Saturday's Post!

Saturday Jan. 22

Today is Saturday, and the weather was very nice and cool. Everyone got up on time and got ready as if we were heading to KIPP today. Yet at the same time we realized we would not be going to KIPP, instead we were heading home. We packed our bags, said goodbye to Beau, and gave our thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Landers.

Thinking back through this past week, the first couple days went by slowly. However, we soon fell in love with KIPP and the students, and time just flew by so quickly that we didn’t realized it was time to leave already.

These 10 days had been a rewarding experience for all of us. Each of us took away something valuable for our lives, and also moments of memories that we treasure in our hearts.

Tim is a determined teacher. Even though Mrs. Bailey had initially objected your poem, you still carried through despite the difficulties, and made it a meaningful and engaging lesson!

Francesca is diligent, patient, and willing. Your willingness to work not only on interesting tasks but also the mundane ones has left a magnificent impression of the Terps on KIPP!

Rachel is a person with very positive attitude. You were very encouraging and engaging when you taught. You brought so much energy to the high school classroom and gave more confidence to the students!

Bridget is a very timely person. You are always on schedule for everything and was always willing to help. You brought a lot of laughter to the group. Your knowledge of songs also shocks me!

Elma is always ready to go and always has a big smile on her face. You are the cheerleader of our group and always immerse us with excitements. You and Kim make the best trip leaders ever!

Kim is born to be a leader. You always take care of everyone’s needs and always has fun and exciting ideas (the decoration in Lander’s house was so pretty)! You and Elma make the best trip leaders ever!

Ariel is very persistent and brave. You always want to make things perfect and you would never give up. This is something we’ve all learned from you. Good luck with your teaching career!

Kelly is always so caring. You always pay attention to small details and you would never leave anyone behind. You are willing to talk to everyone and make everyone feel they are part of the group!

Nadira is very friendly and willing to share her experiences with us. You are also very good at arts and crafts. You always put a lot of efforts and do your best no matter how simple the tasks were!

Jessica is warm and sweet! You did a great job teaching the 5^th graders, putting in effort to make adjustments for each class. You are also very thoughtful and willing to help those in need!

Megan is responsible. You took great care of the group, and drove most of the time. Thank you for keeping track of the budget and left us $20 for last night’s dinner!

Mr. and Mrs. Lander are the best hosts ever. You are always so welcoming and made us feel like we are home. Thank you for trusting us to stay at your house. Without your hospitality we would not have the opportunity to be here.

Thank you everyone for making this trip happen! It was great to get to know you guys, and we are the best group ever!

Angela & Jonathan

Friday was an amazing day, so amazing in fact that I could not bring myself to miss any second of the time I had left, even to write this blog. But now I have had a day to reflect and there is a lot I’d like to say. First off I would like to talk about our final day. With the excitement of parent pride night still fresh in our minds we all started off the day excited. Especially to congratulate the students on what a terrific job they did. All of them were really excited to hear this and started the day off on a very positive note. After the initial interaction with the students I spent the majority of the morning of my morning preparing for the AP psychology class that me and Bridget had been given the opportunity to teach. At first I was really nervous about how it would go but the teacher was extremely understanding and helpful. Because of his guidance and support and the confidence I had in Bridget my nervousness soon turned into excitement.
When the time to teach finally arrived, we were lucky enough to have an attentive and engaged class. I believe that this truly was a testament to what a great atmosphere KIPP provides, and I really appreciated. It made teaching a great and rewarding experience for me even thought it was a lot of work. It also gave me a whole new respect and appreciation for all my teachers and the hard work and dedication that was required of them. I spent the little bit of the day remaining interacting with the middle school students. We played fun team-building games with them such as a toilet paper fashion show. I could not have asked for a better end to the day. Once again I left KIPP feeling impressed with the student’s effort and cooperation.
For our last night we did a few special activities including going out to a nice dinner and having a paper plate award ceremony. Dinner was filled with lots of laughter, great conversation, and delicious food, and we even got to spend a few extra hours with some of the amazing KIPP staff. The paper plate awards were a very emotional time and really made me appreciate my fellow terps and recognized how great each and every one of them is. They all had such thoughtful things to say about one another, and it was obvious that they put a lot of effort into making their paper plates special. The rest of the night was spent reflecting on our week, and having one last game night (one of our favorite night time activities).
Overall this trip was an incredible experience to me that is very ha to explain and understand if you were not there first hand. I love my team members, the school was great, and the teachers and students were inspirational. I cannot think of a better way I could have spent the last 10 days of my winter break, and would recommend and AWB trip to anyone who asks.

-Kelly

Also a little late--oops

This post was suppose to be for Wednesday, January 19th, but in all the excitement and what not I never got a chance to post. I remember that this was another amazing day at KIPP where we got to really interact with and talk to both teachers and students. This was also the day that Elma, Jonathan, and I tried to go to one of the public schools in the area to see if our group could come in and help out, but in the end, they didn't want our presence to "disturb" the students. Oh well.

Anyways, now we're all back the University of Maryland, College Park. It's weird being back at a school that isn't KIPP with no one sending love or getting excited because they have a chance to have a college student sit at their lunch table. I learned more from this experience than I could have ever imagined. I learned from the students, teachers, school leaders, but also from the amazing people I lived with for ten days that went from strangers to family.

From the students, I learned what it means to be passionate. These kids were so inspirational, welcoming, and willing to learn. I still don't understand how they go through such long days and still have the amount of enthusiasm they do. Even in the circumstances they are in, they have been instilled with this belief that they can make it to and through college. It's really amazing to think that a 10 year old can be motivated by the idea of getting to go to college. I'm not sure what I was thinking about when I was 10, but it definitely wasn't college.

From the teachers, I learned what it means to really believe in students. They told us about their frustrations with the school system, even KIPP isn't perfect, but they are some of the most dedicated teachers I have ever met. I was amazed to find out they give out their cell phone numbers to students and it's normal for students to call with questions. These teachers work over 9 hour days all for the sake of students. One of the teachers had a sign in her classroom that said "You can do this. I won't give up on you." During this whole trip we talked about problems in the education system and the reasons for such big learning gaps throughout the country. Maybe if all the teachers had this same amount of dedication and belief in their students the problem wouldn't be as extreme? Idk. Maybe.

From the school leaders of the middle school and high school I learned what its like to really believe in a cause. They answered all our questions about KIPP, what's working and what's not. In a rural area where the public schools aren't the greatest, KIPP seems like it's doing a great job. It's really refreshing to talk to people who are really making a difference and looking for solutions when they see what's in place now for rural education in the area isn't working.

From the Landers' I learned about compassion and kindness. They are good people, genuinely good people. They welcomed college students, most of whom they never met before into their home and made if feel like it was ours, too. I can't express how much I appreciate what they did for us, and I really didn't even know people like that could exist.

And finally, from all of the alternative winter breakers of this trip, I can't even express how much I learned from you guys. I learned about the world, about books, about cooking, about what "flash-dancing" was, and more and more and more. I didn't imagine I would become so close to all these strangers who are some of the coolest and most fun people I have ever met. I can't begin to explain how amazing this trip was and a lot of that was due to the amazing people I was surrounded by. So thanks, and I miss you all already.

Umm. Okay I think that's it.

- Nadira :)

Friday the 21st

"Kinda late" via Ariel

Before I begin, i have to attest to how much fun i am having. (yes this is in past tense.. I'm a little late). i am sooo incredibly glad that I got included on this trip. I am surrounded by great people, with great hearts, and a lot to say. So with that, I'm really enjoying myself here. A lot has happened between now and the last time that i had blogged, and a lot of thought provoking discussion has ensued as direct and indirect result of these events

The most importnat of which, is that I'm getting the opportunity to teac a class on Friday. This is not just any class; it's an AP Language and Compostition class. I can either interpret my feeling as extreme excitement or sheer terror. At the immediate moment it is the latter. I'll have to return to talk about how Friday had gone..........

now for the present

Now that I'm back at school, I can take the time to reflect.
My lesson that I taught was kind of surreal. I'm glad that it is over however. The kids picked up on how very nervous I was. That honestly bummed me out, but I got a second chance to teach! i walked into the room to return my book and she was preparing to teach her next class with the things that i had prepared. Knowing that at least my ability to prepare lessons was useful was encouraging.

Over too soon!

The house is quiet, except for the sound of the washing machine and dryer! Air mattresses have been deflated, unused paper cups back in the closet and the leaves are out of the dining room table, safely tucked away until another time. How we MISS you all!

We thank Elizabeth Doerr and Megan for the leadership training and care that they put into making the AWB-Gaston program possible. Hopefully, Megan will get over her cold easily, once she gets back to her regular sleep schedule! And, of course, we thank KIPP for welcoming all of you U of Md students. Without that opportunity, none of you would have needed a place to sleep down here!

Mostly, we thank God for each of you and the way you touched our lives. Each of you were thoughtful, enthusiastic in whatever you were doing, respectful of each person's belongings, feelings and opinions, uncomplaining and overflowing with gratitude for the chance you had to come to NC for your AWB. The birthday party was so amazing! You all worked so hard and so well together to make it a great beginning to my 64th year! Great poster -- delicious cake -- love the photo of you all with Pat Wu in his decorated U of Md classroom -- unique sequinned string balls -- fun poster -- and meaningful paper birthday cake with your sweet thoughts!! We love having AWB T-shirts as well! Thank you for EVERYTHING you each did to enrich our lives. Your presence is always welcome here so please don't ever hesitate to call and see if we're going to be here. We'd love to see you each again ... and, if possible, meet your family too?

May you remember that your lives may not always go where you expected. With faith and gratitude for whatever circumstance you are in, you will learn and grow through the process.

Blessings to you all --Angela, Ariel, Bridget, Elma, Francesca, Jessica, Jonathan, Kelly, Kim, Nadira, Rachel, Tim ... and Megan :)

Rachel (& Jim)

Thursday, Jan. 20

Today we woke up early to go back to KIPP! We met with the principal, Mrs. Barford, in the morning, and asked some important questions about the KIPP model and her experience working with KIPP. She was very honest and firm in her beliefs about the strengths of KIPP. She feels that KIPP is different from public schools because of the focus on collaboration between teachers to improve their individual teaching skills. She highlighted the importance of college as a concrete goal for students to attain after they leave KIPP. Mrs. Barford also stressed the need for more funding for rural education and for higher teacher retention rates. She feels that she will leave her mark on KIPP by higher student achievement, and emphasizing planning and assessment.
After the meeting, we split up to work in the middle and high schools. We worked on bulletin boards, graded, filed papers, and met with teachers to discuss lesson plans. Many of us have the opportunity to teach a class in the middle or high school tomorrow. Elma is teaching Comparative Politics, Bridget and Kelly are teaching AP Psychology, Tim, Rachel, and Ariel are teaching different high school English classes, and I am teaching 5th grade reading. We all had a productive day and had a great time getting to know the kids even better.
At the end of the day, we took the vans to Roanoke Rapids Amphitheater for Parent Pride Night. Parent Pride Night is a chance for the students to express themselves through music, dance, and poetry to show off what they have learned at KIPP and appreciate their parent’s continued support of their education. The students worked hard to earn their spot on the stage, and their practice truly paid off. We were amazed at their performance tonight! Each class, or “Pride”, performed a song/dance to express their classes’ motto and what it means to them. The middle school and high school’s band and chorus, the AcoustiCats, and the Gospel Choir performed their best numbers. The audience, family and teachers, was very supportive and participated in the performance as well. Parent Pride Night was a great way for us to share in the students’ success and remember the week we’ve spent with the kids.

-Jess and Jonathan