Happy to report that I aced my final paper in my last class. I ended the session with an A. Now it is on to the next class on Contemporary Systems Management. I just looked at the syllabus, and it appears that the instructor has included a heavy dose of my favorite topic – strategy!
Aside from dissertation, I have only this class and one more traditional class to go.
I revised my schedule again earlier this week. Pending everything going well with my grade in Ethics and Political Acumen I will move on to my last two traditional classes.
I will fit a dissertation class in here between the two. Right now, it appears that my traditional classwork will end on the first week of November.
I’m feeling a lot more confident about my research topic and the progress that I will make towards my dissertation. I’m looking forward to it.
The most vexing question in my entire doctoral program was not posed to me by a professor. Instead, it was forced upon me by situation.
“What is the topic for my dissertation?”
I can’t tell you how much sleep I have lost over this question.
On my teaser slide that I placed on the home page I said “What I learned while teaching 4500 people to use Salesforce”. Let me add this disclaimer: I was not alone on this project. The thought of one person taking on that much work is laughable. There were three of us at first, so it was a team effort. You can see that the student-teacher ratio is now much lower at a more manageable level of 1500:1. 🙂
In my last post I mentioned how I had a considerable portion of my grade hanging in the balance during the last week of class. It ended well. I took a risk on my final assignment, and the professor liked it. I received the grade I was looking for, and moved on to my next class. Only three more traditional classes left. After that the only thing that stands between me and a DM is my dissertation.
I was reading the book “The Genius in All of Us” by David Shenk today. It is a fantastic book that breaks several myths about talent and how much of it we can expect to inherit from our parents. The good news is that talent is something that everyone can develop. It isn’t just for the gifted few.
A good friend of mine, Enrico Contolini, noticed that his oldest daughter had a knack for geography. He helped his daughter develop this knack to the point where she was good enough to compete. Fast forward. She has won the state geography bee twice.
Shenk makes the case that genetics will only take a person so far. Having talent is one thing, but developing that talent is another. The environment also plays a very formative role. Shenk uses examples of both cello virtuoso Yo-Yo Ma and Mozart to illustrate that very involved and capable parents play a critical role in helping children realize their full potential. Enrico’s daughter inherited a mother who is a skilled educator and a father who is an engineer. The cards appear to be stacked in her favor.
Enrico has developed a teaching and coaching method that clearly works with his daughter. Music’s Shinichi Suzuki developed and honed his Suzuki method of teaching, and it revolutionized how music is taught to children. Perhaps the study of geography is about to receive the Contolini Method for getting kids energized about the places of the world. See more on this father-daughter team’s quest to share their love of geograhpy at www.geokid.org.
I love highlighting great work by amazing people. A good friend of mine lives with his family in Colorado. He recognized that his eldest daughter had a talent for geography, so they explored it together. This father-daughter hobby turned into a competitive sport. Enrico now coaches his daughter in her geography bee pursuits at the state and national level. This father-daughter team also take their love of geography to local schools. See more on their story at www.geokid.org.
My wife has done a fantastic job over the past 12 months at the Animal Care and Control division of the Charlotte-Mecklenberg Police Department. Check out her site at www.clever-canine.com for more details. If you are short on time, just check out the first post or the first video.
I finished another class yesterday. I never like going into the last week of class with a large portion of my grade still undecided, but that is what I faced here. I should get my grades here in the next few days, so keep your fingers crossed.
My academic advisor and I agreed today that it would be good for me to switch the order of my next 2 classes. This will give me more time to finalize an advisor and find one more person for my committee. So I have a bit of a break this week and next before starting Political Acumen and Ethics. I now have only 2 more traditional classes, and then the dissertation.
I started my doctoral journey in the fall of 2009. I can’t believe I have finished 2 years already. I finished my 3rd year residency in October. It was 8 days of comprehensives. I am glad that it is over, and I would not want to repeat it.
I still have a long way to go. I have to complete my 3rd year classes and I still have loads of work to do on my dissertation.
Here is a look at my upcoming classes.
I should be finished with these formal classes by the end of September, but this does not count my dissertation work.
I am going to place my updates in the regular blog section for this site, and I will place these posts in the “doctoral” category to make searching for these posts a little easier.