IRB, a Blessing in Disguise

I finally received IRB approval! After a long process of writing and revising I received IRB approval on 8/03/2009 I received IRB approval for my research of academic enrichment programs.

At first, I saw my summer as a failure. I did not get to travel to other programs because I didn't even have approval. I did not get to interview many PR specialists in after school programs because of the IRB approval. However, after taking my JOMC honors class yesterday, I see that this summer was everything but a failure.

In the syllabus, my professor pointed out that over the fall we will be choosing a topic and an adviser, writing a literature review, and receiving IRB approval and funding for our projects. Over the summer, the SURF, IRB and CBR have sort of peer pressured me into completing all of these requirements. I basically have completed over 1/4 of this Honors 600 level class. That is a blessing.

Thanks IRB! The IRB made me think clearly about my topic, my sample, and how it will add to the amount of knowledge that is already written on academic enrichment programs.

Talent Show

Our talent show was Monday. About eight of my eighth grade girls participated in a dance and this is a picture of them dancing to Beyonce's song "Scared and Lonely."

These girls practiced for four weeks. They choreographed everything on their own. At the end of the day, they were able to see, from start to finish, something that they had created become accepted and appreciated by their peers.

This was really exciting for the students and motivated me to complete my research, since I am sure I will not finish before the summer. I will be happy to see my honors thesis complete from state to finish.

Surprise Visitors

Today, started off as an average day in class. But, around second period the bell rang unexpectedly letting me know that we had some special guests. The mayor and congressman of Durham came to visit us!

This is the best part of working at StudentU. StudentU is the collaborative effort of all the Durham community. Elected officials, school board members, and volunteers visit the campus all the time. working here has allowed me the opportunity to meet many different prominent people living in Durham. Meeting them has inspired me to work actively in my community even after I graduate and leave UNC's APPLES and Public Service Scholar programs.

My students also enjoy StudentU's prominent visitors and service opportunities.
These are pictures of my students doing a recycle and waste experiment and acting out scenes for documentaries of their lives.

Camping!

I am back from our camping trip! We left out Thursday and came back Friday.

Thursday, we went to the US National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, NC. There my students and I want whitewater rafting, rock climbing, kayaking, and zip lining.

We left all those festivities for our campsite in Statesville. Some girl chickened out from sleeping in a tent, but we all had to sleep in tiny cabins without cellphones, Ipods, and laptops. But, we did not need those things to have a good time. We made smors, told stories, and laughed together all night long.

I had so much fun, and the girls kept me so busy, that I forgot to take pictures. But, I will post some when I get my hands on somebody else's.

The moral of our trip, even eighth grade girls can embrace the importance of removing ourselves from our technologically saturated lives in order to appreciate the relationships and the friends that we take for granted.

Teaching, Success! Application, Not so Much

So, I am still working on my IRB application. Well, the application is completed and it is in the hands of UNC’s School of Journalism right now. The “J” school has to approve it before I can send it to the IRB. Without this approval I cannot begin my research. I have corrected the application four times. So, I hope the fourth is a charm!

My students are doing wonderful! In English, we have been studying the elements of a persuasive essay. To help them understand these components, I compared the thesis statement to a chorus in a song. Like a chorus, the thesis tells the main idea of the essay and it basically is repeated throughout the essay.
I compared the hook of the essay to a commercial. Like a commercial, the hook draws the reader into the essay, or the advertised product, to get the reader’s full attention. Just like we have light bulb moments when we finally get something, I saw the kids' light bulbs go off.

The students in my Edible Crafts class have been working on cake and cookie decorating. Here are a few pictures of their work. They loved how they turned out. But, I think they enjoyed eating them at the end the best!

The application and lesson planning has kept me extremely busy. This blogging thing is really new to me and I have dropped the ball on blogging as frequently as I should. But, I promise to blog more frequently and make up for the ones that I have missed.

I began working at the after school program yesterday, and I love it. I am not actually doing research because I am still trying to get IRB approval. But, I have experienced an intense two-week teaching training session and I have taught two English classes and one edible crafts class everyday. Today, we reviewed the elements of a story. For examples of those elements we looked at the Three Little Bops on Looney Tunes and listened to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song and picked out the characters, settings, plot, and sequence of events in each example. While some of my students are too cool for school, they all sang along to the themes song and understood the concept of sequencing events. This is going to be a great summer!

Eliminating Educational Inequity

I will spend the majority of my summer working as an English teacher at Student U, a summer program in Durham. While I am there, I will observe the communications strategies of the program and focus on the strategies that the program uses for its after-school mentoring program held during the normal school year.