Oh my goodness what a week.  Things are starting to pick up.  Chris and i drafted/revised questions for the questionnaire that accompanies the letter to grantee.  We also have discussed both documents with Dr. Gant and Prof Sue Ann along with the Lansing team.. I think this is like a Ken Burns documentary--the art of aligning different perspectives as well as vocabulary.  Chris and i also had a conference call with Prof Sue Ann to discuss our coming to class and just getting on the sane page regarding the big picture. 

We drafted a note to Cody Kangas in UP  to followup on request from Tracy introducing us. We have been discussing for a while now going to the UP sites because of the challenge of proximity; also discussed air travel vs. vehicle so still working on this.  Chris finally heard back from him and received some information but we still need more specifics so we will keep plugging away.  We may contact Shelly as she and Chris have a good rapport.

In some ways this is kind of like the excitement of a roller coaster ride--uncertain, then at tone fast and furious.  We had a team meeting on Friday with all of the team present so that was very good.  This also included a portion of time allotted to finalizing some details and answering questions regarding what the students would be doing for the evaluation project.  First just to be all in the same space and coming together to discuss next steps.  Sue Ann did some refashioning of the letter after having a discussion with students.  It was good to be reminded of how it feels as a student trying to make sense of the adventure of research--and the anxiety of unknown territory.  I am confident that everyone is committed to cultivating the confidence of students and providing them with tools that facilitate the learning experience. Footnote:  I have been added to Sue Ann's class on Ctools

Sue Ann discussed what she reviewed with students in the past couple of weeks.  Students are researching GEAR UP and creating logic models for each grantee site.  They also have questions so we agreed that Chris, Kelli and I would attend class this coming Thursday @3p.  We also agreed to a classroom check in time of maybe every three weeks to facilitate learning, consistency, check in, help anxiety... Finally, Sue Ann gave us a list of questions that students had so we agreed that we would bring handout and support docs to answer those questions.

Next steps are creating a source document file for students on Ctools and creating a confidentiality statement for students.  I worked on the confidentiality statement and emailed it today to Chris.  She and i are meeting Monday to follow up on preparing handout and supporting source documents file for SW  grad research students, completing the questionnaire and letter to grantee and any other remaining details.