Today was a good day; a good start of the last leg of the PhD.
I am enrolled in what is referred to as a Flex-time program at the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education at the University of Toronto (OISE/UT). My progress has looked something like this, as I've been working throughout the program, either as a full time teacher, research assistant, leadership trainer...:
Years 1 and 2: course work
Years 3 and 4: comprehensive exam
Years 4 and 5: thesis proposal, field work
I have just begun the sixth year of my PhD. After a solid meeting with my supervisor last week, I have some forward motion. Today I wrote a draft of my Table of Contents. It doesn't sound like much, but the exercise of thinking in detail about what data I have, how it will be analyzed, and what I think I will discuss was enlightening. Three pages later - yes, that's right, three pages, single spaced of topics - I have a general grasp of what this document will contain. I also wrote five pages for a chapter on one of the case studies. I wrote two conference proposals this summer working with some of the data and I was able to draw from those. A very good day.
I am not without regret that I didn't work more with the data over the summer, but the summer was glorious. This means I'll need to work more consistently now to crank out the work. I guess it seems a touch counterproductive to write a blog entry now, but I wanted to take the moment to document a solid beginning for the last leg. Here's to hoping for more days like today.
I am enrolled in what is referred to as a Flex-time program at the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education at the University of Toronto (OISE/UT). My progress has looked something like this, as I've been working throughout the program, either as a full time teacher, research assistant, leadership trainer...:
Years 1 and 2: course work
Years 3 and 4: comprehensive exam
Years 4 and 5: thesis proposal, field work
I have just begun the sixth year of my PhD. After a solid meeting with my supervisor last week, I have some forward motion. Today I wrote a draft of my Table of Contents. It doesn't sound like much, but the exercise of thinking in detail about what data I have, how it will be analyzed, and what I think I will discuss was enlightening. Three pages later - yes, that's right, three pages, single spaced of topics - I have a general grasp of what this document will contain. I also wrote five pages for a chapter on one of the case studies. I wrote two conference proposals this summer working with some of the data and I was able to draw from those. A very good day.
I am not without regret that I didn't work more with the data over the summer, but the summer was glorious. This means I'll need to work more consistently now to crank out the work. I guess it seems a touch counterproductive to write a blog entry now, but I wanted to take the moment to document a solid beginning for the last leg. Here's to hoping for more days like today.