Contributors To The Doctoral Degree In English Education

By Author: Kathleen
Total Articles: 56
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In my case, when I started graduate school, I wasn't planning to become a professor. I did, however, find myself so stimulated by the classes I was taking that I stayed with it. In retrospect I think that I made a good Links Of London Charms decision. As much as I loved my high school classroom, combining public school teaching and university teaching has given my career a sense of continued growth and evolution that I am happy with.

Some teachers may be interested in learning about what a doctoral degree in English education would entail. I have just edited The Doctoral Degree in English Education (Kennesaw State UP, 2009), which includes the thoughts of 36 contributors, almost all of them former secondary English teachers now become, or becoming, English education professors. This book offers testimony from many different doctoral students, mentors, and programs. To be immodest, the book is a great collection of rich stories of professional growth in the teaching of English. It is an engaging read for any language arts teacher, especially those curious about ...
... what earning a PhD and teaching at the college level is all about. The book has chapters on making the decision to go to graduate school, identity shifts for teachers becoming doctoral students, participating in graduate student activities, engaging in research, writing a dissertation, teaching future teachers, and starting out as a new English education professor.

Contributors to The Doctoral Degree in English Education indicate that earning a doctoral degree, while demanding; can be an enjoyable and meaningful experience. One of the contributors, new PhD student Shannon Mort more, writes:
After earning my MA in English education, while teaching high school, I felt invigorated to continue my coursework. The Master's helped me to refine my teaching, and the more I learned, the more excited I became about applying these new strategies to my high school classroom. It seemed the perfect situation. I was able to engage intellectually with a group of my peers, interested in the same ideas and theories, and then see how these theories applied in my own classroom practice. I think, as a result, my last year of teaching, my sixth, was extremely successful. I made major strides in teaching writing, for example, something that 1 had struggled with previously.

The following year, I applied to a doctoral pro-gram in English education with all of the enthusiasm I had garnished from my MA, and when I was accepted, the choice became clear. A doctoral program was an opportunity Links Of London Bracelets to focus on bettering myself as a teacher, though I didn't really think of myself as anything but a high school English teacher. A year later, though, I am a doctoral student and the classes I teach have changed dramatically, I still find my wisdom, focus, and energy drawn to that beautifully chaotic place that was my high school English classroom. It was a "room of my own"—an environment that was completely shaped by my own enthusiasm, progress, sacrifice, and creativity. The relationships I built with the kids were extremely enriching; I keep in contact with many of them today.