Most teachers know about the great fun of preparing for a new group of students. Everybody is new, anything is possibility, and every thing is beautiful ... in its own way (see pop culture reference in a this unique video). Later we discover how foolish it was to plan for students in two separate courses to do the same assignment and have it due the same week. In this case, despite the workload it's a good idea. In brief, they are to find a cute or clever or classic hands-on activity and upgrade it so it incorporates effective teaching practices (e.g., learning cycle, process skills, standards-based, inquiry, differentiation, etc.). I'm sure once I finally open the pile of papers and associated email messages that it will work out.
What this is competing against are my efforts to generate two complementary NSF proposals. I have not had the best of luck winning sizable grants but on this occasion, I am emboldened. For one, the idea has stirred great enthusiasm and interest among those who may be involved, including colleagues in the Ed Leadership department and someone else at another university down the road. In addition, I'm getting some badly needed advice from people I've never met. To one in particular I sent a bold email asking for a copy of his recently funded project. Not surprisingly, he declined but we've since arranged for a consultation phone call later this week. Also, we have a great budget guy at our institution and he sent back a revised spreadsheet that corrects some of my mistakes. Having this means I can see for myself the financial implications of dropping from 3 to 2 graduate assistants. That change allows me to increase travel funds for fieldworkers and still bring us in under budget.
If there's anything unfortunate in all of this is that the two tasks are competing with each other. There's less than a month left to align all the pieces, obtaining all the necessary supporting documents and finalize a compelling description about what we'll accomplish in the NSF project. Even though I'd rather do some wordsmithing, this late in the day is not a good time to undertake such a creative intellectual task. What makes it so fun is that the proposed project is similar to writing a syllabus: it's all possibilities and exciting ones at that. The additional encouragement from friends and strangers, far and near, only makes it more grinnable.
What this is competing against are my efforts to generate two complementary NSF proposals. I have not had the best of luck winning sizable grants but on this occasion, I am emboldened. For one, the idea has stirred great enthusiasm and interest among those who may be involved, including colleagues in the Ed Leadership department and someone else at another university down the road. In addition, I'm getting some badly needed advice from people I've never met. To one in particular I sent a bold email asking for a copy of his recently funded project. Not surprisingly, he declined but we've since arranged for a consultation phone call later this week. Also, we have a great budget guy at our institution and he sent back a revised spreadsheet that corrects some of my mistakes. Having this means I can see for myself the financial implications of dropping from 3 to 2 graduate assistants. That change allows me to increase travel funds for fieldworkers and still bring us in under budget.
If there's anything unfortunate in all of this is that the two tasks are competing with each other. There's less than a month left to align all the pieces, obtaining all the necessary supporting documents and finalize a compelling description about what we'll accomplish in the NSF project. Even though I'd rather do some wordsmithing, this late in the day is not a good time to undertake such a creative intellectual task. What makes it so fun is that the proposed project is similar to writing a syllabus: it's all possibilities and exciting ones at that. The additional encouragement from friends and strangers, far and near, only makes it more grinnable.
