Quirks and strange library encounters

I have now spent over 12 hours in the Van Pelt library working on my early childhood development final paper, which is being edited by my trusty friend at the moment. Given my bit of "free" time and the caffeine high from my third cup of coffee, I feel I must share with everyone some moments and quirks of the library, given my semester-long dedication to the fifth floor computer lab.

1. WHAT is this doing in the women's restroom? The first time I saw it, I wanted to pull it, of course. However, after many furtive observations, I realized that it is not even hooked in anymore. Then why is it still there? To remind us of potential attacks while in the restroom?
2. Accidental Footsies: There are sometimes things under the computer lab desks like cords and what-not so I never think much of it when I touch something while stretching out. However, there are a few times when I hit something, and then hit it again only to realize it is someone's FOOT. Thankfully, these desks are rather well secluded from others, so both parties may avoid awkwardness.
3. Eating Rules: Everyone eats in the library, everywhere. There may be signs, but no one cares and no one should as long as you obey the unsaid rule: do not bring delicious smelling food. Like this guy: (Sidenote: that's a Ginger Brew, not beer)

 4. I know it is finals people, but THAT IS NO EXCUSE NOT TO SHOWER.
5. Why do clocks in old libraries all have different times or just not work at all, like this one?

 

6. This was taken on the fifth floor. So...WHY does it exist?? I'm so confused....


7. Carrels: No one seems to know what they are. They are just fancy names for personal desks in the library. I have one on the third floor where I leave all my books, and since they are checked out to the carrell and not me, there's NO expiration date. HOW AMAZING. However, that means I often am running from the 5th floor to the 3rd so I can get my books.

However, after a long day at the library plowing through a literature review, you do kinda feel like a rock star once you get it done.

My second home

Santa, DeStress and how-will-I-get-it-all-done faces...

 Finals have arrived.

What do I have to do, you may ask?

ED514: Reflection paper (7-9 double spaced)--Due Thurs
ED695: Policy Brief Proposal (400 words)--Due Thurs
ED533: Inquiry Project Literacy Curriculum (maybe it'll be 50 pages...?)--Due Thursday
ED545: Early Childhood Development Literature Review (10-12 single spaced)--Due Friday
ED667: Stats Exam--12/16

Comparatively, I actually don't have THAT much...but they are in progress and still require a lot of dedication. I'm keeping track of my library hours so I'll share those at the end of the week. But...There's DESTRESS WEEK at GSE.

 Here's a "Applied Research Methods to Inform Policy and Practice" group studying for their exam which they have today. Look at us IEDPers GOOO...





Of course, no finals could take place without a visit from Santa! Dani had a "Mingle and Jingle" holiday party on Saturday night and a few of us stopped by, despite the disgusting windy/rainy/cold weather. However, it was an early night because of all the work we have to get done.

Here is an IEDP group shot. We're hanging in there...somehow. By the end of the week, I think we will all be grateful for a LONG break, at least until Spring Semester begins on January 14th. 

Now, I have to get to my post at the GSE Admissions desk and somehow, just somehow, get everything done by Friday. It will get done, because it MUST get done! 

 

Ways to kill time when you're sick of reading in the library and have a class in an hour

1. Read a fellow IEDPer's blog. (So funny.)
2. Complete course evaluations for the semester.
3. Check flights.
4. Download all assignments from Canvas.
5. Eat.
6. Watch videos of cute babies on facebook.
7. Post cute baby videos on friends' facebooks.
8. Write a blog about how to kill time, while killing time.
9. Organize all your papers that are falling out of your notebook.
10. Chair yoga.
11. Catch up on emails.
12. Schedule out your entire week in your planner, mentally including showers and cooking.
13. Open up all reading assignments to see which is the most appealing. Read the first page. Resume procrastination.
14. Casually skim through Bali: A Paradise Created while walking from the restroom and then get nostalgic and look at old photos. 
15. Fuss with photos on blog for 10 minutes.
16. Realize that you're paying way too much to spend an hour killing time, and GET BACK TO WORK.

The final sprint!

Before Thanksgiving break, we were all anxiously waiting for a few days of family time and rest before gearing up for the final sprint. However, we have returned to campus and are busier than before. My Thanksgiving involved driving up to Vermont on Wednesday night during a snowstorm, going 25 mph at times on the highway. But Vermonters are hardy and I made it safely home...at 2am. But I was able to enjoy the foot of snow outside while I sat by the fire with my cat and drank tea. Well worth the drive. 

The next two weeks will be BEYOND hectic. Finals at GSE usually just consist of final papers/projects/assignments and some short class presentation. I do have an actual multiple choice exam for my statistics course, which worries me MORE than the other assignments actually. Since I went to Smith College, I am used to finals being a ton of writing and editing and 14 hours spent in the library typing and drinking coffee. I believe I only had one or two self-scheduled exam during my time there. However, there are a few things coming up as well, like a Hot Cocoa Break tomorrow (who says 'no' to cocoa at 7pm?) and some secret santas and the like.

Finals, or grad school in general, can be a stressful time. There is a 24 hour hotline for Penn students who need to talk with someone when things get too overwhelming and CAPS (Counseling and Psychological Services) I'm sure will be accommodating as more students drop into their offices. Self-care is vital for life and also for stressful periods such as grad school. Plus THE END OF THE SEMESTER IS NEAR! It ends up boiling down to two more weeks (yikes!) and somehow...everything will get done. 

Enough blogging for me! Back to work! 

Operation: four weeks

This week has been...really up and down and random. It's that time in the semester when you can kind of breathe for a bit, except you really should be starting on final assignments, which is what I'm trying to do. However, I started off this week with the following text: "Who put the bread in the toilet?" This was after I had come back to the house I'm sharing with three other students and found a partial loaf of bread in the bag...in the toilet. Yeah...we talked and couldn't figure out how it got there. The start of the random week.

I bike to and from campus usually because it's faster and I like to mock the cars who can't go through the red lights even though no one is coming. Small pleasures...gotta take advantage of them! On Monday I was biking on Lancaster Ave to campus, content in my bike lane and then WHAM someone flings open their door and I had to swerve to avoid either hitting the door on the right or the car on the left. Yikes! I made this little squealing sound and just kept going. What was I going to say? I don't think they even noticed, honestly. Then it happened AGAIN on Thursday. Seriously, Philly! Respect the bike lanes! The second time, the guy at least shouted "sorry!" after me. Speaking of biking, the Penn insurance actually reimburses you up to $25 for a helmet. How great! Except the form looked a little complicated so I put it off for "later" aka the later that probably won't really happen.

As the title suggests, we have about four weeks left of the semester aka HALFWAY MARK. I'm sure once March hits, we'll all be like, "Wait, we are almost finished? There's still so much I want to do!" However, it is cold, maybe going to snow (!!), and we are trying to balance friends, classwork, conference preparations, sleep, family stuff, and laundry. Oh and showers. Everyone during midterms was saying how they had to schedule their showers in. Or at least I was saying that.

Still, us IEDPers always make time for some enjoyment. I went to a contemporary dance performance on Thursday (Kibbutz) and it was so beautiful and intense. Then I had to bike back during the "polar vortex" aka slushy snow. Miserable...On Friday, someone in my cohort does a West African dance class for anyone interested. Very low key. I finally went and it was fantastic! It's always great to make time for such activities, especially because it gets a bit dull just doing work all the time. Although I still went to the library after...

Here are some photos from the great dance class. I had class and then work so...I wasn't dressed quite properly. I'll be ready for next week though!
 







 Annnnd the other weekend was Felix's birthday, a fellow admissions blogger and IEDPer. It was really fun and there were some other people outside of our cohort there also. Maybe they don't want to be on my awesome blog so...I'll just put the IEDPers up!

We're all chugging and slinking towards the end of the semester, and making sure we have some fun in the process.

"It's not easy to go out of your comfort zone...but it's what makes you learn and grow the most." Meet Micaela from Peru!

As I've mentioned before, IEDP is very international--most of us have studied, worked and/or lived or are from abroad. For me, the transition to the US for school was a BIG change, but I wanted to talk with Micaela, a fellow IEDPer from Lima, Peru, to hear what she had to say about her decision to come to the US to study and what her thoughts are so far. Here are some snip-its of what she said: 

I have been working for 9 years in the education field; I have taught to kids in elementary school, to undergraduates at University, worked in a Latin American NGO and worked in a research center. After those years working, I really wanted to go back to school, because I think I need a lot of tools and knowledge to continue working in education. I chose to come to the US mainly because the best schools of education are here. Penn was always my first option, since GSE is one of the best schools in the field and the program, which I am sure you know really well from Rachel’s posts, fitted my career plans really well. 

But the process wasn’t easy. Doing all the applications from Peru was a real torture. There weren't much people that I knew that have applied to these universities, and the Peruvian system is not the fastest, easiest and friendlier, so trying to find out how and where to do all the paperwork that universities asked for was really difficult. 

After I was accepted and I made my decision, trying to find a house in Philly while being (and working full time) in Peru was the next challenge. One thing that helped me a lot was that GSE contacted me by mail with other Latin American students in my program. They really helped me with a lot of things. I would say that this is something that all new students should do, trying to ask for the contact of current students and ask them all the questions that you have. I even skyped a couple of times with one of them. 

All these difficulties were definitely worth it. I am now more than halfway my first semester here and I couldn’t be happier. At first it was difficult, especially because of the language. I didn’t have a hard time adjusting to the city or the school system, but not being a native English speaker makes everything a little more difficult, especially because of the amount of reading and writing that we have to do. My brain is having an English overdose, but I guess is getting easier. I’m kind of scared of myself now when I walk everyday to my house thinking what I have to do in English!!!! I haven’t talked to myself in a language other than Spanish in 31 years, so it’s really weird.

I haven’t been here for very long but I feel like I’m learning more than ever. The professors are great, the university has a lot of resources for us, and my classmates are amazing. It’s not easy to go out of your comfort zone: leaving your country, your language, your family, your friends, your boyfriend…. but in my experience it’s what makes you learn and grow the most. 


There ya have it folks! There are plenty of 'necessary annoyances' to come to the US to study and to also start a Masters Program. However, the amount of knowledge we are gaining, the experiences, the people, the crazy work-load...we will all finish at Penn with MORE than we had before, no matter what way you look at it. Well, except we have less money...but MORE earning potential. 

I'm off to a wedding this weekend in Connecticut, so I will not be here to meet all the prospective students at the GSE Fall Open House. However, I encourage everyone who is interested in the programs to come visit! There may even be FREE stuff!!

Babies, blogs, Locust walk and literacy curriculum

 HOW cute are these babies? For our group blog for a class, we were having some 'header' issues. Every one I picked ended up blurry and finally, I could take it no more. I took a little break from working on my paper proposal and the concept note, determined to find something that was colorful and cute. I was giggling WAY too much as I looked up 'wordpress header babies.' I wanted to use this Dr. Seuss quotation from the beginning, so I had to type it in via paint, but now our blog is ADORABLE.

It's almost November and it feels like all of us do is ask "Did you finish the concept note? Have you picked out classes for the Spring? etc." Spring classes already!? Yes, time is flying! Advanced registration is upon us and there are just too many decisions to be made. Which is why I enjoy looking at the cute flower babies instead. 

One thing I did do last week was quickly stop while walking on Locust (it runs through campus, very pretty, as you can see in the photo, although sometimes I feel like it's a highway and it very challenging to make a left turn into the grad center) to snap a photo for Love your Body Day. 

Locust is great if you're looking for things to do. My favorite part are the "town criers." Literally, they just shout stuff out while handing out flyers, or sometimes, don't even have flyers. One guy was actually handing out flying that were protesting the use of flyers! Fighting flyers with flyers? Seemed a bit strange. Sometimes there is even food. However, given my limited time here and very busy schedule, I do what many grad students seem to do--avoid the flyers. Let the undergrads take the bait. ;) 

My cohort has been doing a lot related to Fall, like apple picking, pumpkin carving (they actually cared pumpkins that said "IEDP" and put it in the Education building lounge....yeah, we're that cool), and there was a happy hour, but I had class. I like to at least mention these things, even though I'm not actually able to actually do them.

Although I had to miss the happy hour today, I instead was laughing my butt off during a class. The literacy curriculum (the actual name is...Forming and Reforming the Reading/Writing/Literacy Curriculum in Elementary Schools) class is next to a statistics class and the stats prof has come in AT LEAST six times to tell us to quiet down because apparently, our laughter disrupts his class. Secretly, I'm sure all the students wish they were in our class instead. Because the class is aimed at teachers and the instructors also have classroom experience to add, every session is so inspiring and different. Today was no exception. We discussed "Esperanza Rising," very recommended, picking our a sentence that resonated with us and discussing them in groups. Then we did this poetry activity, reading different poems and writing our own. It really makes me want to teach again and use all that I'm learning to improve my skills. However, I can at least use what I'm learning to help other teachers improve. But, who knows where the future will lead? 

One reading for the literacy curriculum class by Katherine Schultz "Locating Listening at the Center of Teacher" (2003) quotes hooks (1994) at the beginning of a chapter:  

"To teach in a manner that respects and cares for the souls of our students is essential if we are to provide the necessary conditions where learning can most deeply and intimately begin." (hooks, 1994)

 She also drew upon Freire (1973) to say "to become an integrated person means to understand the worlds in which we live and work and take part in reshaping those worlds" (p. 9). 

Although I sometimes feel like my eyes are going to start bleeding from all the reading...it is worth it.

Where are all the IEDPers on a Friday night?

IN THE LIBRARY!


Welcome to grad school life!














Ruju, Shruti and I got some food around 5pm and hit the library soon after (I was there before as well) and then I popped down to the 4th floor (it always smells like popcorn there for some reason) and there was Irene (upper right)! Then Abby (upper left) appeared sometime around 7pm! Library party! I'm not the only one who loves the smell!

(P.S. I don't have a smartphone so I depend on Ruju to help with the photography, which is why she is in all my photos. Plus she's awesome!)

However, I have moved! No more raccoon noses or paws emerging from my ceiling. I also don't have internet yet so...I'm looking like a super slacker blogging while everyone else does academic work.

Today was the last day of cultural shares for the recitation hour. I'm always so amazed by everyone's hidden talents in my cohort--viola players, singers, writers, dancers, athletes--someone even auditioned for Glee and made it to second call-backs. The year is speeding by and there are still so many people I would like to get to know better. Alas, we all have too much on our plate for much socializing. We are all scheduling in showers at this point...

After the cultural shares, Dr. Wagner joined us briefly to see how things were going for us. Of course, the internships came up again. One option for people who want to complete the program in a year, but not take two semesters of 5 course units, is to take a summer course. They are apparently very intense with a whole semester worth of material in a few weeks. However, that frees up some time in the Spring to work on the policy memo. Decisions, decisions.

It seems that talking about the internship helps to motivate us a little. We also have advanced registration next week (!!!) and many people are trying to decide to complete the program in a year or a year and a half. I had many questions about coursework before starting, worried that I wouldn't be able to get it all done and finish in a year, but maybe over half of the cohort is doing it in a year, or trying to. Many other programs at GSE also complete in a year. The Higher Education Program finishes in one year aka 9 course units (IEDP requires 10 CUs), plus a 20 hour a week internship on campus. However, that is why Penn GSE is ranked #5 in the country---because the programs are hardcore. You're in, you're out and headed (hopefully) off into the world with greater prospects and knowledge.

Now...back to reading and papers on a rather dreary, rainy day.

Looking at the trees AND the forest (while scaring away the raccoons)

One of the required classes for the program is called "International Fieldwork Seminar" which helps with the more "practical" side of doing development work, such as....monitoring and evaluation, needs assessments, logical frameworks, grant writing and....problem and solution trees! I really look forward to it, although afterwards, we all agree that our brains kind of hurt after grappling with such intense problems in a rather short time. The idea was try to look broadly but don't forget that individuals make up the population.

Here is a photo from our group work from last class.
From left to right: me, Abby, Ranya and Ruju

We were using stickies to organize the problem tree and then the solution tree.

Problem tree: root causes, the problem, the effects

Solution tree: activities, the solution, hopeful outcomes

Also...WE ARE HALF-WAY THROUGH THE SEMESTER! And...we are all just chugging along and trying to push through the first test of our writing skills.

On Monday (wait, that was just yesterday!), we hosted the vice president of research at ETS, Scott Paris, discussing 10 global trends in assessment. (PS the 'light lunch' was quesadillas. nom nom.) Let's just say...the future looks a little scary, which even he admitted, with computers giving instant scores, increased testing for kindergarten through second grades, and apparently, kids taking tests on their smartphones. (Sidenote: I'm not sure why anyone would just take a break from playing with their friends to take a test, but...that's the image I had in my mind when he mentioned it. I wonder how much that app would cost...) In general, the topic of assessment is something that many people get really riled up about, and of course, our crowd was no exception. It was being heatedly discussed after the event, as many of us dashed off to a class that started 15 minutes later. However, it is always good to get a bit heated now and then. At Smith College in my undergrad years, someone said to me once that "Smithies aren't happy unless they're enraged." True true....Although that is how I choose paper topics. I just think "what riles me up the most?"

Let's hope all that energy will get me through a policy memo due on Friday...We have a facebook chat group a few of us in the class use to ask/answer questions, and having someone to stress out to sometimes can be helpful. Also---library parties!

The current trees: policy memo, position paper, paper proposals, etc etc.
The current forest: each paper is more knowledge and a step closer to...winter break!
The current raccoon: no really, there's a raccoon that has been sticking his paw out of my ceiling and has an oral fixation with electrical wires. Don't worry--I'm moving! If only professors would be more lenient when such situations (i.e. raccoons) occur (hint hint).

Food Trucks and Garba

I will admit it---I spend most of my days reading for classes, brainstorming for assignments and attending classes. Let's just say...I don't get out much. However, there are many things to do in Philly! I've started to venture to different food trucks around campus and there's even a map of the food trucks! I sometimes spend more time looking at the options than I do actually waiting for the food, but anticipation sometimes fuels the fire, so to say...

Besides the food trucks, some people from IEDP got together to eat dosas at someone's apartment. Then there was the Garba dance event. Garba is a form of dance from Gujarat, India. Everyone follows the same dance steps in a wide circle around a lamp and/or photo/statue of the Goddess Shakti. There were a few of us who went, one from Gujarat, and apparently, they take Garba very very seriously. You have to be very assertive with your dancing space because people are serious about it. We joined in and then would end up "losing our line" aka the outside circle would just disappear sometimes or someone else would get in the way and ruin the groove...it was very fun and everyone was dressed up, which is partly why I decided to go. This was on Saturday night, followed by a full nine hours in the library on Sunday. (Thanks to the Pumpkin Spice coffee in the grad center, I was very productive.)

But, as I mentioned in my last post, it really is getting to be evident how intense the workload can be at GSE. I would almost like to dedicate all my time to the project/assignments for classes, but instead, we all must try to balance them with the regular reading. One project for my EDUC 514 class (Basic Education in Developing Countries, with Dr. Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher) is a group blog. Everyone chose an interest of theirs to focus on and in groups of 4-5, we are posting recent news about that topic, analyzing the article and connecting it to theories/classwork. It's kind of addicting though, because I love to read news and now I have an excuse to do it "for class." My group is focusing on Early Childhood Education, which conveniently overlaps with my Early Childhood Development class. :)

For next time...I hope to talk with some of my international student friends in the program to give their perspective of their time so far at Penn GSE.

Fall is upon us

Fall has sneaked up on all of us I think, but we have completed five weeks of the fall semester. Eleven more to go! Everyone seems to be getting into their own schedule, and I'm sure all our planners are totally full of group meetings, assignments, deadlines, and different lectures we hope to attend---if we find the time. 

My sister came the other weekend for the Penn GSE 100th year celebration aka free food and adult beverages, plus MUGS! Who doesn't love a mug? I can live without the t-shirts (that all seem to be in the same dark blue color), but free coffee mugs are vital to any academic experience. (Photo credit of the mug goes to Edgar Félix), another IEDPer who helps with admissions also!)

Now that October is here, all my classes are starting to focus on the final projects. This means--IDEA SHOWERS and brain-mapping! Luckily, I had a little "what-am-I-doing-here" freakout in Van Pelt (the library aka my cool and productive hangout) and already had started generating some ideas for the policy brief (a requirement to complete the program) as well as ideas for other classes. Today for the recitation hour (an extra hour for the cohort to discuss things that we just don't have time for in the other classes), we looked at questions/concerns people had for the policy brief and it boiled down to everyone having similar worries. However, knowing that everyone else is worried about it too kind of helps to make it seem more manageable. All of us are getting super busy with papers, assignments, article presentations, proposals, meetings....while trying to balance our personal lives. It does help to just admire the leaves changing colors for a bit...and then buckle down and tackle the To Do list. 

"Downton Abbey" will have to wait...*sigh*

"Knowledge is that which liberates."

The last thing I saw before I slept was that the Penn IEDP facebook page had done a blast on my blog. Yikes...so despite my 10:30pm bedtime, I ended up spending AT LEAST half an hour tossing and turning as I contemplated cool post topics. (I don't think people want to hear about the smell of the stacks, although I personally would....)

I've decided to discuss some alternative schools I have been researching casually. Another fellow IEDPer, Ruju (she tweets for IEDP), and I were discussing her school after class one day. She went to the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education in Pondicherry, India. She said that as she got into middle school and high school, she would essentially request certain subjects or topics to her teacher and the teacher would research it, create a framework for the topic, and conduct the class independently to her. Under the school's approach, it says on their website: 

"Life has a divine purpose and one of the most important tasks of education is to lead the student to discover for himself the aim of life and the specific role that he himself has to play in it...Knowledge is not something that it seeks to impart to the student; rather opportunities and carefully selected material are presented to him in such a way as to stimulate him to an inner activity by which real knowledge can be evoked from within."

I also came across this other school, Ashram Paryavaran Vidyalaya, that centers their learning on the philosophy:

“Work is that which does not bind; knowledge is that which liberates.”

I've been struggling a little with being back in a competitive school environment and realizing that the formal education system as is seen in the Western world (and has been disseminated to many other areas of the world) doesn't fit my nature very much. It wasn't until I read this quotation on the APV website that I could kind of pin-point "the rub": 

"The present education system we find globally – a system rooted in competition, fear, and violence – has failed to bring about any peace, harmony, happiness or sustainable, compassionate living in the world.  This pathetic, useless, and helpless style of education most of us have suffered through cultivates not love, intelligence, or wisdom, but only anxiety, clever thinking, selfishness, jealousy, and a whole host of other negative habits and tendencies.  It is centered in industrial economy, with the hope of producing obedient conformity, consumerism, and materialism.  This is not education, and we here at APV are trying to experiment with ourselves and our students to bring forth an experiential education that is not confined to textbooks, test scores, and professionalization, but is rooted in mindfulness, creativity, and love."

 While I wouldn't exactly claim the education system is "pathetic, useless and helpless," I would agree that the education system caters to a certain type of individual, encouraging some traits rather than others, instilling values like 'success' via high income and positions. Being abroad and out of this climate for so long has been refreshing, but my perspectives and values have become clearer and I find it difficult to be in this culture again.

In my own classrooms, I always tried to get creative with the kids and to talk about issues that were coming up, but I felt so confined by the subjects I had to cover in a certain time. Even the kids would complain if we weren't using one of the books, because they didn't want to waste their parents money. But the school picks the books, the parents get the books and so the teacher gets stuck teaching the books that are not ideal.

During the Basic Education in Developing Countries class on Monday, we talked about colonialism, development and Tickly's view of education as the new form of imperialism (Tickly, L. (2004). Education and the New Imperialism. Comparative Education, 40(2), pp. 173-198). On p. 188, he says that "education is the colonization of the mind." Granted, he's a very extreme post-colonial thinker, but it does make you totally reevaluate your views of education and the educational system, considering the history of education during colonialism.

So, after a bit of a reevaluation, it gives me some hope that there are some schools that are providing alternative ways of educating. Plus, I skyped with one of my first graders (well, now second grade, but they will always be first graders for me!) tonight and seriously---the highpoint of my week so far! I really miss Santa Rosa (Honduras) and the craziness of the classroom. So many good memories. During my literacy curriculum readings, I just kept remembering this moment in Guatemala City when my coworker and I were reading to the prepas (kindergarteners) and Daniel started to EAT Yaiza's hair during the story. My coworker and I had to hide behind the book we were laughing so hard! 

It is always good to revisit the past sometimes, so perhaps some photos of my past students. They are the very real reason I'm here, even though they are all part of those statistics we read in class.

Alfa y Omega Bilingual School
First Grade
June 2014

Post-recess cool-down...

Guatemala City
UPAVIM Reforzamiento Program
Andrea and Escarlet
Sept 2013
Guatemalan Independence Day Parade

 I think I had more fun than the kids...too much walking for their little legs!








WonKwang University Language Center
Iksan, South Korea
June 2012

UPAVIM Reforzamiento, K-6th, Guatemala City, 2013

Who can resist the wonderful smell of the stacks? NOT ME!

Because all my classes are in the afternoon, I have been going to campus everyday in the mornings (I aim for 9am) so I can do reading at the library until my classes at 2pm/4:30pm. When I pull open the door and the smell of the stacks and the feel of the AC hits me...it's almost like coming home...My little niche has been the 5th floor computer lab in Van Pelt Library. There are four desks pushed together to form five clusters of computers. Sounds perfect right? 

Not quite...

There is a sound issue. I thought I had it figured out when I found ONE computer whose sound worked. It made sense that maybe just that cluster had sound because when I tired another computer from the same cluster, there was also sound! Today, my frustration reached a new level. Off I go to my cluster with a friend and she takes a "sound" computer and I take another one in that cluster that I hadn't tried before. I excitedly plug in my green headphones to see if my theory is correct...and NO SOUND. "This is it! I can't continue a whole year like this, always giving jealous glances at the ones sitting at the 'sound computers.'" 

Off I march downstairs to ask the info people about the situation, and of course, he looks at me like I'm speaking another language. I point out that I'm rather computer literate and that I had tried everything, but NO sound. He said he would email the computer fairies to check it out. I went back to my soundless computer and just listened to my regular ole MP3 music. However, it seems that another student has discovered the sound computer too, because he's always there, at the same computer. But tomorrow's another day to grab one of the good computers...

I've also successfully gotten ALL my books for classes (there aren't many) through the library system, except my Intro to Stats, but it was only $8 on Amazon. BOOYA. I pride myself on never buying books. A word from the wise: know how to work the library system. It helped that I worked at my undergrad library for three years, year round. ;)

It really is always sunny in Philadelphia...

I raced home after class at 4:30pm-ish, because I thought it was going to downpour--and then the sun came out an hour after I got back! Every day, there has been sun, even if just for 5 minutes. (I've never actually watched that TV show, P.S.)

This week will be the first full, regular schedule week for us at Penn. Everyone seems to have decided on courses for the semester and it's really interesting to hear what everyone is taking. While I was rather disappointed to hear that some courses I was looking forward to won't be offered in the Spring, I hope there will be others that will pop up and fit well with my focuses. 

The program requires two half-course-unit classes that are just for IEDP students--the Proseminar (mostly focusing on lecturers and preparing for the Policy Brief that is like the Master's Thesis for the program), and the Fieldwork seminar (helping to prepare for the skills we'll need for the internship next summer). We also must take EDUC 514, which is "Basic Education in Developing Countries" and usually one research methods course. Because I'm trying to complete the program in one year (the recommended length is 1.5 years), I will be taking five course units meaning SIX classes. (If you take four classes, the fifth one is "free." Who would turn down such a deal??)

It's really refreshing to take classes with non-IEDP students. Most of them are in other GSE programs, but bring a different perspective to bring to the discussions and also just a different energy to the class. Also for me, I love to be around other educators! My "Forming/Reforming the Reading/Writing/Literacy Curriculum" course is in the Reading/Writing/Literacy program, and everyone is a teacher, has taught, or plans to teach. It's such a different environment than the other courses focused on development. Today I had (finally!) the Basic Education in Developing Countries class with Dr. Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher and about half the class is from other programs. Plus it was in the collaborative classroom in the Van Pelt library meaning super high-tech and many fun walls to write on! Dr. GK is very involved with students and even has a "draft exchange" option where you can send her something you're working on and she'll send you some of her work to edit and give constructive criticism. I always depended on getting feedback from peers and professors when I was at Smith and it is great to have someone here that also values giving and receiving feedback. 

Besides the required classes, the literacy curriculum class, and an Intro to Stats class, I also am taking Early Childhood Development in International Contexts, taught by Dr. Michelle Neuman. For me, reading for the class is something I look forward to! I did the reading today when I don't have the class until Friday! And I didn't even pay attention to the page numbers. However, it does make me super nostalgic for my students in Guatemala and Honduras, and also worried about their futures. One "Indicator" of how students will succeed in school is how many books they have in their homes. Children with books at home are likely to get three more years of schooling than kids without any books. (UNICEF. (2012). Inequalities in early childhood development: What the data say. Evidence from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys. New York, NY: UNICEF.) I can't help but think about my 5 and 6 year olds in Guatemala City and the total lack of books. Juan Pablo was one of my star students and when his mother invited us for lunch, he proudly showed off his falling apart/second-hand/colored on books. Besides him, I don't remember seeing any other books in other students' homes, besides school books. 

Whew, see what Early Childhood Development does to me? It's so nice to be excited for a class. It makes it difficult though, because I don't want to miss even a minute of some classes (which could lead to some bad bladder situations). 

I'll leave with a picture of the group work/discussion we had during the last Fieldwork seminar as we got into the nitty-gritty of development work.

And a picture from the picnic we had at Rittenhouse Park on Saturday morning. There are some talented cooks in our group (alas, I am not one of them!).

IEDPers really do have more fun (or at least, some fun)

While classes are still getting started, it seems many people are trying to take advantage of the light course load to actually have a weekend NOT reading for classes. Some people went to see friends or significant others, some explored the city, and some spent Friday night in Center City partaking in drink specials...like me. It was really just an excuse to get out of University City! Since I live 15 minutes walking to Penn campus, I find myself already wearing down a path between my house, to the library, to the GSE building and back to my house. Plus, there's a Penn Bus that goes to Center City (for "free") and they even waited for us as we ran down 40th street to catch it! How nice of them.

Everyone, except for Wendy on the right, is in IEDP. Wendy is a doctoral candidate with the Higher Education Program, and lives near Rittenhouse Square aka Center City, so we met at her place before. Let me just say that everyone in the program has such an interesting background and perspective to add to conversations. The diversity of the program is really a big draw for many people interested in this area. Ruju (with the pink purse) also helps to run the twitter account.

Besides the night out on Friday, I just ended up doing reading for class at the very cold library, although it was rather welcomed because of the ridiculous humidity right now. Andrea (on the left of the photo) and I did a 9pm-when-the-Trader-Joes-closes-at-10pm race to get food, reinforcing how RIDICULOUS Philly is when it comes to one-way streets. 

So, moral of the post--grad students DO have a life...when they can.

And so it starts...

Let yourself be silently drawn by what it is 

you really love. It will not lead you astray.

-Rumi

Welcome all readers---current, past, and prospective students, as well as (hopefully not for my sake) Penn GSE faculty!

I'm beginning this blog for my Graduate Assistantship (GA) through the International Educational Development Program (IEDP) at the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education (GSE). Hopefully I can show what the program is like from a student's perspective, and also what grad school is like in general.

I will just say that I'm not a blogger-person, but as grad school is for stepping out of your comfort zone, I'm trying it out. Plus I'm getting paid for it ;) I did start this blog for the people who worked at my undergraduate college library (Smith College) and there were some (rather hilarious, in my opinion) poems involved, so maybe it's better that I DON'T blog.

The first week of orientation (two days) and classes has come to an end. It's been a blur of excitement, nervousness, free food and alcohol, introductions (I have mine down now!), syllabi and a chance to ease in. Next week probably won't be as such.

During the introductions, first at the IEDP orientation and then again on a more intellectual/academic level during the proseminar/fieldwork course, we had to briefly say your background, why you chose the program, as well as your regional/topical/skill set area that you're most interested in. I shall reiterate mine:

Name: Rachel

Hometown: Vermont

Background: Smith College 2009 (Anthropology and Government), 2.5 years teaching ESL in South Korea, 1 year in Guatemala City coordinating/teaching an after-school program (K-6) at a woman's cooperative (UPAVIM), 6 months in Santa Rosa de Copan, Honduras teaching first grade at a bilingual school.

Why grad school: To be perfectly honest, I had been saying "I'm going to apply to grad school" since I finished undergrad. Then LIFE happened! I jumped off a bridge in Ecuador, worked at a meditation center library and was almost attacked by monkeys in Dharmshala, India, chased after sharks and sea turtles in Malaysia, watched traditional dance in Bali, biked around Angkor Wat for three days...so returning to school proved to be a rather less direct route than I initially planned. Then Guatemala City happened and I was challenged and frustrated with things that I felt unprepared to handle as an educator. I wanted to do so much more than I was doing, and yet didn't feel I had the skills or the authority to do it. I'm trying to view this year as a bridge that will connect me to a different kind of career than the one that I'm already on.

Why IEDP: The program is very flexible. I could bring in my anthro and gov background, along with my teaching skills, experience abroad and mold them into the kind of skills that would help me achieve my goals. Plus there's this awesome Prezi thing that I totally fell in love with. There are only 27 others in my cohort, half of whom are from abroad--who wouldn't want to be intellectually stimulated and hang out with people from Peru, Venezuela, South Korea, China, Nigeria...I won't list them all. Penn GSE doesn't have an application fee, and almost everyone I've spoken with has received some scholarship, which is very rare for a Master's program.

Regional/Topical/Skill Set Focuses: Latin America (but I'm open...maybe also India, SE Asia also). Early Childhood Education, Literacy, Girls' Education. Teacher Training, Curriculum/Program Design and Development, Education as Community Development.

Whew! This is a lot for my first post! I'll leave you with a photo of our IEDP photo we took on Tuesday. I ended up kinda hidden...but I'll be sure to get more!