Project Update

This week I had planned to spend time with TRJE during their Saturday rehearsal, but was unable to due to (suffice it to say) unexpected circumstances. The project is, however, finally getting off of the ground. Now that I have heard from Ketu, my first draft of my contract is turned in though not finalized (I still plan to post part of it once it is), and an abstract of our projects are due in RM; I feel like I am getting somewhere. Not that just spending time with TRJE isn’t getting somewhere, but research is more tangible and getting to it makes me feel less panicked. The plan is for me to get enough of my research done that I can lead a lesson with the kids of TRJE in two Saturdays , the 5^th of April (incidentally, my puppy will be a year old that day). Dr. Cain will be out of town that Saturday so I guess the class is mine (though at least some of the other C&C students will be there so I won’t be completely alone). Kind of scary, huh? I’ve taught Junior Achievement a couple of times but never my own lesson plan. So, anyway, the plan is to share some of what I’ve found about West Afrikan storytelling with them and lead them in creating works of their own that are somehow related. As of this point I’m not sure how they will be related, maybe a similar theme to those I find in some West Afrikan stories? As I think I said before, Ketu recommended looking specifically for stories about community and cohesion, so that may end up being the theme of the writing exercise. Then hopefully I can type up the kids’ work and have them revise it once before it is incorporated into the project. I will just have to see how that fits into the TRJE schedule. They usually have a full agenda of their own and the semester is quickly coming to an end. Dr. Cain did say something in class last time about creating a blog (or something similar) on which to publish the projects of the students working with TRJE this semester. She also said that mine may be separate which would fit well with my plan to create a blog/site with my research and the kids’ writings in response. Again, those details are yet to be ironed out. Still, enough seems concrete now to make me feel like things are really coming together. I just wish I hadn’t had to miss so much time with TRJE over break and now this past weekend.

As far as the research itself goes, I’m working on finding sources of information. I emailed Ketu on Monday for advice and got a response right away. He recommended a particular children’s’ librarian at the Allen County Public Library who he said would be able to give my research some guidance. Since time is somewhat short I had hoped to contact her by email and decided to look for contact information on the ACPL’s website. What I found was an “Ask a Librarian” link which lets you email a question about whatever information you are looking for to the library staff in general. I decided to try it and sent a short email describing what my research was about and asking where would be a good starting place and what authorities were respected on the subject. Though the email is by default addressed to whatever librarian is assigned to answer the question, I mentioned that Ketu had referred me to a particular one in my email. I was surprised to find that when I checked my email tonight I had already gotten a response from a librarian at the reference desk saying that my email had been forwarded to this children’s librarian and that I could expect an answer soon. I was very impressed with this service and would recommend it to anyone needing a librarian’s research expertise (in fact, here is a link to it http://www.acpl.lib.in.us/ask/index.html). So, now I am just waiting for an answer and playing around with some IU cat and EBSCO searches. Hopefully my research continues to go this smoothly. I’ll keep you updated.