NEAL SHULMAN WROTE THIS

NEAL SHULMAN WROTE THIS

IT IS MY MAY PROJECT JOURNAL

PLEASE ENJOY
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Dear reader,

Are you comfy? If not, light a candle. Turn off the lights. Set your computer monitor to dim. Nestle into your favorite leather armchair. Take a bite of your favorite candy bar. Gaze at some modern art. Are you ready?

Please allow me to tell you a tale. It is one without dragons or castles, but rather one starring a lone knight and a sole book of Mac.

It was a Thursday, the eighth of May, on a day not unlike today. On such a day a boy left home to become a man, as many did back in those times. An hour after dawn he rose, fed himself, brushed his follicles, and entered his black wagon to partake on a drive (or really, a ride) on which few have ventured and lived. The village of Sou-Lard was naught but a journey, and a journey it was! An hour's half was spent aboard the mighty black steed, its spokes turning slowly but steadily on the slowly-deteriorating path to a land beyond the horizon of his fellow apprentices under the mighty sage, known only by his pseudonym of John Burroughs. His fellow worksmen had been sent far and wide, some to lands only a stork's flight from Sou-Lard and some to a field known only as "Chester", hundreds of miles West, where only the farmpeople found themselves a home. 

And on that first day, that Thursday, before stepping into his midnight chariot, our knight Neal dressed himself in a buttoned-down neatly tucked under his belt and under his trousers. He strapped his time-piece to his wrist and, with a breath whose gusto could shake trees, stepped into the mobile. 

His foot firmly pressed down into his steed, our lone knight made his way into the city's depths. Old Road 64-40 took him down, down, to 44 High Way, down to the Avenue of Park and finally onto a street known only to the locals– the South Broad Way (inaccurately named, funnily enough, due to it's thin lanes of traversal). 

Having bumbled down Old Road 64-40 and the 44 High Way, his steed was exhausted. Neal, having arrived at his destination, parked the humble chariot and tied the collar of the horse twice-round to the nearest lamp-pole. 

And with a whistle and a wink

He started to think

"Whats this?" he to himself said

"My thoughts have turned to rhymes inside my head!"

"Either way, I must proceed"

and with that he left his noble steed

on the street to bake in the sun's glow–

to 200 degrees the car'd soon grow. 

He ventured inside, having met Erin once before

But now he hesitated outside the door.

His hand on the handle, his chest inflated,

he wondered what for him he'd really created!

With a sigh and a shake of his head,

he opened the door wide and led

each of his two feet, one left and one right

straight up to Erin, and caught her sight!

"Hello" he said, with a half smile

(his nervousness made him want to laugh a while)

and "hi there" she said back, with a grin

and led him past a Microfest bin

into a room large and wide,

with chains hanging and boxes inside,

some empty some full, some bright some dull. 

"We're not the most funded," Erin explained

(it wasn't hard to see; he didn't have to use his brain).

She walked him over in that box on Broadway

to a desk where he'd be sitting all day.

From his case, his laptop unsheathed

and, cord in hand, behind the desk he reached.

His three-pronged-plug had pouted lips

For everywhere were two-slot outlets!

Erin and he, he and Erin

thought for a while 'bout their needsome errand!

There was a triple-hole outlet across a desk and a half more

But the length of it from his desk needed to be less and not more!

Suddenly with a gasp and a clamor

Erin jumped and Neal asked "What IS the matter?"

"An extension cord downstairs I know

but with me you must venture below!"

And with a shrug of shoulders down they went

down

   down

       down 

            to the Lift for Life basement. 

Through the labyrinth below they turned and they leaped 

amongst coffin-boxes tall and shadows that creeped.

Erin's hand plunged into a murky depth

Neal feared what would come next– death?

Instead she pulled from its corrugated seams by her thumnb

a writhing, wriggling mass of cords– or was it just one?

Erin pulled on one end of the orange snake

Neal watched nervously for Erin's sake

and finally the beast was freed from its tangle

wires coming out and in, at all angles!

The wretched beast was dragged up steps

And slowly away the darkness crept

as the stairway up filled with light

Neal nervously gnashed his teeth like bite bite bite.

Upstairs they went with naught but a leap

and dragged the whole way the orange heap

until they reached the tippity-top

and topped the final stair with a hippity-hop!

Neal sighed a breath of relief, returned to the ground

away from the room of scratchy dark sounds.

Erin plugged in the orange cord and Neal the white,

and a breath of relief: ahh, the charging LED's light!

An Apple icon lone and bare

appeared on the screen without a care

as if Neal and Erin hadn't toiled

what seemed like hours in air that boiled.

And soon the famed icon did give way

and the desktop icons loaded, ready to play.

Soon an orange Ai leaped, almost topsy-turvy

And the neurons of Neal's brain went wobly-wurbly!

He soon began clicking, clacking with glee

typing and such, the occasional Apple E.

He clicked, ticked, tocked, and typed

he scrolled, he wheeled, he clocked, and he swiped

all to build an invitation themed

for superheroes, trying not to get creamed

by the confusing how-to's and what-not's

and that's-who's and lug nuts

of making a vector design–

the scope of which was NOT benign!

So Neal muttered and sputtered and held his breath

he stammered and smattered and took a moment's rest

and he did so for days upon days clicking and typing

until one day he looked at what he'd been hyping!

He saw something of which he could be proud

something about which the Gym could brag loud!

And don't let me forget you to remind

of how Neal took Illustrator off his mind:

every other day at noon,

Neal stood up from typing and soon

walked step by step out of the door

and he turned and walked into a hamburger store.

The founder named Billy, the hamburgers tasty–

Here Neal could be silly, Neal could be lazy.

It was a nice break from a click-filled day,

He could relax, the quick grilled way!

Sometimes Neal ordered hungrier than mein Fuehrer,

A patty melt or a fresh-cooked burger!

After the second trip 'round they knew him by name,

and they knew mayo on fries was his game.

One time the lady there "a YouTube" she showed him,

but always the fries with mayonnaise they'd load 'em!

And one time Neal tried, he tried as he might

to walk down the street for a donutty-bite.

Past the Subway protesters he bounded

Past their scratchy beards and the messages sounded,

Neal swung open the door to the shop of nutty-dough

but then they said "No cash? Farewell, yo!"

Neal's heart was sunk, it was indeed!

He'd walked all this way with all this speed!

No matter how much he'd wanted to plead,

"No cash, no donut!" That was the creed.

So on that fateful day Neal began to backtrack

walking past Muncie's and all their knicknacks.

Neal returned to the address numbered one eight zip zip

on South Broadway where inspired teens yell "hip hip!"

Another thing Neal did with a smile

was tap into the river of soda like the Nile

Boxes there were and boxes aplenty,

relaxing and drinking bubbly sodas by the twenty!

And so now as we're at almost fourteen hundred words

we must wrap up what thus far we've heard.

Our tale began with knights and battle,

and Neal's trusty black car was compared to cattle.

Technically just one, that being a steed,

but not knowing the difference is something I'll cede.

Maybe Neal's story will inspire you to grow

a small business making invitations, although

be warned that Illustrator is a tricky horse

no matter how hard you try, you can't force

the Pen tool to flow and Gradient to fill

whatever you see in your mind's good will,

bur rather it takes some know-how and TIME

to ascend the ladder of progress and climb

up 

   up

      up

          to the tippity-top of the peak

and you'll look up-wise and soon will shriek

because at the top you will see

a whole different mountain, tall as a tree

looking below you'll see could-have's and would-be's

but whether you're on land or sea

keep your eyes up, up at the trees!

Soomin may project

My May Project has finished! It's done.

Yesterday, I helped two kids make cards for their teachers. The art teacher is retiring this year, so the kids won't get to see her again. For these two specific kids, they're making cards because they are going back to their country over the summer. (One of them is attending around a month of the next academic year.) There were extra decorative papers from an Orgami class held after school from a while ago, so the girls tapped into that a little bit. One girl also made a thank-you card for a volunteer teacher that came and worked with the kids throughout the year (who is a retired teacher). The two also made cards for me!

The majority of the morning was spent, again, organizing books and making the classroom look tidy. We emptied out book boxes, the shelves, cleared tables, and more.

I also had the opportunity to tutor one girl from Yemen. I was told that she didn't understand what borrowing was, so I taught her that. I took her to the library for around 45 minutes.  First, I timed her doing a simple math exercise of easy subtraction (one digit minus one digit). Next, I timed her doing two digits minus two digits subtraction. Then, I showed her the concept of borrowing. She did fairly well, except that she had to use her fingers to subtract. (But that should get better with more practice.) I also wanted to read her a Dr. Seuss book, but we ran out of time and she had to return to her classroom for recess.

When that time had passed, it was more organizing time for me. I took all the library books to the library and shelved them in their proper places (or more like, tried to do so). As I've mentioned, the labeling was very haphazard and it was hard to figure out what went where.

I also took another student and read with her. It was one of the books from a series called Nate the Great. I took her to an area in the middle of the third grade classrooms to read. She had difficulty concentrating after a while, but we got through a good portion of the book.

Day 5-6(5/16/14 + 5/19/14): Miniture Mayhem

On May 16th, I learned just how short a young child's attention span can be, especially when they are either in first or second grade, especially when there are a lot of activities in one enclosed area. If the group of children are fourth grade or younger, the students usually participate in the Junior Astronauts Program. It is very similar to the regular middle school programs offered at the Challenger Learning Center, but simplified. The instructions are more straightforward and students only work in the spacecraft, as opposed to working in both the spacecraft and mission control. The tasks are shorter in order to tend to the shorter attention span they tend to have. There is also a shorter version of our rocket building task. The students are again allowed to create and build their own rockets, but do not need to focus on price and different kinds of materials. They only focus on the making of the body and nose cone and the designing of efficient fins. For certain groups, a planetarium is offered instead. The center's planetarium is similar to a fancy domed tent that stands up due to air pressure. A special project is placed on the inside and is able to project the nice sky from many different time periods, including 1804 and present day 2014. This program is just as fun and educational as the regular ones though.

The first group of the day was a pack of noisy first graders. It was amazing to see the teachers' ability quiet the students so quickly. There were also several parents with the group at the Learning Center to help the crew and parents keep the students both on task and in order. For their mission, the students went to rendezvous with Comet Enke as it passed through the solar system once again. While the students were at first able to perform their assigned tasks, they could only focus on their tasks for the first 10-15 minutes at a time. Several students decided to spontaneously change jobs, while others kept skipping instructions. While their reading is extremely proficient, students had some issues at following directions. Although the team did not rendezvous with Comet Enke, they did mange to find a new comet, Comet Assumption, thus making the mission still a success. After successfully discovering a new comet, the group went to build rockets. The students were very good at following and listening to directions. It also helped that there was a parent at all five tables. The rockets also launched pretty far. One almost made it completely across a full sized parking lot. They were overall a tiring, but delightful group to have.

During the second half of May 16th and all of May 19th, special groups of students came in to the Challenger Learning Center. All three of the groups were on their field trip due to a Steam grant, which is supposed to give underprivileged students a chance to explore the fields of science, engineering, math, and technology through special field trips, like the Challenger Learning Center, and how it all ties in with the Lewis and Clark Expedition. (Disclaimer: I am not entirely sure this what the Steam grant is for, but that is what it sounded like when it was explained to me) All groups did not only a Junior Astronaut version of the Mission to Mars, but they also visited our planetarium. The Mission to Mars was meant to show the children what it could be like to be explorers and pioneers off to unknown territory, which was Mars as opposed to the Louisiana Purchase. The planetarium was meant to show the students what the night sky would have been like in comparison in 1804(The year of the Expedition) versus the night sky today and show how they would navigate and what stories they would hear from Native Americans. Overall, all three group of students mostly well in the simulator. Unfortunately, many students had trouble following numbered directions. The planetarium unfortunately tended to put the kids to sleep as opposed to teach them. 

Soomin may project

Kids are playing piano in the ESOL room! One of those kids performed in the variety show.

Day 4 (5/15/14): Meeting a Space Legend

May 15th, 2014 marks not only the 10th anniversary of the Challenger Learning Center, but also 45th anniversary of Apollo 11, man’s first visit to the moon. To celebrate two monumental events, Gene Kranz came in to interact with both the media and a group of children from a gifted class from Commons Lane Elementary School. 

Gene Kranz was the flight director for all the Gemini flights and for both Apollo 11 and Apollo 13. He is currently a retired director of NASA Mission Operations. He is also the person who coined the phrase: “Failure is not an option. ”

During his interviews with Channel 2 and HEC-TV, he reminisced about the Apollo 11 mission, how it was almost aborted, the incredible people he worked with, and what it was like to be a part of great historical event for humankind. After his interviews, Kranz talked with us, the crew/staff, for a bit. I even had a short conversation with him! 

After the conversations, Kranz joined us and the students on a mission to the moon. He mainly stayed in the control room, giving out words of encouragement and congratulations to the hard working students. He was in the spaceship for a bit too. But while he was in there, a meteriod passed dangerouly close to the ship and he was forced to take cover with the rest of the moon-bounded students. While the students conferences with each other on how they needed to proceed with the mission, Kranz also gave some insight on what they could do from his previous experiences too. Overall, the mission was a success and half of the students landed on the moon. Later, they students successfully launched rockets with Kranz. 

During these events, I was briefly interviewed by HEC-TV for a documentary they were doing on STEM(Science Technology Engineering Math) education. As a Challenger Learning Center alumni, they asked me how the center had helped me to expand my interests in space and STEM in general. They also asked he the center has helped to shape my dreams and future plans. 

Overall, it was a fun and eventful day. 

The man, the legend: Gene Kranz

Getting interviewed for HEC-TV

The Crew and Mr. and Mrs. Kranz

Failure is not an option. 
-Gene Kranz

Day 2-3(5/13/14-5/15/14): Commanding a Mission

On day two, a group of seventh grade students from East St.Louis came to the Challenger Learning Center to build rockets and perform a mission to "visit" Comet Encke and collect data about. While they did not get to Comet Encke, they did find a new comet and named it Comet Lincoln. While they mission mostly went somewhat smoothly, their reading skills were not up to the level I and the other staff expected them to be. Most of children did not know at least half of the words in the given instruction, including "spectrum" and "analyze". I spent most of the time helping the kids read.The rocket building went okay too, but most of the rockets ended up behind the launch pad, as opposed to in front of it.

On day three, a group of sixth grade students from Visitation came to also build rockets and perform a mission to "send" a new crew and a probe to Mars and "return" a crew, which had been living on Mars for the last two years, back to Earth. The mission was a success. Most of the different sub-teams, such as medicine and navigation, finished their tasks within the allotted time period. It was really amusing watching the teams. Some of the girls took the whole mission a little too seriously. The team which was “building” the probe kept freaking out over each little detail and panicking over the time constraints. After the successful mission, the students went to “build" their rockets. The girls were again incredibly serious over their given task. They each took the time to carefully inspect every detail and consider every benefit. I have never witnessed children more intrigued in paper than them. Their rockets flew incredibly well. One rocket traveled a distance of almost 100 feet. Overall, this group's rockets flew so much better than the last group's. 

Mission Control

The Spacecraft

Outside of that, I redid all of the job cards, while learning how to use a laminator.

Position Cards

More of Soo Min's May Project

The fifth graders are doing a play about Civil Rights, with props and all. There is a lot of arts and crafts in elementary school in general.

There is also another volunteer that I have been seeing daily. He comes in and helps kids read and learn multiplication tables. There also exists a big difference between the knowledge levels of students in ESOL in the same grade. Yesterday, I was helping the third graders do their math packet, and while some could do it with almost no help from me (save translations here and there and a few hints), I had to work with one girl for a significant time. (I still remember it. You earned $168 from selling cookies, some peanut butter and some chocolate chips. If you earned $75 from peanut butter cookies, how much money was earned from selling chocolate chips?)

I also go between teachers and deliver messages and figure things out. Today, I packaged some inter-school mails and dropped them off in the proper mailbox. I went around kindergarten classrooms for some Perell filings.

The girl that I helped out with making her Tae-Kwon-Do PowerPoint, she is going to present the PowerPoint at her summer school class and do a little demo. As for the other girl, I think that the PPT project is just what she was assigned to do in ESOL. (Initially, she wanted to do hers on SeaWorld.)

For some of the kids, they are here while their parents are staying in St. Louis for their jobs, their studies—whatever it may be. And once their parents are done, they will return to their country. This one girl will be returning to her country this July, after staying in the United States for around one year. It must be kind of weird, seeing that right at the moment when you have become a bit more familiar with the language, you have to go back. Also, as I have already mentioned, there exists a good amount of Koreans in ESOL. One negative aspect of that is that the students all speak in Korean to each other when they come to ESOL, and thus, they don’t really improve their English because they don’t speak it to each other. Some kids speak in Korean to me because they know I can understand it, even when I continue to speak in English to them. It really defeats the purpose of coming to ESOL to improve English.

Last Friday was the school’s Moving-Up Day, which is graduation day for the fifth graders. They are moving up to middle school. However, they have to come back to school for a week after they graduate and still go to classes. I don’t know how the teachers are going to make them concentrate, after seeing the senoritis (including myself) at Burroughs.

Kids come to ESOL during their reading time, I think. The kids have their Specials classes, in which they go to Arts, Music, or PE, depending on the day.