A little dissertating

This week has been my full return to Reality. After Mexico, the subsequent week of transition, California, and the subsequent week of readjustment/migraine suffering, I finally had to come to terms with the fact that yes, I am still a full time doctoral student. And there is work to be done.

This week, then, marked my full immersion into my dissertation. I began my foray into this project over a year and a half ago, when I had to create my degree plan and form my dissertation committee. In order to form my committee, I had to have a general idea of what my topic would be. To decide on a topic, I had to know enough about what I was interested in, which I figured out through making my degree plan. So in summary, a year and a half ago, around October 2008, I picked a general topic. From there, I have been reading about it, learning what has already been done, and figuring out where I could make a contribution to the world. In April, I made a presentation to my faculty with my preliminary ideas, a required activity to show that we are on target to do our formal proposal in fall in time to apply for internship.

So, I give you (well, those of you who are not in the crazy world of Ph.D. work) that background so you will understand where I was this week. This week I began writing. Not just learning, exploring, but actually going into Word, creating a new file, and saving it under the title "dissertation". My project this week was to give the context for my work. To explain not only what theory I am working under, but why it is important and what the context of the work is. For my dissertation, this was one of those tasks that worked my brain in a way that I haven't worked it in quite some time. I have chosen to take a theory, or an aspect of a theory, and take it in a new direction. So I had to justify my work by tying this theory to a body of work in a whole new area. When I was first given this task, I wasn't sure how it would all connect, but it was really interesting putting it all together. By the end, when it was written and submitted to my chair, I was not only proud of my work, but I realized that my dissertation is really doing something unique. While it was a rough week, the intellectual part of me is satisfied.

Having said that, I'm still a long way from saying I would rather do research than work with children and schools. I do enjoy this work, but I feel most fulfilled when I know I am making a direct difference in the lives of children. It's hard to see how my dissertation, even if I get the results I expect, will trickle down to changes in the schools. I expect that, at best, it might have an effect on theory and future research. I would be happy with that, of course. These are the conflicts we face in a field that is both research and practice.

And with that, it is time for a couple days of housework, and, of course, fun!

P.S. I am still debating on my title change, but for now I have defaulted to the actual name of the blog as stated in the URL. It's simple, maybe too simple, but it will do for now. And I am still going to keep posting pictures all summer :)