Welcome! I'm going to Qatar!

Welcome to my blog! This is my formal record of that which I did in the State of Qatar (hat tip - Matt Horn). 

Actually, its more an informal record of experiences, thoughts, and feelings that I will experience while on this adventure. 

But lets back up a bit. Charity is going to Qatar? Why? What for? and what will she wear? 

I will be going to Qatar as a Fulbright Scholar - a flagship international exchange program of the United States that sends 800 scholars from the United States to institutions around the world and brings 900 scholars to the US. Fulbright activities range from teaching to consulting to research and take place in many countries and regions around the world. 

Why Fulbright? Becoming a Fulbright Scholar has been a dream of mine for sometime. Those who have known me a while, know that this is NOT my first Fulbright - I was a US Student Fulbight to Germany in 2008-2009. During the Fulbright student experience, I learned about the Fulbright Scholar Awards. I chose the Fulbright program because past experience proved that the program provides excellent support for grantees and provides a well recognized tool within country. So as my first sabbatical approached, I knew that I wanted to apply for a Fulbright award as part of the experience. Officially, my goal is to to apply “Student-Centered Active Learning Approaches to Science and First-year Education in Qatar.” 

Why Qatar? My current campus - University of Washington Bothell - has an incredibly diverse student population - over 30% of our students come from Middle Eastern, North African, and Central Asian countries. In the first-year courses I teach, close to 50% of my students identify as coming from these countries. Qatar is a hub for education and innovation in the Middle East, bringing in students from across the region. While the culture, education systems, and histories of the groups are diverse - Qatar provides a hub to experience some of the similarities. While I can learn a lot from reading - nothing compares to experiencing the region myself. 

What will I do? I proposed to teach first-year science courses to determine how to adapt student-centered practices that are widely used in American schools to meet learners’ needs, interests, values, perceptions, communication styles and expected learning outcomes in a middle eastern setting. This means I will work IN THE CLASSROOM using techniques from years in the POGIL project and chemistry education research. 

What will I wear? 

What I need to wear has been source of much anxiety. Since I will be in the classroom, I need to dress appropriately for the region. The weather is hot and humid (versus Seattle's moderate weather). Much research also revealed that people apparently dress up nice for work (versus Seattle 'I dress up in hiking clothes for work') So a friend and I headed to Bananna Republic to find some linen and cotton suits that are also modest. Two linen suits and a linen dress that pairs with a lot of clothes. It seems rather superficial to spend this time on clothes, but the right clothes matter in the region. 

I will close this blog post with some photos of the new items!