It still feels a bit surreal.
This past Juneteenth, June 19th, 2025 to be exact, I successfully defended my dissertation. I concluded my PhD journey in 5 years. I did it! Finally! My dissertation centered around the need for greater teacher autonomy and examined elementary teachers and administrators’ perceptions and seeming consensus on the need for greater consideration regarding this. I chose this topic as this stemmed from my own experience behind this phenomena. I worked in a school with extremely limited autonomy, stressing fidelity to a curriculum that could be more responsive to the populations I served. I worked in a school where greater autonomy was given to teachers to teach how and what they loved. You can probably tell which environment was preferred.
Though with the very real ramifications of COVID-19 and other pressing education matters that existed long before the pandemic – i.e. lower standardized testing performance, lower reading levels, need to “catch up” with other countries, No Child Left Behind, state and federal mandates, just to name a few though this by all means is not an exhaustive list – teacher autonomy takes a backseat. However, now that the dissertation is done, defended, and that part of the work is done; the question now lies, what is next?
Quite possibly, I’ll publish in a journal at some point. Likely after some much-needed rest, mind you, 5 years is a lot. And yet, I am still faced with the question of what is next with my career. I entered the PhD program with the hopes of obtaining a position within higher education. I just finished my tenth year teaching in the K-12 space and would love experience at the collegiate level. My PhD is in Curriculum & Instruction and further work in curriculum development or design would be a worthwhile pursuit as well. I am the first PhD in my very immediate family and I tend to be someone who has to have a project to work on, a new goal to overcome (side note: I finished writing a musical of all things recently, and am excited about that as well, hopefully more to come on that soon!), and so now the direction of my career trajectory feels as though there is much possibility.
There is great possibility moving forward. There is also a sense of uncertainty. There is also fear of failure. Whatever comes next, I feel excited more than anything else. Enthralled. Ready. Capable. I search for new opportunities to make a greater impact in education. I look forward to continuing creative pursuits as some of you may know, that is a very real and happy space I love for myself as well.
So, I conclude one chapter of my professional and educational journey. I look forward to the beginning of the next chapter. Here’s hoping the next journey is as fulfilling and rewarding.
