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https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X_B8iV7qAv8jB-xsbiCBULL1UV5A-r_y/view?usp=sharing

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https://flipgrid.com/c7b6dda2

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Flipgrid is where social and emotional learning happens! The leading video discussion platform for millions of PreK to PhD educators, students, and families.

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How can fifth-grade students create a positive social and emotional environment to prevent bullying within the community?

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MA2 - Part 6: Problem Based Learning Community Project

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What changes can we make in our school and community to improve communication and involvement especially with new residents who do not speak English?

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Part 4: Community and Curriculum Connections

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Part 4: Community and Curriculum Connections

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Through my field experience investigating and immersing myself into the school community I have discovered some community issues. These issues include safety, recreation, parent involvement, diversity of residents, and town public appearance. There are some places in the curriculum where students may be able to investigate these issues. Two of the writing pieces in my school’s curriculum for 4th and 5th grades are a research writing project and an opinion writing piece. These projects would be a great opportunity for students to investigate issues in the community. In our research writing unit, students could choose an aspect of the community such as safety or diversity and conduct research through interviews, internet searches, community newspapers and collect that into a project that they could present to an authentic audience such as town leaders. Similarly with the opinion piece students could investigate and then take it further to write an essay or article where they present their opinion and try to persuade their audience.

Another place in the curriculum where students may be able to investigate some issues is in social studies. In 4th grade and 5th grade students study how one person or group of people can bring about change in time periods such as the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement. Learning about these leaders can inspire students to become changemakers in their own communities.Studying the history of New Jersey in 4th grade can also lead to present day where there is a new wave of immigration and students can investigate the effects of this on a community.

One disconnect I notice between the school curriculum and the community is that although the town is very diverse, the texts used in school and other aspects of the curriculum do not address diversity. A large percentage of the town’s population come from Spanish-speaking countries. Although this is true, the school does not explicitly have any celebrations for Hispanic Heritage Month or inclusion of Latino celebrations. School communications with families are only in English, when many parents and families need notices in their home language. Celebrations that are highlighted in school primarily are of mainstream Christian holidays like Christmas and Easter. The school would benefit from mention of other celebrations in the winter and spring seasons such as Eid Mubarak and Lunar New Year, which many of our students and their families celebrate.

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How might the issue of severe flooding after rainstorms and how it affects the community parking and drinking water be examined by our students?

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How can second graders research a local charity and then create a student-driven fundraiser to support the charity?

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Part 4: Community and Curriculum Connections

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Part 4: Community and Curriculum Connections

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Since I am not currently teaching, I chose to focus on my daughter’s second grade curriculum.  I was extremely disappointed with our school district’s access to our children’s curriculum.  The science and social studies curriculum were inaccessible via the district’s website; however, the pacing guides for both were available.  The science and social studies curriculum also share the same space within the curriculum, meaning that each content area is rotated.  One semester focuses on science, the next social studies, and so on.  I was disappointed to learn this.  Also, from personal experience as a parent, I know that my daughter’s class often uses the science or social studies time of day to catch up on writing lessons, so there are many days that these content areas are completely skipped over.

The social studies pacing guide had some great essential questions such as what is community and how do communities change?  The town council was a direct link to this as the meeting discussed areas of concern and suggestions on how to create change within our community.  Another question in the pacing guide asked how do people use our environment?    Since I could not access the detailed curriculum, I think that the issue of contaminated soil in our township could touch on this, as the contamination was man-made.

Another major theme that reverberated in my field work was the issues of taxes.  Obviously, this concept is too advanced for a second grader; however, the second-grade math curriculum does have an extensive unit on money.  The social studies pacing guide also asked questions about being a smart consumer.  I think that this directly relates (in a very early way) to the issues of taxes and budgeting.  Students are beginning to develop a deeper meaning of money management, budgeting, and smart consumerism.

The themes of family and charity were not really addressed anywhere within the second-grade curriculum.  Neither were any elements of mental health.  District wide, however, the district runs an anti-bullying campaign.  In first grade, a portion of the day was dedicated to SEL, social and emotional learning, however, I could not locate the SEL program within the second-grade curriculum.

I think that more literacy regarding our community should be incorporated into the curriculum, such as information on our town; a section of our township is considered historic, and there does not seem to be any mention of that within the curriculum.  Our community is very focused on volunteering and community outreach, and I think that that is something that could be elaborated in within the second grade curriculum as well.

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1. Why did Hurricane Sandy affect this community in more ways than the communities further up along the coast?

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In my school district, students are given opportunities to work on projects during science and writing. These are areas where students might investigate the community issues, such as lack of community involvement, as well as gaining an understanding of the problems that surround the community. One way community literacies could be integrated into the curriculum is incorporating local news articles and advertisements about community events into content areas, such as Social Studies and Science. One example of this would be to incorporate the article about the sewer project that is helping to save the township into a Social Studies project for eighth grade.

The overall connections I see that already exist within the curriculum is the discussion about what students and their families live on a daily basis. For example, their discussions about hunting and fishing. There is an emphasis put on student needs, such as implementing Social-Emotional Learning, as well as providing breakfast and lunch for students. The curriculum also addresses students driving instruction by asking open-ended questions and using evidence to prove the conclusion they came to. The overall disconnects I see and notice include the lack of community involvement. The school advertises events that occur, but there is little turn out from community members.

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How can we redesign Memorial Park to make it more sustainable and accessible to children in the community?

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How might the issue of unsafe drinking water in our community be investigated by 4th graders?

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Part 4: Community and Curriculum Connections

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Part 4: Community and Curriculum Connections

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Safety

Recreation/Activities for youth

Parent/Community involvement

Distinction between long term residents and new residents

Town keeping up “appearances” vs. what is really going on

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Part 4: Community and Curriculum Connections

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Part 4: Community and Curriculum Connections

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MA 2 - Part 4 Community and Curriculum Connections

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Zingaro Project Based Learning Community Project Reflection

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Part 4 Community and Curriculum Connections

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Part 4 Community and Curriculum Connections

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Part 4 Community and Curriculum Connections

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Can we explore all the resources our community has? (ex. Visiting the library, going to local parks, community swim - places kids could go with their families safely outside of school)

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What are the major changes we can make to our math, science, and social studies curriculum and planning in order to best support the high population of ELs in the community?

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Part 5:
What are potential changes we could make to our Social Sciences curriculum to integrate learning about our community members?

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In our grade 7 ELA/Social Studies curriculum, how can we research solutions and convince local government to allocate public funds to redesign our public pathways to increase biking, walking, and wheelchair access to community resources?

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How might fourth graders redesign our school garden to make it both more environmentally sustainable and reflective of local history and culture?

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Part 4 Community and Curriculum Connections

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Part 4 Community and Curriculum Connections

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After reviewing my field notes, I found that diversity/acceptance of all and community involvement is very important in Hoboken. I looked through the curriculum and reflected on my experiences in the district to figure out how diversity/acceptance and community involvement is incorporated. I found some ways that it is included in the curriculum and some disconnects.

In terms of them connecting to the curriculum, I see diversity in the social studies curriculum, where we teach about every holiday. Also, during the Holiday season, they hold assemblies and have activities for each holiday and educate the students on them. Something else that they have done to go a step further is create an equity team, which I am on, at the school. This equity team works to recognize racial bias’ and teaches staff members how to recognize them and educate others. Throughout the school year, we recognize black history month, Spanish heritage month, and women's history month. We complete many activities and projects to educate our students during these times and also work to incorporate this education year-round and not just celebrate it for one month. I also see how important the community is in our school and how we work to support it. Some examples of this would be the fundraisers that we do for the 100th day of school or around the holidays are all for local shelters and food banks. The administration also encourages us to incorporate Hoboken into our lesson plans as much as we can. For example, if they are learning about the weather students will think about what it is like on a rainy day in Hoboken or we will mention local Hoboken restaurants and stores.

While they do connect these two topics throughout the curriculum and school environment, there is still a disconnect. First, there is no curriculum that directly educates students on diverse topics. I looked into the curriculum that could help with this and there are a few programs that the school could use. One is called EVERFI: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and there are also many books that could guide lessons on this. While the school does try to help the community and incorporate it into our daily lessons, there is a disconnect with letting the students experience it. We used to be able to do a lot of walking field trips around Hoboken. Students would get to go to the park, public library, the waterfront, and rec centers. Bringing this back would be a great way to get them to see the community and experience it in an educational setting.

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How might we make a difference in our community that results in assisting with the issue of pollution?

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-Special Education
-Mental Health
-Taxes
-Financial Equality
-Environmental Impacts
-Community support of charities
-Family

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1. What natural processes can be utilized to reduce city trash?

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Part 4 Community and Curriculum Connections

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Part 4 Community and Curriculum Connections

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After reviewing the curriculum and my field notes over the past few weeks, I have identified some key community issues, and how literacies can be integrated into the curriculum. Issues I found related to health: health of the environment, the individual physically, and the individual from a dietary perspective. The goal would be for students to investigate these community issues across the curriculum. Aspects can be investigated in science, social studies, english language arts, and math.

Focusing on one issue in particular, students were concerned about trash and a question I would pose is how can we reduce trash through natural processes? This can be integrated into many subjects and grade levels, however for this I would focus on 6th-8th grade. Students can read a novel that focuses on human’s impact on the planet in ELA. Students can research the earth and human activity in science, which has several standards in each grade. In math and science students can create a design using natural processes to reduce waste in the city. Finally, in social studies and ELA students can work to create a presentation for the city to propose their idea.

In the curriculum human impact on earth is discussed in science. This project would expand on what is taught. Some disconnects I notice are that the curriculum does not focus on impacts in the city of Camden. The impacts discussed are generalized. It is important to talk about the community we live in when discussing the content. In addition, students are not given time to research how to solve the problem in the community. When students are taught about a problem they need to also be given time and resources in order to work to solve that problem. My hope is that this community project will unite the school and subject areas so that students can solve real world problems while learning.

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How might the environmental impacts of invasive species and bamboo, due to the recent development of the town ordinance, be investigated in our science and social studies curriculum?

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Part 4 Community and Curriculum Connections

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Part 4 Community and Curriculum Connections

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Part 4 Community and Curriculum Connections

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How might incorporate more positivity around culture and diversity in our younger elementary school classrooms and curriculum?

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-Sense of community
-Tax money allocation
-Culture and diversity
-Importance of sustainability in town
-Volunteerism

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Part 4: Community and Curriculum Connections

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Part 4: Community and Curriculum Connections

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The NJ Students Learning Standards for Grades 5-8 Social Studies call for “relevant activities that help students connect content knowledge to current issues and that promote service learning” in order to  “empower students to become civic-minded and socially active.” Students can investigate community issues under this umbrella standard while also working on ELA curriculum standards in categories such as speaking, listening, researching, and integrating information into multimedia presentations.

Specifically, community literacies could be integrated into the curriculum at BCS in 7th grade Social Studies by having students address what they identified as the lack of safe biking, walking, and wheelchair access from certain neighborhoods to important community resources such as the municipal offices, public library, school, rec center where voting takes place, library, and park. This activity would be supported by standard 6.3.8.A.2 Participate in a real or simulated hearing to develop a legislative proposal that addresses a public issue, and share it with an appropriate legislative body (e.g., school board, municipal or county government, state legislature). Additionally, students could research successful models for addressing homelessness in other communities, and present their concerns about local people without homes and the lack of a homeless shelter in Berlin to the local government while soliciting feedback from local budget stakeholders. This would address Social Studies Standard C. Economics, Innovation, and Technology 6.3.8.C.1 Examine the perspectives of multiple stakeholders involved in the local budget process (e.g., obtaining information, discussing priorities).”

Connections that already exist in the curriculum are studies of some aspects of the history of the town, such as the Native American name of the town, Lonaconing, and how the name was changed over the years to the current nickname “Long A Coming,” and the historic hotel and train station. Some disconnects with the curriculum are a lack of studying the history of the diversity of the town, such as the origins of the Hindu temple, the role of Berlin in the Underground Railroad, and the reasons for the migration of many Latinx people to the area. Another disconnect is that students are very concerned with the social problems and inequities they see right in front of them in their small town. However, the current curriculum teaches simulations of budgets, public issues, and legislative proposals, rather than having students study the public issues in their community, where they can be agents for change in an authentic environment.

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- Community Involvement
- Culture
- Improving Community after Destruction

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1. Equity in access to services/safe transportation
2. Balancing community resources (matching surplus with need)
3. Maintaining historical sites vs. function

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- City construction/building
- Family/Community Involvement
- Value of Education
- Diversity

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- Culture
- Representation
- Community Safety
- Food Security

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-Culture
-Value of education
-Unity + Support from community
-Infrastructure

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1. Diversity
2. Family Involvement
3. Improving Cleanliness and Safety

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Part 4: Community and Curriculum Connections

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Part 4: Community and Curriculum Connections

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Overall, the district makes a concerted effort to incorporate community values and needs into its operations and curriculum. The creation and implementation of our district strategic goals continues to include a variety of community stakeholders in order to facilitate connections between the community and the school district’s curriculum. In particular, the district’s curriculum emphasizes the global and ever-changing nature of our world, as well as the diversity within the world and, more specifically, the district. One way that the district has tried to honor its diversity is by the incorporation of diverse mentor texts and through the diversification of classroom libraries. Additionally, all content areas emphasize the incorporation of multiple perspectives. There are also many opportunities for inquiry based on student interest and choice. District curriculum is also sensitive to the need to reduce student stress and provide better social-emotional support.

That being said, there are a number of areas where the curriculum and community do not align. Many parents enroll their students in outside math, science, language, and literacy classes. They do so because they do not believe the school district’s curriculum is appropriately rigorous, nor does it provide all of the options that they want for their children, especially in science and language (Hindi, Arabic, Mandarin). Additionally, these outside classes are often more closely aligned with how parents learned while they were in school. They feel better prepared to help their children with the content and how it is taught. The fourth grade curriculum could also better represent the needs of the community. For example, there is very little acknowledgement of the immigrant experience or incorporation of other histories students have learned.

Currently, there are a number of missed opportunities to explore community issues in both fourth grade science and social studies. In science, students investigate weathering and erosion. As part of this unit, students design shore protection structures. In a second unit, students learn about earth processes and natural disasters. These topics are introduced and explored through problems along the East coast. However, this is something that could be investigated much closer to home. The community experiences frequent flooding from a river separating the two townships. This flooding causes significant erosion and damage to properties along the river yet is never mentioned in our science units. Additionally, the community places a great emphasis on its local history. In fourth grade, students learn about early American history through the creation of the constitution. We do not, however, study local colonial history. The community has a number of resources that could be successfully integrated into this study. There are historic sites, as well as a very active historical society.

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Cultural pride

Immigrant experience

Value of education

Health

Environmental protection

Traffic Patterns and Safety

Celebration

Community history

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Part 4: Community and Curriculum Connections

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Part 4: Community and Curriculum Connections

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Part 4_ Community and Curriculum Connections

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*  library for Woodlynne Township

The park needs updating for the younger population

Walking park

The teenagers need an appropriate space to hang out

Benches or sitting areas on Woodlynne Ave for people to sit and relax to enjoy ice cream

Bilingual program for residents- free English classes for parents to sign up for, and to offer support with paperwork etc.

Literacy night or movie night for the residents once a month

Food bank

Residents near the school to come and speak with the school and teachers about parking issues

A community space

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Social Media

Money budgeting

Diverse Representation

Family/Community involvement

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MA2 --Activity 4 Fieldnotes Council Meeting

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What events does the community engage in?

The major community events are organized by the local fire department. They recently had a movie night that happens once a month. They also promote other events happening at the Union Hall. The community also attends a soup and bake sale each month.

What are the critical issues?

A critical issue within this community is a sewer project. The question the title of this article raises is, “Can a sewer project keep a sleepy corner of rural New Jersey from fading away?” (Nark, 2022). This community relies heavily on fishing and farming. It is also not a well-known part of New Jersey, so I was very intrigued when coming across this article.

What can you ascertain the community values?

From the community events that happen at the local fire department and the article about the sewer project, I can ascertain that this community values its resources and the people that bring the community together. They rely on farming and fishing, but they also rely on each other.

Reference:

Nark, J. (2022, January 22). Can a sewer project keep a sleepy corner of rural New Jersey from fading away?. https://www.inquirer.com. Retrieved March 28, 2022, from https://www.inquirer.com/news/new-jersey/downe-nj-climate-change-fortescue-sewer-20220122.html

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What do you already know about the culture of the community? What insiders do you know?

I know some things about the culture of the community in which I teach. The culture relies heavily on fishing and farming as the primary source of income. It is a low-income area. There is at least one teacher that I work with who went to this school years ago and came back to teach. I also know that a majority of the people who work there have been there at least three years or more.

What kinds of connections do you have with this culture?

I have very little connections with this culture. My dad knows someone who has been working there for a few years and that is how I found out about this job. I am able to hear her input and comments about the culture within the community.

In what ways are you either an insider or an outsider already?

I am already an outsider. I went to private school growing up and this community is a public school, so I did not have the connection of going to public school growing up. The teachers that work there have been there much longer than I have, as this is my first year. I grew up in a home of teachers, where this community relies on farming and fishing.

What do you hope to find out about the community?

I hope to find out more about how the community lives, how they look out for one another, their views and opinions on education and literacy, and how they perceive their individual roles within the community.

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Part 4: Community and Curriculum Connections

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Part 4: Community and Curriculum Connections

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After taking the time to look through the curriculum across the board, I recognized that diversity is an area that connects community to our curriculum in many content areas. I see this occurring in my school when we invite the parents and families of the students twice a year for two different events: Black History Month and Spanish Heritage Month. Teachers volunteer and help the second and third grade students prepare for this event. Students put together a play, sing songs, and set up different stations for activities (e.g. coloring, crafts, food tasting).

I see diversity in my curriculum when we complete our women’s history month essays. These writing activities connect to our Reading/Writing Curriculum in 3rd grade. In my room, I have students choose a historical woman figure to do research on and write a biography. We do the same for Black History Month. We acknowledge students’ backgrounds by allowing them to create a family tree along with a narrative essay about one tradition that means the most to them and their family.

On the other hand, I see disconnect in my district when looking into the mentor texts. I think my district could do a better job of providing more engaging and up to date texts for the children. Diversity is very important to connect to our curriculum. There is a lot we could do with this area in school. Personally, I connect diversity more to my instruction than what is in our curriculum. It is often difficult to include all of the texts in my own library because they come from my own funds. However, I always look into YouTube read alouds in order to include more engaging texts.

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3rd Grade Classroom

Diversity

Community Helpers/ Volunteers

Discussion and Questioning

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Part 4 - Community and Curriculum Connections

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Part 4 - Community and Curriculum Connections

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MA 2 - Part 4_ Community and Curriculum Connections

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1. community improvement
2. family support
3. discussion and questioning

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McCabe_Activity 4 - Community Event.docx

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Part 4 Community and Curriculum Connections

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Part 4 Community and Curriculum Connections

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Part 4 Community and Curriculum Connections”

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Part 4 Community and Curriculum Connections

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Part 4 Community and Curriculum Connections

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Part 4 Community and Curriculum Connections

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1.     Discussion and problem solving

2.     Support and Involvement from families/community

3.     Importance of belonging and groups

4.     History, diversity, and culture of the community

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What are events or practices that are important in your community?

There are many events that the community has that make Hoboken what it is. They hold many family-friendly events like Easter egg hunts, movies in the park, read-aloud, festivals, and more. The community is also very into rec sports and a lot of the children play on teams together. There are many different areas in Hoboken that make it easy for families and friends to get together. There are multiple parks, indoor play spaces, rec centers, and fun zones (rock climbing, indoor playgrounds). This mom really appreciates the fact that the community is close and there are so many places for people to get together and activities to do.

What are the challenges in the community?

Some of the community is split between the areas in the town. The low-income housing area is seen as the “place not to go” and they have been getting pushed out of the city as it has been growing. It used to be that the schools were segregated like this too, but they now do a much better job of making the schools diverse.

Another challenge is that the city is crowded and they are still building more. There is little available parking on the street and if you want to park in a garage, it costs a good amount of money. The number of people makes the parks, restaurants, and stores crowded. Another thing is that the streets can be loud and very busy, especially during the warmer months. While Hoboken is a popular town for young families, it is also an extremely popular town for people in their 20s and it is a college town also. With this comes loud bars, people loud in the street, and crowds.

What are the needs of the community that may or may not being met?

The community needs another elementary school, as there are more and more younger kids every year. This past year the superintendent proposed an extravagant high school proposal that includes 28 classrooms, science labs, a football field on the roof, pools, tennis courts, basketball courts, a track, and an ice rink. The high school/rec center would have allowed for the current high school to be made into the middle school and the old middle school to be renovated into a new elementary school. Since there is no land to purchase and build an elementary school in Hoboken, this was really the only way to get a new one. However, many community members voted no for the high school because they were left out of the planning process and their taxes would rise more. While understandable, the community still needs another elementary school and now there is no plan for a new one. Class sizes are getting bigger and the schools are becoming cramped.

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Interview with community members:

1. What are events or practices that are important in your community?

Events for kids and families such as parades, sporting events, community events. There used to be a lot more.

2. What are challenges in the community?

Lack of parent involvement. People do not speak up and are not involved in the community. The town boasts things like having a recreation center and many soccer fields, basketball courts but they are not readily accessible or available to community youth. Two specific issues related to this: the first is the courts and fields are taken over by older kids who push out the younger ones. Also, courts and fields are not available to use because priority is given to organized teams and are usually locked otherwise.

3. What are the needs of the community that may or may not being met?

There is a need for places where young kids and teens can go in town. This will keep kids off the streets or doing other things that are not productive. One example is the town has a public library but the hours are very limited. It is closed on the weekends and closes at around 5 every day. This does not make it accessible to students for very long after school or on weekends at all which is the only times that kids would be able to go. The public library also does not offer many activities or programs aside from a few during the summer.

Another need of the community is for communication available in languages other than English. A large percentage of residents are non-native speakers of English and would benefit from communications in Spanish and Portuguese (the two most common languages in town). By communications we mean notifications from the town about events or important notices such as community food distribution. Many of the families who are most in need of food and resources may not even know about an event like a food distribution because they did not receive notice of it in their native language.

4. If you could bring the community into the schools in this community, what would you like to see?

Definitely more parent involvement. Instead of just complaining about things in the community, speak up and get involved in change and making things better.

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I decided to sit in one of the central locations in town on the main street. This town center is surrounded by the post office, public library, a playground, basketball court, and soccer field. I sat on a bench facing this circle. The first thing I notice is that right at the center in front of the library there is a large grass field. At this time it is empty. I know from personal experience in the town that the grass field is used very scarcely. I have seen it used only a handful of times. Once for a large bounce house and other amusement rides for children at a town community day and another time for pony rides for children.

At the time of day I am observing, around 4:00pm on a Monday afternoon, there is a lot of foot traffic. Many adults walk with backpacks or briefcases. Presumably commuters walking home from the nearby train station that goes into New York City. Since it is a nice day out there are also many children at the nearby playground. Mostly it seems like small children probably between ages 3 and 7. I notice many of them have a Kennedy School uniform on. Kennedy School is the pre-k to grade 1 school in town. The playground is completely enclosed with a gated fence. Most parents are inside the fence watching their children from the perimeter. A few watch from outside the fence, seated on the ledge of stairs around the library on the other side of where I am seated. I notice that there are people playing basketball on the court. Most seem like adults or maybe high school aged. The soccer field is also full, with what seems like an organized game going on. The kids on the field look to be maybe between ages 8 and 12.

The main street in front of where I am seated is also busy. Many cars pass by in both directions although there is more traffic going west towards the other main road Frank E. Rodgers Boulevard.

I was surprised that although there were many children on the playground interacting and playing together none of the adults who were watching them were interacting with other adults. Many of them were on their phones or just observing their children. This makes me wonder if there are not a lot of adults/parents that are friends in town? Or do none of them want to speak up and start a conversation with another parent?

I was also surprised that I saw only a small amount of people entering the public library. All the people except one were adults. I had expected to see many children and young people entering the library since it was after school time, but this was not the case. This makes me wonder are there no afterschool programs or activities at the local library for children? Are there computers or other resources that students may use for school assignments? Is the library not an important location for the town’s youth?

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Activity 3: Community Members (continued)

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Activity 3: Community Members (continued)

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Adult interview

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Copy of Zingaro MA2+2 Activity 3 adult Fieldnotes

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Zingaro MA2+2 Activity 3 student Fieldnotes

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Location:

Corner of MLK Avenue and Main Street in downtown Pleasantville

Sunday, 2:00 PM

Observations:

There were many people walking on the street outside and a decent amount of car traffic up and down Main Street. Several people who were walking outside were still wearing masks, regardless if they were alone or with another person. All of the people that I witnessed passing by on foot were adults.

-The street was FILLED with litter. Many trees also had plastic bags stuck in the branches.

-Many seagulls were flying overhead occasionally swooping down to pick at the litter on the ground. Multiple birds picked up trash and then dropped it after realizing there was no food.

-A bundle of balloons was caught in a nearby fence.

-Many people were in and out of Johnny D’s, picking up food to-go. This restaurant had the busiest foot traffic on the street.

- A police officer and his partner stopped at Johnny D’s to grab (what looked like) sandwiches to-go. This was one of the two police cars I saw while observing.

-Two men walking on the street said hello to the police officers as they passed by.

-There were also many people seated and eating inside El Paraiso.

-Many buildings, including apartments, had the windows boarded closed.

-There was a sign in an apartment window that read “DO NOT KNOCK ON MY WINDOW”

-A man was standing outside the door of an apartment talking with a woman who stayed inside.

-A man pushing a shopping cart filled with large plastic bags walked up and down Main Street.

-Martin’s Liquor Store was serving a car at their drive -thru window.

-A woman was sweeping a large pile of trash in front of the liquor store.

-There is a NJ transit public bus stop with 2 people waiting for the bus.

The people I observed walking by on foot were all people of color. Most of the community is Hispanic or African American, so this was expected based on the demographic of the town. I was surprised I did not see any children with their parents or teenagers walking on Main Street. Many of my students talk about Johnny D's or have included this place in their writing, so I was happy to finally see where they were talking about. I was also very saddened to see to see so much garbage on the ground. It was one of the most littered areas I have witnessed. When I drive to work, I typically do not drive on this end of town even though it is only a mile down the road from my school.

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I recently attended a church that my friend's family is apart of. This was definitely an event that I was not considered an insider at; being that I normally do not attend church. Everyone was welcoming and excited to have me, but it was all new to me. In my observations, I realized how important the church is to all of the people that attend. They are like a huge family. There were about 100 people present and it seemed as though everyone knew each other. They welcome all newcomers with open arms, which was a great feeling. I noticed how people interacted there, almost as if the rest of the world had not mattered, everyone was happy and at peace. There was a wide variety of ages there; from young children to elderly. I was unfamiliar with many of the vocabulary used in their discussions and prayer, which reminded me of this class and what we have been learning. When someone has not been exposed to the vocabulary and taught the meaning of words, they will have a difficult time comprehending the material. Luckily, this pastor did a great job of explaining before, during, and after the objective and meaning of certain words and phrases that would be crucial to the audiences understanding. I actually immediately thought about Calderon and Slakk when they had mentioned this being an effective practice! I thoroughly enjoyed this community event and plan on going back. I was able to relate a lot of the material we have been talking and learning about in this course to the way the pastor projected discussion and prayer!

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Place: Washington Township Lake Park

What is happening? What do I observe?

It is 11:00 am on a Sunday during the spring- the temperature is the high 50s.

You can hear the sound of softball bats, cheering, and children playing.

There are multiple people sitting on the grass with blankets.

There is an adult softball game going on on the field.

There are children playing on the park and adults watching them

There are a ton of people walking and jogging along the paths.

I can see there are multiple trails through the woods

Some young children are playing on the amphitheater, while their guardians watch from the side.

My Reactions:

I am not surprised at the amount of people at the park. The part holds a lot of events where people join and come from all around. The park also holds a lot of sporting events on the weekends. Even when there are not a lot of events, people like to come to the park for the various trails and parks. It is very family oriented.

I am intrigued by the group sitting in a circle on the grass and painting. The group looks like they are in their upper teens or maybe early twenties. They seem very familiar with one another as well.

Connections to curriculum:

The park provides many opportunities for students to learn scientific processes and habitats. There is a lake, a forest, and open land for students to observe and study different environment interactions.

There are also many social interactions at the park. There are groups that meet here regularly whether it is socially, religiously, academically, athletically, and so on.

There is a group of people running and keeping track of their speed which can relate to the mathematical processes learned.

There is a lot of diversity represented in the park from people who are sitting on the open grass and walking by. This is a huge part of community and unity.

Disconnect to the curriculum:

The park does not have any historical value or landmarks. There is not much meaning besides community events within the park.