Well, we had our 2nd meeting together as one big family this past Saturday. It is so interesting getting to know everyone and their perspective on our journey. We went through all of our curriculum development project ideas for the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. If you do not know what the Millennium Development Goals are, you may click on this link, and you can understand why we are taking this trip: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
This is my skeleton of a plan: I'll be working with Goal #2, which is Universal Primary Education. I want to explore the differences in the actual schools among the different geographical areas (north and south) of India, the difference in the philosophy of education between the peoples of rural and urban areas of India, and also see how the caste system still affects education among the different levels.
After watching a few episodes of a show called “Indian School,” and realizing that I’m the only K-12 administrator going on this journey, I’d like to also talk to some of the principals and assistant principals of the schools we go to in order to get an idea of their job descriptions, philosophy of education, etc.
On a lighter note, we found out who we are sitting next to on our 15 hour flights. Thankfully I got placed by Connie, a fellow H-E-B ISD-er! I still don’t know who my roommate will be. It’s like trying to figure out who to marry or something. I mean, this person will have to deal with me for an entire month! She made need a crash course taught by Corey, Jen (college roommate for 3 years) and Kara C. and Janelle (college roommate for one year). Well, plus the suitemates that had to put up with me, too (Kallie and Melissa). At least we are all still friends after all these years! That should say something, right?!
Maybe we’ll figure out that roommate stuff next week. I’m also hoping to get the itinerary of exactly when and where we are going. I can’t publish it on my blog, unfortunately, but you’ll find out about the cities as they happen. My biggest problem right now is trying to figure out my packing situation. I can only take one suitcase, and it has to be 40 lbs. or under. That’s a bit stressful. I did a practice packing round, and I realized I had too many clothes packed. I refuse to cut back on my 17 pairs of underwear. I just feel like that’s a necessity since I can’t send them to the washateria (not sure of the Indian word for it) like the rest of my clothes because of the culture. I seriously thought about buying 17 more pair and just throwing them away, but for my luck I’d dispose of them in some special holy place, get arrested, and be on an episode of “Locked Up Abroad.”
BWAHAHAHA! I almost spewed water at the last sentence.
ReplyDeleteStill witty after all these years...
kim culpepper artall
Please take plenty of underwear; we need you back next year. Although explaining to the kids why you aren't there would be amusing. :)
ReplyDeleteNot sure if you will see anything like this, but a consistent thing I heard from our Indian kids in Bangladesh, was that they would be beat if they didn't have their homework or if they got an answer wrong. When I asked them what would happen if they did not understand something, they told me that is their fault and not an excuse and they would receive a beating. Since they came from different areas of India, the beatings seemd to vary but all seemed a little extreme compared to what we are used to. If you can, check this out for me - thanks.
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