EJFoster’s blog

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time

Greg Mortenson

A must read for all teachers and geographers.  I'm about two-thirds of the way through it, and it's just great!

Tuesday, I had the opportunity to attend a workshop on teaching the Holocaust, sponsored by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.

The museum has some great on-line exhibitions.  http://www.ushmm.org

In addition, we received copies of the following:

The World Must Know: The History of the Holocaust as Told in the United States Holocaust Memorial Mu

Michael Berenbaum

A Good Man in Hell: General Romeo Dallaire And The Rwanda Genocide

Witnessing Darfur Genocide Emergency Dvd!

We received a copy of a wonderful lesson, and some other great presentations.

Boy, I didn't realize how much I needed the break.  And, it started out sort of "iffy" with the snow on Saturday morning.

Perhaps it's just that we made serious progress on the barn, or that I was able to finish my paper that is due APRIL 18th a full month early, or that I was able to get some more of the house unpacked and organized.

Whatever it was, it was a nice break to have.

I feel ready for the rest of the semester and the pressure of the next three weeks.  Five of my six student teachers all wanted to be observed starting tomorrow.  So, I will be very busy helping them finish up the semester.

I am certainly feeling spring coming on, and am looking forward to the rest of the semester!

Lots going on at campus, and some of it has been frustrating.

The working relationship with the History Department has been hard to build, and, at present, it's very fragile.  So, this week having to do a bit of damage control was not initially a pleasant task.  But, all's well that ends well.  And I think we may actually end this one a bit ahead.

And then, I had three of my six student teachers arrive after school  - on a Friday afternoon.  All just checking in, no problems, just wanted to share what a good week they had had.  That made my week!

Now back to working on a paper for publication/award.  That's possibly the hardest part of my job - making myself write about things that I haven't wanted to look at for such a long time.  A dear friend, and fellow PhD, told me right after I had sent the dissertation to the library for binding (and before walking the stage at graduation), that I wouldn't want to look at the document or the research for at least two years.  How right she was!  It has been just two years this month since my defense, and it's so very hard to look at the data.

I find mistakes that even the "ruler lady" in the Graduate School missed on review.  I find vagueness in my analysis and interpretation of the results.  And, it's still very hard to get motivated about revising and condensing the dissertation for publication into at least two different articles.  Alas, that's the life of an academic. and the one I've chosen for myself.

Oh well, there's always barn building to be done on glorious days like today!  ;-)  It was a good week.

1421: The Year China Discovered America

Gavin Menzies

I purchased this as train-trip reading from Seattle to Memphis.  It's not overly academic.  The author makes some reasonable arguments to support his conclusion that there were maps of the New World before Columbus sailed.  In fact, he makes pretty logical arguments that there were maps of the Straits of Magellan and several Caribbean islands before Columbus' voyages.

I recommend this for any social studies teacher, and for any upper-level/AP student.

Also available on PBS video, but I haven't seen it yet.

Married!  These were both taken before the wedding of the flower girl and myself. 

This year's theme is Asia!  Feel free to continue celebration throughout the school year!

It's been almost two months since I started teaching at the University of Mississippi.  My first class was a Saturday afternoon in the middle of August.  Since that Saturday, I have been going mostly non-stop trying to just tread water -- just keep my head up for air.

What's been so busy ... aside from the rigors of life as a junior tenure-track faculty member?

1. Moving into a new house.
2. Building a fence.
3. Two trips to Texas - one road trip to get the dogs/cats and another plane trip for a dress fitting.
4. Two trips to the doctor's office - two different types of infections.
5. Another trip planned to Texas for a bridal shower.
6. A conference presentation to prepare and deliver in mid October.
7. And... just when I think things are rocking along fairly well...  it's time to start observing candidates in their field observations course.  Twenty-eight appointments at three different campuses before November 16, 2007.

I'm sure I have a lot more to write, but I'll save it for another day.

And so it begins, another year in academe.  The past two days have been full of department and program meetings and talk of fresh starts.  As we begin the academic year at Ole Miss, I hope we can take a moment to reflect and enjoy the ... HEAT! 

My home in Texas had more than it's average annual rainfall by the end of July and cooler than normal temperatures.  Now, they are receiving more rain from Tropical Depression Erin.  However, it feels like summer in northern Mississippi. 

It feels like a new school year, too -- full of fresh starts, new beginnings, and lots of copies.