Wednesday, April 30, 2008

The preparation begins...

As the summer approaches rapidly, I am writing many checks, getting poked by many needles with various vaccines, and of course, doing paperwork. I kind of think that it is not possible to be a human without paperwork. How did anyone ever do anything before there was so much record keeping going on in the world? Is it really necessary?

But, this is my first blog entry and as you can read, it is called "science teacher travels." This blog will serve as my travel journal for an amazing adventure that I will embark upon at the end of June. I will be spending 5 weeks in India this summer on a Fulbright-Hays seminar abroad for teachers. Specifically, it is for science and math teachers and we will be studying science and math curriculum development and implementation the Indian way. As India has become a world leader in technology, what they are doing in terms of education has become increasing more interesting to the rest of the world. 

"Chicken Little" news about American students being behind in science and math is constantly being blared out over the "please watch us so we can have better ratings" news channels. Well, now I am fortunate enough the actually investigate what a "world leader" is doing to make sure that their kids are at the top...and have the US Department of Education pay for it at the same time! I can't help but wonder if only having compulsory education until the age of 13 makes a difference?

So, as I learn more about what I will be doing and where I will be going, I will begin to add to this blog. But for now, I will just keep writing my checks, rubbing my Tetanus shot arm, and working on that never-ending paperwork. Crazily enough, I haven't even started to apply for my Visa- can't imagine how much paper will be involved in that!