Moynihan's Blog

Final Thoughts to Lincoln Students

First off, I would like to say that I enjoyed hearing from both Mai and Amir. You both seem like wonderful people and will go on to be very successful in life. I wish both of you the best of luck in all that you do, whether it be school, sports, work, or whatever else you might be interested in. I wish that I could have gotten to know you guys a little bit better in the time that we had. It would have been nice to have more conversations and gotten a better feel for what type of people you guys are. But, I am still very appreciative for the oppurtunity to talk to you guys at all. The situation of your education is one that is a lot different from the one I experienced when I was your age, and it gave me an understanding of the role of schools in different situations. I would like to say that both of you, and your school in general, has helped broaden my knowledge of education in today's society. And I want to thank you for that, I truly appreciate it. Finally, I would like to wish you good luck on the rest of your school year, and everything else that you have going on in your lives. It was great talking to you guys, and if you ever need any advice about future school choices, please feel more than welcome to ask me.

response to Mai

Hey Mai!! I’m glad to hear from you….as for my answers to your questions that you asked me, here they are. In high school I didn’t really take one program, I took lots of different subjects that were required. Of the classes I got to choose for myself, I picked science classes. It’s not like I really like science, I was just pretty good at it naturally. As for the homework question, yes I had tons. I always felt overwhelmed by the amount of work I had to do in High School, I swear I always got stuck with the hardest teachers. But I have to admit, it has made it easier for me in college, because I was so used to doing homework every night. I had so much fun in high school A lot of the kids that were my classmates I had known for a long time, so I was really close with a lot of people. I also was in sports and in student clubs, which kept me involved in my school, and I liked that. My high school was huge, there was lots of kids that went there, over 4,000. So it was always really busy, lots of kids running around all the time. It was fun because every year I got to meet new people that I hadn’t met the year before. I really enjoy meeting new people. Well, so how was your Thanksgiving? I hope it was great, mine was. I ate so much, it was amazing. My mom is a really good cook, and my family is huge, so there was a lot of food. Well, I hope to hear back from you soon Mai.

What I'm Up To...

Lately, I have been really overwhelmed by school. Being at a big University makes it hard to focus. There are so many other things that draw my attention away from my school work. It's unreal!! The parties are insane here and it seems like theres one everynight, even on like a tuesday, who would have thought that. Well anyways, because of this, I've been getting behind on my homework and studying. So now I am at a point where I'm really stressed out because it feels like the work never stops coming. Time management is a huge problem for me. Ugh.

HEY AMIR!!!

I'm so happy you wrote me back!! I think that you have a lot of cool interests. Especially sports, I love football to!! I'm a big Vikings fan, and I'm upset with how bad there playing right now. Are you a Vikings fan? What position do you play? It's been a while since I've played basketball, I haven't played since I was in junior high...but when I did play I was the small forward. I'm not so good at basketball now, because I'm pretty short. But I still enjoy watching basketball, I love Allen Iverson. I'm glad that you like computers, because they are a huge part of college life, and hopefully you will be in college soon!! I'm really enjoying college so far, thanks for asking! Theres a lot of fun stuff going on that I've got involved in, and I've met a lot of cool new people. Also the teachers are really smart and they teach you a lot of new information in a short amount of time. Sometimes the homework load can get kind of heavy, but other than that, college is nothing but fun! Do you plan on going to college? And if so, where? You said that your neighborhood was quiet...so what do you do for fun there? I hope to hear back from you soon Amir!! And I hope that you had a awesome Halloween, and got lots and lots of candy!! Talk to you later!!

Three things about me...

Hi, my name is Tara Moynihan, and I am a freshman at the University of Minnesota. I'm living on campus right not, but I grew up in a suburb of Minneapolis called Hopkins. You may have heard of my school because of our awesome basketball team. But anyways, I went to Hopkins' schools my entire life, and they were just great. I had the great luck of havng really cool teachers, some who I still go back and say "hi" to every once and a while. I played a lot of sports growing up. You name it, I played it. From basketball, to softball, to soccer, to volleyball, to tennis. I was a very active kid. But as I started getting older, I had to narrow down the sports I played so that I could stay caught up with my schoolwork. I picked soccer and softball. I ended up being the captain of the softball team my junior and senior year in high school, and we won a lot of games. I decided to go to college so that I could have an even better education than I already had from completing high school. But to be honest, the main reason I went, is because people that graduate with college degrees make more money. And I want to be able to have a family some day, and be able to support them, and live a comfortable life. I'd like to know some things about your life to! So write me back and tell me some stuff!!

Question for Lincoln Kids

There's so much that I would like to know about your lives...
hmm but here are some questions that I would really appreciate your answers to

1. Do you have fun while your at school?

2. What is your neighborhood like?

3. What do you like to do for fun?

starting lincoln and me

I have to admit that actually sitting down and writing my first draft of this paper was tough, to say the least. I was really frustrated because I felt that I had only a small amount of information on the actual students that are going to Lincoln. I want to be able to relate and contrast my personal experiences with theirs rather than just going off of statistics. I normally write a quick first draft, but this one took time and a lot of thinking processes that I dont usually have to use. Things like brainstorming on a piece of paper, outlining, and this was just in order to get the first couple of sentences down! I really hope that we will be able to have some contact with the Lincoln kids before this paper is due, so that I can add in some more critical information. And Jerry I know this isnt your fault and you are trying so I'm not blaming you, I'm just saying....

working with the lincoln kids

After reading and grasping a better understanding of what these kids are going through, it makes me even more excited to get a chance and be part of these kids lives. These kids need positive influences on their lives, to show them that education is very important. And whobetter to do that, than a bunch of college kids? I feel that we will be able to show them that if they work hard in school, they will be able to go to college someday. Make them realize that its a reality, not just a false dream. They see guys in their neighborhoods who are making quick money selling drugs, and they see that as an easy way to succeed. My hope is that we will be able to show them that type of lifestyle does not have a promising future. Statistics show that if you are a drug dealer in that neighborhood, the odds are against you that you will not live past the age of twenty-five. These are the type of realits that need to be brought to attention to these kids, not one of making money the wrong way. Show them that there are better ways to make money as a teenager, like going into the downtown area and getting a part-time job. I really just want to show these kids they do have options, and our class is here for them to show them the right way to go.

north minneapolis

wow, thats all i can say. today when we were looking at the geographically maps of minneapolis, i was amazed. I mean the color blocks relevant to a person's race, was almost the exact same you looked at categories such as crime rate, poverty, or anything else negative. i couldnt believe how closely correlated race was with these other factors of a negative way of life. I mean seeing it the way that I did with the map helped me grasp a better understanding of what children in these neighborhoods are seeing and more importantly experiencing.

citing sources

ahhhh!! Who knew that citing sources would be so difficult! I'm getting so frustrated trying to get straight all the different types of index citations and as for the sources cited page....ugh don't even get me started. I know that these are rules and guidelines that I'm going to have to follow all throughout college, so I'm trying not to complain. But geez. If it wasn't for the Keys For Writers book to help me along the way, I would be completly lost. I'm trying, and I think I'm making some progress, so I guess it's all good.

Thoughts on....School Girls: Split Royalties

I feel that this article had a very deep meaning. It gives good examples and makes you feel and understand what its like to be a girl, a girl that is a person of color, in the school system today. and its not what you think it might be. it doesnt make rhonda appear to be "victimized" persay, but just helps you understand what it would be like. Its hard not to compare your personal experiences with those that take place in this story. After all, that is all you know... I think back to instances in my school days where the possibility of passive sexism has taken place, to me and to others. It makes me feel bad that I did and said nothing about it. Just because I was so oblivious to what was going on around me.

lincoln elementary

after reading the information on lincoln, i cant help but feel sorry for the kids. the report to the community from the principal tried to frocus on other aspects of the school besides test scores. and the reality of this, is that the test scores are nothing to brag about, to say the least. when trying to convince a parent to send their kid to attend lincoln you cant say that we had a high rate of failure (or recieveing a 1 on the MCA's). They try to focus on things like diversity, which the definitly have a lot of. I'm looking forward to being able to talk to these kids and see what its like for them beyond the numbers to go to a school like that, being that my elementary school was the complete opposite.

writ conference

i had my first writing conference with jerry this week, tuesday to be exact. it was helpful to hear his comments on my paper being that it is due the following week. the timing could not have been better. i also liked how i was asked questions that were totally non class related. jerry asked me things like how i was liking the university so far, and how GC was going. it made me feel glad that someone cared about me as a person instead of just a number. anyways, all in all a good experience.

feelings about revision groups

I really love getting lots and lots of feedback from other people on my papers. It has really helped me a lot to develop my paper by what a reader want to hear, rather than just what sounds good to me. I feel that them more advice you get, the better your final paper will turn out. Plus, like we said in class, the best way to revise a paper is by reading it out loud. So what could be better than having multiple people read it aloud? It's awesome, great idea Jerry.

analyzing mean girls, and things we carry

In the paper "The Things We Carry" by Danielle Williams, I thought it was very well organized. All of the ideas from paragraph to paragraph seemed to kind of transition nicely. It left me with a clear understanding of the series of events that happened while she was in this english class, and the outcome that she got out of it. I did, however, feel that it was really boring. I felt like she talked about the same instance (the effect of her mother's conversation with Ms. Thomas) for like at least two pages. I could understand if this event was hugely significant, but it wasn't. I never fond oukt what was said in that conversation and how it directly impacted Danielle's success in the class. It just an awkward way to show the event that made her start doi8ng well in the class.

In the paper, "Mean Girls: A Real Case Study", I thought it was so cute! It wasnt an extremely well writen paper, but the content of it was so entertaining. I could so see something like that happen at my high school. People dont understand how cruel teenager girls can be. The only thing that I can say I wish I found out more about, would be the series of events that happened after she found it was her "friends" that T.P.ed her house. I mean she spent two paragraphs wrapping up the story. She said that she made new friends, but she never fully trusted them. I would have liked to have seen her actually get over the occurance and meet new people and interact with them with no limitations. It seemed to me that she didn't develop as a person, because she had not yet gotten over and forgotten about what happened to her.