Are you ABD? Why I dropped out of Doctoral School

It's not that I wasn't up to the task. Rather, it's the fact that I WAS.

I enjoy learning. I thrive on it, in fact. This innate desire was rewarded with a 4.0 GPA. I followed the course Doctoral Coursebook diligently. I took the required courses and completed several research projects and even had a few resulting articles get published. So why, after completing all but 1 course did I drop out?

Well, yes, there was the fact of a baby on the way and my wife and soon to be son needing me. But just as much a cause of my 'leaving University'-to put it as a Briton might-was my nagging suspicion that I was a player in a GAME where the rules are made up by those who already have their PhD's and who make assumptions about those of us who don't (yet).

The overriding assumption seemed to be: All (doctoral) students are lazy and don't yet know what work is or what it means to be a "Dr." Therefore, We must create obstacles for them to "challenge" their sincerity.

Yes, I certainly witnessed those who were "lazy", those who didn't do the readings and managed to "wing" it. The irony of the system created by the Advisors (the one's with the erroneous assumptions) is that the lazy one's got their PhD's and EdD's but those who were sincere and hard working dropped out because the lazy one's treated the process as a game to begin with.

Unfortunate, really. If you have true desire, intellectual capacity, imagination, creativity and motivation it is likely that achieving a degree beyond a Master's degree is lower for you because the process to earn anything more is so inauthentic and contrived that you'll be turned off and set your sites, efforts, interests, and motivations on new projects (as I have).

Have a similar story?

Capturing the Data Of Your Life

“A blank page, a canvas, so many possibilities.”

And so begins Stephen Sondheim’s brilliant musical about the life of pointillist painter Georges Seraut.

Why, given, a blank page do we choke and even forget what we wanted to express.
How often have you wished for the time to run with an idea, develop a new insight in the course of the workday only to forget it when the time comes that you could act on these wishes? So many ideas, so little time?

The new economy is nothing but idea-laden, ever-changing and evolving. The possibilities for us are nearly limitless and the means of expressing those possibilities are as well. Too much choice=paralysis.

But to break free! Hold onto the idea; the insight. That’s the key. Our dilemma is when we want to develop the idea/insight immediately. Delay the development until later. Capture it, though (crudely if necessary: on a napkin, the back of a handout, on your cell phone). And, systematically, break it out when that rare free moment arises. Then develop it.

I have learned to carry a small pocket size notebook and a hand held digital recorder with me as if I am a journalist. If you’re a blogger, teacher, learner and leader or any kind, who isn’t a journalist of sorts? All your life are data. And all your ideas are potentially worth millions.

The blank canvas comes alive when there’s color to choose from. Capture the data of your life..especially those insights and ideas that seem so pressing. These are your colors when you have time to paint them. So, learn to take snapshots. Analyze, develop and delete later.

Do Teachers Read Enough?

I like that Starbucks aims to enlighten and entertain by including on their cups the 'The Way I See It" series. Aside from the pleasure of a good, strong hot cup of coffee, it's fun to read these pithy statements--some of which stimulate genuine reflection. Today's cup began: "People don't read enough. And what reading we do is cursory, without absorbing the subtleties and nuances that lie deep within...” Then the author (the creator of the television drama House) omnisciently berates the reader for losing focus.

As is often the case, I immediately projected these words onto the educational landscape to see if there are any parallels or resonance. I think there is. I speak with education professionals often who will speak of 'having a Master's degree' as if it confers upon them eternal and updated knowledge as times and circumstances change in the world of (public) education. These teachers feel that the obtaining of a certificate many years ago proves that they are ‘good to go’ for a career of teaching children in an ever-changing world. Many of these teachers do not read enough. And of they do, they surely do not read educational research relevant to their teaching assignments and careers. This is the case even at a time when research on the brain and learning has revealed profound new insights into how we should teach in the last decade alone. We also learn from this same line of research why children may behave the way they do. Etc..

I learned the power, value and importance of reading while doing doctoral work where massive amounts of educational research was thrust upon us to read, digest and synthesize for use in our teaching practice. Never have I read so much. And never was I such an effective teacher as during that time. Since research findings (otherwise known as knowledge) were fresh in my mind, I considered all of my actions and decisions from this informed perspective. I continue to wonder why there is still a profound disconnect between research findings and practice but that’s the subject of another post.

It is true that good writing is provoked by reading. Since thinking is a pre-cursor to writing then it is also true that there is no (relevant and quality) thinking without reading. And if we substitute the word writing for teaching: There is no good teaching without reading. Of course this is a generalization. There are plenty outstanding teachers who don’t read constantly. But I’ll bet that exemplar teachers read more than average teachers.

The point is that continuous reading (and reflection) keeps us fresh and new and, well, informed. Books about teaching and learning, research about the subjects we teach, educational journals, newsletters and weblogs provide excellent reading and nourishment for our brains so that we may be the best we can be for students in an ever-changing world with ever-increasing information and knowledge. Still, even better reading material would be the thoughts and words of our students should we be bold enough to create opportunities for them to provide feedback about the classes we teach and the schools in which they inhabit. Through constant reading and reflection, we would be forever worthy of the teaching certificates and degrees we hold. We teachers and educational leaders don’t read and reflect enough. That’s the way I see it.

Choice Theory And How We Learn

I recently received the book...Activating the Desire to Learn and had begun skimming through it. Right in Chapter 1, we are reminded of Choice Theory which claims that we have genetic instructions for satisfying our basic needs which are: Belonging, Competence, Freedom and Fun.

We can infer that if these are missing from student's school routines, they are likely not to be engaged.

Of course the thorny issue is how they define these terms.

We also are reminded that reality becomes multiple realities as soon as we speak in class (explain concepts, etc..) because everything we say bumps up against student's prior experience and knowledge (and to an extent current emotional circumstances). If student's prior knowledge base does not match our perception of what that is, there is tension...........

Research On Teaching Highlights Teacher Impact

"It is teachers with their priorities and their ambitions, as Doyle (1992) and Clandinin & Connelly (1995) emphasize, not curricula or policies, who animate the work of the schools."

-Ian Westbury
Chapter 9 Theory Research, and the Improvement of Music Education
(In the New Handbook on Music Teaching and Learning (Eds Colwell and Richardson) )

Personal Growth and Teaching

My personal belief about personal growth/improvement is that it must come from within. One may be able to influence a person to change temporarily but these changes will not be long lasting and are not positive (fear of reprimand, intimidation, harsh criticism). I believe improvement of instruction must be preceded by a desire for personal and professional growth on the part of the teacher because they feel/see/understand that what they do impacts lives for the better or worse.
Action Research is an excellent tool towards this end.

Qualitative Research as Spiritual Practice

Field Observation in qualitative research requires zen-like attention.

In this state-of-"no-mind" one is witnessing what is rather than looking for. Looking for is a state associated with experimental and positivist research designs. It is human nature to project what is desired onto the activities around oneself. Alan Watts, Eckhart Tolle, Coehlo, Tich Nhat Nanh, Deepak Chopra describe that most people are crippled by thoughts that are not even their own. Chopra says, “we don’t so much think as we get thought.” We do not SEE so much as project what we want to see on what is. Interpretation (more like judgment) is happening concurrently with looking which clouds the reality of what is there in plain sight.

Why is it so difficult to see without interpretation or judgment? We are taught that most things we do require effort. The greater the effort the better the reward we are told. And so we live our lives with this mantra quietly in the back of our minds whispering for us to work ever so harder and faster for that elusive reward. What the great sages tell us, however, is that the true rewards can only come from relaxing and broadening our vision and seeing what is instead of what we want to see (based on conditioning, parental influence and societal pressures). We can never escape our “selves” and we will always have experiences that limit and enhance our perceptions but we can move toward more authentic ways of seeing by relaxing into our field of vision. We need to learn to see with our bodies (which feel) instead of our minds (which label and judge).

Try this. Go to a public place and simply witness what is happening. Do not judge it, do not wish for it to be different. Just see what is and let it pass. Let people, activity come and go. See it, let it pass, let it go. If you begin thinking,” I like that hat”, “I don’t like that shirt”, etc.. remind yourself not to judge and try to broaden your view to see more than one thing at a time. Can you concentrate on what’s happening in the distance at the same time as what is happening nearby? Freeing up judgment frees up space to SEE more. Field notes are not supposed to be interpretations or judgments. They are notes of what is actually happening. There will be room for interpretation later and that interpretation will be richer because there will be distance from the experience.

Qualitative Blog

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