When life hands you an extension

For the past 10 days, a colleague and I have been scrounging together a proposal for the National Reading Conference. In truth, we've been in chickens-with-our-heads-cut-off-mode. And then, this afternoon, approximately 3 hours (!!) before we were going submit our work to the conference's website, my colleague got an email. Apparently, the website was going haywire, so they extended the deadline...until Wednesday afternoon. And, for my crazed little gradschool brain, 2 full extra days to look at a proposal seems like eons upon eons. I think we'll get a chance to more calmly review what we've written and clarify a few points, which is never a bad thing!

Logics or not

The new Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, has suggested re-branding NCLB and supports giving the law a new name. I could go crazy with metaphors, such as giving it a new coat of paint, putting a fox in sheep's clothes, but I'm really bad with idiomatic expressions (could be due to my mom being French)!! I could also brainstorm potential names for a terribly famous umbrella policy for US schools--Every child will think AND learn or A test a day keeps inequity away or....But I'd rather just mention that Secretary Duncan is acting as a strategic framer because, by re-labeling NCLB, it will shift how people view the policy--even if the nature of the actual policy isn't changed. Woh. Secretary Duncan is manipulating the broader ideas, logics, by changing a title for a policy to push for the changes he's interested in (three cheers for institutional theory!).

End of Reading First

Although the new federal budget includes a funding boost for the Education Department, Reading First will be ending. I guess I'll be able to carry my experiences and knowledge of RF into my future research, and I'll understand the RF policy era and can account for the sediment it leaves behind. Of course I wonder which structures and practices from RF will remain, and I'm curious how districts and states will choose what to do next. Will California give more choices to its districts? Will Open Court TEs gather dust in classrooms? Will teachers turn back to contextualized phonics instruction and lit circles? It seems like another policy window is opening!

How much

I think I've completed the drafting of my empirical position paper. Well, except for the conclusions- I need a nice fresh morning to finish up that section :) Overall, I feel like I could spend one day, one week, or much, much more revising this draft. The tricky part is that it all depends on what my goals are who the audience will be. Sometimes it would be nice to have crisp page limits and deadlines and sets of expectations in the land 'o' academia....On the other hand, I know I have plenty of time remaining to tie my points together and lay out/write out my arguments. It's a sentence by sentence battle.

Valentine

I've been thinking a bit more about structuration theory. And since there's nothing more romantic than the recursive relationship between action and structure, I bought myself an early Valentine's Day gift: Giddens!!

A wise coach

My high school cross country coach was my #1 mentor. He gave incredibly motivating lectures on running and racing that translate oh so well to life. He begged us runners to not be nervous about upcoming races or afraid of racing because the whole point of our tough training was to go out and compete to do our best.

Now I resolve to apply this idea to grad school: yes, there's plenty to do, but there's nothing to fear.
Getting nervous about writing papers or being afraid of orals doesn't accomplish anything. I can leave the guilt and scaredycat stuff at the door. ALL of this work is training, and the ultimate goal is to get out there and talk with people, share ideas and writing. The finish line is all about making a difference!

25 things

1) As an elementary school teacher, I was very strict about discipline issues and classroom management
2) I want to write/edit a book on instructional materials
3) I hate bringing my laptop anywhere on rainy days
4) Sometimes I do more skimming than reading of articles
5) I love 'discovering' references that other authors are citing in their work
6) Sometimes a glass of wine or a beer help me get back to work
7) While running, I imagine myself spouting brilliant arguments about education policy
8) I think I need a new suit
9) I wish that I'd taken the plunge and gotten an administrative credential before coming to grad school
10) I definitely say the phrase- "That could be a dissertation!!" far, far too often
11) I have this awful writing habit in which I write: "The teacher is trying ___" instead of "The teacher tries ___"
12) Sometimes I really, really hate my writing
13) This is cathartic :)
14) Part of me wishes I was doing quantitative research because it seems tidier and there's an 'answer' and a way to check your work
15) I think street level bureaucrats are rad--Yay for Michael Lipsky!
16) I still have a hard time defining policy
17) I'm obsessed with how teachers teach reading, but I taught myself how to read before starting school
18) I really wish I could sit in and observe classrooms from 50 years ago or 100 years ago
19) I think private schools are overrated
20) Teachers need to be paid higher salaries
21) I think sociology is sexy
22) I was so nervous before first year oral exams and walked out not so sure that I did all that well. But going to Dona Tomas and feasting on guacamole & margaritas that night helped ease the pain :P
23) If I had more hours in the day, I would be a volunteer running/track and field/cross country coach for kids in Oakland
24) I'd love to study the kitschy stuff that teachers use and display in their classrooms- like the sparkly butterflies, heart shaped cut outs, and posters with giant apples covered with proverbs
25) The best thing about grad school is that you get to discover stuff and teach yourself stuff that noone else has thought about. You have a great excuse for not doing chores. Plus you get to muck around; it's like a mud run.