Hi All, As many of you know, I enjoy photography. I often share my work on this blog and I have recently set up an online gallery. Of the photos that I have taken this year, the above is my favorite. I took this shot in a boat house along a lake outside of Montreal. I saw this morning light and knew I had to go get my camera and try to capture this quiet mood.
Here is an interview conducted by blogger Peg Boyle Single with the authors of What They Didn’t Teach You in Graduate School: 199 Helpful Hints for Success in Your Academic Career. This will be of greatest interest to those of you in doctoral programs, however some of the topics covered (like finding a mentor) are relevant to all.
Hi friends,
Hi Folks,
I know I've said this before, but I'll say it again here -- be sure to back up your work. I'm repeating it this weekend because this is a time of year when some folks just want to be done and rush at the end, occasionally losing work. So when you finish that paper or powerpoint or whatever:
This has been around for awhile, but it always makes me smile. Hope it brings you good energy this weekend! Cheering you on, Harriet
In these final days of the semester do you find yourself engaging in negative self talk? You know, "I"ll never get this done," or "I don't belong in this program, I can't do this." If so, give yourself a timeout and intentionally engage in positive self talk, even for just a few minutes. Changing these messages you give yourself is a valuable skill that will serve you here at the end of the term and well beyond.
Hi All, Here we are post-Thanksgiving, looking toward the end of the semester. My next few posts will focus on finishing strong. You may be tired, eager for the holidays, ready for a break and so on, however I'm here to push you to give these last few weeks of the semester all that you have. Dig deep and work hard -- you can do it!
Hi All, I hope that you had a good holiday and weekend. Even those of you on big deadlines, I hope that you got a little bit of time to chill.
Hi All,
My colleague Martha Ezzell just had a wonderful piece published: "Learning is a Radical Act" Here is the beginning paragraph --
Learning ought to be a radical act. Learners should make significant changes in perspective in the process. This is not the type of change that can be measured by how much a student knows at the end of a course that she didn’t know before. Rather, for learning to be a radical act, a difference in constructing meaning about a significant area must occur. The learner should recognize the change.
To read the full article:
http://gradstudies.carlow.edu/pro-leader/pdf/radical-act-learning.pdf
Cheering you on in your work!
Harriet
Good morning. I don't usually use this site to promo stuff, but I love this new show "Modern Family" -- here's a snapshot (that is funny even if you don't want to check out the show):
A few weeks ago, I had a very full day of meetings and other commitments. Anyway, I got back to my office and didn't have a lot of time before class. I had just downed a quick dinner and was going to wash up. I grabbed my toothbrush and toothpaste and headed for the bathroom, still in a big hurry. I put toothpaste on the brush and started to brush my teeth and AAGGHHH, the toothpaste tasted terrible! I looked down and realized that I had grabbed hand lotion, not toothpaste. Lesson learned. Slow down. Breathe.
One of my former students, Ali Spagnola, is a painter with a fun and distinctive style. A few years ago, she began a free painting project wherein she creates paintings for free, on request. She has shipped her work all over the world. You can write to her and be very specific ("please paint front loading washing machine with an orange background"), or less specific ("please paint a dog"), or totally open ("surprise me"). She will then create and send you, for free (!!!!) the painting. Some of us choose to send a little money her way to support her work, but plenty of folks take the paintings for free and Ali is totally cool with that.
"To study is not to consume ideas, but to create and co-create them."
Check this out:
Hope this brings you a smile as you settle into your weekend work!
Hi All, I have occasionally had students who told me they were concerned that their writing did not sound "more academic." Well, you definitely don't want your papers to read like a text message or a facebook post. However, I strongly encourage you to not to use five words when one will do just fine, just so you can "sound academic." I believe that the best academic writing conveys complexity and confidence. Academic writing should not include slang (unless the research topic is "slang"!), shouldn't sound like you when you're chillin' with your friends. Academic writing should convey professionalism and should reflect that you are a scholar, that you research, think, and write with depth. At the same time, I strongly prefer writing that is clear and accessible, rather than writing that was penned by someone who is trying to impress me with a big vocabulary or a density of thought. 
For adult students, it can be easy to show up for class and then leave at the end without really connecting with colleagues. For the most part, grad school is not like undergrad wherein we then saw our classmates in the dorm or in the cafeteria or whatever.
Hi All,
I love this song.
I begin today by thinking about my grandmother Mildred who believed in me on such a deep level. I remember that I would tell her of some success or achievement and she would say "Of course!". Her tone implied that she was not at all surprised, but expected such things. As she said "Of course" there was not any element of taking my work for granted, rather it was a combination of delight and faith in my abilities and my progress. I believe that my grandmother's confidence gave me a foundation of confidence and her love gave me an inner strength.
Hi Friends,
"En-couraged people act with feeling and passion; they transcend separate self, isolation, inaction, and stasis. It often takes courage to 'move toward' and engage with others, to act from a place of authentic and strong emotion. We do not achieve courage once and for all, but we re-create it."
Hi Folks, Here is some Saturday morning fun:
Hi All, I've been thinking about today's post, and the fact is, that my priority today has to be reading student papers. So I'm going to walk the walk and honor my priority (reading paper) instead of getting pulled into something else (writing a regular post for today).
Hi All, Here is a cool (and quick) video to help you search the web more effectively:
Hi Folks,
Hi All, This is a continuation of my last post, in response to an anonymous reader who wrote to say that she or he is having difficulty connecting with faculty. 
An anonymous reader responded to my question "how can I help" last week with a few issues. I will address one each over the next few posts.
This is one of my favorites:
Time management? Stress management? Connecting with faculty? Setting goals? What are the aspects of your academic experience that are the most challenging? How can I help? This is your turn... send me questions, dilemmas, or topics... and I'll respond in a future post.
This morning I sent my Chronicle article to my high school composition teacher. To give you some background, we had been out of touch for years, and then I was given an award by my alumni association, and remembered Mrs. Capone as being the most important teacher in my high school years, in terms of teaching me how to write. So I contacted Mrs. Capone to thank her for her influence. We exchanged a few emails and that was that. And then this morning I sent her my article.
Hi Friends, Last spring I wrote an article on being a faculty member on Facebook (and I also touched on other social media and technology). Can we mentor on Facebook? What interesting issues does Facebook raise regarding privacy and boundaries?
Hi All,
Hi All,
Most adult students are on a tight timeline when it comes to meeting deadlines for school. Gone are the days of study hall fifth period and after school time to do homework. We are trying to fit school work in between our jobs, family responsibilities and so on. Ideally, we need to be able to sit down when the time is right, and just get right to work. But how do we quickly transition from job to assigned readings, or from taking care of kids to writing a paper?
Here is a good post, written for graduate students, on staying motivated:
Here is a tip for new graduate students: keep final copies of all papers and keep your books. In grad school, it is much more likely that you will want to go back to old papers for references and to draw on various passages that you have written. In addition, in some programs you will need to write a reflective paper toward the end of your studies and/or submit a portfolio. So, keep a final copy of each paper that you write in a separate folder in your documents so that you can easily find final drafts of all papers.
