Sunday, June 29, 2008
Word choices: obsesion or goal?
The word obsession has made me think about what I meant last week. Using a word that has different connotations as the ones I want to imply is something I need to work on. Probably it has to do with English being my second language, but in any case it is me who needs to be more careful. When you learn a new word, you usually here it from somebody else or you read it in a book or article. The word has a specific connotation; based on the emphasis that particular author wants to give to his/her writing. So, later on when you think of using a specific word you need to go to the dictionary and review its meaning. You can not do this with every word that comes to your mind, but once in a while you need to verify what means that word that makes a specific point.
And there goes “obsession,” which according to my Webster (1973) dictionary means “a persistent disturbing preoccupation with an often unreasonable idea or feeling” (p. 786). Completing my degree does not has to do with any “unreasonable idea or feeling,” although it might be a “disturbing preoccupation” because at the moment it is a goal that has not been met yet. But as with anything else, if you want to fulfill a goal you need to make a plan, take the time, and follow it. And that is what I am doing this summer. My plan is to finish writing my dissertation. So I have taken the time to analyze my data, write, and investigate as needed; that is, I am following my plan to finish my Ph.D. degree.
One of my classmates once asked me why I wanted to complete a doctorate degree and I said it was something I had started before and then had changed my mind to do something else. I was talking about my second Master’s Degree in Secondary Mathematics Education, from the University of Iowa, in Iowa City, IA. The courses that program offered in the second half of 1980’s where more interesting and more important for my job as a Math teacher, so changing programs was the right thing to do then. But the idea of completing a doctorate degree always stayed in my mind.
As time goes by, career changes occur, and this program at the University of Florida, in Gainesville, FL, did the same thing for me in the 2000’s; it has given me the opportunity to read and study research that explains why you use technology in education. The standards, good practices based on research, distance education principles and practices; that is, using technology in education to help students learn instead of using it as a recreational tool, are just a few ideas that come to mind now. Learning about new research and conducting research is moving away from trial and error practices and improvisations without fundamentals.
So completing my dissertation is not an obsession, it is a goal that I am working on, one that will be done in a few months. Chapter seven is about 80% done already and after that only the Conclusions chapter will be left to write. And after completing final revisions, the dissertation defense will be the next step. :)
And there goes “obsession,” which according to my Webster (1973) dictionary means “a persistent disturbing preoccupation with an often unreasonable idea or feeling” (p. 786). Completing my degree does not has to do with any “unreasonable idea or feeling,” although it might be a “disturbing preoccupation” because at the moment it is a goal that has not been met yet. But as with anything else, if you want to fulfill a goal you need to make a plan, take the time, and follow it. And that is what I am doing this summer. My plan is to finish writing my dissertation. So I have taken the time to analyze my data, write, and investigate as needed; that is, I am following my plan to finish my Ph.D. degree.
One of my classmates once asked me why I wanted to complete a doctorate degree and I said it was something I had started before and then had changed my mind to do something else. I was talking about my second Master’s Degree in Secondary Mathematics Education, from the University of Iowa, in Iowa City, IA. The courses that program offered in the second half of 1980’s where more interesting and more important for my job as a Math teacher, so changing programs was the right thing to do then. But the idea of completing a doctorate degree always stayed in my mind.
As time goes by, career changes occur, and this program at the University of Florida, in Gainesville, FL, did the same thing for me in the 2000’s; it has given me the opportunity to read and study research that explains why you use technology in education. The standards, good practices based on research, distance education principles and practices; that is, using technology in education to help students learn instead of using it as a recreational tool, are just a few ideas that come to mind now. Learning about new research and conducting research is moving away from trial and error practices and improvisations without fundamentals.
So completing my dissertation is not an obsession, it is a goal that I am working on, one that will be done in a few months. Chapter seven is about 80% done already and after that only the Conclusions chapter will be left to write. And after completing final revisions, the dissertation defense will be the next step. :)
Labels: working on goals
