Settling down, starting to think

This is going to be a log, not an interesting analysis of anything. So don't read on unless you want to touch base with me, or you miss me so much you have to know every detail of what I have been up to.

This first week has been a time of getting settled, getting over jetlag, trying to find a sleeping pattern that works for me, and forcing myself to get some exercise. The last has resulted in 45 minute-walks for the last three days, which I hope to keep up. Catching up with family and friends. Celebrating Murali's 50th birthday with multiple cakes and lots of live music. And I am revelling in being waited on hand and foot by Ram the cook and driven around by Inder the chauffeur. (I refuse to drive myself in India.)

It was also fun to meet a group of Fulbright teachers who were returning to the US after a 5 week tour of India. A teacher from S. Carolina did say that she had never heard "Georgia" pronounced quite so regally! So my first week of Indian English has not left a mark (yet).

The first of my two writing projects should be getting off the ground as of now, with Dr. Shailendra Gupta. While we respect the historical description of Indian society, and the legal and political influences that have shaped its educational practices, we believe it is not all that teachers need to know, or is relevant to their students' lives. If we are serious about innovation in teacher education, it is time to think about the various strands that make up the society teachers function in and that shape their students.  It is called diversity in educational literature in the US, and I need to find how it is described and designed in India.  

As for my Fulbright-Nehru research study on the Right to Education, I have to keep reminding myself that I am not focusing on the processes and procedures in making the 25% provision a reality. My focus is teachers in high-end schools in the private sector, their attitudes to and views on EWSD students, and what teachers need to do and learn about to effectively teach them.  If the teachers are not willing to admit the EWSD students into their schools and classrooms, chances of their finding ways around this provision are highly likely. If teachers are not prepared to serve the students, the purpose of the Act cannot be achieved. Rigorous conversations with my resident intellectual resources of Usha and Murali, a law researcher and a high court judge respectively, are highlighting the gaping holes in my knowledge about people in poverty in India.  (I need to be careful about grafting my knowledge of the subject in the US context onto the Indian context.) My interactions with experts such as Ms. Sharada Nayak and Dr. Sarada Balagopal over the next couple of weeks should get me started on compiling  a reading list and a list of questions. In the meantime, newspapers are providing me with background information. Any suggestions anyone?