Chattanooga....

I'm pretty lucky in that I get to spend the weekend in some beautiful cabins outside of Chattanooga, Tennessee. I always love looking at the Smoky Mountains and get away from it all.  My mother's family is originally from the Gatlinburg area and I have always enjoyed my time in the mountains there. It is always nice to have a fun time away from home out in the wilderness.  I fully intend on spending some time on the trails and at the range in the woods. It sure will be nice to sit in front of a fireplace with my tea, hanging out in my sweater, Uggs, flannel pants, and be able to read a book in peace.

It's nice to be able to do things for myself and take the time to do them these days. Nothing like a few days in the mountain, fishing, hiking, and enjoying the outdoors.  It is good for the mind, body, and soul.  Sometimes the solidarity is all that one needs in order to regroup, recharge, to be refreshed in order to move ahead. I think that after I finish this advanced stats class, I will definitely need this time, since the day I leave is the day I take the final exam which is basically designed a study, proposing a hypothesis and using a data set to analyze and produce everything from ANOVAs to Pearson r correlations.  It should be interesting.  Unlike in undergrad, I take this very seriously, because what I have learned will help me to determine what statistical media I use as I analyze my data from my research study. I already have the framework, it is just a matter of figuring what the perfect way to analyze the data will be. 

From a personal standpoint, it is nice to see that all of my hard work is slowly culminating into the final product: the dissertation proposal, writing, defense, and Dr. in front of my name.  This is one thing that no matter what is said about me or to me, I know that this is what I was born to do, educational research and pedagogy. For me this is also full circle on goals that I set along with the encouragement of others.  Two people who have really been such a positive influence educationally were my academic advisor in undergrad, Dr. Burns and my advisor during my MA Ed., Dr. Lange. They both encouraged me to pursue my doctorate, because they both saw potential in me that I didn't see at eighteen or even thirty when I decided to go for the second master's degree.

Other people who have encouraged me were my grandfather, Dr. Quincy Dickey who also was in the field of education for over 50 years, Dr. William Premo, my mentor when I was in Minnesota/Wisconsin, Dr. Dennis Goodwin, who was a classmate of mine and a great encouragement during the beginning of my doctoral career, Dr. Randy Peterson, principal at EastView High School in Apple Valley, who has also mentored me in the past few years, and Dr. Joe Lucero, who allows me to discuss using research to increase the efficacy of pedagogy in the online environment.  He also encourages me to continue to use the surveys I do and the research I conduct within the General Education Department where I am the Director, in order make changes that are data driven.  On our weekly one on ones, we talk about all the different ways that the data can be used. If there is anything that I will always promote, it is mentorship.  Whether you are the mentor or the mentee, we can all gain from mentorship.  I have grown a lot since I started seeking out mentors and sometimes they had to be blunt with me, even when I didn't want to hear it.  

I have to laugh, the girl who took two computer programming classes-Pascal and Visual Basic/Web Design and Implementation in order to avoid Statistics (which I STILL had to take), is comfortable talking about research and data with the "big guns". That has actually spurred a bigger push from a personal standpoint, to see more women in the fields of math and science. When I was in college, I was one of a handful of women taking classes like Physics, Computer Programming, Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Organic Chem, along with Trig. Though the numbers are increasing, we still lag behind other countries in math and science. As a parent AND an educator, I find this appalling and since I have a child who already has a love of math and science (I guess that is what happens when you are a daughter of an engineer and a health science/science/math educator), I am doing whatever I can now to foster a love of learning and in those areas.

 I was also blessed to have a science educator for a father and a mother who was a teacher as well. I know that without that foundation, I would not be where I am today and I am grateful.  Yes, there are times where they irritate me, but I am lucky to have been adopted but such loving and selfless people.

So this weekend in Tennessee, I plan on reflecting on the next steps in my dissertation process.  I plan on starting to write more in the research portion in preparation for my study commencement next year.  I also am glad that all of my mentors/advisers including Dr. Nataka Moore, who I have the pleasure of being related to, encouraged me to start working on the first three chapters immediately.  Just a step closer to graduation and the "terminal" degree though I know I will never stop learning. Dr. Peterson, I have to give great credit to, for validating the fact that I am a researcher. Though I am now back in the Southern part of the United States, I still plan on utilizing his knowledge and expertise in the final portion of this particular journey.

Reflection is good, gratitude is better, and a full and thankful heart is why I am so incredibly blessed. Regardless of what has happened in my life, good or bad, I will say time and time again that God has had His hand on me and my life. But right now, at least for this weekend, I am actually going to let my Type A self, rest, recharge, refresh, regroup, and become renewed, because I need it for the final push!