Or maybe the bag before the books??
My trusty leather tote/briefbag disintegrated on my trip to California last week. That's fair, it is at least 20 years old, so fully amortized.
So, knowing I would need a nice looking, sturdy, and functional replacement for law school (*), I have replaced it.
(*) Even if I don't go to Law School, I will want a nice bag for future meetings with faculty and staff at the MIND Institute of UC Davis... And a pretty place in which to tote tools and data for the COAST research. The clothes may make the man, but the bag makes the researcher...
In November, Sidney and I gathered our collective chutzpah and sent a letter to Dr. David Amaral, the research director of the MIND Institute, UC Davis. The mission statement of the MIND Institute is "To find effective treatments and cures for autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders." The MIND Institute is a premier research contributor in the causes of, diagnosis, and treatment of Autism. We thought that our COAST might play a role in their mission... as a baseline measurement of the impact of autism on a particular child, and as a stable measure of growth over time.
So we sent a letter with 3 attachments: the 2-page spread of Domain 1: Social Relationships, a description of all 12 domains, and a description of all 7 levels of severity.
The MIND Institute sponsors a Distinguished Lecture series, and Catherine Lord was to be the guest of honor on February 13. Sidney and I wanted to attend Dr. Lord's lecture, so we asked Dr. Amaral if we could meet him when we were in town for the Lecture.
He responded, "Yes." (this despite the fact that we spelled his last name incorrectly in the letter! An error for which I later apologized). He offered us an hour on the 13th. An hour is a very generous offer of time.
Our greatest hopes were that 1) he would find some value in the COAST and 2) might, at some later date, suggest a doctoral student who might be interested in using the COAST in a dissertation or other research project.
So, how did the meeting go?
After some reflection, here's my assessment: Wow! What a great day!
We presented Dr. Amaral with two complete packets of
the COAST (Evaluator Manual, Full Scale, Core Four Screening tool and
Supplemental Eight Module). The first thing he complimented was the
professional quality of the production of the tools, "beautiful
presentation," he said. Then he asked some good questions, starting with How did we come to creating this tool, and moving to questions about our plans for the tool and whether we thought the COAST might replace other existing tools. He invited in his colleague, Dr. Peter
Mundy. Peter Mundy is the director of educational research and heads up a research lab. His
teams are already involved in a research study and he promised to share
the tool
with them, and see if there is a way to fold the COAST into research
they are already doing. I got the impression that, if their current
research could not accommodate the COAST as added research, that they
would find a way in the near future to write it into grants and work
they are doing. Almost under his breath, Dr. Mundy said, as he leafed
through the Full Scale Module, "There's nothing out there like this."
Dr. Amaral said lots of very nice things
about where he thought the tool would be useful. Then he spent time
coaching us on the people we needed to talk to, how to "market" the
tool, and perhaps that we might just go approach some publishing
companies for assistance in getting the data we need to publish the
tool.
Then
we went to hear Dr. Catherine Lord speak about research she is doing.
She is a Really Big Name in autism research. After her talk, Sidney and I
were preparing to leave, and David Amaral invited us to dinner with his
team and Catherine Lord.
Amazing. Beyond our wildest dreams.
In the world of Autism research, Sidney and I are like students of guitar, just beginning to pick out some complicated songs and melodies of our own invention... and we attend an Eric Clapton concert and Eric Clapton hears our melody and invites us to dinner and offers to help us with our guitar technique. That is the difference in stature between David Amaral's body of research and our own. He is an incredibly generous man.
I have a list of "next steps" to implement, and people with whom we should speak. The journey continues.
of the rest of my life!
And it was a day completely devoid of LSAT studying. I have packed up my study books for delivery to goodwill, thrown away all my practice tests, and cleared my browser history of all LSAT-related history. Though a note of gratitude is due to Steve Schwartz who runs a most amazing prep blog. The combination of this site and the Princeton Review workbook were powerful for me. We'll see on or about March 6 if the power translated into a not-embarrassing score.
So, how did I fill my day? I did have two early morning meetings with students who are doing some independent study classes with me. Though these meetings are clearly "work" (part of my UO job), they don't feel like work– we sit around a big table at a coffee shop and discuss big ideas around school improvement, student learning, and effective teaching. After the meetings, the dogs and I went for a lovely romp along the river, and spent a while at the dogpark.
Then I spent several hours in my forest. My neighbor wondered if I wouldn't mind if he cut up several downed trees for firewood. I agreed, if he didn't mind leaving about 20% for me. He thought that was very fair.
Then we got to talking about the amazing job the goats have done on the blackberries, poison oak, and other annoying brush. I was noticing that the goats were maybe eating down to the nubs, and could do with a bit more food. So I offered them to James the neighbor. He jumped at the offer...
So the goats and I took a short walk down the country lane to James' house, into the pasture/blackberry jungle, where I left them happily munching along.
Another hour playing with the dogs, a little grooming (doggy pedicures especially), and it was getting dark.
I think I'll soak in the tub with a glass of wine at the side, and then call it a day. I'll call it "A Great Day."
I've been prepping for the LSAT on February 9. I took it last year to see what it was like, unprepared, and got about the score I thought I would get. My score was possibly high enough to get into the UO, but possibly not. And even so, it was a bit embarrassing.
So, I'll try again, but this time I am preparing. Especially in the area I tanked – Analytic Reasoning. I can do these problems, given unlimited time. The LSAT does not give unlimited time.
I'm finally starting to get the hang of this section (also called Logic Games). These are the problems where you
have a whole set of things (5 mammals and 3 birds) which must be placed in 5 cages at the zoo. And rules (Parrots
always have to go with otters), and then questions like: In which cage must the giraffe be housed?
The key is in drawing the right picture up front and then deducing any
clues not spelled out. Just now getting to where my picture and clues
deductions are quick and accurate (usually). By Tuesday, I think I'll
actually think of them as "Games" and not "Torture."
I've been reading that 160 is the brass ring of the LSAT. I don't have that far to go to snag the ring, and a significantly better showing in this one section would do it.
Wish me luck! Or at least wish me clarity and speed...
