Terminal Degree as the Beginning

As I listened to Ashley Miller speak at the doctoral hooding ceremony about her fears of not graduating, of that dreaded email requiring one more course or one more draft, I realized how real my own fears had become.  The time-line of defending my dissertation at the end of March, addressing the committee's recommendations in early April, sending the revised draft to my adviser soon afterwards, submitting the final dissertation to the graduate school before April 22, and the ceremony on May 13, intensified these fears rather than relieved them.  And when I was in line to step onto the stage, I held back the urge to look inside the cardboard tube with the University of Louisville seal to see if anything was inside.

The ceremony marked the transition to "Doctor" as one to be taken with great responsibility.  Dr. Beth Boehm, vice provost for graduate affairs, assured our families that a terminal degree meant "the end"--no more coursework or dissertation drafts.  Yet, this journey is just beginning.  As doctoral students, we learned how to create new knowledge.  Through our doctoral programs, we discovered the needs within our communities.  Our new terminal degrees have positioned us as researchers, creators, and problem solvers.

Through courses in education and literacy theory, teaching writing, cognitive coaching, and qualitative research design and methods, I discovered the need for "small data."  I am prepared to analyze trends, identify learning gaps, and further disaggregate data as tiny lenses into education; yet, more exists to be seen and heard.  My dissertation research study narrated the stories of a teacher leadership team and the liaisons across the country who developed and implemented a Literacy Design Collaborative professional development workshop called Assignments Matter.  Narratives such as these show us effective ways into big data.  Teacher and student narratives help us see the faces behind the numbers.

Inspired by the speakers' encouraging words, my adviser Dr. Penny Howell's vote of confidence, and my professor Dr. Lori Norton-Meier's special congratulations, I enter the next phase of my education.  Empowered with the knowledge of how to create new knowledge, I attend to the literacy and professional development needs within education through organizations such the Illinois Writing Project.  And although I hesitated to add "Ph.D." to my C.V. until it was official, I now have a signed parchment that no one can take away from me--I'd like to see them try.

Countdown to Comps

My advisers told me that I can't take any more classes after I finish these in May.  Certainly I need to know more.  A huge body of knowledge waits for further investigation and exploration.  But I have to complete comprehensive exams sometime, and June looks like the time.

Has anyone else suffered more nervousness in the last semester of coursework than in the beginning?  I have only begun the process of walking through the exam requirements and I don't feel ready.  Have I really gleaned all I could from every class experience and every teacher who has taught them?

I think I have seen some signs that perhaps I am ready or nearly there.  Usually my classmates and I latch onto the theories or methodologies presented in the current class or fall in love with particular research topics.  That has been true for me until very recently.  During the summer and fall, we learned about various qualitative research traditions.  During the fall, I noticed a change in some of us.  Instead of oooing and ahhing over each one, we each showed distinct passions for different traditions.  We expressed our own opinions and even wrinkled our noses at some different methodologies chosen by our colleagues.

Recently, a friend of mine sent me an article link that showed the artistic side of State of the Union Address, clearly an arts based researcher's dream.  But I have trouble understanding that tradition.  I love stories.  Narrative inquiry and discourse analysis intrigue me.

Teacher agency and voice.  This is the story I want to learn and want to tell.  What helps the teacher find a confident voice?  Will confident voices inspire teacher agency and advocacy?  These are questions I have today.  They may change slightly tomorrow, but I will still search for the story.  And I will be ready.