Let me start off by agreeing with Desiree's post. Time and communication were not our friends this semester. That being said, let me explain why this is true in my case.
Intentions: Last semester I joined this group under the premise that I would be coordinating with an after school group at Boyd Elementary school. Accordingly, I planned my schedule to accommodate the extra curricular Think Green meetings. I left a large gap in my schedule after 3 pm and before 10 am.
Contentions: Instead, our interaction with Boyd elementary began in late October with our garden clean up project. Although I was able to attend this project as well as the 2, yes only 2, meetings of the Think Green club, I was able to attend only 1 of the class-room presentations at Boyd which were the primary contributor to the group hours because these presentations occurred during my college class time. Furthermore our group communication was poor (if anyone wants to accuse me of throwing Amy or anyone else under the bus on this sentence, trust me, the accusation is not singular) enough that information about what time we would go to Boyd was given too close to change class plans.
I have made the choice this month to skip one of my classes at Drury to participate in our 1st grade class presentation about wind energy and sustainability. It went well, and the kids enjoyed their organic snack afterward, just as our Think Green group enjoyed our second meeting creating more crafts and discussing ideas for environmentally sustainable projects next semester.
Redemption: I understand how things will be now for this group to achieve 15 hours. Instead of a primarily after-school partnership, I need to devote my time to primarily in-school activities. I have made my schedule accordingly for college classes. I hope to make up the hours I have missed this semester by attending all of our classroom events next semester and organizing some events.
Summit so far, is much different than I first pictured. It is time, as we look to next semester, to adapt to the changes we have seen before eyes.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
the Finale
School has been really busy. And the Boyd group can only meet at certain times. Therefore, I haven't gotten to meet when they met this month. But I hear they did cool things. Like the did in-class presentations on weather. Which I would have loved to go to, but I couldn't. I think they did end up making pinwheels and talking about windpower. I haven't read their blogs yet, so I don't know.
Which brings me to the problem of communication.
It's a problem.
Sometimes it's difficult to communicate with Boyd. Sometimes it's difficult for everyone in the house to communicate. Because everyone's really busy.
They also helped with the Green Team after school thing. But I had school stuff, again.
BUT
but but but.
I have been able to make notebooks out of recycled goods. So that's good. That's a task that has very flexible hours. The neat thing about that is that I can make these notepads and then then Think Green can sell them and raise money for the cause.
I think in the semester we'll be able to get started earlier in the semester than we did last semester because we have a handle on it now. Hopefully over winter break I'll be able to research more environmental issues and activities and ways of recycling so that we'll have some fresh ideas for the next semester.
Because of this past semester of working with Boyd, I've learned more about the issues because having this product has encouraged me to research more. I was relatively well-informed before, but now I feel like I'm always learning more and more (and there will always be more and more to learn).
As far as the Wellness Program and Stress Free Now go, there were good parts and bad parts. I liked the yoga class. I'd taken yoga before, but never with this teacher, so I learned some poses that I'd never tried before. I didn't get into Tai Chi. As the lady said, Tai Chi requires a really slow learning process, and she had to cram in a lot (even though it didn't seem like a lot) into a short session, so I probably didn't learn as much or learn it in quite the right way. I was interested because Tai Chi seems like a neat thing to do, but for the limitations of this class, time and otherwise, it didn't do much for me.
I was confused by the acupuncture because there were implications that we would all be getting acupuncture. But we didn't get acupuncture. I was interested in the subject matter the acupuncture man talked about, but because he had offbeat ideas and was aware that he was talking to a group of people who may or may not want to be there or may or may not think that he's crazy, he didn't really seem that relatable. It sort of felt like he was trying to sell it to us, giving us more the good parts than a realistic view of what acupuncture could do. The situation may have put him on the defense. I'm still interested in acupuncture, even though it's probably not something I can afford at this point in my life.
Before we started this program, I'd actually been pretty interested in meditation, and some of the types of meditation we had to do I liked, but some of them I didn't like as much. There are some podcast episodes that did more for me.
On one hand, I think it's a good idea to introduce these new ideas to people who may have ignored or rejected them before. I think this could really help some people, but there are also plenty of people who aren't interested in meditation or yoga or eastern medicine, and just aren't going to be.
This winter break I'm looking forward to reading and maybe starting some new projects and renewing my Netflix account.
-Desirée
Which brings me to the problem of communication.
It's a problem.
Sometimes it's difficult to communicate with Boyd. Sometimes it's difficult for everyone in the house to communicate. Because everyone's really busy.
They also helped with the Green Team after school thing. But I had school stuff, again.
BUT
but but but.
I have been able to make notebooks out of recycled goods. So that's good. That's a task that has very flexible hours. The neat thing about that is that I can make these notepads and then then Think Green can sell them and raise money for the cause.
I think in the semester we'll be able to get started earlier in the semester than we did last semester because we have a handle on it now. Hopefully over winter break I'll be able to research more environmental issues and activities and ways of recycling so that we'll have some fresh ideas for the next semester.
Because of this past semester of working with Boyd, I've learned more about the issues because having this product has encouraged me to research more. I was relatively well-informed before, but now I feel like I'm always learning more and more (and there will always be more and more to learn).
As far as the Wellness Program and Stress Free Now go, there were good parts and bad parts. I liked the yoga class. I'd taken yoga before, but never with this teacher, so I learned some poses that I'd never tried before. I didn't get into Tai Chi. As the lady said, Tai Chi requires a really slow learning process, and she had to cram in a lot (even though it didn't seem like a lot) into a short session, so I probably didn't learn as much or learn it in quite the right way. I was interested because Tai Chi seems like a neat thing to do, but for the limitations of this class, time and otherwise, it didn't do much for me.
I was confused by the acupuncture because there were implications that we would all be getting acupuncture. But we didn't get acupuncture. I was interested in the subject matter the acupuncture man talked about, but because he had offbeat ideas and was aware that he was talking to a group of people who may or may not want to be there or may or may not think that he's crazy, he didn't really seem that relatable. It sort of felt like he was trying to sell it to us, giving us more the good parts than a realistic view of what acupuncture could do. The situation may have put him on the defense. I'm still interested in acupuncture, even though it's probably not something I can afford at this point in my life.
Before we started this program, I'd actually been pretty interested in meditation, and some of the types of meditation we had to do I liked, but some of them I didn't like as much. There are some podcast episodes that did more for me.
On one hand, I think it's a good idea to introduce these new ideas to people who may have ignored or rejected them before. I think this could really help some people, but there are also plenty of people who aren't interested in meditation or yoga or eastern medicine, and just aren't going to be.
This winter break I'm looking forward to reading and maybe starting some new projects and renewing my Netflix account.
-Desirée
Friday, December 10, 2010
December - Smith
This month has been full of activity. Not only have we done a lot with our project at Boyd, but we also are wrapping up our first semester in the Summit house. Papers and projects are all due, meetings are taking place and finals are next week. Then we get a nice break and Christmas!
This month we have already had three events at Boyd. Two were in class presentations, and one was a Green Team meeting. Next week we are also planning on helping out at another Green Team meeting. Our presentations were about wind, and wind power. We visited two first grade classrooms and told them all about how the sun heats the air and makes wind cells. After that we explained wind turbines, and how they are used to harness energy from the wind. We then explained why this was so much better than burning fossil fuels. We brought pencils and paper and helped the kids make their own mini turbines with them. Then they could watch the pinwheel spin and see wind power in motion. They all thought this project was really cool. Both classes had at least one kid wondering if I was a boy or a girl, it was pretty funny. I explained that I was a boy, but I had long hair. Everyone in the house makes jokes about that now. We also brought organic snacks and juice to the classes, and explained that eating organic foods was not only healthy, but good for the environment.
At the Green Team meeting we made Christmas ornaments out of old magazines and paper. First you cut a square out of the material you were using, and folded it in half. Then you make a couple of cuts and unfold it. You will then have a paper with slits in it that can be folded back on each other and make a really cool looking ornament or even just a decoration to hang around the house. We put a few of them together and made a star decoration. Boyd had a Christmas tree on their third floor, and we put a couple of the ornaments on it. Next week we will help the kids make notebooks out of cardboard boxes we have been collecting from cereal and other foods.
I have loved my first semester in Summit and look forward to next semester. I think next semester our project will be better organized and more awesome!
This month we have already had three events at Boyd. Two were in class presentations, and one was a Green Team meeting. Next week we are also planning on helping out at another Green Team meeting. Our presentations were about wind, and wind power. We visited two first grade classrooms and told them all about how the sun heats the air and makes wind cells. After that we explained wind turbines, and how they are used to harness energy from the wind. We then explained why this was so much better than burning fossil fuels. We brought pencils and paper and helped the kids make their own mini turbines with them. Then they could watch the pinwheel spin and see wind power in motion. They all thought this project was really cool. Both classes had at least one kid wondering if I was a boy or a girl, it was pretty funny. I explained that I was a boy, but I had long hair. Everyone in the house makes jokes about that now. We also brought organic snacks and juice to the classes, and explained that eating organic foods was not only healthy, but good for the environment.
At the Green Team meeting we made Christmas ornaments out of old magazines and paper. First you cut a square out of the material you were using, and folded it in half. Then you make a couple of cuts and unfold it. You will then have a paper with slits in it that can be folded back on each other and make a really cool looking ornament or even just a decoration to hang around the house. We put a few of them together and made a star decoration. Boyd had a Christmas tree on their third floor, and we put a couple of the ornaments on it. Next week we will help the kids make notebooks out of cardboard boxes we have been collecting from cereal and other foods.
I have loved my first semester in Summit and look forward to next semester. I think next semester our project will be better organized and more awesome!
Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time!
Wow! Today is the last day of classes... the last official day of the semester. I can't believe that our Summit project is almost half over already. This is a short month school-wise, but we've still managed to log some hours over at Boyd. To start off the month, we lead another Think Green meeting at Boyd. We made really cool recycled paper Christmas ornaments and helped the students complete some of their recycled notebooks. We ended up volunteering to take the notebooks home so that we can help them get a jump start on this project.
The next day we went back to Boyd to complete our second in-class presentation on the wind and wind power. The 1st grade students that we presented to on December 2nd were SO rowdy! They had a substitute teacher, so it was quite a challenge keeping them under control and focused. But, we eventually got them calmed down and we were able to tell them all about the importance of renewable energy and how wind power works.
I'm incredibly excited for the evolution of our project into next semester. We've already tackled all of the frustrating aspects of the project (communication issues), which means that next semester should be a breeze. We'll be able to plan many more events and follow through with everything. Hopefully the carnival that we're trying to plan will come to fruition as well!
The Wellness Program has been helpful, this week especially with the wonderful free massages. Though, in all honesty, I find it a bit stressful to remember to log on to the web site and do the meditation each day.
I'm excited to tell the rest of the Summit community all about our project in class tonight! :) And, I can't wait for Christmas!
Happy Holidays!
Amy
The next day we went back to Boyd to complete our second in-class presentation on the wind and wind power. The 1st grade students that we presented to on December 2nd were SO rowdy! They had a substitute teacher, so it was quite a challenge keeping them under control and focused. But, we eventually got them calmed down and we were able to tell them all about the importance of renewable energy and how wind power works.
I'm incredibly excited for the evolution of our project into next semester. We've already tackled all of the frustrating aspects of the project (communication issues), which means that next semester should be a breeze. We'll be able to plan many more events and follow through with everything. Hopefully the carnival that we're trying to plan will come to fruition as well!
The Wellness Program has been helpful, this week especially with the wonderful free massages. Though, in all honesty, I find it a bit stressful to remember to log on to the web site and do the meditation each day.
I'm excited to tell the rest of the Summit community all about our project in class tonight! :) And, I can't wait for Christmas!
Happy Holidays!
Amy
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Deck the Halls-Ethan Graham
As the year come to an end, I am getting ready to move out of the house and move back home. I have been helping out as much as I can with Boyd, but due to some events that took place last week, I have been cut short of my time. We went to Boyd and talked about wind power a couple weeks back. We also made paper windmills with the kids. They really injoyed them. I am going to miss helping out Boyd next year and will miss living with everyone at the house.
Thanks for everything guys!
P.S. I would like to share a video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYFozG5HsVo
Thanks for everything guys!
P.S. I would like to share a video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYFozG5HsVo
It's the most wonderful timeeeeee of the year!
Though Christmas is just around the corner, it is hard to get too excited with finals being as crazy hectic as they are. In consideration of our crazy schedules, though, our Summit wellness program has proved to be extremely helpful in these last couple weeks in helping me stay focused and as a great excuse to take a break every day and relax a bit. Along with this, the massages this week were definitely a great way to relax in the midst of our busy lives.
With how crazy sophomore year has been so far, it is really strange to think that this semester is almost over, and that, along with this, our Summit experience is ALSO nearly half way over! It seems like just the other day we were all sitting down to make our calendar for the fall semester, and now we are putting the final touches on our mid year report and looking to next semester's plans. Although the mid year report has been a bit frustrating to put together in the midst of finals, I just finished editing our group's presentation and am now realizing how helpful our report is to remind us of all the hard work that our group has done this semester.
Through the frustrations of communicating with the whole group and our organization and working around everyone's busy schedules, a lot of our successes get lost in shuffle as we move with tunnel vision from one project to the next. The mid year report, however provided a great way for our group to see everything we have done so far and as a motivator looking to next semester to continue our momentum and work towards getting even more involved with our project next semester. Overall this semester- though it went by SUPER fast- has been a great start to our Summit Experience and has made me look forward to doing even more to make the most of our project next semester.
Good luck with finals and I will see you all on Friday!
Anna Regan
With how crazy sophomore year has been so far, it is really strange to think that this semester is almost over, and that, along with this, our Summit experience is ALSO nearly half way over! It seems like just the other day we were all sitting down to make our calendar for the fall semester, and now we are putting the final touches on our mid year report and looking to next semester's plans. Although the mid year report has been a bit frustrating to put together in the midst of finals, I just finished editing our group's presentation and am now realizing how helpful our report is to remind us of all the hard work that our group has done this semester.
Through the frustrations of communicating with the whole group and our organization and working around everyone's busy schedules, a lot of our successes get lost in shuffle as we move with tunnel vision from one project to the next. The mid year report, however provided a great way for our group to see everything we have done so far and as a motivator looking to next semester to continue our momentum and work towards getting even more involved with our project next semester. Overall this semester- though it went by SUPER fast- has been a great start to our Summit Experience and has made me look forward to doing even more to make the most of our project next semester.
Good luck with finals and I will see you all on Friday!
Anna Regan
Sunday, December 5, 2010
November at Summit
I am sorry this is so late! But I want to share my experience at Summit this November. I went to Boyd several times and met a really cute kindergardener called Amelia, and did crafts with her with recycled materials. She loved it. We also met some third-graders to teach them about the nitrogen cycle, and they seemed very confused about the gender of some of my house mates. It was very funny, this type of confusion never happens in my country.
By doing this project I'm learning lots of cool recycling ideas, like the jewelry we made out of newspapers and string, and the snowflakes made out of magazines. We're making progress with the kids, and learning their names and their learning style. They're really smart and curious, which is great and makes our job easier. We also got them some organic treats which they did not seem to enjoy that much, so that's something to make a note of for next time. Next up is making lots of recycled notepads, Boyd wants as many as we can make.
By doing this project I'm learning lots of cool recycling ideas, like the jewelry we made out of newspapers and string, and the snowflakes made out of magazines. We're making progress with the kids, and learning their names and their learning style. They're really smart and curious, which is great and makes our job easier. We also got them some organic treats which they did not seem to enjoy that much, so that's something to make a note of for next time. Next up is making lots of recycled notepads, Boyd wants as many as we can make.
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