Novel Ideas [10]: On The Fence
It was pretty clear after just a few weeks of classes that I didn’t know what I wanted to study. While I find literacy interesting, I realized that I might want to dabble in other areas of interest and change to focusing on something else.
Somehow I thought that everyone walked into their doctoral work with a very clear idea of what they wanted to study. I thought I was the only person on the fence. Walking into class the first week didn’t help matters much, either. My classmates seemed so confident in their research interests — and many seem to already know oodles about these fields. Since I don’t have a master’s in education, I feel like I don’t know anything about anything (more on that in a later post).
After a conversation with my advisor yesterday, though, I’m feeling much better. She told me not to worry about the people who seem so confident in their research interests, and that most students are unsure at the beginning or change their minds in the first year once they learn more about different subfields. I think I knew that on some level, but I’m letting myself get psyched out. We’re grad students — sometimes we puff out our feathers and talk a big game. My advisor sent me out to talk to other faculty about some of my interests and do some reading on a few new topics, so I look forward to a semester of exploring.
I discussed a few other areas of interest in my statement of purpose, so these are the areas I’m turning back to for my exploration. I’ve been steered toward literacy because of my background in school library media, but it’s not the only thing I’d want to learn about in depth. Currently, I’m looking into middle schools, teacher education, and gender studies…while also keeping English/Language Arts instruction and technology/social media on the table. Gender studies is the current front-runner, but I’ll keep y’all posted as I learn more about each.
I don’t know how other fields do it, but I’m glad that education lets me start my doctoral work on the fence. Indecisive is my middle name, so please know that this won’t be my last post about struggling to make decisions (I’m working on that…it’s sort of a professional flaw). And maybe a semester of exploration will lead me right back to ”just” studying literacy…you never know!
What do YOU think I should study? Have you ever been on the fence about such a decision?
Posted on October 17, 2012, in grad school, teacher and tagged ch-ch-ch-changes, grad school, research interests, why?. Bookmark the permalink. 6 Comments.
This is an excellent piece. I completed a MA degree in History and then went off to teacher at a school at the forefront of education. It was a very intimidating process and I also felt that lacking an MA in education set me apart and at a disadvantage to my peers. Good to know your adviser’s pep talk worked out. If you ever want to discuss social media/technology my school’s library is quite unique and our school is very hands on tech!
The learning curve in teaching is steep, so I hope you now feel like you no longer have a disadvantage! I’m trying to look at the positive side of having an MLIS –for example, I know the school in a different way than a classroom teacher would (though I also have classroom experience), and I have a huge leg up on research (my classmates are frightened of the library sometimes).
I think it is fairly common to change one’s interests over the course of graduate school or even the career, though I suppose most of us stay within the broad divisions of our disciplines. I wouldn’t worry too much about making a choice, something you read will grab your attention and won’t let go. At least that is how it worked for me. If it helps any, just know that my husband went into his political science PhD expecting to student something about the media in the Middle East, but found there was no one with that background at the school he was accepted to, so ended up studying democratic identity in the European Union. Now he teaches American and Texas government. I’d also say, if literacy and gender are some of your top picks… is there something you can research that intersects both fields? Or maybe gender in middle schools or something like that? Maybe that will make your decision a little easier!
I’m thinking I can actually do something with gender and young adult literature, which would be awesome! I’m very interested in how to motivate kids to read and how reading choices made by teachers for classroom reading have such an impact on kids, both academically and personally. So yes, I think researching where two areas intersect is the answer to my dilemmas!
Have I ever been? haha yes ive been on the fence about a lot of decisions, especially of lately after graduating. Honestly Im not gonna explain it all but ive found it best to go with your gut and how you feel. Don’t waste too much time on a decision, i hope this made sense
My advisor said kind of the same thing. She said it was okay to be indecisive for the first year, but that I would probably get a gut feeling about what I really enjoy by mid-spring when I actually have to make the decision.