Ode to Joy: A metaphor for my Harvard experience (APA style)

What I Learned in School Today

We have been talking about attention and perception in my Research and Evidence: Framing Scientific Research for Public Understanding class. We have spent some time discussing and reading research about what people know, believe, preceive and how they understand (or do not understand) what they have experienced based on their level of attention.
Of course, those of us who are married or who have children, know exactly how that works - except for me! We all know that Bob hangs on every word I say. That is why he looks so happy when we talk on the computer at night - it has nothing to do with being "free at last".
Watch the Charlie Chaplin video and the Ames' Window video using the link below.

http://www.richardgregory.org/experiments/index.htm

The Rest of the Route to Class

Weeks ago I promised I would show you the rest of the trek to class but I have been a little busy reading a few thousand pages of journal articles and books by Harvard professors for Harvard classes and published by Harvard University Press -- an arrangement that I happen to like.

Enough whining. This is the street that is the hub for the Graduate School of Education. It is called, with good reason, Appian Way. Across the street is the Common where George Washington organized the troops during the Revolutionary War. There is a famous tree there -- I am sure you see it.




This is Longfellow Hall where I take Statistics. The main lecture hall is huge, old, but very beautiful. There are 200 students in that class. The professor used to be a first grade teacher and has a baseball cap for every statistics symbol.




This is Gutman Library, one of over 80 libraries on campus. The staff here is phenomenal from the cute young man who checks our ID's each time we enter the building (and doesn't laugh at the pictures) to the reference librarians who know everything about everything (almost as much as Andy) and who are extremely patient with those of us who don't!

The red brick building below is Larson Hall where all of the rest of my classses meet.
My Sunday night study group. Lori, Sarah and Sawyer.


Guess who knows more than I do?



People who are coming to talk to me in October:

Al Gore is coming to celebrate Harvard's initiative to erase our carbon footprint by the year 2010.

And Margaret Spellings, Secretary of Education is coming this week.

Route to Class

The walk to class takes about 10 minutes from my apartment. I have made a weak attempt to take you with me, but I was not willing to do the geeky tourist thing, (hence the finger)- so you will just have to come see it in person to appreciate the true beauty of this place. (Also, you cannot hear the thousands of languages being spoken along the way.That in itself is incredible)
This is the path that goes under the Design Building across from my apartment. The tree at the top of the steps has been gradually changing colors. You cannot see it but the leaves are the loveliest red.

Above: This is the Pusey Library just inside the gates to the "Yahd". I personally believe that this is a misspelling and some wealthy Busey once donated their books. Below you will see the white steeple of The Memorial Church I mentioned in the last post. It is about 2 blocks from my tiny apartment.
Still in Harvard Yard. The freshmen live in the beautiful old dorms around the Yard. It was much quieter before they arrived.

One of the many gates that lead out onto Harvard Square.

Below is Harvard Square where you could give away a fortune to people who just need a little change and we won't mention how much I have given away to subway musicians on the outside chance that they are conducting another study with an infamous musician.

There is more, but I have homework to do. Coming soon: The Grad School of Education Buildings and the site where George Washington gathered troops for the Revolutionary War.

Classes have begun and I am never going to finish reading!

This has been an incredible week. Classes began on Monday with our core class (taught by the Mind Brain and Education faculty and lasting all year). Just sitting in that class made me realize that this was what I was created to do and how nice that I get to do it now - because it is going to kill me! The content is amazing, the professors are beyond belief (Google Kurt Fischer, Howard Gardner and David Rose). Just listening to them talk is worth the $5 million dollars that it is costing for me to be here. And that is just the first class!
It took hours of agonizing and discussion for me to narrow 12 classes I wanted to take down to 4 classes. They are as follows:

Cognitive Development, Education, and the Brain

Research and Evidence: Framing Scientific Research for Public Understanding

Empirical Methods:Introduction to Statistics for Research

Students with Learning Disabilities in Education (taught by a man who was responsible for writing much of the current legislation for students with disabilities)

My new mantra for the school year.....That that does not kill us makes us stronger!

Masters in Electronics

OK - I cannot function in today's world - something my family and many others have known for a long time.

Time it took for me to get Internet connected: 14 hours (This one is not my fault...the cable people recorded the wrong modem number in their files.)

Time it took me to get cable connected to the television (and all I wanted was to be able to watch the news): 16 hours and 5 phone calls. You may not know this, but if the cable wall outlet is plugged into the TV/VCR outlet on the back of the cable box, and the splitter cable is plugged into the "signal in" outlet....the cable signal does not get to the television!

Time it has taken to get Airport Express working with the cable and the computer: INFINITY
FYI: While my brand new Airport Express is under warranty until next fall, I am not entitled to technical support! Strike 1 for Apple.

The good news is that I still get to set up my printer, wireless keyboard, mouse and DVD player!

I am coming back to Asheville and enrolling in AB Tech!

Here I Am

My Living Room/Bedroom/Breakfast Room/Study

(Sorry about the light)



The Hall

My Tiny Bathroom

I Left My Brand New Kitchen for This?

Well, I made it! Tuesday morning at the airport was rough! Leaving Bob was dreadful, then I had to pay almost a year's tuition to check 3 bags, but Delta must have needed to buy a new plane because they also made me pay for an overweight bag! (FYI to the Pattersons, the Hemphills and the Parsons - if you should read this - I did not get all of my shoes in my bags!) The good news is that the parent of two of my former students was on my flight to Cincinnati. I heard someone call my name and it was Steve Porach. How nice to have a member of one of my special school and OM families on the plane with me!

When I got to Boson, I ditched my 300 pounds of luggage and came to see my new apartment for the very first time. The entire room could fit inside our little living room in Asheville, but it is cute and it is only home for 9 months. The good news is that it is a block away from Harvard Yard in a nice area.

And there are really nice people here! A friendly man watched me lug 2 heavy bags up three flights of stairs and when I came down for the third (and worst), he held the inner door open for me! Also the nice cable guy almost laughed at one of my jokes once we figured out that we were both speaking English - he just speaks it really quickly with a Boston accent. Finally, the nice young man who delivered my bed, grabbed my tip and said, "Have a nice day" before he ran down the steps leaving me to set up the frame with no directions!

I could not have managed nearly so well if not for the generous help from Amy and Sam. They have both been patient and gracious in helping me get around, lug stuff up three flights (Sam even bled a little) and find my way around this convoluted place. I am going to try to be an adult and figure the city out on my own, but I am not sure I could have managed without their help.

Bob is in Virginia right now setting a world record for jumping out of an airplane with 99 other crazy people. He may get blown out of the competition by Hannah as she moves up the eastern coastline. I just hope that the world record is all that he breaks up there! These people are pretty snooty about who they will let play their little games and they have already moved Bob to a more important position in the big formation.

Final thought: Today I was walking through Harvard Yard going in search of my iced tea (I don't have to say, "unsweetened" up here!) and I was thinking about how beautiful everyone seems to be and how self-assured- even the very ancient people just look very comfortable in their own skins with their special hats and style. In the midst of these musings, I heard a big thunk and this man in his late 30's walked into a silver Explorer and banged his bag of books against the car because the car did not stop for him when he thought it should. Evidently the slamming of the bag against the car was not adequate punishment for the poor driver - as the man proceeded to scream, "Whut the &@*$#&$^@# is the maddah with you, you (*#(@#&*$) *#*#(@%&?!?! I realized that the beauty may just be a facade!