August Goal #3: Planning
We went to Barcelona. Found a house. Came back to Toledo. And next week we move. While in Barcelona looking for houses I heard one person talk about schools as being good, with the first reason being there were no immigrants. I had heard of this as a criteria for “good” schools in Spain these days. Though a special report in the Vanguardia newspaper of Barcelona talks about the fact that most Spaniards actually have very little contact with immigrants, many hold strong negative feelings towards them. I wonder how this compares to what we find in other new destinations of immigration, for example the South in the United States, or Italy. Or what differences we might see by class background of the parents. Or how language plays into the issue of judging the quality of schools.
Little interactions like this one make me want to do a larger study of relations between immigrants and natives, and look beyond the school. But to do a good dissertation involves drawing on theory and basing my work in planning that is flexible, but at the same time draws on previous research. So my third goal for the rest of this month is to work on planning, to try and finish reworking my dissertation research plan, while also working on planning each work day to be as focused as possible. Because once I’m in the field I’m going to see a thousand paths and questions like the one above, and doing good work involves having a larger plan I’m following, while also having routines that include planned time for writing up fieldnotes, and synthesis memos.