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*