Monday, March 10, 2008
Clarification
My last post was the worksheet I created for my Boston Teacher Residency interview. It is the application part of a lesson on syllables.
Haiku worksheet
Haikus
A haiku is a kind of Japanese poem that can help you to practice counting syllables. This type of poem has 3 lines and follows a very special syllable pattern
The first line of a haiku has 5 syllables.
The second line has 7 syllables.
The last line has 5 syllables.
Traditionally haikus are written about nature. Here are some examples. Can you count the syllables in each line? Try to clap them out.
Rain
Rain is falling down--
Pitter patter on the ground.
The whole world gets wet.
Windy Day
The wind is blowing,
Whistling through the branches
A blustery day.
Now it is time to write your own haiku. Remember to follow the syllable pattern at the top of the page. Don’t forget to give your haiku a title.
____________________________________________
____________________________________________
____________________________________________
____________________________________________
Sunday, March 9, 2008
INTERVIEW TOMORROW
I have my interview for the Boston Teacher Residency tomorrow. Please pray for me.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Wedding Drabble
Ahhh! I am going to try on some wedding dresses tonight with Meghan. I have no intention of choosing a dress yet, but I also have come to the conclusion that since I am 5 feet tall and the models in bridal magazines are closer to 6 feet tall, it is rather hard for me to figure out what I would like my gown to look like (or what would even be flattering). This appointment is strictly to figure out likes and dislikes. I am, however, super excited. I am a real girly-girl sometimes, and when it comes to wedding stuff, I am super girly.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Wedding Date Change
We had to change our date to July 18th, 2009. The difference of a week means I will be getting married when I am 23 instead of when I am 24. It also means that I will get to celebrate my 24th birthday on our honeymoon; to me, that is quite wonderful.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Bookworm stuff...
I have a book recommendation. I just recently read The Cross and the Beatitudes by Fulton J. Sheen. It is an amazing book that relates the Seven last words of Christ to the seven beatitudes (the eighth encompasses the other seven so it is debatable). It has some really good lessons about love, chastity, mercy, compassion, and forgiveness. It is easy to read and comprehend, yet its lessons are profound. The book was published in 1937, so communism was a HUGE deal at the time. If you replace all mentions of communism with terrorism, the book is brought completely up to date. Enjoy!
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Wedding stuff..
The last week has been full of wedding stuff.
We have a date 07/25/09
We have a church (pending dispensation): www.paulist.org/boston
We have a reception site: www.gibbethill.com
We're working on everything else.
Friday, November 2, 2007
In Support of The University of Delaware Office of Residence Life
November 2, 2007
Dear President Harker,
I am a recent graduate and former Resident Assistant from the University of Delaware. The recent vilification of the goals of Residence Life, by an outside organization nonetheless, has left me in a state of shock.
I spent from August 2004 until May 2007 as a Resident Assistant (RA) in the Russell Complex. What you may not know is that my first year as an RA took place the before a curricular approach was instituted in the Office of Residence Life. As a Resident Assistant in a non-curricular approach, I often felt more like a combination between a police force and a camp counselor. Diversity programs consisted of eating foods or playing games from other cultures, and barely ever looked at the reality of it all. There wasn’t any clear purpose to programming, and often it seemed to be a waste of time and effort. In terms of being educational, it usually was not.
In 2005, The Office of Residence Life instituted a curricular approach to residence hall living. This for returning RAs meant an abundant increase in workload, but also a change in roles. Yes, we still enforced and upheld the policies of the university, but we no longer were using a checklist programming model. This curricular approach challenged RAs to challenge our residents to think freely and to exchange ideas about social justice issues. It also allowed us, the RA staff, to encourage our students to be introspective—to dare to see that perhaps they still had something, whether big or small, to learn about themselves and others. At no point did the curriculum attempt to brainwash or indoctrinate students with a new set of beliefs; I do, however, expect that many residents left their freshmen year with new passions, ideals, and attitudes in relation to social justice issues simply because they were given the chance to explore the world inside and outside of their own identities.
I am a Roman Catholic Christian and hold many ideals that society may deem to be conservative, which often led to my residents questioning why I was pro diversity education. I may hold many beliefs that seemingly clash with what my role as an RA entailed, but something that my faith holds fast to is the dignity of every human life. This is a tenant that does not allow for discrimination and that more than allowed me to develop a passion for social justice. For many of my residents who also had strong religious backgrounds, the curriculum initially seemed to be troubling. When I asked them why they thought so, they responded that they thought they were supposed to come out of freshmen year pro gay marriage, pro-choice, and anti everything they held true as a Christian. This initial discomfort with the curriculum opened a dialogue that soared to unimaginable heights. We talked about how the curriculum had not been designed to dissuade them from their Christian identity, but to embrace it. It also opened their eyes to the reality of the workplace during and after college. I was able to discuss with residents one on one and in a group setting that even though they may hold a personal conviction that being gay is wrong or that having a disability makes a person useless, that we still have to live and work in a world that is filled with people who identify as gay or have a disability, and this awareness of the struggles and triumphs of another community can be used a directive as to how we as individuals can learn to live and work in harmony with others. I often reminded residents that none of us lives in a bubble. With this in mind, residents were able to both develop passions for many issues of social justice and to come to terms with those for which they found no passion—doing all of this without losing themselves or, in many cases, their faith.
If Residence Life is being accused of changing residents’ beliefs and attitudes, the accusation stands true, but it is not due to force, brainwashing, or indoctrination of any kind. It is due to the passionate people who open dialogues and allow for free thinking in a safe and supportive living space. Even then, the amazing changes are not for Residence Life to claim, they are for the residents past and present to hold and take ownership of, as they are the ones who given the right environment were able to change, grow and develop as citizens of both the university and of the world.
In closing, I implore you to support the Office of Residence Life and their well designed curriculum. That which is good is almost always persecuted, but that in no way makes it wrong. Please use your role as president of the University of Delaware to support student growth and development by supporting the people on campus who work the most closely with students—the Office of Residence Life.
Sincerely,
Siné Callanan
Class of 2007
Dear President Harker,
I am a recent graduate and former Resident Assistant from the University of Delaware. The recent vilification of the goals of Residence Life, by an outside organization nonetheless, has left me in a state of shock.
I spent from August 2004 until May 2007 as a Resident Assistant (RA) in the Russell Complex. What you may not know is that my first year as an RA took place the before a curricular approach was instituted in the Office of Residence Life. As a Resident Assistant in a non-curricular approach, I often felt more like a combination between a police force and a camp counselor. Diversity programs consisted of eating foods or playing games from other cultures, and barely ever looked at the reality of it all. There wasn’t any clear purpose to programming, and often it seemed to be a waste of time and effort. In terms of being educational, it usually was not.
In 2005, The Office of Residence Life instituted a curricular approach to residence hall living. This for returning RAs meant an abundant increase in workload, but also a change in roles. Yes, we still enforced and upheld the policies of the university, but we no longer were using a checklist programming model. This curricular approach challenged RAs to challenge our residents to think freely and to exchange ideas about social justice issues. It also allowed us, the RA staff, to encourage our students to be introspective—to dare to see that perhaps they still had something, whether big or small, to learn about themselves and others. At no point did the curriculum attempt to brainwash or indoctrinate students with a new set of beliefs; I do, however, expect that many residents left their freshmen year with new passions, ideals, and attitudes in relation to social justice issues simply because they were given the chance to explore the world inside and outside of their own identities.
I am a Roman Catholic Christian and hold many ideals that society may deem to be conservative, which often led to my residents questioning why I was pro diversity education. I may hold many beliefs that seemingly clash with what my role as an RA entailed, but something that my faith holds fast to is the dignity of every human life. This is a tenant that does not allow for discrimination and that more than allowed me to develop a passion for social justice. For many of my residents who also had strong religious backgrounds, the curriculum initially seemed to be troubling. When I asked them why they thought so, they responded that they thought they were supposed to come out of freshmen year pro gay marriage, pro-choice, and anti everything they held true as a Christian. This initial discomfort with the curriculum opened a dialogue that soared to unimaginable heights. We talked about how the curriculum had not been designed to dissuade them from their Christian identity, but to embrace it. It also opened their eyes to the reality of the workplace during and after college. I was able to discuss with residents one on one and in a group setting that even though they may hold a personal conviction that being gay is wrong or that having a disability makes a person useless, that we still have to live and work in a world that is filled with people who identify as gay or have a disability, and this awareness of the struggles and triumphs of another community can be used a directive as to how we as individuals can learn to live and work in harmony with others. I often reminded residents that none of us lives in a bubble. With this in mind, residents were able to both develop passions for many issues of social justice and to come to terms with those for which they found no passion—doing all of this without losing themselves or, in many cases, their faith.
If Residence Life is being accused of changing residents’ beliefs and attitudes, the accusation stands true, but it is not due to force, brainwashing, or indoctrination of any kind. It is due to the passionate people who open dialogues and allow for free thinking in a safe and supportive living space. Even then, the amazing changes are not for Residence Life to claim, they are for the residents past and present to hold and take ownership of, as they are the ones who given the right environment were able to change, grow and develop as citizens of both the university and of the world.
In closing, I implore you to support the Office of Residence Life and their well designed curriculum. That which is good is almost always persecuted, but that in no way makes it wrong. Please use your role as president of the University of Delaware to support student growth and development by supporting the people on campus who work the most closely with students—the Office of Residence Life.
Sincerely,
Siné Callanan
Class of 2007
Friday, August 17, 2007
Life is as shaky as a fiddler... on the roof!
Raise the curtain is over (although the laundry that ensues from such an endeavor is not). As per usual the kids pulled it off. I am always amazed with how good the final performance actually goes. Now that the show is over, I have far too much time to miss people. It is hard to be away from the support network of the past few years; it is hard to be away from all the people I have come to love and appreciate.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Harry Potter (No spoilers)
So I finished the 7th Harry Potter book on Sunday. I was amazed by how well tied together the series was by the end of the book. I definitely maintain my theory that Harry Potter is great Christian mythology; I would not be surprised to see Prof. Brockmann create a course on Christianity in Harry Potter. I am quite satisfied with book 7, but I didn't realize how much of book 6 I had forgotten. I pretty much have books 1-5 down, but anything in book 7 that tied solely to book 6 was a bit shady in my memory. In light of this, I am currently rereading book 6. If you have yet to read book 7, I highly reccomend rereading book 6 first. As I am rereading, what transpired in book 7 clarifies itself. I am psyched to read the series start to finish sometime in the next year.
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