Week 3 Reflection
My time in New Jersey passed far too quickly. It still feels like I should be getting ready to go back to the school on Monday. Over the course of my internship, I feel I've developed so much as not only an intern but also as a person from all the experiences these three weeks have brought. While it was definitely a lot of work, I felt like everything I did had a purpose, and that my time was well spent. I feel that my experiences not only at the academy but also at Fortune have opened my mind to the possibility of pursuing career paths in either education or journalism. My exposure to all the different facets of the educational field was incredible due to Claudine's involvement in a bilingual elementary school (and my experiences in and outside her classroom) and Bergen Community College. It was really interesting to see the difference in teaching styles for the various ages; I learned how her curriculum was adjusted for both the grades of kids and the levels of adults.
Thursday, March 19: Last day at the school
Today was bittersweet, but was a good day to end on because it was so busy. In the morning, I worked with the 3rd grade students to finish up their Easter baskets. They turned out really cute, because they'd give the rabbits speech bubbles in both French and English. After that class had finished, I organized the project table in preparation for the next class, and cut out ears, eyes, noses, and bowties for the kindergarteners to arrange on their masks. Also, we moved some of the stained glass designs from yesterday onto the window to test them out, and they looked magnificent with the sunlight shining through them. The class doing the mask project came in, and the subsequent forty five minutes were the busiest ones I'd spent in the art room in the whole three weeks. Whether it was taking requests to design custom facial features or manning the hot glue gun, I was always busy with kids lined up waiting for me to help them. Even though making the masks was a little hectic, it was definitely worth it, since the kids seemed really proud of their final products. This busy class set the tone for the rest of the day. Even after they left, I put myself to work by cleaning up the edges of their paper mâché. After lunch, I went to the library to help the fourth and fifth graders set up for their Eastern Woodland Indians project exhibition, and after rearranging artifacts and descriptions on the presenting tables, helped the kids who needed to finish their math homework. They were working on long division, which was actually really interesting to help with, since part of the curriculum was for them to learn this concept using both French and American methods. They showed me the difference between the French way of formatting long division problems and the American way, and I did my best to help them finish up so they could join their classmates in rearranging the room. I then returned to the art room to help Claudine clean up, and then went with her to watch the fourth and fifth grade French class rehearse their poetry show they would present alongside their Eastern Woodland Indians projects as a surprise for the parents. It was really impressive to watch, as each student had memorized their poems and had costumes and theatrics to go along with every scene. By then, school had ended, so I went back to the art classroom with Claudine to help her prepare for her after school class, which I would sit in on. In the middle of her class, I was met with the cutest surprise, as Naomie and Maëlys, two girls from the older group, rushed into the classroom with a notebook and a bright pink Sharpie asking for my autograph. After I'd complied, they both gave me big hugs, smiled, said "Goodbye forever!" and ran away. It could not have been a better last day; I will most certainly miss this amazing school.
Wednesday, March 18: Stained Glass and EWI
Today I helped sub in the English room with the first graders. We worked on grammar packets for the first part of class then all sat together to read a story about fireflies. The kids seemed to be really excited about fireflies, so we looked up fun facts about them and drew pictures of them, as well as described our favorite parts of the story. At 10:00, I switched over to the older kid's English room with Micky, who teaches fourth and fifth grade. They were vey busy preparing for the exposition of their Eastern Woodland Indians project. Each kid had culminated their research by constructing an artifact used by the Eastern Woodland Indians, such as huts, spears, bow and arrows, and even flapjacks. My job today was to help them revise their brief descriptions of their artifacts, and make sure they were properly saved. This was really interesting, because the kids spoke varying levels of English, so I had to pay particular attention to what they did and did not understand. In the afternoon, I worked with the same group of kids in the art room, as they were finishing up their stained glass projects. It was my job to border their pieces in black, label them with their names, and display them on the whiteboard. The final product was really beautiful, and it was fun to see the unique designs they created, especially once they were all hung together in one cohesive mosaic.
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Tuesday, March 17: French Architecture
For our day off, I stayed home with Claudine and explored different art computer programs she could use with her class when they were in the Media Center. We tested out a variety of painting and design apps, which ranged from highly sophisticated to more basic. Also, we checked out some art history ones, and even stumbled across an app that simulated an interactive museum. We then drove to Bergen for the design class Claudine teaches. Once again, I sat in, and this time learned about historical French architecture and the differences between the many castles with French influence scattered around Europe.
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Monday, March 16: Easter is Coming
Today was very Easter-oriented. Since Claudine likes to do holiday-themed projects, I started my day in the Art Room working with the 1st Graders on their Easter baskets. The older class was working on their felt Easter Bunny banners. They laid out their designs during class, and it was my job to glue them all together and organize them back into folders during lunch. Madame Jocelynne brought in some sample watering can templates for a spring project idea, so I tested them out and displayed my design in the window. The projects were all very colorful and uplifting.
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Week 2 Reflection
My previous concern about not being able to remember anyone's name has been mitigated. I've gotten to know the kids really well, especially the ones I see multiple times a day in both their language and art classes. As the kids have become more familiar with me, some new challenges have been being the adult in the situation, which is a step for me. I've had to think on my feet a lot, since kids are usually lining up with questions, so I have to make decisions quickly and minimize the instances in which I have to refer to Claudine. This has been a bit of a learning experience, because while at the beginning I was unfamiliar with how the classrooms were run and of what needed to get done and when, now that I've familiarized myself with that I feel that I've been more helpful. A big change this week was a little less time in the classroom and more time in the office and teacher's lounge spent preparing for the fundraiser gala this Saturday. While it was a little surreal to alternate between constant stimulation and paperwork, it was really interesting for me to see the more administrative side of how a school is run, as well as understand just how much work it takes to organize such a large school function.
I took my second visit to Fortune magazine this week, and tried to be as helpful as I could in the more professional environment. A lot of what I did there was more observational, which was really nice because I got to experience the full scope of how the company operates, as well as all its different components. Everyone I met there was always ridiculously busy, but at the same time incredibly nice, taking time to introduce themselves and show me what they were working on. It was a very different experience than the school, but was equally rewarding. I feel very lucky to have the exposure to the best of both worlds in both educational and corporate environments.
I took my second visit to Fortune magazine this week, and tried to be as helpful as I could in the more professional environment. A lot of what I did there was more observational, which was really nice because I got to experience the full scope of how the company operates, as well as all its different components. Everyone I met there was always ridiculously busy, but at the same time incredibly nice, taking time to introduce themselves and show me what they were working on. It was a very different experience than the school, but was equally rewarding. I feel very lucky to have the exposure to the best of both worlds in both educational and corporate environments.
Friday, March 13: Baltimore And The Gala
Today, Claudine's daughter Natalie finished grad school, so we took a day off to visit Baltimore for her graduation. Even though it was raining, it was really fun to see Baltimore. Natalie showed us the art museum, which we explored extensively and enjoyed immensely.
Saturday was the fundraiser gala, and it was held in a restaurant overlooking the Hudson River and the New York City skyline. The kids' artwork they'd prepared for the event all sold.
Saturday was the fundraiser gala, and it was held in a restaurant overlooking the Hudson River and the New York City skyline. The kids' artwork they'd prepared for the event all sold.
Thursday, March 12: Gala Preparations
As today was two days before the school's big annual fundraiser gala, everyone was busy preparing. I started my day with Claudine, and she showed me the stained glass projects that the CM1 class (4th and 5th graders) had started yesterday while I was in New York. After that, I had to display the Chiens Bleus projects of the CP class (1st graders), which replaced the calendar project on the walls. From there, I went to the office to lay out the gala pamphlet pages, which I took to the Teacher's Lounge to organize and staple. After I'd finished, I returned to Claudine's classroom to help with the CE1 class, which was making musical instruments out of cardboard. I then went back to the office to pick up the auctioning paddles I had to label and sort based on table and group. After that, I made labels for the tables based on the gala's theme, Arabian Nights.
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Wednesday, March 11: Back at Fortune
Today I woke up at 5:00 to head into New York with Roger. After a much-needed coffee, we walked again to the Time-Life Building. Upon our arrival, I researched the topic Roger was writing about before listening in on an interview with a designer in Germany. It was really interesting because the interview was very technologically oriented, so I got some more insight into the specifics of the topic. At 11:00, we walked through the Concourse to Rockefeller Center again, and went up to to the Top of the Rock, overlooking the city. Before this, I don't think I'd really grasped exactly how huge New York City is, so it was definitely an amazing experience to get this new perspective. After I'd finished taking in the view, we returned to the Time-Life Building where I worked on my own for awhile. We had lunch with Erika Fry, who is a reporter. We enjoyed some delicious Thai food and talked about how she got into the field of journalism. After lunch, I got to meet with Beth Kowitt, a writer at Fortune, who graduated from Bowdoin, a school I am going to be looking at in a few weeks. She was very gracious and informative, and was happy to answer any and all of my questions. When we'd finished talking, I went with Roger to the meeting room so he could vote on design ideas for the magazine. Each staff member had posted inspiration on the walls, and used green and red stickers to show their opinion on what was posted. Lastly, Roger introduced me to a number of his coworkers, and I got to see how photo feature stories are put together, as well as the Greek version of Fortune (whose cover featured a watermelon wearing a helmet).
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Tuesday, March 10: Bergen Community College
Monday, March 9: Cutting paper Mache is hard
When I got to school in the morning, I met with Jennifer (the 1st Grade and Kindergarten English teacher) again. She taught me how to make starter and homework packets, which is what I did for the first part of my day. After that, I went to her classroom and sorted handouts for the upcoming weeks and put graded assignments in the kids' folders. I sat in on the Kindergarten class to help answer questions and then returned to Claudine's Art room, where it was my job to plot out how many and what size sheets of special window paper we would need for an upcoming project. By the time I'd cut those out, it was time for class, during which the students finished their historical dioramas. During lunch, I cut eye holes in students' paper mache masks for their next class, and in the process gained a lot of sympathy for the art teacher that did a paper mache project when I was in elementary school. After that, I took a break from the Art room to go help with the Petit Section (second preschool class, 3 years old). For awhile, it was just me and four little girls, two of which did not speak any English, as they'd just moved to the United States in the past couple of months. Once the rest of the class joined us, we had English time, and the kids had fun with directions and numbers. After they worked as a class, I sat individually with Kaylee, one of the girls who didn't speak English, and reviewed numbers and counting with her. School was almost over at this point, so I returned to Claudine's class to help with the after-school program. This group of all ages painted landscapes and finished up the boxes they'd started last week.
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week 1 reflection
I started this week feeling really apprehensive. I knew my French skills still needed some brushing up and the city life was still really unfamiliar to me. I'd never met Roger and Claudine, so I was understandably nervous to be staying in their house for the next three weeks. However, by the end of this first, week, I realized I'd had nothing to be nervous about. I felt really supported and welcomed by everyone I met, and felt I acclimated well to the busy schedule. The hardest thing to get used to was interacting with the kids, because they all speak varying levels of French and English, so you first have to determine which one they're stronger in, and then have to try to communicate with them using the language their regular teacher is using. This was harder in the English classes with kids stronger in French, and harder in the French classes with kids stronger in English. An added component was how outspoken the kids were, because sometimes if they were shy and mumbled it was hard to understand them regardless of which language they were speaking. Another difficulty was remembering names, because I met a lot of different people (both adults and kids), all in different places, so it was really hard to keep track of who was who. As the week progressed, though, I addressed these problems by getting to know the kids as much as I could, and not hesitating to go answer questions instead of letting Claudine answer them. I'm really looking forward to next week, since I feel I've not only established a good relationship with not only the kids I'm working with but also with Claudine and Roger.
Friday, March 6: Trip to Fortune
Today was a bit unusual, as I got to go with Roger (Claudine's husband) into New York to his office at Fortune magazine in the Time-Life Building. I'd never seen New York City before, so I was really excited to go. We got there early, so we took a walk around some of the floors and looked at old black and white pictures of figures like Martin Luther King, JFK, and Marilyn Monroe. When it was actually time to work, we went to the morning meeting, which includes the whole Fortune staff every Friday and smaller teams the rest of the week. Microphones and speakers were set up across the table so the staff could interact with writers who were traveling. After this, I went downstairs and watched the Fortune Live crew record a segment with Aaron Levie, the CEO of Box. After that, I went back upstairs and met Laura Lorenzetti, who was working on an article and had me research the company she was writing about and formulate some interview questions. This was really interesting because I got to see her unfinished drafts as they progressed through the editing process. From there, I went with Polina, who runs social media for Fortune. I helped her come up with new headlines and hooks to suit the platform she was posting on, and she showed me how she schedules posts and organizes them by platform. Here, I also got to meet with Kacy, who showed me how to properly reformat pictures to fit different kinds of articles and websites. After this, I went back with Laura for a phone interview for her article, which was really cool because I had the chance to pose my own questions and interact with who we were interviewing. For lunch, we went down into the Rockefeller Center Concourse, and came back up to see Rockefeller Center. After lunch, I sat in on a phone interview Roger conducted for his article and helped take notes. Lastly, I went back downstairs to watch the weekly airing of Fortune Live, including the prerecorded segments I'd seen earlier that morning. I got to meet Leigh, who anchors the show, and Mason, who works on tech and settings. It was an incredibly busy day, and I learned a lot!
Link to the Fortune Live episode I was on set for: http://for.tn/1BPPiAh
Link to the Fortune Live episode I was on set for: http://for.tn/1BPPiAh
Thursday, March 5: Snow Day
We were supposed to go into the school again today, but there was a huge overnight snowstorm so it was cancelled. Instead, I helped Claudine test out some art projects she wanted to do with her older classes, and she showed me some of the past projects she's done as well as how she does report cards and grading. Also, we planned out the next week's lesson plans for each class. While it was disappointing to not get to work with the kids today as planned (this is the first time in my life I've ever regretted a snow day-- wow), it was still a productive day.
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Wednesday, March 4: Beaucoup de chiens bleus
I was back at the school today. This time I started my day in the 1st Grade English classroom. In English, we started with math, which basically consisted of determining the value of different coins and counting them. We then moved on to reading and writing, so while Mrs. Gonzalez worked through books and vocabulary with small groups, I walked around and helped with reading comprehension and writing. After this class, I went to the music room, in which the kids were singing in English. My job was to explain the songs and dances to the kids who spoke mostly French so the teacher could continue the lesson. After I worked with two groups doing this, I went back to Claudine's class (Art). Here, I worked with the class of 1st graders I taught in the morning to paint pictures inspired by Le Chien Bleu and build miniature sculptures out of pipe cleaners. After an older class came in, it was time to clean up, and while Claudine taught a small group in the after school program, I organized and took pictures of student artwork that will be auctioned off at a school fundraiser next week.
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Tuesday, March 3: Day Off
Monday, March 2: First day!
My first day at the French American Academy was very busy. After planning out my day with the Head of School, I started off with Isabelle, who teaches Pre-K students. From there, I sorted papers for an upcoming event, then went to my mentor Claudine's (my mentor's) classroom to help her teach Art to classes of kids aged 4-9 years old. Rather than being separated into distinct French and English, the students and teachers lapsed between the two during lessons, which was really interesting to see. I spent a lot of my day helping out with art projects and meeting some of the kids.
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