Getting Oriented

Orientation felt a lot like my first week of teaching – exciting, nerve-wracking, a big learning curve, and totally exhausting. It was a full week - most days started around 8am and lasted until 6 or 7pm depending on how social people felt post official activities. I loved the way HGSE designed the week. Everything was ‘choose your own adventure’ style so that I never ended up in a session I felt wasn’t the right fit for me. The biggest question on everyone’s mind that week was, “How do I decide which opportunities to take advantage of?!”. Between classes, roles at Harvard labs, student organizations, internships, and general involvement in the community, there were a LOT of things to think about during the first week. I know, a VERY privileged position in which to find ourselves!

Overall, orientation introduced us to campus culture, resources, professors, classes, and of course, each other. Many professors remarked that our classmates would be our best resource during this experience. After meeting my Mind, Brain, and Education (MBE) cohort, I have no doubt they’re right!

Major orientation week wins: I didn’t get lost! I know how to print from the computers in the library! I made friends! There was LOTS of free food! Anthony and I trudged through several 90+ degree days with no AC at home and made it out on the other side!

Favorite orientation quotes  

Dean Bridget Long, (new!) Dean of HGSE

Dean Long has been on the faculty at Harvard for many years, but she just stepped into her role as dean. In her speech, she shared that taking on new roles is scary for everyone (aka not just students 😊). She spoke to the common fear of being the ‘admissions mistake’ at Harvard and challenged all of us to use this amazing opportunity to do things that matter in the field.

   

“If all your hopes for your time at HGSE came true, would it just change you or would it change the world?” Ugh, YES. Being reminded of my Jesuit roots right here!

“This experience is as much for the people who aren’t here as it is the people who are.”  The majority of faculty we met on our first day of orientation spoke from a lens of equity. We all benefitted from some type of privilege to become Masters students at HGSE and yet know people who never will have those same chances. This quote was a powerful charge to take what we learn and share it to benefit communities we love.   

Dean Long’s full remarks can be found here!

Liz City – professor, HGSE

Professor City centered us in how important it is to be intellectually curious – including not pretending to know something if we really don’t. That so spoke to me and some fears I had entering into this experience. She also reminded us of the importance of taking care of ourselves (cultivating and pursuing our joy!) in the midst of an intensive year.  

“Delight in not knowing something!”

“Cultivate your joy here.”

“Embrace power and privilege on behalf of your purpose.”

Cool orientation stuff

• Course previews (the BEST!): For two days straight, we got to sample fall semester classes (I think I sampled around 25!). Professors taught 30-minute previews of their classes so we could get to know them, their teaching style, and the course goals/assignments/expectations. I was definitely surprised by the way my opinions shifted about classes I had read about. I didn’t love some of the ones that looked right up my alley on paper, and I fell head over heels in love classes I hadn’t even put on my original list.
• An ‘academic spa day’: On day one, professors shared bits about their research (TED talk style!) and held mini classes about different education topics. It was a neat format that let us sample various interests and mingle with the faculty. They all seemed SO down to earth. Most importantly, they put to practice the education techniques they study. They seemed energized by students and eager to learn alongside us as peers even though they are all quite established in their respective fields.  
• Resource Sessions: HGSE hosted review sessions like “How to read like an Educator”, “Math Refresher for Stats”, “How to organize your life”, and even one about handling the imposter syndrome that sometimes sneaks up for students just starting the program. The sessions, and just the fact that HGSE offered them, helped me breathe a sigh of relief (you mean other people want advice on how to read faster, too?!) and feel seen in this new community.
• Meeting my adviser + cohort! The MBE cohort is a small but mighty crew. We had several program meetings together in our first week and started bonding right away over, what else – our shared nerdiness for psychology/neuroscience stuff! It is SO much fun to be surrounded by people who love talking about education + psychology. We have a pretty diverse set of backgrounds/interests among us and have already started tapping into that to learn more from each other. 

My Fall classes!

After hours of course previews and much back and forth over different classes, these 4.5 made the final cut 😊 Super helpful in deciding was a tool Career Services urged us to use in the Spring/Summer before coming – the gap analysis. The template asks students to identify what roles they’d like to hold in the future and from there, identify skill or knowledge gaps that we’d like to use our time at HGSE to fill.

Gaps I identified are:  

• Broad neuroscience knowledge (so I understand the brain develops naturally vs. responds to environment)
• Statistics/educational data collection
• Leadership development
• Design experience (both curriculum design and knowledge of design thinking + universal design for learning)
• Social/emotional curriculum familiarity/usage
• Coaching experience

 (If you want a template to try the gap analysis, let me know and I’ll happily pass it along!)

And to work on those gaps, I’ll be taking…

Typical and Atypical Neuroscience: supposed to be one of the most challenging classes at HGSE. Fortunately for me, a bunch of people from my cohort are taking it and we’re all going to go through it together! Isn’t everything better with good community?!

Statistics for Educational Research: I’ll likely take a stats class in the spring as well, but I’ll be starting out with this one.

Leadership, Entrepreneurship, + Learning: A case study course with a former HBS professor. I’m super excited to try out this learning style and be able to reflect more on myself as a leader.

Deeper Learning for All: Designing a 21^st Century School System: I am SO pumped for this course! It digs into two big interest areas of mine – the interaction between schools/school districts/community/policy (questions like – How do the different layers influence one another? How does change start (top to bottom, bottom to top, etc.)?) AND design practices to try redesigning an aspect of school we’d like to see change.

The Art of Communication for Educators (1/2 semester module): I can’t wait to take this class. It’s part public speaking practice, part speech writing, and a whole lot of fun analysis of different communicators.   

Other fun things

• There’s a neat plaza right next to Harvard Yard that has a ping pong table, foosball table, and life-size chess board. The space also hosts a weekly Farmer’s Market, whole bunch of food trucks (!!), and several free exercise classes.
• I am back to working out (!!!) after a six-month hiatus because of two different injuries. Yes, you read that correctly – SIX MONTHS that entailed nothing more than a brisk walk. I am elated to be back at it 😊 Shout out to bestie Elise who gave me a full PT eval and awesome exercises after I’d been trying to rehab with other PTs all year with no success!
• Memorial Drive (street along the Charles River) closes down to cars on Sundays. Anthony and I took advantage last week and went for a lovely dusk bike ride!
• There are a zillion coffee shops and several breweries walkable from us. We’re quite excited as those are two of our fave things! 

Thanks for reading! 

Cara