Nerd

As I prepare to travel to Bangkok, Thailand at the end of this week (just 2 more teaching days to go) I cannot help but find myself in super-nerd mode!

These past few days I have been perusing the NESA website (www.nesacenter.org) and reading about all the phenomenal workshops that are being offered during the four day conference. I've even pre-selected which workshops I want to attend and have made a little schedule for myself of top choices and alternate options should a certain workshop be filled. I feel like I'm going back to college again! The titles of some of the workshops I plan on attending are:

• "Trouble in Paradise: Counselling Vulnerable Adolescents"
• "Rise to the Challenge: Teaching Young People to Write"
• "Breaking Down the Borders of the Standard Classroom with Technology"
• "Raising Cain: Protecting Emotional Lives of Boys"
• "Quirky Kids: Understanding and Supporting the Unique Student"
• "Does Gender Matter? The Neuro-biology of Gender Differences in Learning"
• "The Creating of Arabish: Technology in the Arab World"

My mind is just exploding with joy and excitement right now. I can't wait to be a student again and take notes inspired by the thoughts, research and philosophies of all these experts in their fields. I have so much to learn. Not just in my professional field of "Education" but about life in general. It is almost overwhelming to think about all the vast and different kinds of knowledge that exist out there in the universe. I cannot help but crave it all! 

Not only am I looking forward to this conference, but this thirst for knowledge is also making me look forward to expanding my knowledge and learning in the months and years to come! Right now I have just finished entering grades and comments for report cards and prior to composing this blog post I was "procrastinating" by perusing Columbia University's Teacher's College Graduate Programs! I can't wait to go to Grad School. I can't wait to challenge myself on that superior intellectual level and gain greater and deeper insight into the areas of education that interest me. 

Unfortunately, my academic interests are quite divided...

On the one hand I am interested in pursuing a degree in Urban Education (with an emphasis on Social, Emotional and Behavioral "SEB" Programs). 

That is really and truly where my heart lies....urban education is what inspired me to become a teacher in the first place and it is what empowered me as a young novice fresh out of college to continue to work hard and strive to make a difference in the world. 

Yet, I also love teaching in International Schools and would love to pursue a degree in International Education or Comparative Education. 

In addition, I've just read about a phenomenal program that Columbia's Teacher's College offers called "Education and Philosophy". It aims to study (or rather question) the basic building blocks of Education and determine what true learning, teaching and education really is. It sounds fascinating.....

What to do? What to do....

I still have a lot more research to do about programs, degrees and institutions before I make any final decisions. I need to make some decisions about where I see myself professionally in the next five to ten years. There are a great many factors I must take into consideration before following my dreams and academic pursuits (like the question of whether or not I will ever return to the United States to teach) Still....it's a "good" problem to have. 

I love wasting my time day dreaming about graduate course work and sitting in lecture halls and pouring over journal articles and textbooks. I was never so happy in my life than I was during my four undergraduate years in college. They were truly the most liberating years of my life. As an undergraduate you have little responsibility and little accountability to the world at large, yet you dream of being in it and making a difference. For many, college represents a a short window of time in one's life to be wholly selfish and pursue personal intellectual and creative interests. I realize that that sort of freedom is a gift and is an opportunity that only the few and the fortunate are able to take advantage of. Unfortunately we live in a world where not every young girl with ambition or a dream can obtain the means or resources or time to go to university. Perhaps it is my understanding of that reality that allowed me to embrace that time of my life so fully. 

I've worked hard my entire life to achieve the level of success I am now experiencing. The harder I work, the more privileges I receive. Nothing in this life comes for free. Through education (my own and the education of others), I have been able to make my dreams come true in ways I never though imaginable. 

Railei Beach.....where I'll be travelling to after the conference in Bangkok