Better to have tried and failed than to never have even tried. If you give up your dreams, you die.

Brief Summary:  

My reasons for pursuing a Ph.D. in education are: to be a better, more well-rounded educator; to be able to give more to my community; to contribute to the bank of knowledge; to find resources for publication of scholarly work; and, to be the best me I can be. I know that I have growth yet to be cultivated. There is so much more for me to learn. The rigor and high expectations of doctoral study will set me on the path to successful realization of my dream. The Ph.D. itself is not the fulfillment of the dream but rather the vehicle to enable me to get there. While I realize that there are long days and nights ahead, I relish both the challenge and the journey.

I anticipate that this work will provide me with an enhanced sense of purpose. I sincerely want to collaborate with others and share my passions for education, especially mathematical education. Admittedly, I have much to learn. I also have much to give. Twenty years of military service has sent me to many parts of the world and allowed me to interact and learn from many different cultures. I have led an interesting life so far and expect to continue that trend. I love to share my experiences and to learn from the experiences of others, even if we disagree. As my father wisely told me, if two people agree on everything, then one of them is not thinking.  I think that one of them is not learning, too.  We learn so much from other points of view.  

The joys of discovery await me and I am chomping at the bit. I hope to discover even beyond the breadth of my imagination and hopes, through my formal studies, research, collaboration and experience.



Link to Full End of Coursework Goal Statement (Summer 2012)

Brief Summary:  

My reasons for pursuing a Ph.D. in education have not changed.  However, I have changed. I am in the process of realizing my goals and even beyond them  I am a better, more well-rounded educator.  I find that I can lead my students to mathematical discovery through many more approaches than I previously understood.  I have also been able to contribute to the professional  development of my peers. Recently, my first article was published. Now, I am the end of my coursework and at the beginning of tying together the work of the past several years and finalizing my dissertation concepts. I admit to being apprehensive, nervous and far from sure-footed. I knew this time would come; but, it was always somewhere down the road. My cohort colleagues all seemed to have good grasps on what they would focus their dissertation research back in year 1. I did not. Through the summer institutes in which I have been involved, I have come to see that teacher professional development is something for which I have an affinity.

It has been my experience that schools spend an inordinate amount of time and attention on the under-performing students that the highly achieving and/or highly motivated students do not get the attention they need to reach their full potential. This is where I want to step in. For example, a study of linear regression can be completely mechanical without discussions of correlation vs. causation, the meaning of the coefficient of determination, and the distribution of the residuals. A study of Normal distributions can also be merely mechanical without discussing why normality occurs, why normality is important, what in real life is Normally distributed, and, if anything else, other than the data itself, in the distribution is Normally distributed (sample means, sample quartiles, sample medians) and why that would be so.  Equally, Calculus students can simply revert to "taking the derivative" without any understadning of why that may or may not be appropriate.  And, they do not understand the meaning of their solutions.  These situations present many possibilities for research; but, I have to admit that I have not yet decided.    



Link to Dissertation Planning Goals:  

Brief Summary:

Dissertation Topic Decided:  As I come to grips with the fact that I am actually planning and starting work on my dissertation, it almost seems as though it is not reality.  I have still have trepidations, of course.  And, I still worry.  But, now that I have decided on a topic which really interests me, I feel confident that I have been well prepared to embark on this work.  

Learning About Research:  My summer institute and REU experiences have been incredibly influential on my growth as a teacher and researcher.  My pre-GMU exposure to teacher professional development was rather dismal.  I have learned that well-designed, purposeful teacher professional development is crucial.  Teachers need to have many resources at their disposal so that they can assess the effectiveness of differing approaches and activites in their classrooms and determine whichxxxxxxEnd of Course Work are the most advantageous for their students' success.  I greatly enjoy reading the reflections which the participants in the summer institutes write becuase I can see their breadth of knowledge increasing and understand their joy.  I feel the same way due to the growth I have experienced here.

Critiquing Research:  In the research which I have been reading recently, I noticed that some of the articles had contradictory information.  I also noticed that the research methods or sampling techniques left something to be desired. The lack of proper technique pulls the research into question.  I want to avoid that.  I vividly remember my first EDRS 810 class; we were all nervous and did not know much at all about research.  I left that class knowing that I had a long way to go, but that I could do it.  I still feel that way; but, I now have the advantage of several experiences.