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Thursday, October 30, 2008

who is driving?

I met with my CoL last night. It wasn't nearly as hard and it was just as helpful. SAM gave me some good feedback both at the meeting and in his comments on the paper itself.

The most important of which was not to let the data drive the argument. Here is what he wrote on the paper.


You are letting the data drive your argument, rather than you drive the argument. What are the central features of othermothering? Identify those, then use the data to show how Rose othermothered & how this contributed to good teaching and academic success.

Wow... that means a concise narrative with a purpose, rather than a rambling story with unnecessary, albiet beautiful details. I still have quite a bit of work to do but rather than feeling discouraged I feel energized. I WILL DO THIS.

I still need to work on my presentation.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

wrtiting again

Well, I am back to writing.... I have reformatted chapter 4 and it is starting to come together. I have a lot more work to do.

I am hoping to have a draft of chapter 4 by December 1st and have a complete draft by the end of January..... that gives me plenty of time for editing before I defend sometime in March.

We are also planning on taking some sort of family vacation when Nathan's job ends at the end of January... perhaps the Grand Canyon.

I meet again with the Community of learners tonight and I have put some more work out there. I am hopeful that it will be helpful as it was last time.

Remember to vote. I did.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

writing

So I met with my CoL and it was great and hard. Actually hard and great. They tore my poorly constructed draft to shreds, which as I said was hard but good. So I am completely re-writing chapter four and feel good about it. I keep feeling worried that I am leaving too much out. But SAM reminds me that I can always write a book. Yeah, like I will ever be motivated to write when this thing is done. That being said I have been checking out the Chronicle of Higher Education website regularly....

Rather than send out a funny and non-productive "piece of flair". Here is a lovely quote to inspire my writing friends:

Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it and above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light.


Joseph Pulitzer

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Where have you been? part 2

Well, I still can't bring myself to write.... I sent off a draft of my first case study to SAM and the rest of Community of Learners (CoL) but that has been the extent of my writing.... In working on it I realized I am much further away from done than I had imagined.

All of my hope and dreams for the future hinge on finishing this dissertation and yet - I am completely unmotivated to work.... Yesterday I watched Tim Gunn's Guide to Style, went to the library with Jack, ate lunch with my man (home due to a bomb threat at work), made some amazing dinner (which took something like 3 hours from beginning to end), cleaned the kitchen and went to bed.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Time

We have had a couple of pretty hard weeks around our house.... I have put work on hold for a bit. I met with my adviser to re-work my time-line for finishing. I am no longer in a mad dash for the finish line and will work instead to finish by spring break.

Next week, I will send a case study to our new community of learners in hopes of getting some helpful feedback. We meet for the first time in two weeks. I hope to spend some time working tomorrow.

In the mean time... keep the family in your prayers.