This website is dedicated to support of us on research journeys!
Climbing Mountains Isn't Easy
I remember climbing my first mountain.
As scared as I was, I fell in love.
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I knew it wouldn't be easy but I took a chance climbing the second.
The third one was intimidating but I wanted to go higher.
The fourth one was smooth sailing while the fifth was the most humbling.
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The sixth, I thought, would be my last one,
But alas, I;m climbing another mountain.
-- modified from Arturo Hernandez, Jun 2014
The Research Journey:
Learning Research Methods and Statistics Isn’t Easy
This poem on mountain climbing aligns with research journeys. We get a goal in mind (climb a mountain; ask a research question) and it seems easy and straight forward: start at the bottom, climb to the top. Easy peasy. For your first RQ, you take a chance and go for it… usually to find out it’s not a straight path and much harder than you thought! Even if you don’t make it to the top, you still are able to gain new heights (new skills) – which is always inspiring! In fact, it pulls you to come back and try again or try a different mountain (research question). On the next climb you’ll be more prepared for the challenge, the joy, the struggle, the inspiration, the twists in the trail … and as you summit one mountain (research project) you find yourself already planning the next.
My goal as a Teacher is to inspire my students to embrace their own research journeys.