Notes from the Field…Office

Greetings from Washington, D.C.  I began as a fellow at Character Education Partnership (CEP) on Monday, 16 July.  I had a week before my fellow fellow, Sweta, arrived at CEP to figure out the office environment.  In the last two weeks, either out loud or to myself, I’ve been that kid who says “at my old school we did this…” since to what else can I compare new work experience but old work experience?  Of course, I don’t make those comparisons to criticise.  Arriving at CEP and not knowing who my supervisor was and what precisely I would be doing was at once freeing and disorienting.  Not having a defined set of tasks meant I could suggest what I would like to do.  Not having someone to report to meant I could direct my own pace of work. 

As the organisation continues to change—hiring new staff, revising the vision and mission statements—what I do as a fellow will change as well.  For now, to give you an idea of what CEP is about, Character Education Partnership creates curriculum and trains teachers and administrators how to implement character education.  Character education is education that takes into account a person’s social and emotional development, promoting values of kindness, trustworthiness, and good citizenship.  The “character education” part of this is the constant, but what CEP does to promulgate it is going to change.   As “they” say, the only constant thing in the universe is change!