Autumn 05 7
Running head: Autumn 05 Reflection
Reflection of Autumn 05 Courses
Carri A Schneider
University of Cincinnati
Autumn 05 7
Reflection of Autumn 05 Courses
I could hardly believe that it was the beginning of my second year of UEL already! While I was prepared to get back to work after a long summer break that didn’t require me to spend the entire month of August getting my elementary classroom ready for a new batch of second graders (due to my decision to leave teaching to become a full-time student), I wasn’t prepared for how quickly this quarter would throw me into real life experiences that would mirror my future career as an urban educational leader.
18EDFN778: Cultural Differences
I took this course based solely on the course description, something I hadn’t done since I signed up for Dr. Berlowitz’s Peace Education and Pop Culture course during my first quarter of UEL. Since I had so much fun and was so influenced by that course, I had similar high hopes for taking Dr. Mary Anne Pitman’s course on Cultural Differences. To be perfectly honest, these high hopes and expectations weren’t met in the way I had hoped.
I had expected this course to give me some insight into the cultural differences among my students and to teach me practical applications for applying this knowledge to my future career. Rather, this course focused more on “global” readings, primarily grounded in Cultural Theory in the form of anthropological case studies. We spent the first two-thirds of the quarter reading from an anthropology anthology. The majority of the case studies were about very small, indigenous cultures throughout the world. While it is possible that I would one day work with people from one of these distant cultures, it was not likely. Further, many of the studies were based on observations in the 60s and 70s and didn’t necessarily relate to contemporary issues surrounding diversity. While I was able to find ways to relate the readings to my future, primarily through my own additional research and reflection, these issues were never discussed in class discussions. Instead, we did independent projects which related our own family’s culture to those of the various cultures present in the readings. While it was interesting to look at my family through this new lens, it wasn’t necessarily a beneficial use of time and energy. And, many students (my self included) were continuously confused by the lack of direction and continuity regarding the course objectives as they related to the class meetings and assignments.
The last third of the quarter ended with the completion of a final assignment that either revolved around the critique of an article that used Cultural Theory (articles were selected by the instructor) or a reflection on a “diversity experience” in which each student was expected to do something “outside of their comfort zone” and reflect upon it in writing. I didn’t particularly find any of the articles interesting, so I decided to do the diversity experience. Dr. Pitman encouraged us to share our ideas about what kind of experience we had in mind. Unfortunately, when students explained their plans, she did not believe many of the students understood the expectation, but did not offer up any alternatives. Since the expectations were again very unclear, I decided to use my new position as an intern at KnowledgeWorks Foundation to reflect on the cultural differences between this organization and the school where I used to teach. When we shared our projects on the last day of class (which was actually three weeks before the actual end of the quarter on the University calendar), she seemed pleased with the application of Cultural Theory. While it was important for me to get her approval in terms of a good grade, it was a more useful assignment to me because it helped me to reflect on what I was experiencing in this very new environment. So, I did get something out of the assignment while other students admitted that it was useless.
Overall, this course had excellent potential, but fell short of my expectations. The course was disorganized, unrelated to the stated course objectives, and frustrating due to constant changes in the syllabus and lack of direction from the professor. Luckily, I was able to still take something away from the course, although I really feel this was primarily due to my own extra effort and not the course itself.
18EDFN930: Internship I
I’m not sure Dr. Lionel Brown knew what he was getting himself into when he signed up to teach our cohort the Internship Course for three quarters! J The first class meeting was the first time our cohort had been together since the summer break, and I think we scared him a little. We were our normal, out-of-control selves and once we let Dr. Brown know that he was a welcomed-participant in our fun, we got him giggling with the rest of us.
I was in a very unique position compared to my other cohort members, because I had already started my internship at KnowledgeWorks Foundation (KWF) when the quarter started. Brandi, a fellow cohort member and friend, had sent me a job description about an internship opening at KWF and after four interviews I had secured a paid internship with Ohio’s largest public education philanthropy in their policy and advocacy division. I was thrilled!
The first couple weeks of the quarter were spent guiding the rest of the cohort members through the process of planning and securing an internship. While this was fine the first couple of weeks, we all grew a bit frustrated when we continued to meet every Wednesday night to go over the same thing week after week. “Let’s go around the circle and talk about the status of your internships.” This was Dr. Brown’s introduction to every class and was always met by giggles from the cohort at the realization that many of us would be saying the exact same thing we said the week before.
We did have some assignments during the quarter which mostly revolved around the planning phase of our internship. But others, such as reading various articles that Dr. Brown had written and revisiting the final section of his dissertation, seemed unrelated to the purpose of the course. Overall, I have two very different opinions on the course.
1) Completing an internship as a UEL requirement is a very beneficial, rewarding experience that will help prepare us for our future careers.
2) Meeting for class every week when many of us our working up to 20 hours a week outside of class to do the internship itself is a waste of time unless the class meetings and course assignments are directly related to our internship.
18EDFN850: Action Research I
It really didn’t take me very long to decide what research sequence I would embark upon in my second year of UEL. Action Research appealed to me from the beginning for several reasons. First, I “fell in love” with Dr. Mary Brydon-Miller when I had her during the first quarter of UEL last year. I joke with my friends and family that she is “who I want to be when I grow up”, so getting to spend another year working with her was appealing for obvious reasons. Secondly, the reasons I left teaching to pursue my doctorate were directly in line with the goals of Action Research. I left the classroom because I felt powerless to help change the systems in place in my school that marginalized and left behind many students. Action Research would provide me with the tools to go back and help my former school by acting as a facilitator to “help them help themselves”.
The first quarter of the Action Research course did not disappoint! In fact, it exceeded my already very-high expectations. While I had set out to learn more about AR, I wasn’t prepared for the depth and breadth of self-knowledge that would also come out of the course. Our main project of the first quarter was to complete a “first person action research project”. I decided to combine my PhotoVoice project with first person AR project to discover the values that defined my life and my practice. The result of the project was a lot of self-discovery. A full report of this experience is detailed in my AR Portfolio, so I won’t go into all of the details here. However, the main discovery in my project was that it is important to define the values that I bring into my research and into my life as a whole, because it is this set of values that informs every thing I do. Further, it is important that my actions are in accordance with my values. There were things that showed up in my PhotoVoice project that provided evidence of times when they were in disaccord. This project helped me to identify the importance of keeping my values and actions in harmony. As a result, I feel more prepared to go forward with my research. I am even considering having the teachers I work with as a part of my research work to define their values so that they can also identify ways in which they confirm or contradict them in their daily practice as teachers.
18EDFN710: Intro. To Statistical Methods I
Nothing gets my blood pressure up more quickly than the thought of mathematics. I have been afflict with math-phobia ever since the younger, 8th grade version of my self was told by a teacher that I had to “move my desk to the front of the room with the other dumb kids” in my AP geometry class. So, while I knew that I had to take Stats eventually, I put it off as long as humanly possible. I was very excited that Dr. Koschoreck would be teaching the Stats courses, because I had grown to love and trust him after other classes in my Masters program and other UEL classes. I figured—at least it wouldn’t be a “stranger” expecting mathematics out of me.
From the very first class meeting, Dr. K. eased my worries and kept my blood pressure to a minimum. His “Tao of Statistics” method of “breathing deeply” through the number-crunching made Stats seem less daunting. To make a long, mathematical story short—I sit here today as a self-professed former math-phobe. I realized that many of my fears around mathematics were related more to pedagogy that mathematical procedures. My anxiety was allayed since the course content was logically-presented and well-organized and because I felt comfortable asking questions and expressing my needs. Due to Dr. Koschoreck’s masterful teaching of the content, my anxiety did not get in the way of my learning. Not only did I build a strong foundation in Statistics, I also managed to get an A in the course and even helped another student who was having difficulty with one of the course concepts!
All in all, I don’t think I could’ve expected to have such a change in my confidence as the result of one course. Although I’m a little afraid to admit it, I’m actually looking forward to next quarter’s Intermediate Statistics Course. J Throughout the UEL program, I’ve learned not to limit myself through lack of self-confidence or fear of something new. I’ve learned that keeping an open mind and believing that I can do anything with the proper guidance and support will continue to lead me to accomplish more than I ever imagined would be possible. Dr. Koschoreck’s Stats I course provided another reminder that I am capable of anything I hope to accomplish and that I shouldn’t let fear limit my future.
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Overall, the classes I took during the autumn quarter of 2005 seemed to be about beginnings rather than endings. While most of the courses I have taken so far have been “free-standing” one-quarter courses, three of the four courses I took this quarter were the beginning of a series. However, I feel that each one helped to further construct the foundation that I continue to build as I move forward toward my future as an urban educational leader.