3.04.2003
SENSE OF IMPENDING DOOM
The Department of Education will be able to Fund the PT3 grant I'm working on through its' conclusion in May/June 2004 - whoopee.
Now I just have to pray that we somehow, someway find the ability to make the Grant work as originally proposed (very unlikly), or to get them to approve some rather signifigant changes to the plan (not quite so unlikely as the other). Either way, I'm going to have to take some flack for how things have gone for what technically is almost my 12th month on the job (but is actually more like my 9th - being asked to work your old job while you try and learn your new one is a fate I would wish on no man). That is to say, things have not gone particularly good, nor bad - they have simply gone. I feel very good about some of my accomplishments, and the accomplishments of some of the Instructors involved in the grant, but we have been thrown a few curveballs, that I don't think anyone could have hoped to hit out of the park.
First of all, you need to realize that turnover here is high. High for students, high for staff, high for faculty. It is difficult to maintain any continuity on the project when someone drops out unexpectedly on a semi-regular basis. Off the top of my head, I can think of only 6 faculty members who are truly active in the grant, and there should be 10.
Next you have to realize that one of our partners on this grant is the Zuni Public School District. They are 30 miles south of us, and sometimes it seems like it might as well be 300. While the teachers I have encountered are filled with good ideas and positive energy, it seems that most of them are working with us lacking any support from their institutions. So when it comes time to try and implement any of the ideas that are percolating, it's pretty much a crap shoot as to when or if it happens.
Finally you have to realize that while I have been teaching people about technology for a long time now, up until now it has almost always been in an informal basis. Trying to build structure to what has previously been a casual, no-pressur kind of thing has been an eye opener. Not just in determining methodology, but discovering my own shortcomings.
Frustration, no doubt is par for the course. Hopefully I'll come out of today's meeting with some of my hindquarters left intact.
go and tell me all about it
The Department of Education will be able to Fund the PT3 grant I'm working on through its' conclusion in May/June 2004 - whoopee.
Now I just have to pray that we somehow, someway find the ability to make the Grant work as originally proposed (very unlikly), or to get them to approve some rather signifigant changes to the plan (not quite so unlikely as the other). Either way, I'm going to have to take some flack for how things have gone for what technically is almost my 12th month on the job (but is actually more like my 9th - being asked to work your old job while you try and learn your new one is a fate I would wish on no man). That is to say, things have not gone particularly good, nor bad - they have simply gone. I feel very good about some of my accomplishments, and the accomplishments of some of the Instructors involved in the grant, but we have been thrown a few curveballs, that I don't think anyone could have hoped to hit out of the park.
First of all, you need to realize that turnover here is high. High for students, high for staff, high for faculty. It is difficult to maintain any continuity on the project when someone drops out unexpectedly on a semi-regular basis. Off the top of my head, I can think of only 6 faculty members who are truly active in the grant, and there should be 10.
Next you have to realize that one of our partners on this grant is the Zuni Public School District. They are 30 miles south of us, and sometimes it seems like it might as well be 300. While the teachers I have encountered are filled with good ideas and positive energy, it seems that most of them are working with us lacking any support from their institutions. So when it comes time to try and implement any of the ideas that are percolating, it's pretty much a crap shoot as to when or if it happens.
Finally you have to realize that while I have been teaching people about technology for a long time now, up until now it has almost always been in an informal basis. Trying to build structure to what has previously been a casual, no-pressur kind of thing has been an eye opener. Not just in determining methodology, but discovering my own shortcomings.
Frustration, no doubt is par for the course. Hopefully I'll come out of today's meeting with some of my hindquarters left intact.
go and tell me all about it
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