I haven't written in awhile, but really there hasn't been all that much to write about this week.
It has been very busy for me, now that I am going to Draktsho School twice a week in addition to my full-load at RTC and extracurricular activities such as soccer and theater. The Dean also asked if I would serve on the examination committee, which I felt I couldn't really say "no" but I probably should have because with midterms coming up – and an incredibly bureaucratic and formalized exam procedure here – it means a lot of extra work. I also need to have midterms written for my own classes, which are due this Thursday. As it turned out, I had two article drafts due by last Friday: one article that is near-publication on disability and religion for Disability and Society, and another article that needed heavy revision on Bhutanese education for Contemporary Issues in Comparative Education.
I'm also thinking about trying to spread out my research sites. Right now I'm at Draktsho Vocational School two afternoons a week, which was fine because there are several Wheaton College exchange students there for an internship and I became their de-facto advisor for that experience. However, Draktsho is a "special school" and I'm not really finding the inclusion and the integration that I am looking for to study. Draktsho is giving me some insight into disability and special needs curriculum, but I am searching for classrooms that highlight the paradoxes, difficulties, and balances between the contrasting objectives of modern schooling between inclusion and meritocracy. How do schools educate a diverse group of learners? What does inclusion mean in the Bhutanese context? Draktsho is certainly not a site of inclusive learning – in the Western sense – but, like I said, it does offer something to this project. The program coordinator for Draktsho gave me the name of the Principal of a regular school do the road from Draktsho that does feature some inclusive classrooms. What I'm thinking is that I may go to Draktsho once a week and another school once a week. At least that's what I can do this semester. Next semester, I am going to really push hard to fix my teaching schedule so that I can spend an entire day at a school.
This weekend was kind of a bust, since I came down with the flu on Saturday. Today I have been doing work off-and-on while also resting. Emily leaves Minneapolis on Tuesday, flies to Delhi for a few days, and then arrives in Bhutan on Friday. Hopefully I can be better by then!
It has been very busy for me, now that I am going to Draktsho School twice a week in addition to my full-load at RTC and extracurricular activities such as soccer and theater. The Dean also asked if I would serve on the examination committee, which I felt I couldn't really say "no" but I probably should have because with midterms coming up – and an incredibly bureaucratic and formalized exam procedure here – it means a lot of extra work. I also need to have midterms written for my own classes, which are due this Thursday. As it turned out, I had two article drafts due by last Friday: one article that is near-publication on disability and religion for Disability and Society, and another article that needed heavy revision on Bhutanese education for Contemporary Issues in Comparative Education.
I'm also thinking about trying to spread out my research sites. Right now I'm at Draktsho Vocational School two afternoons a week, which was fine because there are several Wheaton College exchange students there for an internship and I became their de-facto advisor for that experience. However, Draktsho is a "special school" and I'm not really finding the inclusion and the integration that I am looking for to study. Draktsho is giving me some insight into disability and special needs curriculum, but I am searching for classrooms that highlight the paradoxes, difficulties, and balances between the contrasting objectives of modern schooling between inclusion and meritocracy. How do schools educate a diverse group of learners? What does inclusion mean in the Bhutanese context? Draktsho is certainly not a site of inclusive learning – in the Western sense – but, like I said, it does offer something to this project. The program coordinator for Draktsho gave me the name of the Principal of a regular school do the road from Draktsho that does feature some inclusive classrooms. What I'm thinking is that I may go to Draktsho once a week and another school once a week. At least that's what I can do this semester. Next semester, I am going to really push hard to fix my teaching schedule so that I can spend an entire day at a school.
This weekend was kind of a bust, since I came down with the flu on Saturday. Today I have been doing work off-and-on while also resting. Emily leaves Minneapolis on Tuesday, flies to Delhi for a few days, and then arrives in Bhutan on Friday. Hopefully I can be better by then!
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