Tuesday Night

Carol, Lauren and Janet are exhausted from working so hard, well, not really, but some of us have become very good friends with the laminator at Kipp :-) Carol has had a great time with Evangenile, a former CPS teacher who is now teaching second grade at Kipp. Her classroom is remarkable and she has set up her classroom so that learning can really take place. You can tell she wants to celebrate the students' accomplishments. As she said to Janet. "I didn't want to be a teacher - teaching found me".

The atmosphere at Kipp is so positive. We can peek in on teachers working with the little first graders as they do beginning of the year assessments.The kid are adorable. It makes us excited to start our school year.

Part of the excitement for us too is to spend time getting to know the other NLU service team members. Who knew Koke was doing his student teaching in Australia??

And don't ask about the food. We're all so full - Carol and Janet finished off the evening with beignets and we didn't even share.

More when we can find free internet again!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Well, it's almost time to go to New Orleans and I am really excited. I can almost smell the coffee and bengiets. It was great meeting everyone at the orientation and I am really looking forward to getting to know everyone better. I will be bringing my computer with me in case people want to blog durng the week.

See everyone at O'Hare bright and early tommorow.

Kathleen

A day full of inspiration..

This morning, after very few hours of sleep, I walked into the NLU Skokie campus to a very cheerful and absolutely wonderful Karen Roth. She was full of life and very excited to have everyone there to serve NOLA. In hearing peoples reason to participate in this service learning adventure, I continuously was inspired by other people's excitement about what we are here to do. I left orientation entirely elated about the possibilities of what we can and will accomplish.

In the afternoon, I had the extraordinary pleasure of having lunch with my mother, uncle, and the family of a man who said he was inspired by my mother. He found her, and contacted her to thank her for being the sunshine that helped him through a very rough time in his life. I couldn't help but feel honored to witness the stories of hardtimes this man went through in his life, and I will never forget the smile on my mother's face to know that she was able to help at least one.

I ended the day by watching two great teaching movies about influential teachers in California: Stand and Deliver and Freedom Writers. The teachers in these movies were there to motivate, nurture, and guide those students to success. It was after these movies concluded that I was able to reflect on what my day presented me. It was a day full of inspiration. I am inspired to help the students in NOLA. I am inspired to make a difference in at least one person's life. I am inspired to be the best teacher I can be. I believe in the trickle effect and karma. Good things are coming from all of this. I feel it in my bones.

Good luck to all the July group! Have a fantastic time and be great!

NOLA Service Learning Team 2010

Can't wait to return to Cafe Reconcile - I can taste the catfish already!
http://reconcileneworleans.org/about/mission

NLU's 4th Summer of Servce in New Orleans

This summer,2 teams have again been formed to help prepare NOLA schools for the new school year. The interest to participate in service to others from NLU's student population was overwhelming. In order for the teams to bond and engage in quality experiences, a limit of 15 was selected for each trip. In addition, faculty, students and "friends of NLU" who participated in past trips are also on board to help guide the new team as well as document their work and growth.

The first team departs on Sunday July 25 and will work exclusively with our partner charter school, KIPP Central City Academy. The partnership developed during our first summer in 2007 and to date we have set up 4 sections of classrooms each summer from K - 8th grade, including a library, science lab, teacher resource room and special education room. This could be our last year with KIPP CCA - but hopefully not our last summer with KIPP NOLA.

The second team is ready to arrive in NOLA on Sunday August 8 and will work with a couple of charter schools managed by First Line Schools, as well as spend time with our preschool partners, Happy Times Preschool and Royal Castle Kids. We continue to bring music and art programs to the young children and assist the teachers in any way possible.

I am thrilled to be returnnig to NOLA working along side our new "alumni" of NLU's Partnership with NOLA Schools Project. I look forward to reading their reflections of their growth and personal experiences and viewing their photos of their work. Good luck to all.

Returning to NOLA

This is Janet Lorch, faculty in the eled MAT program at NLU, I'm excited to be returning to NOLA again this summer. I was part of the 2007 trip and created the first NOLA trip blog (and my own first blog too!). See the link on the side for some stories and pics from that trip. I can't believe it's been 3 years and it seems there's still so much work to do in New Orleans. I wonder about the impact that the oil spill in the gulf has had on the local economy. I wonder how the schools look - when we worked with KIPP 3 years ago they were in a temporary site. I wonder if it will be 100 degrees again! Well, looking forward to meeting the 2010 team!