My EdD journey

The thread, in order

Semesters, courses, fieldwork, presentations, and the conversations that redirected me. Every point opens into a longer reflection.

Fall 2025 · Sep 2, 2025semester
Enrolled — first cohort seminar

Walked in with a list of problems. Left with a list of questions, which felt like the first real progress.

Fall 2025 · Oct 14, 2025course
Organizational Culture & Change

Read culture theory against a building I already knew — two very different pictures of the same school.

Winter 2026 · Jan 12, 2026field experience
Fieldwork begins

A week of observation turned "school culture" from a chapter title into a hallway I actually walk now.

Winter 2026 · Feb 20, 2026presentation
First cohort presentation

Ten minutes on how one school's "rigor" was really comfortable distance. A stranger asked the question I hadn't answered.

Now · Mar 1, 2026breakthrough
Shaping the dissertation question

Narrowing from "does belonging matter?" to "what small structures create it?" — a much harder, better question.

Fall 2026 · Aug 24, 2026presentation
Week 6 · History and evolution of neurodiversity as a concept and political tool

A co-presentation with Diana Gaukel for EDOC 7120, Global Histories and Politics in Education — and the first assignment that changed my research question rather than answered it.