👩🏼‍💻 Doctorate

For those of you who are new to the newsletter or may not be aware, I am currently a student in the Doctorate of Education in Leadership and Innovation program at the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University. I was drawn to this program for many reasons including:

* a 100% online, three-year, cohort-based degree

* focus on research in action

* the option to advance professional studies in systems, professional, and reimagined change leadership

* conduct multiple cycles of research throughout the program to learn how to research within your own workplace (or context)

* be place in a Leader Scholar Communities (LSCs) - a faculty member and 5-7 of your cohort members (starting in the 5th term), where academic and personal support will occur

* an action-research dissertation

I am in a cohort of 20 that began in the Fall of 2021. During the first semester, a couple of cohort members started regular Zoom sessions and invited other cohort members to show up. I have to admit that I did not regularly attend these in the beginning - because I thought, why should I meet with other people unless the course requires it?

Boy, I’m sure glad that I started participating in what we now call our Community of Practice (CoP) in Spring 2022. There are between 5-7 of us (from Canada and the US) who meet twice a week over Zoom. Attendance is not mandatory, we show up when it fits into our schedules.

We complete discussion assignments and talk about the courses. Still, above all, we have become each other’s support system as we go through this doctoral process (which we all acknowledge we put ourselves in). I can’t describe how much these people mean to me - they are my friends, my colleagues to bounce ideas off of, they are outliers just like I am - and we have finally found each other. It is such a safe space to be in. We talk all the time about how we have learned so much from each other in this CoP…maybe more than we have from the courses themselves.

The fall of 2022 brought around the time when the Leader Scholar Communities are formed by the faculty. Our little CoP has somewhat become well-known within the college (we believe) and we rallied to be placed together into an LSC. This decision went all the way to the top. For the most part, members of our cohort were placed with colleagues they would choose to be with, including our little group.

And this is another reason I like the program, the faculty and directors listened, looked at the feedback, and made changes. In fact, the process for putting together the LSCs has now changed. Students can now name which students they would like to be placed within the LSC.

We would like to give our CoP a little pat on the back for pushing for changes to make things better - but isn’t that what we should be doing? After all, we are in a Doctorate of Education for LEADERSHIP and INNOVATION. If we aren’t trying to lead and innovate in our own doctoral program, how are we going to be able to do it in our own contexts?

🧆 Dinner Conversations

Earlier this week my Dad started talking about the winner of the billion-dollar lottery ticket, who is supposedly from Maine. Aden immediately latched onto this and started asking each one of us around the table…

“What would you do with a million dollars????”

When was the last time you thought about this?

Immediately, I started thinking of all the grown-up things that I would do…pay off debt, buy a house, take an amazing vacation…

My Mom said that she would buy a new mattress. And then Ben piped in with, “and some new sheets too!”

Of course, my Dad brought about the whole idea of taxes, and that probably you would only get between $600 and $700 thousand.

The boys, however, were on a roll.

“I’m going to buy a mansion. And hire a butler.” (Aden)

“I’m going to have a dessert room.” (Ben)

“I’m going to have my own airplane.” (Ben)

“I’m going to have my own chef.” (Aden)

“I’m going to have the biggest biggest swimming pool.” (Ben)

“I’m going to have the largest slide in the world in my house - well, maybe not too large, it could be dangerous.” (Aden)

As adults, we would interject with questions, saying

“Well, to have a personal plane is really expensive because you have to have a pilot, and crew, and pay fees to all the airports you land in.”

The boys were undeterred. (Aden) would say, “I have my lemonade stand business that will help to cover all the costs that the million doesn’t cover.”

We went on for almost 1/2 hour talking about his.

When was the last time you thought about the answer to this question from the perspective of a child?

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to imagine answers to questions such as these without the weight of an adult mind?

So, I put the question to you…What would you do with a million dollars? 💰

🏈 Gotta love Superbowl commercials

I admit it, I sat around and watched the Superbowl this year (and frankly many other years) for the commercials and half-time show.

There were a few good ads this go around, but my favorite was the Budlight commercial with Miles Teller and his wife, Keleigh Sperry. The music was so chill. The dancing was great. Of course, now every time that I am on hold now and have to listen to the hold music, I immediately start thinking of this commercial.

In case you missed it, I have included it here :)

If you watch the commercial and think, man, that music is really familiar - you just might have heard it if you have ever been on hold with Cisco. Apparently, that is their hold music (Opus No.1 by Tim Carleton). However, I hope that you have never been on hold with them, as being on hold for over an hour would almost drive anyone to dance. And I guess that was what Budlight was trying to impress, that you can enjoy every moment, even those that feel “wasted.”

🚲 You can find me on Peloton

This last week I had a very special delivery. A Peloton bike was placed in the “garage gym”. I have been a Peloton user since 2016, including using it to train for the half-marathon I did in 2019, and I 100% believe in the platform. Peloton has a new program where you can rent one of their bikes for a flat delivery fee followed by monthly fees. When you are finished with it, you call them up and they come and pick it up, no charges and no questions asked! Of course, you can also purchase it if you would like. For someone like me who travels between two countries, this is a fantastic option.

If you happen to be a Peloton user, you can find me @debrakouda! See you there!

To learn more about Peloton you can check out their website!

Have a fantastic week everyone!

Stay well…and smile often 😃

Debra

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