3/1/10

Reading my textbook from my EDCS 768: Seminar in Curriculum & Instruction Theories, and I come across this:

While girls are more likely to attribute their success to luck, boys are more likely to attribute their success to ability. As a result of these different causal attributions, boys are more likely to feel mastery and control over academic challenges, while girls are more likely to feel powerless in academic situations. (P. Campbell and J. Wirtenberg, "How Books Influence Children: What the Research Shows," Interracial Books for Children Bulletin 11, no.6 (1980):3-6.)

Reflecting on my thoughts and how I'm currently pursuing this degree, I find this oddly true. I'm not terribly smart, I think I just have perseverance and luck. So yes, I naturally think that I'm a bit powerless in academic situations...but perhaps that's just my personality too? Who knows?

2/7/10

I made the last minute decision to go to Denver, Colorado to attend the National Association of Bilingual Education (NABE) conference. It was the greatest decision I have ever made so far in regards to a completed dissertation. The conference was filled with information that helped me get a better understanding of the bilingual education field. Not only that, I was able to meet the people who conducted major studies that I have been reading about. You're Dr. Gomez from Gomez and Gomez?

Apparently I have had the wrong understanding about bilingual education. "One-way" and "Two-way" refers to the population being educated. That is, in a "one-way" dual language program, all the students speak the same native language and are learning to become bilingual/biliterate. In a "two-way" dual language program, half the students speak one language, and the other half, a different language, and the goal is to become bilingual/biliterate in both those languages.

It has been shown, through research, that in the long haul, students in a two-way dual language program out perform students in a monolingual program.

Furthermore, I was aware of the 90:10 model and the 50:50 model, but had the wrong understanding about the 90:10 model. I thought that if the student's first language was English and they wanted to learn and become bilingual/biliterate in Japanese and English, then in the 90:10 model the student would have 90% Japanese and 10% English classes. However, the research shows that literacy knowledge and skills transfers from L1 to L2, and further stating that a strong understanding in their L1 will contribute to L2 success. Which means that in a 90:10 model, an English dominant student would start with 90% English and 10% Japanese!

There were approximately 1,600+ people in attendance, and I was surprised by the support people are willing to give. I introduced myself and said I was "new to the field" and they were more than happy to keep in touch and answer any questions that I may have regarding dual language education. Sweet!

1/28/10

So, here I am staring at the same paper for the past 5 days. It's the two page proposal that I wrote to my advisor with all his comments. I'm suppose to revise, edit, and resubmit...ASAP. Sounds unthreatening since it's only TWO pages, but that hasn't been the case.

What I think I'm having an issue is with framing the whole situation. I tend to look into all the political debate other bilingual education and then start thinking to myself, my research isn't remotely related to public education... Then I start to realize that every article defines "bilingual education", "immersion education", "dual language education", etc. all differently so it's a pain to figure out what they are actually referring to.

Anyway, here are some preliminary research questions.

What are the main features in program models that deliver English and Japanese bilingual education in Japan?

What academic achievement differences exist between program models in the early dual language phase of language acquisition of English and Japanese in Japan?

1/12/10

It is a new year with many new beginning! This is it! Or so I would like to think.

So, what happened between then and now? Well, I was awarded a scholarship. The scholarship is for a year study in Japan along with $45,000! WoW! So, how am I going to use all that money? Well, I'm thinking of using it as an opportunity to collect data for my dissertation. Grand idea.

Grand idea and all, but it entails loads of work. What kind of work?

*Finish last course work EDCS 768

*Field Study

*Gather 4 more professors for my committee

*Write my dissertation proposal

*Get my proposal approved by my committee

*IRB approval

*Comprehensive Exam

...all before I leave to Japan in August. Possible? Well, it's not a matter of possible. It's a matter of it MUST be done.

So, here is my preliminary research question.

What are the perceptions of parents and students towards whether or not the program goals and expectations are being met at English-Japanese two-way immersion schools in Japan?

Reasonable? Understandable? I know it needs work, but it's a start!

11/9/09

Possibility of an advisor!? Nothing set in stone, yet. However, I might have just found an advisor! How did this come about? Well, I took a quantitative research method class from him this past spring. He is an awesome teacher that helped me to understand quantitative research methods even though I probably won't be using quantitative research methods. I ran the idea by him that I might have the opportunity to teach a summer school class at a local elementary school, and I took up the offer after taking his advice. Furthermore, I asked him to write a recommendation letter for the scholarship that I'm applying for and he gladly agreed!

Although he is not a Curriculum and Instruction professor, as long as I clear it with the chair of my department, it's a good to go! I'm very excited as this is the next big step in the whole doctoral process. *crosses fingers*

10/30/09

Ok, so I haven't been keeping up with writing in this blog. *bad* I shouldn't make excuses, but I'm going go to make them anyways. This semester I registered for three classes, EDCS 653B - Math in Schools: Number and Operation, EDCS 767 - Issues and Trends in Curriculum, and EDCS 769 - Curriculum Evaluation. On top of taking three classes, I volunteer my time in a 1st grade classroom during the days. So yes, my days have been busy. Not to mention, I'm applying for a scholarship. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy every part of it.

Alright, that being said and done. I just wanted to say that I'm at the right place at the right time. That just seems to be how my life unfolds. More on that hopefully sooner than later. For now, I would like to add a few links that were suggested to me.

Evernote - Use Evernote to save your ideas, things you see, and things you like. Then find them all on any computer or phone. For free.

Mind Meister - MindMeister brings the concept of mind mapping to the web, using its facilities for real-time collaboration to allow truly global brainstorming sessions. Users can create, manage and share mind maps online and access them anytime, from anywhere.

Posterous - Posterous is the dead simple way to put anything online using email

I'm still testing these out, but so far so good.

6/21/09

Happy Father's Day!

Ok. So the Spring 2009 semester ended and I successfully completed my Educational Statistics class...somehow. I would like to believe that I have gained enough knowledge to understand the basic in educational statistics, but of course far from being an expert in the field.

I have also completed my student teaching requirements for my state DOE teaching licensure program. After the completion of my application, I'll officially be a licensed teacher in the state of Hawaii. Yay!

Now on to summer school. Summer school for the kids, and summer school for me. When I say kids, I'm referring to the 27 second graders in my class. Yes, I'm teaching a post 2nd grade class for four weeks. Yikes! And summer school for me...a Qualitative Research class and a Mixed Methods class. It's taught by the same professor and the final assignment is the dissertation proposal. Hey, that's great and all...but WHAT IS MY TOPIC!?!?!

I'm STILL juggling different topics. What ever happened to the "I'll have my dissertation topic decided by December 2008"? Oh wells. So here are the ideas that are bouncing around in my head:

* Humor and Learning
* International Schools
* Finland Method
* Karate Training and transfer of skill

Humor is a good topic to do an exploratory case study. There's some literature on humor in the classroom and some empirical studies, but nothing major. I was thinking to do a case study on a teacher who uses humor in the classroom and see what comes up. Maybe even do a case study on my karate sensei? I don't know.

I was thinking International School because that's the whole idea behind me getting my doctorate. I was to eventually create an international school of some sort, so why not do research on it?

That's what got me into the whole Finland Method. Finland is doing something right. I'd like to know what it is. So I was thinking of just looking at the math curriculum in Finland. That'd require me to go to Finland, which is interesting, but would it be feasible?

Finally since I'm a black belt in karate, my classmate, colleague?, suggested I'd do something related to that. Which then turned into an idea of "Are students able to transfer martial arts training knowledge into an education setting?" This would be a case study as well and I would probably interview students and see what they have to say about it.

So...which topic? I better decide PRONTO. The sooner I decide, the sooner I can focus my readings and layout this dissertation proposal.

On a side not, I got a Kindle. It's great. I wish they'd put all my textbooks on Kindle. Then I wouldn't have to lug around 10 pounds of paper~