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They do have a beautiful facility for dance! The room is large and an entire wall is covered in mirrors, as every dance studio should be. On that same wall, there is a ballet bar, which is very beneficial to balance, strength, and flexibility. They have two changing rooms attached, equip with numerous lockers to hold clothing to change into and valuables during class. They also have nice wood floors, helpful for dancing, and an impressive sound system. I would love to dance there! In high school, we danced in our cafeteria because we didn't have a dance studio. They are very fortunate.

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Uploaded by Madeline Haut on 2016-12-17.

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Uploaded by Madeline Haut on 2016-12-17.

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No laughing please!

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Uploaded by Madeline Haut on 2016-12-17.

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Being a teacher is hard. It is not all fun and games like I had always imagined it to be. It's hard to walk the line between friend and teacher. It's hard to stay consistent. It's hard to make the rules, and then follow them yourself. It's hard to motivate students. It's hard to stay positive sometimes. It's hard to gain respect. It's hard to be a teacher. But it is absolutely worth it. You're always going to have students who don't want to do anything, who are unmotivated. It's important to remember that there is no right answer. As a teacher you must cater to each students' specific needs. Not everyone is the same. We are not here to save anyone. We are here to help them get through life and make learning a little more fun and a little easier. It's time to breakout of old school teaching traditions and bring it to the 21st century. It is time to demand change. Kids are the future, and we are the ones leading them.

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The instructor that I worked with was amazing. She was very passionate about teaching and dance, and the sweetest woman ever. Although she let some things slide, she also cracked down on the important stuff. There was one day that no one was getting along or cooperating and she gave a really inspiring speech. She started with the "there's no i in team" argument, but it became much more. She brought it into their real lives, talking about how if one member of their family didn't pitch in, how would they survive? They had a dance presentation to prepare for and she said that if they didn't work together and hard, they would prove to the school that the arts program should not be funded. As she went on, it became deeper and more meaningful. From then on, at least for that day, everyone was civil and motivated.

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Attendance was also hard. One day there would be 30 people in second hour, and the next day, only 10. When the students did come, they would normally come in 15-20 minutes late. The door would be locked, so all of a sudden there would be immense pounding on the door to open it. This pounding and disruption would happen at least 10 times during a class period. Speaking from my experience, at my high school, when we were even 30 seconds late to class, we would receive a yellow sheet of paper. We then, had to take that paper to our principal to get it signed and discuss why we were late-- and then return it to the teacher. This was frustrating because I felt like it took more time out of my learning and was more of a distraction than me just being late, but it did keep me honest and scared to be late. When that system was implemented, I was on time more often than not. I don't necessarily think that would work at North, because I think students would just leave and not bother taking it to the principal, but something like that might!

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From what I observed, many of the students at North have a blatant disrespect for authority. I think a lot of it comes from their past relationships with authority, or those who are older than them---maybe from past experiences, they have found teachers and mentors to them cannot be trusted. I was told during my orientation that I was not allowed to punish, so when disrespect occurred I just kept my mouth shut and sat in the corner, which was really hard for me. The disrespect was especially prominent when substitute teachers were present. On those days, no work would be done. It was mostly just sitting and talking, and messing around. The students that did follow direction though, were wonderful and got a lot out of the class!

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The students who did not participate in the dances, which was a good majority of students in each period, would not be doing other homework, or anything productive. Rather, they would be sitting on their phones. I know that unplugging is extremely hard with my generation, I still have a hard time putting my phone away during class, but it should not be accepted. It seems that kids these days, myself included, have an extremely short attention span. It's not that we're doing anything super entertaining or special on our devices, but it's something to do, to split up the dull parts of the day. I don't know how that happened but it needs to be reversed somehow. Any suggestions? I think North should implement a system to confiscate the devices that become distracting during class time. Speaking from my high school experience, if we were found on our phone or iPod, it could be taken from us and given to our principal to be picked up by a guardian. If your guardian wouldn't or couldn't pick it up, then that was too bad. They had it for as long as it took.

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While I was in the hallways scarcely, I did witness a few hitting and chasing incidents while walking the stairs and halls to my classroom. Within the classroom, violence was a big problem. Fights would break out between students, which normally resulted in pulling hair and smacking the back or face of another student. The classroom also had changing rooms, for boys and girls, and occasionally a student would chase another student into the changing room. The student would then lock the other out, and screaming and hitting of the door would occur. I think these actions became such a part of their daily routine and are so time consuming to punish, that they have become accepted as just part of the day and ignored. While not giving attention to bad behaviors sometimes works, I would say that's more for younger kids that are acting out in order to receive that attention. When violence is not punished, it is seen as acceptable. I think North, and my instructor, need to become more strict when it comes to punishment.

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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit -- Aristotle--

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Uploaded by Shane Holland on 2016-08-31.

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I have also noticed that it is extremely important to be consistent. Constitacny creates habits. Teachers need to be consistent with punishments and daily routines. If one student is punished for an action and another is not for that same action, anger and resistance will occur. The students will see it as unfair and will not abide by future punishments. Another consistency,along those lines, is rules. Rules need to be the same for each student and the same day after day. If the students aren't allowed to play their own music with the aux cord, but then the rule slides and students start to do so a month later, then you can forget that rule ever being followed again. With consistency brings routine, and routine is extremely important to create healthy, efficient, and successful classrooms. Philosopher Aristotle once put it, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

"A Quote by Aristotle." Goodreads. Goodreads Inc., n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2016.

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Something that we have talked about in class, and I also observed at North, is that it is really hard to be the "cool " teacher that you want to be, and also have respect from your students. There is a fine line between mentor/teacher, and friend--and that line is hard to find. Everyone wants to be the liked teacher, the one everyone looks up to, but being too easy or lenient on students can create chaos and disrespect.

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A few days ago, I was so surprised and astonished that I could not contain my excitement. I was scrolling through the popular page on my Instagram feed, when I came across a viral video with ONE MILLION VIEWS/LIKES! I watched it a few times, wondering why it looked so familiar. Then it hit me! I recognized the African drums, the chairs, the long black carpet, the far too large flat screen tv, and the boombox that changes colors with every beat in the music. The viral video was from NORTH! They were my students, and they were famous--and famous for being fun and dancing to one of their favorite songs. I was and am just so excited for, and proud of, them! Since the video is already viral, I figured there would be no harm in posting it here! So much fun!

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Although I wasn't able to get to know the students as personally as I would have liked to, it was extremely entertaining to watch all the dances come to life. The best was the free dances that they were able to do. When they were able to choose their own music, every student was on their feet. For the most part they chose songs that have viral dances that go along with them. They would restart the song countless times until they mimicked almost perfectly what the dance on Twitter or Youtube looked like. Their determination and interest when it came to that was inspiring. Fortunately for me, because they played back the songs and practiced those dances so often every week, I was able to learn them just by watching.

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These expectations were sadly not met. I think my expectations weren’t met partially because of my busy schedule. In my other jobs, I met with my kids at least four times a week, if not more. For my service learning at North, I was only able to go either once a week, or once every other week due to cancelled classes and various holiday and teacher breaks. I had class, Monday night meeting for my sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma, and work at Breck Elementary school from 9 am through 6 pm every day Monday through Thursday and work Friday as well—so the only option I had to volunteer was Friday mornings. Because I wasn’t with them for long enough, they routinely did not recognize me, thinking I was either the sub for the day, or a new student. I also had no authority in the class, so rather than getting to know the children, the majority of my time there was spent watching the dances that they already had choreographed or watching as the substitute or actual instructor struggled to keep peace and focus in the classroom. I should have asked if I could teach a dance! There was no class that has full participation--usually more than one student would be sitting out at a time, and then given up on. I never had any one-on-one time with them, so getting to know their names and personalities was virtually impossible. Instead of understanding who they all were as people by getting to know each of them, all I could do was decide their personalities by what they presented during class--some good, and some bad. I was never given clear instructions on my purpose in the classroom so I didn’t feel conformable doing anything.

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I have always enjoyed working with kids, ever since I was young myself, it has been my passion. I gained experience at a young age while babysitting my mom’s coworker’s children and neighbors, as well as mentoring at school. As a high school student, I volunteered at the middle school next door. While I was technically supposed to be tutoring them in their respective subject and guiding them through homework, but instead I realized I needed to guide them through adolescences. After graduating high school in May 2014, I started working for a dance company in June of the same year. With this company, it is my job to support, mentor, and be a role model for the dancers, as young as fourth grade and as old as seniors in high school. I was fortunate enough to become extremely close with my students, and felt an immense sense of accomplishment and pride from doing so. I felt that I had a purpose in life and it reassured my interest in teaching. What I was expecting in service learning was the same type of thing. Becoming close with students to the point where they would be excited to se me and eager learn because of that.

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Where: North High School, 1500 James Ave N, North Minneapolis, MN 55411

What: Classroom Academic Support/Tutor - Arts Electives--Dance

Who: High school students grades 9 through 12

When: October through December 2016