she did a great job.

Final literacy tutoring!

Last week I had my second to last tutoring session. I worked with two wonderful people, one was an elderly black man and another was a young Asian man studying at Vanderbilt. Both sessions went really well. In the first session, the elderly black man and I worked a lot on long and short syllables. He did a pretty good job with it, but seemed to have trouble differentiating long and short vowels, but we went over a couple of tricks for figuring it out and I think he was improving by the end. The second student was a really sweet Asian man from South Korea. He wanted to work on conversation a lot so we talked for a while and I was able to hear all about his studies at Vanderbilt and how it is hard for him to work in study groups because he gets left behind since he doesn't know the language. We talked about various vocabulary words and did some reading comprehension, which he did a great job on. What he really wanted help with was his pronunciation, so we were able to do a lot of repetition, which hopefully helped him with that.

NALC first time

I was not able to post about my first experience at the NALC, so I wanted to take a moment to share my experience. The first time I went, I remember being really nervous about whether I was going to be well-equipped to teach the lesson. I've never been the best at grammar, and I was nervous I may need to teach something that even I didn't understand. Fortunately, that was not the case. Although I did  not have much time to review the lesson plans before the sessions, I was able to quickly glance over them to see what we needed to cover. My first student was an older black woman who was originally from Nigeria. She had an incredible faith, and we enjoyed talking about her beliefs and her family. We went over different vocabulary and spellings of words, which she had a pretty good grasp of. She also did a lot of work on the computer to work on her computer skills, which appeared to have improven since her last session. The next student was a white man in his forties. Because of his age and his race, it seemed he was just an average American man, so I was surprised when I learned his reading/comprehension abilities were at a 4th grade level. I could not believe it! He was in a GED class, so we worked on some of the word problems for math that he couldn't understand and went over some reading comprehension exercises. He seemed to learn a lot during the lesson, so I was really happy about that.

Contributor Video Script

Have you ever passed someone selling the Contributor on the street and felt embarassed? Have you ever felt uncomfortable or scared? Maybe you didn't even care. Did you ask God why, or do you just drive by, unaware?

Did you try to pretend you couldn't see them? Or did you roll down your window and say hello? Did you ever wonder how they got there? Or where they sleep at night?
Does the memory of that homeless man or woman make you stop and think when you put your dollar into the vending machine to get a snack? Do you wonder what that dollar could mean to someone else?

Do you see the broken dreams, the hopelessness and despair? Or do you see the love, the faith, and the hope that's there.

Service Learning Refletion November 3, 2011

Last night I did my second tutoring session at the NALC. I did a two hour session, and it was absolutely incredible. While at first I was skeptical of having to do work outside of class, I have fallen in love with tutoring at the literacy center. Last night, my first student was Rogoberta. Coming all the way from Guatemala, Rogoberta was a sweet woman who came in about 20 minutes late, full of apologies, and smiling from ear to ear. Having seen some of her favorite hobbies were praying and reading her bible, I knew we would have an immediate connection. It was great to have the time before she came to look over both lesson plans and really learn about who my students were. Because of this, I was able to incorporate their interests into our lesson. For example, when talking about the meaning of the word "mean", I could reference King Herod as a "mean" person because he wanted to kill baby Jesus. It was fun to be able to remodel to the lesson to incorporate topics and words that were interesting to her. I really enjoyed talking with her during our chit-chat time before class and hearing about her life and her faith. We both enjoyed looking through her Spanish-English bible and reading different verses that we found encouraging and interesting. She had a pretty good command of the language, but was focusing on learning how to pronounce things and the meaning of certain words. It was also cool because I know a little bit of Spanish, and was able to use that in our conversation and in our lession to help her understand things better. At one point I asked her what her name meant in Spanish, and she asked me what the word "mean" meant.  It was definitely the hardest word to explain, becuase it is one of those words you never know how to define without using the word in your definition!!

My second student was a sweet Asian woman from Taiwan named Nina. She is in the U.S. to study methods and technology of cochlear implants. Because they have standardized healthcare in Taiwan, most people's insurance do not cover them for this surgery, so it is not as prevalent as it is in the U.S. She has come here to do a fellowship at Vanderbilt and research more about this surgery, so she can go back to Taiwan, where she is a doctor, and bring the knowledge and techniques back to her patients. She was really sweet and very eager to learn. In our lesson, we focused mostly on cultural things such as families, terms for extended families, and American culture. She had a good grasp of the different terms used for families, so we spent a lot of class discussing the questions that were provided in the textbook about her familiy, so I was able to learn a lot about her and her family background which was very interesting. She also told me more about life and culture in Taiwan, and even gave me suggestions of good places to go for Korean BBQ here in Nashville. I really enjoyed working with her and have schedule to tutor her again next week!

Blogs and Forums on Homelessness

http://www.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness/2009-09-07-homelessnewspaper_N.htm
Article about The Contributor in USA today

http://www.insidevandy.com/drupal/node/15776
Vanderbilt article about homelessness


http://nashvillecitypaper.com/content/city-news/contributor-sues-brentwood-over-alleged-civil-rights-violations
Interesting part of this posting is the responses to the post. Some are supportive of the homeless selling the papers and expanding into Brentwood and some are strongly against The Contributor and efforts to expand into Brentwood.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20111014/NEWS01/310140059/For-homeless-street-paper-success-story
Article and video in the Tennessean. The comments on this article are far more positive and supportive of the homeless and The Contributor.

Glossary for Homelessness

Glossary for Homelessness:

Homelessness: people without a permanent residence. May be unable or unwilling to find housing. Also includes people who sleep at shelters and centers.

The Contributor: Magazine created for homeless vendors to sell. Includes articles by the homeless themselves as well as journalists writing about topics such as homelessness and poverty.

Vendors: a currently or formerly homeless person who sells the Contributor newspaper in Nashville.

Territory: Area in which a vendor sells his or her newspaper. These territories can become permanent if vendor consistently sells 300 or more papers in a month.

Shelter:

Subsidized Housing: government supported accomodation for people with low to moderate income levels.

Chronic homelessness: An individual who has experienced homelessness for a year or more, or has had four episodes of homelessness in three years.

Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness: A government organized program to end homelessness


http://scoutmob.com/nashville/today/2011-10-10

October 7 In Class Blog

My project is significant because it addresses homelessness in Nashville and the impact of the Contributor in altering not only the percetipon the homeless have of themselves, also their perception in society. After delving more into this issue, I have come to discover that homelessness is not an individual issue, but rather a community issue that needs to be addressed by society as a whole. As a result of the Contributer, many have come to see homeless not as a general issue, but as a more personal issue involving people they have come to know and care about.

Interview: Andrew Krinks, Editor of Contributor

I am doing my project on the Contributor and the effect is has had on the identity and perception of it's homeless venders, including the perception of society and the bridging of the gap between different socio-economic levels. I talked with Andrew Krinks from the Contributor and had an incredibly interesting and informative conversation, some of which is available below:

Kelly Tillotson: I think it's so interesting how people's perceptions have changed of the homeless have changed because of the Contributor...so can you speak more into that and how not only their perception of themselves has changed, but also society's perception of them?

Andrew Krinks: That's a great question....well, as far as their perception of themselves...people that I've talked to, they really do feel like they are doing a service for people, and there is no discounting the extreme significance of being able to contribute something to someone else. Receiving a gift from someone is one thing...but I think that what ends up meaning the most to folks is being able to stand there and know that they are a part of the broader community and feeling like they can contribute to it in a concrete way. People who are poor and homeless have immense capabilities and capacities to change themselves and the people around them, and to influence their world. They have hopes and dreams and desires and feelings like anybody else, so when someone is given the space to realize just a couple of those...to interact with lots of normal, everyday people, I think that goes a long way for a lot of people who otherwise would be living their monotonous life going to the shelter at 5:00 and sleeping in room full of hundreds of people who are really in a bad place kind of going by yourself, keeping to yourself, but it's kind of a door into a wider community. Hence the community idea, as far as I can tell, one of the common denominators of all the people who are homeless...is that for pretty much across the board, anyone who becomes homeless experience some kind of falling away of their community support system, and so what it looks like to be poor at the root, or homeless particularly, is to be essentially in isolation without a support system around you. So the fact that people don't want to talk to you based on your appearance is kind of isolation in all senses...our theory is that part of healing entails rebuilding community around people who have lost it.

On the public side, the total result is...homelessnesswent from something you don't have to see or face...seei   ng it face to face and rolling down the window, having a conversation is a means for people to have their minds changed a little bit, kind of about breaking down the stereotypes about homeless people...when they find out they have histories like their own...they are just normal folks just have had different circumstances. I think that is one of the most important things we do...is to educate and start a conversation that can help break down some of those stereotypes and open the door for some different perspectives and relationships.

Cultural Artifact

The artifact I am choosing for my culture is The Contributer newspaper because it is obviously the biggest part of the Contributor and the tool to help bring the homeless out of their current situation into a better, more secure and profitable life. I am interested to see how this newspaper, these few, simple pages of paper can make such a large difference in someone's life by giving them the opportunity to better their life financially and also give them a more respectable standing in society. 

I have noticed that people tend to relate much more to the homeless when they see them working hard to sell the paper than they do when they see them holding up a sign that says "homeless." It is amazing how by merely changing what they are holding in their hands, they go from pitied and ignored, to respected and helped. I think this newspaper symbolizes the change the Contributer has had on the life of the homeless, and represents a symbol of opportunity and hope for those who have been hopeless for so long. 

Symposium Reflection: Maya Angelou

"A rainbow in the clouds." This phrased, used to start out Maya Angelou's speech, was a reoccuring theme used throughout, that stuck my head and replayed itself for days after the event. I loved the uplifiting image this idea provoked, and thought it was the perfect description for a wonderful lady like Mrs. Angelou. I really enjoyed listening to her speak and all the wisdom and advice she gave to her audience. Some of my favorite points were her comments about values and the importance of courage as a means to achieve all other values. The importance she placed on "courage" as a value revealed the role it has played in her life as a necessary quality to enable her to persevere and achieve despite everything she has been through starting with being raped at the young age of seven. Despite this, and other personal tragedies in her life, Mrs. Angelous has overcome and persevered with courage as her constant companion. I loved hearing her share personal stories, including many tales that ultimately led to poems. I also enjoyed hearing her read and recite poetry; some she read from books while others she recited from memory, which is such a treat a world filled with computers, phones and technology that often quench our need and desire for memorizing literary language. I was amazed by her depth of knowledge laced with an effortless humor, and a willingness to poke fun at herself and others. Overall, it was an incredible, once in a lifetime experience I will never forget.

For the week of September 12-16: Study very informally and very briefly a culture immediate to you. Use whatever means you want to gather and record information. This culture might be your family, dorm floor, cohort, etc. Or it might be the same culture that you used to practice taking field notes. On your blog, write a micro-ethnographic account about your chosen culture. Focus carefully on one small part that seems important. Some parts/categories you might consider are things like dress, unique language, habits, etc.

The culture I studied was my group of friends and their style of dress. I observed my friends at various instances throughout the week and noticed a distict change in their outfits depending on their moods and environment. I realized how often people change their outward appearance depending on where they are and what type of image they want to portray. Not only did I notice this amongst my group of friends, but I also noticed that I do this myself.

For instance, my girlfriend Jenny, who normally quite trendy, but still fairly classic in her style, ranged from instances of wearing running shorts and her dad's oversized shirt for an early-morning breakfast, to wearing a lacy patterned short dress and heels for her birthday dinner. While eating an early morning breakfast or hanging out in the student-life center brought out a more casual, college-student look, going out for dinner brought out a completely different look that was a more alternative, trendy, look paired with funky jewelry and dark makeup. If I had met her in the first outfit, judging on looks alone, I would have thought she had a totally different personality than if I had met her in the second outfit. However, interestingly enough, her changes in style had nothing to do with her actual personality. She remained consistently true to her personality despite drastic shifts in appearance.

Another case would be my friend Parker. While Parker is normally decked out in anything preppy, ranging from polo shirts, to khaki's, to visors and croakies, he can alternately be found wearing Wrangler jeans, a plaid shirt and cowboy boots depending on where he is and what he is doing. While in his every day life he chooses the preppy look, for performances, shows or business meeting that require him to slip into his "songwriter/artist personality", he must immediately shift gears to a more rustic, country look. While he is still the same guy, situations can completely change his outward appearance. A third look is his completely casual look which he adorns only when excercising, sleeping, or hanging out at his house. For example, while hanging out at his house and having dinner, he was dressed in khaki shorts and a blue polo; a standard outfit for his everyday life. However, when he had a band rehearsal on Wednesday night, he dressed in the "artist" outfit, complete with Wrangler jeans and cowboy boots.

I've also noticed that I am similar to both Parker in Jenny in that different circumstances can cause me to dress like totally different people. I think my outfits can also depend on what type of mood I am in. For example, after staying up late and waking up early to study for an exam, I decided to wear running shorts and a long-sleeved t-shirt to school instead of my usual attire (which is generally more business casual). On Thursday I dressed in business casual attire for classes and work and then actually brought a change of clothes for a music business event that night, knowing the event called for a completely different look. the second look was a flowery dress and sweater that was more fun and fancy than the inital look.

Overall, it was interesting to observe the differences in dress among friends depending on various situations. It led me to wonder, do they wear these outfits because of the differing expectations of society, or to express various personalities inside of them? I would be interested to follow this up with additional investigations and interviews.

Field Notes

• For week of September 7-9 (online) or for September 14 (9 am & 11 am sections): Post up a picture of your practice field notes, and on your blog, write up a response to each of the three questions on page 106: 
• What surprised me? I initially thought it would be better to go to a more populated area where there were a lot of people to observe, but after sitting down and starting to write, I discovered that recording what I saw was much harder than I thought it was going to be. There was so much to observe and record that it was hard to keep up with it all, so I realized it is probably better to have a smaller subject to observe.
• What intrigued me? I was intrigued by the various conversations that were going on. By nature, I am very curious and always love to watch and learn from other people, so this was the perfect opportunity to fully embrace that. 
• What disturbed me? I wasn't particularly disturbed by anything! The only thing I was disturbed by was how creepy I was starting to feel after eavesdropping for so long!

Literary Discourse Project

For my literary discourse project I would love to do something to incorporate the homeless population in Nashville. Having a mom who started a non-profit for homeless youth in California has inspired me to reach out to the homeless in Nashville, and not only find out what their needs are and how they can be helped most beneficially, but also find out their life stories; who they are and where they come from. I have already initiated relationships with many of the Contributer sellers and would love to find a way to further my research into this area through the project.

Subcultures

To what subcultures do you belong?

I belong to a couple of different subcultures including "college students", "musicians/performers", "young women", "Christians," "family member," "friend,", "girlfriend," and "member of society working for the greater good of mankind."

What subcultures fascinate you?

I find a lot of subcutlures to be quite fascinating. It is intersting to take time to analyze different subcultures and the study the similarites and/or differences in the way people act, look, talk, and think. I am very interested in the "young women" subculture as I think women and girl's are extremely complex and I would love to learn more about how and why we do what we do, and how we gain a sense of community by identifying with this subculture.

Misunderstanding English


I think there are three different discourses in this video. The first is German, the second is the German's attempt to speak and understand English, and the third is the American speaking English.


All three discourses are very different and when the German's attempt at English collides with the American speaking English they create a humorous effect as the German speaker mis-interprets what the American speaker is saying. While the American is crying out that their ship is "sinking," the German interprets this as saying he is "thinking" because he understands the word as he would say it. It is often humorous to see the collision of multiple discourses because they are often misunderstood and interpreted in ways that tend to be amusing. However, they can also be very frustrating for someone who is trying to communicate and cannot seem to get someone to understand what they are saying. There are often crucial mistakes that are due to misunderstanding and miscommunication. 

Writing Etiquette

There are many rules that have been drilled into my head about things that you should never do as a writer. First you have your basic rules that usually revolve around grammatical expectations such as avoiding run- on sentences, making sure the subject and the verb agree, using proper punctation, etc. Then you have more advanced expectations in terms of the fluidity of your writing, the format of your writing, introductory and conclusive sentences and expectations for writing prose and style.

I think these rules are both necessary and helpful in writing. There is a certain degree of structure and formality that is necessary for readers to understand the writer and to be able to discern what point they are trying to make. For a reader to have to struggle to understand what the writer is saying and then venture to understand what the writer is writing about would be an unnecessary battle.  That said, I think there are certain situations where these rules can be tossed out the window for the sake of creativity and expression. However, the majority of the time, it is necessary for writing to follow rules to improve understanding and comprehension.