Exciting Times

Well, this morning has been a good one! But I guess it starts back about a week ago in one of my classes. I had to give a group presentation on a chapter that we read about Reading and Educational Psychology. During a class break my professor asked our group if any of us had a strong interest in reading or if we had any background in literacy (well, obviously I know how to read ;)--that wasn't what she was referring to) and I told her about my love of the subject, especially in dealing with motivation in learning and how it relates to literature and reading. After class she walked past me as she looked at her phone and said "ummmmm....". Ummm...yes? I didn't know if she was addressing me or if she was reacting to something on her phone, but turns out she meant me. She then went on to tell me about a big, federally funded, 5-year study dealing with a reading intervention program that she and her husband had been asked to take on in relation to the motivation component, and asked if I would be interested in helping out. Um, YES! I told her "100% yes." That is pretty much exactly what I am interested in studying and doing!! She kept saying that I didn't have to do it if I didn't want to, but she just thought it might be something I'd be interested in learning from (the experience). I was so super excited. Dr. Anderman and her husband are two of the top people out there in the field of motivation in ed. pysch., so the chance to get to work with them in any capacity, or to just sort of sit in the room and listen will be a great learning experience. So yes, exciting.

Well this morning we had our first meeting. Eric Anderman is the Director of the Edu. Policy and Leadership Department at OSU, so he is a busy man and I am not sure if I would have had a chance to get to know him as well for a while at least, due to the fact that he is teaching much less with his new administrative responsibilities. Anyways. So the three of us met this morning and just brainstormed a little about what important things needed to go into the instrument (survey type thing) that we'd be creating and administering to gather data from these students. I mostly just sat, listened, and took notes, but Lynley (who I have had a few classes from) was super conscious of making sure that I was up to speed on everything and that I was involved. It was sort of fun to sit there around the table and pass around different instruments that have already been created, and to just discuss what elements we thought important to include. Obviously I feel like I have just a little to contribute, but this is my passion and it is something that I have thought a lot about--I just don't have the background in these measures, which is, I guess, why I am here! ha. Duh. Sooooo....it was a neat meeting and I am excited to get to be a part of this, even if in just a little way. At one point, they were discussing a certain instrument/measure that they wanted to possibly look at and pull from, and after looking it up it turns out that it was one I had already mentioned to them, but didn't remember the name of. I have a few different versions of it from a project I did last quarter, so I am going to look into those for a few more ideas on questions we want to add in to our survey.

Aaannywho. That was fun, and made me happy. But what actually made me even happier was just the kindness shown to me by Lynley after we stopped talking about the project. As things wrapped up she asked me if this was really something that I was interested in, and I told her it was right up my alley and it was exactly what I wanted to start out doing. She then said, "if that is the case, you may want to think about switching over to Ed. Psych (they currently have me listed as Ed. Philosophy, though when I applied they were listed as a combined program, and not separate) and getting an advisor in our cognate." I had just recently talked with my advisor about that same thing, and he suggested I talk with Lynley about switching over. Thing is, I felt a little nervous about it, because switching advisors is basically asking someone to take on a ton more work for the next 3 years. When you are accepted into a PhD program they generally accept students whose interests align with those of one or more of the faculty's, and then that faculty member is assigned to be their advisor. A student's advisor is the one who chairs their PhD dissertation committee (a LOT of work), mentors them throughout their entire program, works witht them on projects, and serves as a go-to person throughout the entirety of their program and dissertation, among many other things. During the admission process each faculty member decides how many new students they can take on, and students are admitted--in large part--on whether or not they "fit" with any faculty members. This is, as I understand it, largely why so few students are accepted at the PhD level-- it is just a matter of man-power from the faculty members. So. :) I guess I felt a bit nervous about having to ask someone to let me switch over to them because I felt like it would be asking them to take on a huge amount of extra responsibility and work. But as Lynley and Eric and I talked, they both sort of guided me through some classes they thought I would like to take next quarter, encouraged me to attend a specific conference coming up in April (in Denver...if I do go, you may have to take a trip up!), and basically just acted super interested in ME, in my interests, and in helping me out with making the process to switch over to Ed. Psych. I am still going to have a "minor" of sorts in philosophy, but I am going to focus more in psychology, as I had always planned on doing. Lynley was just so kind, and mentioned that either she or Eric would likely end up being my new advisor, if that is what I wanted. They also offered to let me join a research group they have this quarter that meets once a week to work on papers, collaborate on conference projects, research, and so forth. I am super excited! They were both just so gracious and inviting. It is funny that I had been feeling a bit intimidated by them, and was slightly nervous going into the meeting this morning. But yeah....no need whatsoever. Sooooo, the long and short of all of this is that I am set up to take a bunch of really useful and interesting courses next quarter, will be able to collaborate more with other students and get more experience in research here, and am going to get to keep working with two great minds in my field at a much closer level on a subject I am keenly interested in. Lynley seemed genuinely pleased to be inviting me into their little research group, and genuinely pleased that I was so excited to accept. So yes. Sorry for the long post, but I just wanted to get this down a bit for myself. :) Selfish, I know. haha. Love you all though. Other than that, life has been good. Classes were cancelled yesterday due to the snow, so some friends and I out went out to a movie, and then I came back and hung out with another friend and watched American Idol and played games. :) (So productive, I know. It was though! Just a different sort of productive.) Dev & Amber-- do you remember that old magic card trick that Dad or Kevin taught us ages ago that sort of always works out because of the mathmatics behind it? The one where you have three rows of 7, and then in the end flip over their card? Anywho, my friend and actually sat down and tried to figure out how it worked. Hilarous, but I think we basically got it so we understood! Funny huh? :)

K, love you!