"March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb."

I actually had never heard the above phrase before last night referring to the weather in this area. Friday I was running around West Philly with my shoes totally soaked from the rain/slush/snow and by Saturday afternoon, it was totally melted and the sun was shining. Granted, my shoes are still not totally dry, but fingers-crossed for only sunny days ahead!

It is hard to believe that we just have finished the first week of classes since Spring "break," but it was a loooong week. Master's Admitted Students Preview Day is on Friday, March 27th, and I will be there at 7:30am setting up with the admissions team. (There's breakfast and lunch soo...I shouldn't complain!) I hope to see some potential IEDPers and GSEers in general on Friday!

Highlights:

Curriculum Mapping: We looked at the overlaps of a teacher education curriculum for a school in Pakistan that our professor worked on.


I have not talked a lot about my "easy, fun class" (as I call it): "Self, Culture and Cognitive Development" is the real title. I randomly shopped the class and I fell in love because the instructor is a PhD candidate and super relaxed and the class always has really interesting readings. For the class, we have to write a proposal for research or an intervention related to the topic. I chose to look at the cross-cultural differences of life-long meditators from Eastern and Western contexts and contrast them to non-meditators from the same contexts on the view of the self. I will admit it: I totally dorked out while researching. It is not a long final product (10-pages double-spaced minimum) and I saved 28 articles because I found so many interesting ones so I wanted to save them to read "when I have time" aka after grad school. One quotation that really got me thinking was: "It feels a certain way to be a self in one cultural system or another; and in itself, understanding these differences is an extremely important part of understanding culture" (Cohen & Hoshino-Browne, 2007, p. 3). 

After a 5 hour working-meeting for the curriculum project, I headed to the library and worked gleefully for 4 hours straight on the midterm paper (5 pages). My favorite classes are always ones where I can chose my topic and really enjoy the whole process of researching and writing and it doesn't feel like "work." That's how ALL of education should be, but instead the gleefulness ends up getting stacked under all the stress to get it done (often because of ridiculous page number minimums). 

 We had an IEDP alumni panel this week to hear about life after Penn. Some found it reassuring. I was rather the opposite. There were a lot of questions about jobs, interviewing, etc. and I left the class feeling soo anxious. It doesn't help that my internship is not settled yet, but I guess it was also a reality check that although we are all running around like chickens with our heads cut off, we are almost finished! It is scary and exciting, but there were also some great readings about identity for the class, one of which was from our professor, Dr. Ghaffar-Kucher (2014). A key quotation for me was: "Since my voice is one of the few (at this time) that speak to the experiences of a subset of Muslim immigrant youth, rather than shying away from my research because of the skepticism on one hand and pressure to represent on the other, I have to “speak louder”" (Ghaffar-Kucher, 2014, p. 14). 

We also read Carr (2011) and these sentences resonated the most with me and ones I hope to remember in the future while going forward in this field of development: "We cannot unsettle development without unsettling ourselves, as development requires us to think about the ideas of change and progress, and our role in both...If you are unsettled, it means you are paying attention to this tension and trying to address it. If you are uncomfortable, you are probably doing it right" (Carr, 2011, p. 2798)

Trivial lowlights: the grad center was closed yesterday due to some planned power outage so I had to heat up my food in GSE and eat a REALLY early dinner (at 3:30pm), my shoes are still not dry from Friday's snow, and a housemate ate TWO of my amazing Trader Joe's veggie burgers...


References (My professors read this blog! I have to make sure it's in APA formatting at least! This is what grad school does to you...) 

Carr, E. R. (2011). If you are uncomfortable, you are probably doing it right". In (D. Simon (Ed.) Geographers and/in Development: A Symposium. Environment and Planning.

Cohen, D., & Hoshino‐Browne, E. (2007). Culture and the structure of personal experience: Insider and outsider phenomenologies of the self and social world. Advances in experimental social psychology, 39, 1-67.

Ghaffar-Kucher, A. (2014). Writing culture; inscribing lives: a reflective treatise on the burden of representation in native research. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, (ahead-of-print), 1-17.

(Not sure why there are white-highlights and I can't get rid of them for some reason, grrr!)

You've got questions, and I've got answers

We had a great google hangout last week with some admitted students to IEDP. We actually had around 17 confirmed for the hangout, so there were three or four of us split up around the library. Here are some things that came up and questions I've been emailed as well:

What ideas/concepts/models/principles have you encountered in IEDP that have deeply impacted/reshaped your thinking about the international education landscape?

One of the required classes is EDUC 514 "Basic Education in Developing Countries," and that definitely is something that shapes a lot of our views about this field. Dr. Wagner and Dr. GK teach different sections and definitely go about it in different ways. Overall, there is a big distinction between old vs. new development and also where development should go in the future to actually work well. We all have questioned and re-questioned our roles in development work, and I think for most of us, that re-questioning is so helpful to confirm that we want to do this work and to do it in a more culturally relevant and contextually specific way. "What is good development work and what is our role in it?" is a core question that comes up in all of our classes and it is something we should always be asking ourselves as practitioners to not fall into the rut of old development.

Unlike other international education master's degrees, which often seem to be focused on management or policy, IEDP seems to examine the ins and outs of development thoroughly. How flexible would the application of the degree be for those seeking work in fields that don't directly address development concerns?

One of the main reasons I chose IEDP at Penn was because it is a very flexible program. Although you only need 10 course units to complete the program, there are five electives so if you want to focus on curriculum, human rights, early childhood, etc, then you definitely can. I figured that after this degree, I can either go back to teaching (it really is a passion of mine and I miss it so much!), get a position that is focused on research, or do program design/implementation/evaluation. I think you can work the classes any way you want to work them and students are able to pursue individual interests as well.

Aside from alleviating busyness and stress levels, are there any benefits to stretching out the program to 1.5 years? Do any students do it part-time over 2 years?

I believe the students who do it over two years are ones that are from the area and/or are working full-time. Mostly, we all just want to get back to work and use what we've been learning! There is so much more time for volunteering, conferences, lectures, etc if you do it in 1.5 years, although Spring is definitely more busy and it depends on your courses in general. I personally think doing 5 classes in the Fall, then 3 classes in the Spring (because it's super busy), and two in the Fall after the internship is the best way to go (although I am doing the program in a year). This is maybe the least stressful way because the Spring is super busy with the CIES conference, policy brief and there is a lot of groupwork for some reason, which just takes a lot of time. There are a lot of things to get involved in that would be great experiences and also enhance your resume, but most of us don't take full advantage because of the course load.

Where do IEDPers go post-graduation? In your experience, do grads typically find work immediately? Do any move on to PhDs?

I will let you know soon enough! Haha, no, really, I feel pretty confident that I can find work that I am excited to do and is also a "step forward" from what I was doing before starting the Master's. Some do go onto doctoral programs, but I would say the majority do not plan on it. Generally, I've heard of alums getting a job after applying to just a few and others who applied to 30 before they got a job. It just depends on how flexible you are with location and the positions you are willing to take. You can check out some alum profiles on the website.

Are there opportunities for volunteering/interning while taking classes? Do students work during the program?

Yes! There are tons of opportunities for mentoring/tutoring/interning and working with professors at Penn. It is actually hard to not get involved with conferences, lectures, research and volunteering. A few students are working on campus and there are opportunities at the beginning of the year to get those jobs. Also, working in the student housing with the undergrads is another option to help off-set costs. One of our cohort members is doing this and she seems to really enjoy it and she gets a meal plan.

What are some housing options?

Most grad students live around campus in West Philadelphia in studios, shared housing, or rent a room with a family. Another option is the graduate housing at Sansom which is super close to GSE and is really easy if you don't want to deal with the hassle of finding housing in the city. The prices are definitely more than some other options, but it is definitely conveniently located and hassle-free. I live in a shared housing situation with five other students. Although I have to deal with differing opinions of what "clean" is, my rent is super cheap ($400/mo with utilities included), it's only 15 minutes from GSE by foot and I get a little separation from school-life. Drexel University is also super close so some housing is in this area (north of campus--where I live). Also, there's a Penn Bus that goes around East and West areas of campus so some just take this around rather than biking/walking.

General price range is $400 - $1,000.

Advantages of being a Graduate Assistant (GA)? 

The process for being a GA is changing from this past year. For my cohort, we just got notified with our acceptance if we were offered a merit scholarship and/or a graduate assistantship. This year, there are about 16 of us out of the cohort of 24 who are GAs, although I've been told that the process is different for those starting in Fall 2015. It's a great way to be more involved with IEDP and to spend 4-5 hours a week on something different besides classwork and to get paid for it.

What's the process for the internship?

The internship process starts in the Spring semester, although we were asked for our resumes at the end of the winter semester. The professors will get a feel for our interests and geographic preferences, then kind of "match-make" us with different organizations/locations/positions. If you say that you ONLY want to be in Brazil or only want to work with Room to Read, then they will try their hardest to make that happen. There is a bit of flexibility because there are usually more positions than there are students, but everyone has been placed in the past five years of the program. Students are given some funding to help cover some of the costs because usually the organization does not contribute anything financially. Some do get housing covered, but it depends on the organization. Here's a list of the orgs that IEDP works with.

There will be more google hangouts for those who missed the first one. Follow IEDP on Facebook for the news and check out the IEDP homepage also for those details!

Cheers!

IEDP 2014-2105 "In the Midst": Rachel

A few weeks ago, Ore filmed me for the IEDP cohort video series. It
was totally last minute and I had been avoiding it a little, but I did
it and of course, promptly forgot about it. She spotted me in the
grad center and told me the video was up so what am I doing instead of
my policy brief?? Looking at all the IEDP videos and laughing awkwardly
to myself! 



I definitely recommend watching, especially for the bloopers!! Christian's is great!

Lunch with Shirin Lutfeali, Technical Proposals, and One Week Til Break!

Every week seems to speed by at this point. However, the stress is getting a bit much for most of us, even though IEDPers know how to keep their cool. Students have reported trouble sleeping, headaches, and emotional eating (I feel like I should put a reference here--clearly, grad school has me conditioned to cite everything!). But, spring break is just around the corner. Don't be fooled though---it is not a break. Our Policy Briefs (5000 words total) are due early April and almost everyone in the cohort is going to the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) Conference in Washington DC over the break, with maybe half the cohort presenting a paper or poster. Many are working on things for the conference and also there are quite a few things due next week (I have four assignments due, thankfully, none of them are TOO taxing!).

But, the highlights of this week:

IEDP hosts speakers from various organizations and backgrounds to come have lunch with students and then present a lecture. This week it was Shirin Lutfeali, a senior specialist for basic education and literacy at Save the Children and I got to have lunch with her at the University Club at the Inn at Penn with five other students and Dr. GK. We each get a chance to have lunch with one of the speakers and it was so great to hear about her experiences and she was very interested in IEDP. Of course, the Flashmob came up during conversation and she seemed rather impressed. She spoke about the different climates of organizations and how much she loves working for Save the Children, partly because of the leadership and other colleagues. She also said that having solid field experience is something that will always be with you and you can offer a different perspective even if you are in an office in DC. We also talked about the hot topic of language of instruction in schools where there are many minority language speakers, and how policy is  being made that does not take into consideration what would be best for young learners. Although the food at the University Club was a little disappointing, the conversation and company was fantastic and we all walked back to GSE to hear more about Numeracy Boost and the findings for the pilots in Pakistan and Bangladesh. You can follow the IEDP twitter if you want to hear some of what was said and I believe the video of her lecture will be up soon also. 

Christian at home in NJ with the rest of our Nepal group in the library.

Second topic of conversation this week: the technical proposal draft. For our "International
Fieldwork" class with our cohort members, Dr. GK is trying to prepare us the best she can with things like how to do a needs assessment, logframes, concept notes, monitoring and evaluation, and...a technical proposal. We got into groups based on geographical interests back at the end of January. I chose South Asia because I was interested in learning more about Nepal or Bangladesh. We ended up picking Nepal and then had to write a concept note in response to a "Request For Proposals" (RFP) to increase reading scores through innovative technology. I have a fantastic group to begin with so this assignment has not been that stressful, although it has been a VERY educational experience. The idea of a concept note and technical proposal is very different than actually writing one. The draft is due today (we submitted ours on Wednesday night after a very efficient 1.5 hour google hangout) and we were all rather impressed with ourselves considering it was just a draft. Dr. GK will give us feedback but we are hoping not until after Spring Break because we all need to work on our policy briefs.

Speaking of Policy Briefs, the wonderful social Graduate Assistants for IEDP have reserved space in GSE three times a week so we can all come to work on our policy briefs or other work. I have yet to go, but it sometimes it helpful to be around a lot of industrious people...but it can also easily lead to chatting too much about classes, internships, flashmobs, etc. 

There are a few IEDPers who are interviewing with organizations at CIES and also on skype, particularly with UNESCO and RTI. Dr. GK handles the internships with our input when she thinks she has found a "match." It is kind of like blind dating, but you get to see the Terms of Reference before you decide to settle down. Personally, I just don't know where to go! There are some great positions in Costa Rica with the Omar Dengo Foundtation and others in Central/South America with UNICEF, but I think many of us, myself included, want to try to diversify our geographical experience, so I'm hoping for India or South/Southeastern Asia. We will see what happens...There is so much else to do that internships are not really at the forefront of most of our minds!

Lastly---CONGRATULATIONS to those accepted to IEDP for next year. If you haven't heard back, don't fear. We are still processing applications and you'll hear soon. Feel free to email me if you have questions (rdisbrow@gse.upenn.edu). When I was accepted (late March), I was full of questions and it really helped to speak to a current student to first assure me that the program CAN be done in one year and also to be sure it was the right decision for me. Also...there will be another google hangout with current students (I should be able to make it) on Tuesday, March 3, from 11am-12pm. Click HERE for the hangout link and HERE for info about setting up google hangouts. 
You can also contact Lauren, the IEDP program assistant at sclauren@gse.upenn.edu to RSVP or ask any questions you have. 

Locally made resources and SNOW in Philly

It finally happened. Snow. In Philly. Well...I'm sure it has mostly melted already because the sun came out around 8am, but those few inches were quite beautiful this morning. Walking in it to campus...not so beautiful. Penn did have a delayed opening until 10am, but for most grad students, no one has class before 10am anyway. However, the library was open, so of course, I made the trek to campus and got some reading done for class.

For Monday's "Curriculum and Pedagogy in International Contexts" class, we discussed making classroom materials, particularly with local resources. What better way to understand the topic than to actually DO it! In pairs/small groups, we were each given a "local resource" (stones, balloons, socks, straws, yeast, magnets, a can of popcorn, stones...) and had to create three different activities for different topics and explain the "enduring understanding" that the students will take away from the activity. Here's what we came up with:



 (P.S. It's really hard to arrange these photos. I probably spent more time fussing with photo arrangement than actually writing!)



Today I had another favorite class with Dr. Fantuzzo, "Developmental Theories and Application with Children." For today's class, we had two doctoral students of his come in to play...SURVIVOR: Nurture, Respect and Expect! We split into two groups and each had a "tribal leader." They emphasized the importance of nurture first with two different activities--ones where the leader was nurturing and the other activity...not so nurturing. The second activity was when he was not so nurturing. We had to take a bottle of white out and trade it with a better, more valuable item in fifteen minutes, trying to "trade up" each time. He demanded that we go outside and wander around campus asking students to trade for a white out. We had: white-out for a pen, pen for 6 sticks of gum, gum for some change and a bobby pin, then our leader stole a honey packet from the faculty lounge (shhhh!). Finally we went back to GSE and he told us how much we messed up. We were not such a fan of him and a lot of us seemed to feel the emotional repercussions, even though we knew it was just a role play.

The other two topics--respect and expect--were also interesting, but the leaders were not involved really beyond giving us instructions. It was a fantastic class and really made all of us reflect on how nurture plays into both respect and expect, and how we would have felt if we were being bossed around and disrespected by a teacher when we were little people. Even as adults we were a bit shaken afterwards. We also read "The Irreducible Needs of Children" for today's class and I found it very informational for anyone working with young children and also for future parents.

It's only Tuesday but I am already planning for the weekend and starting work for next week so I can have the weekend to work on longer assignments. How will I get it all done, you may wonder? Caffeine! And cherry tomatoes. They are soo good for you and as much as I love Dr. Fantuzzo's class and the snacks that we rotate bringing...NOT good to replace my normally healthy dinner with Smartfood popcorn, carrots, cookies, nachos with that awful delicious cheese stuff, and hot chocolate. I was joking that besides knowledge and a degree, grad school also gave me an extra 10 lbs and lots of debt...funny, but not so funny also. Let's hope the weather perks up so we are all more motivated for outdoor exercise, although I do walk very speedily when it is cold outside.

We are IEDP. We Flashmob.

The days have flown by this week and my, what fun did we have! Let's just say that IEDPers can keep a secret. Shruti decided to organize a flashmob dance for one of our cohort member's birthday. She even made the remix and choreographed the dance. We had two great dance practices and they totally cheered us all up. As I've said, this semester is stressful for everyone. One cohort member mentioned how our faces have changed from last semester to match our stress levels. Yikes. So...on Thursday during our class with our cohort, we surprised the birthday woman with our flashmob! (You can hear us all laughing a lot because the music wasn't very loud.) Shruti also made cake for all of us winter birthdays. We all were feeling the IEDP-love. Here's the lovely video:

“We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share. This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity.” – Paulo Coelho



The flashmob was definitely the highlight of the week, although we did also have free hot chocolate/coffee and insomnia cookies (the chocolate mint was sooo amazing!) on Thursday in GSE.

Spring semester is all about the group meetings. What makes meetings good? FOOD!! One group, we trade off who brings a snack and for another, we actually ordered pizza to the GSE building. However, it was a little hard to focus until it arrived. Also, getting a little goofy is a MUST during meetings and not letting stress get the best of you.

My exciting Valentine's weekend plans? Reading for class, working on my policy brief and dinner Saturday night with some cohort members.*Sigh* the life of a grad student taking a full course load...

Magic & Moments

Whew, it has been a long week with many moments to reflect on. As I said before, this semester is significantly harder than last semester. I was lulled into a false sense of security last semester and now I am getting my butt kicked. However, I am getting so much more from this semester because of my great classes with hands-on experience.

For my "Developmental Theories and Applications with Children" class with Dr. Fantuzzo, we have a placement in an elementary school in the area and tutor/help out in a class for two hours a week. I was looking forward to the placement and it finally happened! I'm with a Kindergarten class and I very excitedly biked to the school on Thursday morning. Kids are entertaining and I knew it would not be dull. A great moment was during music class. A girl had a headache and didn't sleep well so she had her head on my lap while we were sitting in chairs. The conversation went as followed:

Me: Don't put your feet on the chair. It will get dirty.

Her: Yeah, but we sit on our butts.

Me: Yes, that is true, but we don't sit on our butts outside and walk around getting our butts dirty.

Her: My teacher does. 

It was such a great moment and I was grinning from her responses. I was reminded once again of the wonderfulness of working with children and having a child-like sense of the world. There is also the magic of the classroom that I have missed. In a reading from last semester's "Forming and Reforming the Reading/Writing/Literacy Curriculum" class, I read:

“These classrooms, teachers, and students are mostly magic—the magic of imagining and creating a world that does not yet exist, a world in which difference is lifted and complicated” (Fine, Weis, Powell, 1997, p. 275) (Sleeter, 2005)

After I left, I was in the Grad Center doing some reading and just kept thinking of the kids and different activities that would be fun to do with them. I felt excited again! Not that Penn isn't exciting, it just is also stressful and busy. There is magic in our classes here also, but sometimes it is hard to see because we are all too busy being critical of the theories/definitions/etc.

Another moment that was great this week was during my "Curriculum and Pedagogy in International Contexts" class. We had an all-day session on Friday from 9:30-4:30pm (ugh) but it went really quickly as we worked through the "Understanding by Design" book, discussing backwards design, essential questions, understandings, etc. At the beginning, we all drew/wrote on a piece of a puzzle that showed who we were and what we could bring to our class and groups. We put it together after we went around and explained our drawings. We all have something unique to bring to the class, and to life in general, and we are all interconnected. Here is the result (mine is in the upper-left corner..upside down).

Note the pile of snacks to the left. We were in the collaborative classroom in Van Pelt Library.

Miss Ruju and her glasses. Note how they are Gryffindor's colors. ;)

The rest of the weekend was spent helping with the PhD visitor's weekend, which involved free food, carrying things between GSE and the Sheraton hotel, and putting up posters. Today we had a loooooong tour of campus, but it was great to talk with the prospective candidates. Everyone was really relaxed and it seemed quite a few were won over with Penn and our wonderful community at GSE. I kind of see GSE as a "dark horse" that is secretly amazing, but it isn't as "brand name" as Teacher's College. We really are a community and family. There are great peer and faculty relationships and interacting with other faculty outside of my division just reminded me how lucky I am to be part of the community. Someone said to me that grad school is when you lose all sense of self because so much of your previous experiences and knowledge is challenged. Yes, I would agree that classes and professors sometimes do make you feel uncomfortable, but that is where the magic happens--when you're outside of your comfort zone. Time is flying and I have nightmares about losing my planner and forgetting assignments/meetings, but it really has been a transformative process that has been taking place this year.

And now...back to the many assignments!

Also----
Interested in learning more about the International Educational Development Program (IEDP) at PennGSE? Three of our current students will be hosting an informal info session via Google Hangout this Tuesday, Feb the 10th from 12-1pm Eastern Time (EST). Please RSVP at iedp_penngse@gmail.com
We look forward to engaging with you!
To join the hangout, click on this link- https://plus.google.com/hango…/_/g6duym76du2m2ozni23b2i6tgaa

For more information on how to set up your computer in preparation for the hangout, please check- https://support.google.com/hangouts/answer/1216376?hl=en