A blog chronicling my move to and subsequent adventures in Boise, Idaho. Mainly for my friends and family, so I can keep them up to date with photos and stories of grad school, living on 3 acres with my dogs and horses, and being on my own for the first time, ever.
Well, I went and did it. I found a sweet new ride for the horses. I do not own a truck, so it is going to sit there and look pretty until I find the right truck. And don't even ask if I have ever driven a truck pulling a trailer! That would be a "No." I'll be learning how on the flat farm roads of Idaho.
The trailer needs a serious bath to get rid of the dust, but other than that, it's a beauty. 2007 3-horse, slant-load, aluminum skin on steel frame. The story is, I've been shopping horse trailers for a while, and when this one came along, and they accepted my offer, it was just too good to pass up, even if I didn't have a truck yet. The sellers were kind enough to deliver.
As for the rest of things, I'm chugging along with my research and work. Really enjoying what I am doing, but I don't have much spare time to speak of. So, hello to everyone! I'll be down in Humboldt the end of March to start figuring out my move back, so if you're there, maybe we can visit.
Maybe I ought to go look on craigslist, see if I can find that diesel long-bed automatic truck I am looking for...
Short post today. Just checking in and sharing my good news. The Pilot Proposal is done. I only learned of what I had to do on Tuesday, and fortunately I'd been working on reading the research for a week already, but still it was a major crunch to put it together in a week. Emailed it to my committee, and so far the response is very positive. So glad. Here's a link to it, for anyone who was curious or wanted to read it: Emily's Pilot Proposal.
Now on to contacting parents and lining up interviews. I'm definitely going to need every minute available to me, between now and the end of May. The good news is it is doable. I wasn't so sure a couple weeks ago. I can do this.
Snowed yesterday. The snow is gone today, but it's pretty cold out. The horses have decided that hanging out in the barn, eating, is a good thing!
As some of you may know, my master's thesis examined parent and student perceptions of differentiated instruction at my charter school site, Blue Heron Middle School. My questions in that study were: Why did the parents/students in my school choose alternative education? What, if anything, was different about the school? and What, if any, impacts do those differences have on their learning throughout the year?
With the increase in emphasis on school choice options for families, the reasons parents/students choose different schools, and the outcomes of those choices, continue to be important. I am currently in an internship at a charter school here in Idaho which emphasizes an Expeditionary learning model. This year they expanded and added over 100 new students. This offered an opportunity to explore why these families chose to enroll at this charter school. However, because the school has been in operation for ten years, it is fairly stable in its curriculum and day-to-day organization, which is a huge plus. These families came into a successful school instead of stepping onto a new boat leaving the dock, like with my school!
My new dissertation topic examines parents' perceptions of how their choice has impacted their child's growth. In my thesis, it was interesting to look at parent/guardian's own elementary school experiences, and how that influenced their perceptions of their child's schooling. This is a big piece of this study, as well. Do parent experiences influence the act of making a choice? Do parent experiences color their perceptions of what school should be like, and their satisfaction with their child's school?
For my pilot study, I'll be talking with five parents/guardians. In the dissertation, I'll be talking to about 30 parents/guardians, as well as the students them selves, to compare perceptions. It's great to have a large population to draw from, because the more interviews I do, the better.
I'm doing good on my time line, so far. Have my project approved, and am submitting the Institutional Review Board paperwork tomorrow. That's the university approval process to make sure my research is safe for human subjects!
Am deep in the review of literature for the study. Best part so far has been finding a researcher in Finland who has spent a lot of time looking at the influence of parents' experiences on their perceptions of education. So my literature review is taking on an international flavor!
Onward and upward, one handhold at a time. :)
(I promise pictures of animals and scenery next time. Sorry for the dense text.)
Here we go! Tomorrow the spring semester officially starts. Over the last two weeks I've been working on reading, doing prep for my dissertation, and started my internship hours at the charter school, but the pedal truly hits the metal tomorrow. As I'm mentioned to a few people, I feel like I'm standing at the bottom of a vertical cliff, looking up. Can't see the top because it's shrouded in clouds. No path. Just a lot of training and experience that I need to put to use, in order to carve new hand and foot-holds in this cliff. The title of this post refers to my friends and family who've been holding the tension on the rope this last year. Hang in with me, five more months! Belay On!
The steps along the way up this cliff are numerous, and I'm trying to do most of them this semester, which is perhaps a little nuts. But then I churned through 2+ years of coursework in a year, so I have a track record for being a little nuts. There's also that black walnut tree outside my window which had a LOT of nuts this year. Maybe it was contagious! At any rate, here's what I have left to do, in order to earn my doctorate and get really great table reservations under "Dr. Gibson"...
Independent Study: 6 units of credit for reading and internship courses, to finish out my credits/experiences.
Graduate Assistantship Research: 20 hours a week of work on research projects with my advisor.
Comprehensive Evaluation: AKA "Comps". This is a project which shows that I am able to conduct research and that I am ready to work on my dissertation. There are three options, but I'm choosing to do the Pilot Study option. This allows me to do a smaller research project, closely related to my dissertation, in order to test out some ideas and further develop my research design. Through a Pilot Study, I also do a literature review, which will feed into my dissertation. I do a proposal for my comps, get that approved, then do the pilot study and write up a "mini" research report.
Defense of Comps: I present my Pilot Study and defend its merits in front of a jury of my professors and peers. They ask me questions. If I am capable at this step, I...
Advance to Candidacy: I am a "legal" candidate for a doctorate in education, and I have free rein to work on my dissertation research.
Dissertation Proposal: I write up a proposal and time line of my dissertation. If approved by my committee, I...
Conduct Dissertation: research, data collection, write up, etc. I hope to collect data before I leave Boise in June. Then I have a year to write my dissertation.
Defend Dissertation: Similar to defending Comps, but even bigger, more public, and more important. If I am successful, I am allowed to graduate. I'm shooting for May, 2011, but I realize that things come up, so I'll be flexible.
I changed my topic for my dissertation. But until it's fully approved and my Pilot Study is completely designed, I'm keeping quiet. Oh, and I'm still doing the Grammar of Schooling study, just as a research project for my graduate assistantship instead of for my dissertation. Needed more flexibility of time for that study than my self-imposed timeline for my dissertation would allow.
Wish me luck, and check in with me from time to time. It means a lot to me. This is the hardest part, and I understand now more fully the desire to walk away from something really hard, rather than trying and risk failing! Coming back to face this semester was tough--you have no idea how close I was to just tossing in the towel and heading home. But I've come so far, so fast, and I can do this. I think I can, at least! I finally started thinking about all my students from the past, and imagining they were all watching me, holding my belay rope. What would I want them to see? What would I model? That lit a fire under me. :)
Here are my winter horses. While I was gone for two and a half weeks, my neighbor was feeding them. When I arrived back, he came to tell me that my hay was crap, that it was "washing" them. Which I understand now means it is running right through them. He then informed me that he'd been supplementing my crap grass hay with his alfalfa, and that I could continue to use the outside bales on his stack (which have been rained on and need to get used up, hint, hint). Hmmm.
My grass hay is the same hay they ate all last year. It's mixed grass hay, grown without pesticides, and it is weed free. Beautiful hay in my eye, but I have not had it analyzed, so it could be junk, I guess. There manure looks really good, as well.
Are they being "washed" out? I can't really tell, they look like my horses, and they are both covered in wooly mammoth fur! Horspoor recommended I post some pictures, so here they are... Would like to get anyone's feedback on how they look after almost two months of winter, and three months of eating the hay. Thank you!
Made it back to Idaho safe and sound. Arcy is thrilled to be back in her house. She spent half an hour checking everything out, making sure things were still here. lol. Then she ate a huge meal and crashed. She hadn't eaten much for the last two days with the traveling, so it was good to see her eat.
Everything here looks good. There is a (expected) slush pile of muck in the stalls and arena, and I'll be busy for the next few days getting things cleaned up. But the horses look GREAT and seemed pretty pleased to see me. All blinky eyed and smiling. I'm so relieved. Being gone for over 2.5 weeks, I was beginning to worry.
The roads were perfect- I'm glad I waited another day and a half. No ice or snow anywhere, but banked up on the sides. I was quite fortunate. It's going to take me a while to get acclimated here again. I already miss the riding facilities at RA--clearly I will not be riding my horses anytime soon, given the ice in my arena! Bummer. Was having so much fun on Belle and Maisa. I guess I do need to be focusing on my dissertation research and reading, but still...lol.
Happy New Year everyone, and best wishes for whatever your plans are for the coming months!
Okay, I got a second opinion. Arcy was pretty much on borrowed time when I got her down to Humboldt. Wasn't sure she was going to make it, with her frantic, manic episodes and panting attacks. Took her to see her old vet, Dr. Winnacot. He prescribed some non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, and some joint medicine. After a week, she's a new dog. Well, she's still an old dog, but she's got a lot of new life in her. Much less stressed, much happier. Doesn't seem to be in any pain. She goes for long walks, and her feet don't puff up in the evening. Yes, she's still semi-senile, and has extremely vacant moments, but I feel really, really fortunate that I followed my gut, brought her down, and gave her a chance at a few more months (relatively pain free!) at least.
Here's some pics of the Christmas Tree at HP's house. Note: Be sure to find a Noble Fir next year. Much easier to drench in ornamentation! In fact, we had about five garlands left over! Unheard of.
Too funny-- And I thought HP doing the lights in the past was excessive...I got to do the lights this year, and I had to run out and get five more strands! The tree just ate them up. lol.
I could not get my camera to do justice to the lights deep in the tree, and the brushy branches of the Douglas Fir hide lots of ornaments. Still a pretty tree, though, I think.
Been a busy, busy two weeks! Drove down Wednesday, Dec. 16th, in a 15.5 hour haul. I've had a blast, and can't believe I'm headed back to Idaho in a few short days. Perhaps one of the best outcomes of this trip was taking Arcy to her old vet, and getting her put on medication for pain from arthritis which was causing her anxiety and stress attacks (shivering, pacing, panicky eyes). After a week on the meds, she is much, much better. No puffy feet at night, no stress. Much, much better. Will be having a talk with the vet up in Idaho, for sure...
Been horsing around a lot, riding, cleaning, playing around with vaulting with some kid riders. Painting kitchen cupboards at my brother's house, taking Arcy for long walks, visiting former students and catching up with old friends. Went to my house and found the Christmas ornaments, and put a tree up. Need to remember to get a Noble Fir next year. Douglas Firs are quite difficult to ornament properly! Also trimmed the fruit trees at my house.
Unfortunately, with the rain and the light-speed nature of my days, I haven't taken the kind of pictures I wanted. Ah well. It's all in my head, right? Would have been nice to have a picture of me pitching over the side of Belle when I was showing the girls a vaulting move...
Here we are in California. Wow, the world is green! Everything is drenched in fog...
As for the trip, we left at 7:15 am, Boise Time. Arrived on the Pacific Coast 15.5 hours later. Trip was fairly uneventful... West of Vale, Oregon, the road was snow pack, beginning to break-up and freeze. Was like driving on a washboard, and I don't think I cracked 35 mph more than a couple times over about 80 miles of road. Passed a semi rig that didn't navigate a curve too well. I don't think he had put his chains on. Sideways on the shoulder. When I got past Burns, Or, and the pavement was clear, it was like a whole new world. 55 (the posted speed) never felt so fast!
The only other bit of trouble came west of Willow Creek, when the fog hit. Had to slow waaaaay down a couple times, just to even see the white line. When I was driving down 101 to the house I'm staying at, the fog played major tricks with my tired, tired eyes. Oncoming traffic lights made shadows of the signs on the side of the road dance and jump around at the side of the road, looking like herds of little deer waiting to jump across. I nearly came to a stop. Then laughed and realized I really needed to get off the road!
I'm off to my day. Will post pictures later. It's so green!!!!
So... I'm packing up and heading home Wednesday morning, as early as humanly possible. The trip back to Humboldt takes 12.5 hours, if I don't stop anywhere except for gas, in the summer time. I'm prepared to take two days, if need be, but I'm hoping for the best road and weather conditions. Car is winterized and ready, and I am, in the words of my youngest brother, an insanely cautious, careful driver.
As I head off for this "vacation" that marks the end of a long, long year, I wanted to say thank you to my friends and colleagues at BSU. I've so enjoyed getting to know you all. Special appreciation goes out to Randy, Kathleen, Sherry, Phil, and Steve, for all the projects, papers, and powerpoints we've worked on together! Having you all to bounce ideas off of helped me make it through a difficult year. Not sure if I would have made it without our camaraderie. ( I hear Sherry's voice saying, "My Peeps!") Thank you, as well, to my professors who kept throwing reading, projects, and great paper/research ideas at me, to keep me busy and distracted! I'll be back January 1st, ready to hit it hard. That's fair warning, dear dissertation committee of mine. :) You know who you are. I hope!
Winter has only just begun, and I'm convinced humans were not designed to live in this kind of climate! Yeesh. I have cold callouses on the tips of my fingers. Seriously! However, I do believe I've got systems worked out. The horses have a tank-de-icer that keeps their water just above freezing, which means they drink plenty of water. Colic can be a problem in cold weather, I've heard, if they aren't drinking water because it's so cold. They have plenty of hay, and beauteous inverted tire-feeders to keep the hay clean and fresh. I go out several times a day and rake the frozen manure in their stalls into piles so they aren't hurting themselves on the frozen golf-balls of manure. Giovanna is wearing her blanket, and Ber is wearing his thick hair.
My only concern at this point is hooves. They build up these ice balls in their feet, which makes them walk around like they're on stilts or high heels. I know, horses in the wild were fine. But these aren't wild horses, they're domesticated. And Ber has very thin soles. So he's hurting. After searching all the remedies, I tried spraying their cleaned-out hooves with WD-40. Miracle of miracles, it helps. The ice pops out rather than adhering to their soles like it's glued in. And it seems that spraying once or every other day works good. But Ber may need to go into boots or padded somethings, because he's walking like an old, old man. I now understand why he was so lame, for so long, this spring and summer--must have done some major solar bruising last winter when we moved up here. I'm prepared to give him the summer off to heal, once we move back to Humboldt.
As far as the rest of winter preparation goes, Jetta stays in the garage, but even then, morning start ups are tough. Once she gets going, though, it's all good. The house is warm enough, though the static electricity is impressive. I see arcs and sparks! Now that the snow and ice has settled in, I feel pretty isolated out here, but not in a bad way. It's very quiet.
OH, the copper pipes leading to my washing machine popped Wednesday night. I came home at 6 pm to a flood going across the washroom and down the stairs to the basement where all the electrical/furnace/etc are. Took me a while to find the water shut off. Since it was down in the basement, with the flood, I shut off the main breaker for the house before going down. I was so scared of getting electrocuted. I know it was probably a long shot, but better safe than sorry. Seen too many movies, I think. Anyway, got the water shut off, and cleaned up the water (swept it out the back door, turning the steps and deck into a sheet of ice, as the water froze almost as soon as it hit!) and mopped up with towels. The entry rug to the washroom is still sitting on the deck in an oddly contorted, frozen shape. Not sure if I'll get to use it again before May!
Plumber came out, and he was a nice fellow. He was able to repair one pipe, but the other needed a new cap, and soldering just wasn't working- everything was too wet and the cap was too old. So he came back the next morning and finished. But he let me turn the electricity back on, so at least there was heat! I'm leaving keys with the people watching my horses while I'm gone, so they can check on the house. Ugh. Give me fog and rain any day. :)
I better start my packing and such. See you next year!!!!
What do I say? How about "I'm Finished!!!!!" Gone is the mountain of work from this semester. How did that happen?
Coming up on a year since I embarked on this Boise Venture of Mine, and after three semesters' of work, I've finished my classes and am ready to begin the "Comprehensive Exam" and "Dissertation" portion of my work. It' s mind boggling.
For now, I'm finishing my last class meetings, and the presentations I need to do for each. On my list from now to the 17th is to get my house in order. The fallout from this intense semester is not pretty....on my living quarters or on my personal self. Need a hair cut, need to clean my boots and wash a pile of clothes, need to clean and vacuum... LOL. Want to start organizing and packing for my trip back home for Christmas. Make arrangements for horses' care, make sure bills are paid, get Jetta checked out for cold weather travel, etc.
Then, on the 18th, I drive home, weather and life permitting. Hey, how's that? I'm learning to be a bit more flexible with plans, you say? Who knew. I'm staying at my friend Kathy's house, as she and her husband are traveling a great deal this holiday season. I am grateful for their hospitality! Their house is conveniently located near Redwood Acres, so I can horse around to my heart's content. Can't wait to see how Top and Maisa have progressed. Going to hopefully do some vaulting with some kids, which will be so much fun. And I've heard there's a tack room that could use my manic "must do something physical" energy, perhaps...
One of my dissertation committee professors gave me an assignment for my two weeks at home: absolutely no "academic" work. No thinking about education, dissertations, research, reading, etc. I think I can do that... I already have a list of things to do, people to see, and experiences to have that would take a month, as usual. Though I'll be bringing my computer to upload pictures and, possibly, video, I don't plan on spending much time on the computer. There are walnut bags to sew, an orange cake to make, a tree to decorate, presents to wrap, time to spend with people and animals I miss, Christmas dinner to prepare, walks to go on, movies to watch, and chairs to sink into and just sit...and...be....still.
It snowed last night, leaving over an inch on the ground. This house sits right on a busy "commuter" road that gets a lot of traffic from 7-8 am, and then 5-6 pm. Must say folks are driving slowly and quietly this morning! Oh, except for that truck pulling a trailer that just blasted by...lol.
Horses have been scooping and rolling in the snow this morning. Berhwood is a wooly yak who seems born to live in the snow. Giovanna appreciates wearing her blanket, since she has a more modest hair covering than he. The de-icer is working, and they have plenty of hay, so life is good, horse wise! The bitter cold has been hard on Arcy, but she loved the snow this morning and frisked around a bit. Every day's a good day.
My office looks like its been hit by a hurricane. Stacks of books (now in loose mounds, thanks to Arcy's insistence in walking through and over the stacks, instead of around them, when she needs to find me), piles of articles and papers and notes... So you won't worry, thought I'd let you know I won't be blogging until after Dec. 14. In case you need evidence for this lack of communication, here's what I'll be doing for the next five weeks, minus the weekly reading, which I can't bear to list....Suffice it to say there are chapters and articles each week for 4 of my classes.
Holy Cow. Okay, I can do this. Better get back to work...
See you Soon! (Photos are of my peanut gallery, "cheering" me on!)
11-16, Advanced draft of Pilot Study on Jerome due oops, kind of missed this one... 11-17, DuFour book presentation/4-pg paper due DONE 11-18, Scholarly Paper -25 pg. (pre-service teacher ideas about teaching) DONE
TG Break (Yay, a week of work time uninterrupted by classes!) Done and Gone
11-30, Pilot Study on Jerome (25 pg.) Done!!WOW!!! 12-1, Article Evaluation for Quantitative methods class Teacher Cancelled! 12-2, Reading Notebook DueDONE
12-7, Research Proposal (Dissertation) DONE 12-7 Powerpoint presentation on Jerome Study DONE 12-7, Final Draft Jerome study due Done!! 12-8, CAMP Study PowerPoint presentation (DONE) andProspectus Due 12-9, Book Review and Poster Presentation Due (Done with book review,just need to do poster)
In case you've wondered, yes, I'm still living and breathing, here in Idaho. :) What on earth possessed me to take five classes, on top of my Graduate assistantship and dissertation preparation? Good golly. Oh, I remember--I'm DONE with classes in SIX weeks! That's why. Okay. I think I'll make it. But I'm going to need some serious decompression time after Dec. 14th when I give my last presentation... Fair warning to my friends and family back home!
I'm going a tad stir-crazy with all this mental work, but it's what I signed up for, so I can't complain. Wish there was a house to go paint! Arcy is doing well.
She loves to go for her walks, and tries to con me out of another can of food at night. Horses are doing well. They are beginning to look like wooly Yaks.
Good thing, because it snowed last week! It's below freezing at night now, and day temps get up into the 50's.
The trees are almost bare of leaves. My walnut tree, besides shedding its leaves and opening up my office window to light, dropped over five 5-gallon buckets of walnuts!
It's been a year since I came up here and found this house to rent. Regardless of what one of my friends thinks, I have only been here for 10 months, not two years. But some days it feels like two years!
Here's some pictures from the last month or so. I'm way behind in posting, but I'll make up for it over the winter holiday. Stuart came and visited a couple weeks ago, so I had some motivation to take some animal pictures. :)
In 12 weeks, I will be finished with my required courses for my doctorate.It seems rather insane, right now, to have taken on the five classes plus everything else, but the end result will be worth it.Having to say goodbye to Georgia took the wind out of my sails for a few weeks. I feel like I'm starting to rally back, now.Ber's soundness is steadily improving, Gio's eyes are on the mend, and Arcy has adjusted to being a single dog very well.Strange thing is, she has taken on some of Georgia's characteristics.If I'm stressed or feeling bad, she comes over to be petted, and her head is hot.When we go for walks, she has Georgia's jaunty head carriage, and likes to dart suddenly to the side of the trail to smell something, nearly pulling me off my feet.And she loves to be all snuggled up in blankets now, way more than she used to, and wears her coat all the time. Did I mention it has been freezing at night?
Oh, check out the hay delivery!Quite a bit different than December of 2008...Nice to know the horses are set.
Sept. 09
Dec. 08
Please know that if I am out of touch, or don't check in, I'm just keeping my nose to the grindstone and doing what's on my voluminous list.Though I may not reach out and connect with you, if you get in touch with me I will definitely respond.Come December 15, I will come up for air and rejoin the world.lol. Arcy says as long as she has a cozy place to sleep, she's fine. Oh, and lots of walks. And good food. And a new sweater to wear in the house....
For those who are interested, here are my classes and the rest of what I'm working on:
School Improvement Fieldwork.I am spending 80 hours working at a charter school that has an Expeditionary Learning focus. Helping them with their special education program.My end goal is to start up an expeditionary learning type school in a economically disadvantaged area.Expeditionary learning grew out of the Outward Bound program. The motto is "We are crew, not passengers."Active learning, out in the community, real projects, deep, meaningful, engaging.
Curriculum and Instruction.History of curriculum organization, assessing programs, designing curriculum...Getting some good tools out of the class, reading some important works that I had never been exposed to.Doing a curriculum research project on a school. We get to go on an overnight field trip October 18-19 to Jerome, Idaho to do research on a school.Pretty cool.My brother Stuart is coming to stay with the animals.Thank you, Stuart!(He's coming to visit anyway, but timed his visit for this.)
Qualitative Methods.How to conduct research, how to evaluate research.Qualitative methods include interviewing, observations, field notes, analyzing documents....The Jerome project from the class above also is a project in this class, since the methods we are using are qualitative. Nice.I am also working on designing my pilot study for my dissertation as the final project for this class.I absolutely LOVE this course, the readings, the work.Really meaningful for me.Absolutely tons of reading for this class.
Quantitative Methods.How to conduct research, how to evaluate research.Quantitative methods include surveys, tests, and other numerical measurements of things.Statistics are used to evaluate results.The typical cause and effect kind of studies, as well as correlation.It is good information, but hard to relate to my dissertation.Our big project is designing a study, so I'm designing a project on academic self-efficacy of CAMP (College Assistance Migrant Program) students during their first year of college. Academic self-efficacy is a fairly good predictor of academic success in college, migrant/agricultural workers tend to have fairly low academic self-efficacy, yet students who participate in CAMP have the highest graduation rate at Boise State.So, I want to see what's going on with their academic self-efficacy. This study will be conducted next year, because I need to test students at the beginning of their first year.
Pedagogical Practices in Education.Basically, how are teachers taught to teach, how do teachers develop over their careers, what kind of professional development works, etc.Interesting class.Will be more relevant when/if I teach at the college level, so I'll ferret the information away.We need to do research project for this class. I am investigating RTI (Response to Intervention) as an alternative to special education referral. This is a project I am doing for the charter school, so it's nice to have it count for this class, too.Tons of reading for this class!!
But wait, there's more.
I am applying for a highly competitive PEO scholarship. The application is due on Halloween!Incredibly rigorous application, but it is really pushing me to think about what I am doing here, and why, which is really good.Wish me luck.It is based on academic excellence and performance and having worthy goals.This scholarship would allow me to work on my dissertation without having to have an outside job or work as a graduate assistant.
For my graduate assistantship, I help teach a Foundations in Education class, I am working on the second McNair paper, and I am designing the CAMP study (which also counts for Quantitative class, woohoo), among other miscellaneous things. The first McNair paper has been sent off for publication review.
For my dissertation, I am designing a pilot study, working on IRB paperwork (basically presenting my dissertation idea and explaining how I won't hurt any of my human subjects during the study), and researching/working on literature review.
Berhwood
Posts
