It's been a long time...

I shouldn't have left you...

My first year of doctoral study is officially under my belt. Woo-hoo! As you can tell, I spent most of the year busy with classes, being a wife, and mother of 3. Yes 3! More on that later! Here are some of the highs and the lows of 2017-18!

Summer 2017
In July of 2017, we went to Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Immediately after we got back to Texas, we hopped in the car and headed to Loveland, Colorado for my first doctoral seminar. The seminar was great. The first day as a student, we met one of the professors in the program. We would be our professor for the rest of the week. We also attended a library orientation and new doctoral student orientation. In the afternoon, we watched the cohort ahead of us present their History of Education Reform poster project and the cohort two years ahead of us present their Curriculum Theorist projects. The rest of the week, our cohort worked on research article critiques.
The highlight of the week was bonding of with my cohort. We have a great group and we all really support each other. I definitely could not have gotten through the program without them!

Fall 2017
I took Introduction to Research Literature and Statistical Methods I online. Statistics kicked my butt, but I made it out with a B, so I'm fine with that! Research Literature was an interesting course. I was able to make a literature review on multiracial students and their educational experiences.

Spring 2018
I took Philosophical Foundations of Education and Qualitative Research Methods online. I really enjoyed my philosophy class as the readings caused me to think outside of the box in regards to education and reform. I also had to create a school based on the theories of a philosopher of education. For my qualitative research course, I conducted a research study with three of the other members of my cohort on code-switching among upper elementary students. Although, we got an A on the project, our professor didn't think that we really examined code-switching (which was ironic, since he said he'd never heard of code-switching prior to our study). Nevertheless, we are going to submit our study for publication in our department's journal.

During this spring, my stepdaughter testified against her mother in court and asked to come live with us. So, in March she came to live with us permanently. We've adjusted very well to having a 16 year old (yes 16!). Honestly, I can't imagine life without her!

Summer 2018
This summer, we spent our summer vacation in New Jersey. We took the kids to Sesame Place in Pennsylvania and to the Jersey Shore (Ocean City). This year we had two weeks instead of two days from our vacation until traveling to Loveland again.
This summer I took Social Theories of Learning and Organizational Change (Sociology of Education) and History of Education Reform. It was a lot to cram into 6 weeks of class, but I thoroughly enjoyed the readings for the class. The final project for my History of Education Reform class was a poster presentation during our doctoral seminar. The format for the doctoral seminar was pretty much the same as last summer, except this summer my cohort presented our posters.
One cool thing our cohort did was create t-shirts based on our time together last summer. We wore them on our last day of the seminar. It really was so good for us all to be together again! During this time, I got to meet my mentor for my graduate research assistant. I also decided to add a doctoral minor in Applied Statistics & Research Methods (Qualitative Methods).

Fall 2018
What's in store for Fall 2018?
I have a Graduate Research Assistantship with a professor in the Educational Technology department. the assistantship pays for 1/2 of my tuition and a stipend. I'm hoping to look at online learning and social-emotional learning.
I'm taking Social Justice in Education Reform and Qualitative Case Study this fall online. For my qualitative case study class I hope to investigate math teachers who use writing to learn methods and how they perceive themselves as writers.
The AATC (American Association for Teaching and Curriculum) conference will be in Dallas this October. Two of my cohort members are presenting their research from our Qualitative Research Methods course.

Projects
To view any of the research projects mentioned here. Please visit my website Ashlea Campbell Writing - Recent Work