Blog: 2018

New Student Enrollment Leader (NSE) at UNK

This post was written in en

Pablo Morales-Garcia

New Student Enrollment Leader

Phone: (308) 865-8526   |    Email: [email protected]

Pablo Morales-Garcia

Favorite Place On Campus

I really love the campus in its entirety from the art to the history of building and monuments. One of my favorite features on campus are the trails and sidewalks that connect you to all of campus but also to all of the bike trails in the city of Kearney. It is so easy to get to Cottonmill or Yanney Park on the nice trails. Around campus, I really enjoying riding around on my longboard! I can use my longboard to get point A to point B in a snap! You'll thank me later when you're running behind for class! I really enjoy the social aspect by meeting fellow longboarders.

Favorite UNK Tradition

My favorite UNK Tradition would be Big Blue and Gold Week. It is such a good way to get started on the new school year and it is such an opportunity to get to know people by just having fun. One of my favorite events during BBGW is going to destination downtown and watch the food eating competition. One of my fondest memories is being able to ride on a float during and just having a blast! Not every day do you have the chance to ride on a float during a parade, cool, eh?

What are you passionate about?

I have always been passionate about travel and languages since a young age. My views of the world have expanded so much ever since I traveled when I was a kid and even more when I studied abroad in France. Traveling gives a person experiences that you cannot get in your backyard or in your daily routine!

I want to spread the importance of learning more than one language. I want to share my passion of being open minded about the world and embrace languages. Just by learning another language opens the door for you in many ways you could never ever imagine!

I Chose UNK Because...

When I came for a tour of UNK, I instantly became in love with the campus. Just being here I didn't feel overwhelmed being on the campus. Everyone I ran across was so nice! I felt such a personal connection especially when I met with the chair, advisor, and a professor of my program. Of all the school visits I had gone to the past, not one had offered me to meet with my potential advisor to do this. At that moment I realized that "This is the school I want to attend!" It all came down to the little things that would make such a difference in picking a school! After that....the rest is history! 2018 Staff

Jennifer Garcia

Mary Dworak

Noah Journey

Odwuar Quinonez

Pablo Morales-Garcia

Shelby Hoffmann

Valeria Lozano

Taylor Janicek

We are difference makers
University of Nebraska at Kearney

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interview with Jack corbett

This post was written in en

From Madison, WI to Los Angeles, CA.

I had the opportunity to interview someone who has been working on a lot of projects during the last year or so. He has come a long way from living in Wyoming to going to school in Nebraska. He decided to take a different route and packed his things and moved to Los Angeles. I am really excited for the great things he is doing to become ""different"" and not living a normal life. He tells us about his journey and some tips to do more in life. I see great things for you Jack!


Pablo: Jack tell me about yourself?

Jack: Where to start? My name is Jack Corbett, 22 years old. I am from Madison, WI. I've always been a kid who has been in love with sports his whole life. The only thing I really wanted to do was to play football in NFL. That all changed when I got a concussion after my third year in college playing football. Things really changed after this. The concussion was very eye opening for me. I felt so messed up and out if it. I decided to take another route after football.

P: What gave you that spark to get you into music?

J: When I was in high school I took a Hip-Hop class studies. I did a freestyle rap in class on the spot. Alongside I had used a beat production program, also referred as a digital audio workstation. Everyone had to present and the class had to pick their favorite beat that they liked. They ended up choosing mine. Everyone really seemed to love it! It got me super pumped. The feedback I got was good. Music is about impressing your fans. Might as well do it and I just love it. That’s simply how it is. At first when starting out, I did not take music production seriously. I had always wanted to be different in how I wanted my life to be “How could I be different from the typical 9 to 5 lifestyle?” Music was the way to go to do this. I turned this around and I created an independent record label, [NAME?] Records.

J: I started modeling when I got to to Los Angeles. I decided to do an open call audition for Maverick Modeling in LA. After I had done my audtion, they were interested in me but I needed to fix a few things to get things going. They wanted me to get more in shape. I had to workout quite a bit and check in with them every week for 4 weeks. Then it really worked out.

P: What kind of modeling or related jobs have you had so far?

J: Oh, man! I've had a few jobs so far! I've been doing stuff with H&M, commercials, print & digital publications and some things in YouTube. Everything counts! I've had so much fun!

P: How did you build contacts and/or clients?

J: The agency handles modeling projects (business aspect) for me to do. I hired a photographer that I met through a few friends. [She] is from London. I have met people from back home. You meet so many people in LA. Making beats, you get to know other people as well. I have met with a new group of rappers called FRIO. I have also made friends with Ponts De Leon. He is really making it out here. I got to hangout in his studio. Then I checked out Altrium Sudios and met label executive, Quincy Howard. I've been back there a few times with some rapper friends and Quincy has been there every time. Through meeting him and liking my vibe. I got an interview to be an intern. Today is my third day here. I am really loving every minute of it I'm grateful for all of the people I've met so far.

P: What was the biggest challenge moving to this new place that you call home?

J: My biggest challenge would be financials. Everything out here is just much more expensive in every aspect Getting to LA was something else I rode for 30 hours in about 2 days. I had around 10 hours of rest before I had to start my new job Monday morning. Now I have a car. I didn’t have a car for six months. I made it though LA was a bit shocking for me. It was over stimulating to be here at first. It's just different from what I was used to.

P: What gave you the motivation to stay with it?

J: There would be a lot of days just sitting in your room. It is really hard to stay motivated. I love producing music! Sometimes I would be bored out of my mind not being able to show anyone my beats. It is seriously a good time even if I am by myself. At the same time, It is addicting like a video game. Sometimes I can't stop. As you get better, it is all about time. More people start to notice once you start getting better. I have so much more fun when I feel confident that I am getting better.

P: Did you have any doubts in your mind that you were not going to be successful?

J: Everyone has lots of ups and down that they face. You never know when something crazy might happen!? A variety of things can make you question yourself. Things like when no one is buying your beats or not getting calls for audtions. Football has taught me to work hard. I just don't give up! I can't. ."


ESL Teacher Interview

This post was written in en

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I am currently taking an ESL course and we had the opportunity to interview an ESL teacher. I interviewed Denise Teetor who is the ESL Teacher at Hastings Senior High School. She told me about her experiences getting into this subject field and how not always was she the ESL Teacher. I learned so much from this opportunity. This interview has me really excited to be a teacher.  All the information here will hopefully help those people who want to become teachers. Getting the insights from another teacher lets you have a feeling of what you are getting yourself into. I am not trying to scare anyone, I'm just showing it how it is. Enjoy the interview! I will have the audio podcast available soon! Click the picture below to download a copy of the document to your device.

 

 

 

 

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I am currently taking an ESL course and we had the opportunity to interview an ESL teacher. I interviewed Denise Teetor who is the ESL Teacher at Hastings Senior High School. She told me about her experiences getting into this subject field and how not always was she the ESL Teacher. I learned so much from this opportunity. This interview has me really excited to be a teacher. All the information here will hopefully help those people who want to become teachers. Getting the insights from another teacher lets you have a feeling of what its like to be in the classroom. Enjoy the interview! I will have the audio podcast available soon! Click here to download a copy of the document to your device.

 

Denise Teetor: ESL at Hastings Senior High School

Interviewed by

Pablo MORALES GARCIA

Mrs. Denise Teetor is an English as a Second Language Teacher at Hastings Senior High School in Hastings Nebraska. She has been teaching at the high school for more than 30 years. She has quite a different perspective of the world since she has traveled outside of the United States plenty of times. She has seen so many changes in ESL over the years. She has quite the story to tell in which she becomes the ESL teacher she is today.

Mrs. Teetor was not an ESL teacher from the beginning. She use to teach physical education and coach for a long time. She decided to pursue a different area of teaching and left behind being an PE teacher and decided to teach English in Japan. She wanted to do something different with her time during the summers instead of wasting it. She saw an advertisement to teach in Japan for six weeks and thought “that sounds pretty cool”, and that’s how she got involved with Japan. She really enjoyed it and had so much fun with it.

After one summer, she decided to pursue her ESL endorsements. She was thinking ahead that she could teach ESL at the high school level at some point down the road. One summer as she was getting ready to go back to Japan, she knew that the ELL teacher at Hastings High would be leaving that summer, even though she had not filed her resignation letter. Mrs. Teetor took some steps before the other teacher quit. She let the school know that she was interested in the position. The teacher did end up leaving and she received a phone call asking if she was interested in the ELL position and she said “Yes”. This is how she moved from physical education to ELL. Japan really peaked her interest working with foreign kids.

She is happy with how much ESL/ELL has evolved over the years, especially since she saw there was not a lot of curriculum that existed. The number of students has changed over the years. The program development has come a long way. There was curriculum that really existed. They were fortunate when they were able to find books related to ELL/ESL. Now there are whole curriculums that one can use. That has been an advancement of ELL programs. It is like all other curriculums in schools such as science where you have books, notebooks and a foundation to use. You start at the foundational levels and move through the different stages of it. It has been one of the biggest tools available so teachers don’t have to go out and make their own material.

She describes the program at Hastings Senior High School. She gets all different levels of ESL students in each class period. She explains that in an ideal world, students are grouped by their level such as all level 1 students are together, level 2 are together, and so forth. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have that luxury at the high school. She works with each level of students individually so each group of students can be differentiated as needed. She splits the groups up between her and Mrs. Brenneman, the para educator, to help each leveled group. The program at HHS is not a program that is like those implemented in other schools. The program isn’t a dual language or other type. They just work based on the situation they have or a melting pot as she states. She is very proud of the graduation rate that has increased. If the kids start with the program, they tend to finish with the program unless they move away. She is proud that the ELL students have been able to take all the required classes or core classes needed to graduate. Even though they might not have a high level of English, “they do pretty well”. Even though teachers provide differentiation, they learn all the same material as regular students. The students are able to get into the classroom right away. This is good for them since they can get “real world” experience and immerse themselves in the culture and listen to how students talk. No one ever follows grammar rules when the speak.

Mrs. Teetor mentions that students have to take a test to see if they need ESL services based on responses on intake forms when transferring into the district. She uses the newly implemented ELPA to screen prospective and current students who might or are using ESL services to measure their level of English. Newly arriving students fill out a questionnaire that askes the language they spoke first, what language is spoken primarily at home, and what language they want to be communicated with. If any of these are not English, they need to be tested. Even though a student knows English, they still have to take the test if their language spoken at home is not English. She uses a computer screener test. Anyone that is four (4) or above, they do not need to be in the program but anything below that, students should be enrolled in ESL/ELL. Things are done differently at the elementary level compared to the high school level.

Mrs. Teetor works closely with other teachers. She also likes to know what the teachers are teaching so she can meet the needs of students such as preparing a presentation or report. With American History, the students have no background especially with the foreign students. American history pertains to the United States. Math is math, science is science, these things are the same all the way across cultures. She enjoys how things are taught at HHS. Students are in ELL for at least 2 class periods. She tells us about an example student who doesn’t speak a lot of but is very bright. Looking at her transcripts, she is a very well-rounded person. She has taken courses in psychology to advanced math. She was top of her class before moving. This student is “brilliant”, according to Mrs. Teetor. She sees how this student can feel out of place due to the language barrier. She sees another barrier with math leaning towards story-problems. It intimidates students since it involves reading instead of involving direct math problems. What is truly moving is that she truly advocates for students to get them in the regular classroom where they will have to think, perform in the real thing. She knows it will be hard but it would be a “disservice” if she does not.

She hasn’t faced any teachers who have rejected or negated students. This at least hasn’t occurred during her time her but she says that “it might have happened before I started.” She believes this hasn’t happened because of her strong personality and she knows the teachers will be supportive at Hastings Senior High School. She hopes that the next person who replaces her will continue on standing up for the students. She also knows which teachers will be best for her students and she know the teachers who will not be a good fit. She moves students as necessary to put them in the right classrooms. She would rather do something else with the student if the teacher is not a good fit for the students. For a new teacher, this is something that he or she will not know and this will take time to figure out. She is hopeful the other teacher will be the best advocate for the ESL students.

She has great advice for new ESL teachers especially for the teacher replacing her. The best advice would be just to have fun with these students. They do need to learn but also everything is not so rigid that they can’t enjoy. Simply cramming information gets them discouraged. It has been interested and fun for them to know. Everyone has some kid within each other. We need to promote this with the kids. She gets a lot out of the kids when they have fun. If they are sitting bored, they are not going anywhere. This is her overall advice.

 

 

Thank you, Mrs. Teetor for allowing me to interview you. It was such a great insight of ESL and very helpful for me for my future career as an ESL Teacher. I wish you the best in luck with retirement and hope to hear about your adventures in Japan! Cheers!

A podcast of this will be available on my SoundCloud page soon!


My Future Endeavors

This post was written in en

Career

I am so excited to become a teacher down the road and spread my global awareness to my future students. Teachers are so needed to help build the next generation of students who will lead the way to a better future. Living in the world that we live in today, it is needed to learn another language, to love cultures and to love those people who are different from us. All this has me so stoked!

Pondering

Lately, I've been thinking about my future. I've been asking myself, ""what can I do to become more than just an ordinary teacher?"" I definitely want to be more well-rounded as a person. I'm not the type of person who is satisfied settling for one thing. I've been becoming the person who really wants to try new things and hope to see where such road takes me? Even though I should have minored in it at least, I still feel like I can be successful learning new skills. I want to start a new journey this summer in learning new skills. I want to leave my comfort zone and just do me? So what exactly am I doing?

3 things

I decided that I want to learn and continue learning 3 things: learn the skills to graphic design, continue HTML/CSS & other programming languages and learn to make a simple app. This is something I've always wanted to do for a while but was scared to start. I have received inspiration from people around me. This is gives me hope that even though I am only a beginner. Mastering all of these skills will take more than a summer. I have accepted this.

I also plan on being able to continuously read a book at all times. Knowledge will help me sooth the savage beast from driving me crazy.  I want to be able to grow the mind and soul in ways I haven't felt in a longtime.

Personal Growth

Overall, I want this to be my summer to help me grow, to enlighten me and overall, to help me become a better person. I won't just limit myself to the items mentioned above. I'm going to try all sorts of things. How I go about this will be all up to me. My attitude toward things will decide how bad or great my outcome will be. I know that things will be positive. I will face obstacles but I will overcome them. What matters is that I tried something new this summer.

I want to thank you for all of your support. I hope to be able to share my adventure as I go. Even though I am hoping to grow this summer, I want to let you know that you will also grow this summer. You and I will find the right path for a bright future."