NZ call

On Thursday we made a call to New Zealand, and it was the first time that I have been able to be there to make a call. We spoke to Carolyn Aukafolau who gave us great information about her multicultural school. I am very interested in going to observe her school since multicultural education is a big issue here in the U.S. She seems very supportive of our research and was very willing to assist us when we go there.

Posters at the Capitol is in a week and a half. Brittany and I are starting to design our poster, and we should have the final product sometime this week!

44 days until we leave! ;)

Back to school

It feels really weird to be back at Morehead after that long break! I just finished my first week of classes. We had our first NZ meeting of the semester. Posters at the Capitol is approaching quickly so that is our current focus. I am meeting with Dr. Fernandez tomorrow to send e-mails to different universities about their reading courses. At the meeting, I was given the voice recorder we will be using in New Zealand. I am working on figuring out how to use it. We are supposed to call a teacher in New Zealand Tuesday. I am really looking forward to this since this will be my first international call! My next blog will probably be about that call.

 At the meeting we discussed our schedule for the trip. It was my first time hearing about all of the places and schools we are going to see. Every time we have a meeting, I get more excited to go on the trip. I also learned that I will be doing a podcast while I am there for one of my classes.

 Recently I saw an article that said New Zealand is the fifth happiest country in the world. One of the factors that contributed to their high ranking was their awesome education system which we will get to see first-hand on our trip. I am excited to see if I can notice a difference in the mood of New Zealanders from the mood of people in the U.S. Here is the link of the article:   http://travel.yahoo.com/p-interests-37522775

51 days!!!! :)

Winter Break

I feel like this break is never ending! I can't believe I still have a full week until the semester starts because I am actually ready to get back to school.

One good thing about this break was that I was able to get a lot done. The chart of the New Zealand interventions was a lot harder to do than the U.S. one. Since all the U.S. ones were programs that you purchase, I was able to get a lot of good information from the company website. New Zealand's interventions, on the other hand, were mostly activities that teachers could do without having to buy any materials. Therefore, the information about the interventions was hard to locate. I had an especially difficult time finding out the focuses of the NZ interventions. Using the information in the charts, I made a bar graph that compares the focus of the interventions and pie charts that compare the amount of interventions that are purchased packages between the two countries. I have some questions about some of the focuses that I will clear up once I get back to school. I am sending the charts and graphs to Brittany to do the write up for our poster for Posters at the Capitol.

I have also been working on my lesson plans. I created a PowerPoint about Kentucky and what it is known for. Originally, I though it would be a good idea to give the students a map of Kentucky and markers so that the students could draw some of the aspects of Kentucky (i.e. horses and coal) on their map. Brittany gave me an idea that she got from Dr. Lindsey. The idea was to have objects that represented Kentucky such as a toy horse that I could use as a visual while I was teaching. I might try combining the idea since I need to be prepared in case I do not have access to technology while I'm teaching.

Another job I have been doing is trying to obtain syllabi from other universities. I was able to find the classes on reading at all the universities, but UK was the only school that I found to have their syllabi posted. I have sent emails to the other universities asking if they could sent me the syllabi from the classes.  Hopefully, I will hear back from those schools soon.

My goal for this last week is to go around taking pictures so that people in New Zealand can see what it looks like in Kentucky. Once I get back to Morehead, I will also take a lot of pictures around there. On Tuesday, I am going to a rest stop to get a few items that relate to Kentucky that I can give out in New Zealand. Also, I need to create my lesson plan about teacher training in Kentucky.

For Christmas, I got a travel pillow and an adapter. My parents also surprised me with something else for my trip. My dad saves all of his change is a big container. Usually, he saves up for a year and then we trade in all the coins and use the money for vacation. This year, however, my parents decided that they are going to give me the money for my trip! My dad now calls the container full of coins the "New Zealand Fund." I'll be bringing back a lot more souvenirs now. :)

65 days till the trip!!! I hope those days go a lot faster than winter break did!

Post # 2: research

Here is what I have been up to...

I have been continuing my research on the literacy interventions. I emailed all the companies of the Kentucky interventions again with more thorough questions. My next step is to organize all the information that I have so that I know what I still need to find out about the interventions. Also, I got a list of the intervention that are used by some of the schools we may be visiting in New Zealand and have started researching them. Dr. Lindsey gave me a New Zealand book that has a lot of information about teaching literacy in schools that I have started reading.

Currently, I am working on transcribing the phone interview between Drs. Fernandez and Lindsey and Brittany. I was unable to be there when the phone call was happening because I was in class. They called a New Zealand teacher and got a lot of great information from her about the interventions her school uses. I am definitely starting to see the difference in the strategies used here and the strategies in New Zealand!

I cant believe that the trip is almost 100 days away! I went out on black Friday and got a great deal on some luggage from the trip. Additionally, I am working on my Christmas list because I plan on asking for a lot of things that I need for the trip! I can't wait!!

First post!

About a month ago, I received the exciting news that I was chosen to be a part of a research team that compares literacy in the U.S. to literacy in New Zealand. In March, my team and I will travel to Auckland, New Zealand. I have never been out of the country before, and I am really looking forward to experiencing a new culture.

Initially, I was assigned the task of comparing the teaching standards between Kentucky and New Zealand. I started comparing the standards using a feature analysis. My research is currently on hold because I am working on literacy interventions in preparation for Posters-at-the-Capitol in February. I have been emailing the companies that produce the interventions currently being used in local elementary schools to find out more information about the products.

Before being offered this opportunity, I did not know much about New Zealand. Lately, I have been looking into the country and their education system. During our trip in March, we will being going in schools and observing New Zealand classrooms. As a future teacher, I am excited to experience a different education system than I am used to. I look forward to all of the things that I will learn from being a part of this research study!