Tickets!

Whoever thought booking tickets would be so frustrating! Jody and I started yesterday, and I truly thought it wouldn't take too long, after all, I'd researched the airlines etc... already and knew the best place to go. BUT... turns out that Air New Zealand only flies to San Francisco on certain days, and on those days, and those days only, the flight leaves at 5:15pm. On all other days, the flights go to Los Angeles and leave at 9:30pm. This latter flight forces you to have a really long layover in LAX (about 8 hours) and then overnight flights to places such as Chicago or.. worse... having a long overnight layover in Chicago. I was not having "our girls" staying in an airport overnight, especially not in Chicago!

So, after emails to the dean, and her emailing heads of department, we reorganized the schedule (again) to allow the girls to leave a day later than the most recent plan. It means they basically lose a whole extra week of school (funnily enough, they don't mind!! LOL), but Jody and I were a little concerned that we might lose the goodwill of their teachers. Anyway... the dean thinks this is such a great opportunity we should grab every experience we can... so we are.

Sooooo.... we are now ticketted! Moreover, we met (all four of us, eventually) on Thursday and got a lot of our stuff organized. I think we have nearly a bazillion folders now... all blue of course (and, thanks to Jody, all the RIGHT blue - I hadn't even known there WAS a right blue!).

I started looking up car rentals this afternoon, then decided it was a better idea to just go home! So, here I am... still obviously with my mind on the NZ trip, but at least I'm sitting here in comfort thinking!

Universities and Grant

I am still reeling from the fact that we have been awarded an extra grant so that we can also study more of what is happening in New Zealand universities regarding undergraduate (and some graduate) teacher education. It means Jody and I will be staying an extra three weeks in New Zealand. At first, I thought this would be plenty of time; now I realize that we're going to be working really hard to get what we need done during this time period. Still, it will add another dimension to our study.

Our team has settled in well. I think we've all worked out what we're doing for the moment, and progress is definitely being made. There is still an awful lot of data collection that needs to be done prior to take-off, but we seem to be making good progress so far.

Continuing Research

Brittany and I met today to go over the emails she's received and to plan what to do next. We have about 5 schools so far that seem to have interesting interventions, so we'll work out a way to contact those schools via phone or Skype in the near future. There are still quite a few schools that we're waiting to hear from, so I hope we do so soon! I'd like to get the list more stable so that we can plan visits.

We made one phone call the other day to a principal in Auckland. She was really very helpful and informative. It was quite odd listening to a New Zealand accent. I guess I'm just so used to hearing American ones now that hearing someone from my "home pad" is very novel! She spoke about an assessment system called AsTTle, and I took the time to do some initial research into it. I think it looks exceptionally interesting, and I'm looking forward to seeing it in action.

(As far as my own personal reading goes, I'm currently reading "The Same River Twice" by Alice Walker - her story about how it felt to have "The Color Purple" made into a film)

The Beginnings...

Here we go... post number one for this amazing event.

Back in late Spring 2010, faculty at our College of Education learned of an endowment opportunity being offered, and Dr. Jody Fernandez decided to combine forces and apply for it. Our idea was to pursue literacy education, middle grades education, and international education through a study of New Zealand's education system. We applied to study and visit schools and universities in New Zealand, and to take an undergraduate with us on the trip. The deciding body liked our application, but wanted us to take TWO undergraduates. We were excited about that (once they told us that they'd fund it), and agreed to the change. We were then awarded the endowed professorship.

In August, we worked on an application process and posted it very early in the semester. We had some excellent applications and had a tough job trying to choose our fellows. We held interviews and eventually chose two young ladies, Kelli and Brittany. Their job is to work with us on the research and to accompany us to New Zealand in March/April 2011.

We have all been working very hard on this project, and when I am tempted to look ahead and become overwhelmed at what is still to be done, I look back and reflect over what HAS been achieved. Amongst the four of us, we now have our passports under control, have formed a team, have contacted more than 25 schools in New Zealand, and a fair number in Kentucky, have contacted (successfully) three universities in New Zealand, have ordered our technology gear, and have made inroads on how some of the finances will work.

With regard to research, we have a very good base line of articles and government documents covering standards, curriculum, reading, and the education system and are still looking. We have a BlackBoard site set up and active, and we're all beginning blogs this week.

So, with that background given, I have to say that I am so excited about this research. I've been excited since about June, and the feeling has not subsided. I'm thrilled to be able to see three people respond and react to what they learn and see with regard to New Zealand, and I'm so looking forward to seeing what's changed in NZ over the past 10 years (since I left). I think it will be really interesting looking at things through eyes which have now been exposed to a very different system - I wonder what I'll think?