Reader Week 2009

Part 1: Make the most of waiting!

Welcome to Reader Week! Today's post is offered by Donna in Pittsburgh:

I hate waiting. So I always have my journal or a book with me because I never know when I might be waiting for someone or something. If I am waiting at the doctor's office or waiting for my car, I read or write. I started doing this at the hairdresser as well while I am waiting for the gray to bevcovered!!! I can only read so many fashion magazines!!!!! I have the ability to block out my surroundings, so that helps as well.

Saturday morning music video

Thought we'd change it up with a video instead of a cartoon. This one goes out to Paperback Writer. You wrote that you and your cohort are low-energy. I hope this video gives you a little boost. Hang in there... break will help you re-energize.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY1Bl4nfpdA

cheers all,

Harriet

student loan repayment and forgiveness

Learn about adjusted student loan repayment programs (based on income) AND student loan forgiveness options for people work in public service.

http://www.ibrinfo.org/

cheers

Harriet

New music is hard

Last night we went to the Indigo Girls concert -- great show! They played many songs from their newest album which has only been out for a few months. As any of you concert-goers know, crowds are typically not as excited to hear new songs, they want to hear the stuff they know. But this crowd was totally into the new music and even knew a lot of the words. Nonetheless, when the Indigo Girls played a few of their older hits, the crowd went crazy on a new level, Amy and Emily seemed a little more relaxed - the energy of the room was really different.

This got me thinking about how perhaps when we are doing something we know deeply our energy is different than when we are working on something new (or relatively new). I know that the first time on a more complicated research project, for example, can feel like pushing a huge boulder up a mountain. We might head into it thinking, I know how to research and write, I can do this.... and then it gets more difficult than expected. Perhaps "new" is just hard. I don't know what we do with this, except to honor the fact that we are taking on something really challenging and then persevere. The fact is, we've taken on "new" before and succeeded... eventually those new songs become old and familiar.

Cheering you on!

Harriet

Saturday morning cartoon

Enjoy! And good luck with the work!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgwxXKsZhAo

Harriet

Reminder -- your turn to post!

Hi All,

Reminder that Reader's Week will soon be here! I have a couple of wonderful posts from readers and am looking for a few more.

Here's the deal... remember, deadline is June 20.

Share your ideas! Later this month I will publish guest posts from readers. What are your strategies for time management, stress management, overcoming procrastination? What are the approaches that help you succeed in school and other endeavors?

Please send your idea to me at harrietschwartz14@gmail.com no later than June 20. Let me know how I should list your name (first name only, first name and home city, full name, etc.). Also, if you have a blog and would like me to link to it, please include your blog address. Finally, feel free to send a photo to accompany your post, or suggestions for a photo (if you don't do this, I'll add a photo that I think works well). 

I look forward to hearing YOUR ideas!

cheers

Harriet

New pathways for collaboration

Here's another example of teachers (or at least this teacher) continuing to learn. I wonder what you can take from it too?? Earlier this year, I was contacted by someone who had seen this blog and wanted to link her blog to it (turns out she also writes a blog for students). So I checked out her work and said yes, let's link blogs. That turned into an ongoing conversation and before we knew it, we were proposing a conference presentation together! 

The colleague is Melanie Booth, and if you haven't already, you should check out her blog PrattleNog. Melanie is deeply reflective, inspiring, funny, and reads and shares lot of inspiring writers -- her blog is a nice lift.

Anyway, we learned this week that our proposed presentation has been accepted for a conference in Chicago in the fall. Our presentation is called "Facebook, Blogs, and Friendly Treehouses: Mentoring Adult Students Using Social Media." I know that Melanie and I will continue to think more deeply about this work that we do, as we work together on this presentation. 

This is a new kind of collaboration for me -- we haven't even met in person yet (!) and we're going to be presenting together. Of course, we worked on the proposal together, and we read each other's blogs so we've gotten to know each other a little bit. But still, I'm amazed at how this online world has opened a new door for collaboration. What can I learn from this? What can I learn from my online collaboration that transfers to other more traditional forms of collaboration? Has has your online life impacted your life as a student? Has it impacted your collaboration? Are there any lessons in there?

Keep at it!

Harriet

What's next.... maybe a conversation.

On Friday, I asked "what's next?" Encouraging us all to think about changes we might pursue in terms of career, school, teaching, and so on.

After I posted, I was thinking that for some people, "what's next?" is an exciting question. But for others it is a stressful or scary question. For those who find this question difficult, I encourage you to talk with someone about it. Seek out a good friend, a trusted mentor, a favorite teacher... someone with whom you feel comfortable. You can start by acknowledging that the question is there for you and that you DON'T know the answer, that you feel like it is time for a change, but you don't know where you are headed. Talking with someone else is likely to help you think more deeply and generate new possibilities. A safe discussion place is a terrific space in which you can play with ideas, with little risk, and without commitment. 

So there it is... if you don't know where to start, start with a conversation.

Cheers,

Harriet

Saturday morning celebration!!!!

No cartoon this week, as we are celebrating in Pittsburgh! Showing tremendous character, the Penguins overcame an 0-2 start in the finals vs. Detroit, as well as an embarrassing Game 5 loss to win the Stanley Cup last night!

recap:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjqtnkmWipo

A fun look back at Sidney Crosby, aged 14:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2z6ApUEuQ8

Big cheers, from the City of Champions!!

Harriet

What's next?

Some of you have just graduated, or are about to very soon. Others are on summer break and will get back to classes in the fall. And a few of you (brave and ambitious souls) are in accelerated programs and will continue with classes right through the summer! Regardless, when we are immersed in school, sometimes we can only see the work, we get so deep into it, we can't see beyond.

So today's question is, what's next? If you are graduating... what will you do to celebrate? Refresh? Re-energize? And what challenges are next on the horizon?

If you aren't graduating... take a step back and look at the big picture. Are you getting what you want from the program? Have you kept your focus while also allowing new ideas and pathways to emerge? 

And for my teaching colleagues who read this blog... what is next for us? How can we make the most of the summer and both restore and refocus, while also getting ready for next year?

Enjoy the trees... and look beyond...

cheers

Harriet

Photo by HLS

Coming soon -- reader contribution week!

Share your ideas! Later this month I will publish guest posts from readers. What are your strategies for time management, stress management, overcoming procrastination? What are the approaches that help you succeed in school and other endeavors?

Please send your idea to me at harrietschwartz14@gmail.com no later than June 20. Let me know how I should list your name (first name only, first name and home city, full name, etc.). Also, if you have a blog and would like me to link to it, please include your blog address. Finally, feel free to send a photo to accompany your post, or suggestions for a photo (if you don't do this, I'll add a photo that I think works well). 

I look forward to hearing YOUR ideas!

cheers

Harriet

That thing you don't want to do -- jump right in

Hi All,

Right now I'm definitively in touch with taking on work that I don't really feel like doing. I received my dissertation from the style editor and now have a number of corrections to make (note to my students.... even I still make APA mistakes, though I've gotten a lot better!).  Anyway, so imagine this, after months of hard work, and then defending the dissertation, I'm feeling sort of done. (Friends of mine even sent me a tshirt that says, in big red letters, "DONE"! And then I get this puppy back from the style editor and I have to go back and fix some citations, correct some spacing, etc. It's not a lot, but it's a drag!

This would be such a an easy one with which to procrastinate. Instead, I decided to jump right into the work. I made the first chapter corrections later yesterday, so that when I started the work today, I'd already have some done, I'd have a little momentum. This is a lot less daunting than if I hadn't yet begun the corrections.

So, my tip for the day... when you face work you don't want to do, take on a little chunk and just get yourself moving.

More soon!

Harriet

Saturday morning cartoon

Good morning. This one isn't really a cartoon, but it's good fun!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhAiDiHYP9k

Good luck with the work this weekend!

Harriet

You and your professor - part 3

Give a little somethin' back!

And I'm not really talking about cookies and milk! In the last two posts I discussed ways in which you might keep in touch with your professors and ways in which your profs might help you with your career development.

Today, I'm here to encourage you to give something back to your profs and your school. I'm not talking about cookies and milk, and I'm not talking about donating money. I'm talking about:

Giving to the program: help recruit new students, offer internships, help students and other alumni build their networks...

Giving to you professor: send your prof an interesting article, recommend a book, write to your prof about a twist on your experience of applying theory out in the field, provide feedback about the program... 

Giving back to your school and giving back to your prof, help your prof and school for obvious reasons. But this also helps you -- it keeps you on your prof's radar which takes us back to the networking we talked about on Wednesday.

Mutuality rocks! You give and you get. Happy Friday.

Harriet

You and your professor - Part 2

Graduating? Planning a change? Maybe your professor can help.

Today's post is to remind you that if you are looking for a new job or working to shift careers, your professors may be valuable resources. We often know people in the field and would be happy to connect you for some networking. So, if you haven't done so, touch base with any professors who you think might be helpful. If your prof helps you make a connection and you get a meeting, be sure to follow up with both the new contact and the prof -- those thank you notes go a long way!

Stay tuned for Part 3 on Friday!

cheers

Harriet

The first annual spring "you and your professor week"

Part I -- How will you keep in touch?

This week we will consider you and your professor and ways in which you may be able to help each other. Today's post is for those of you who have just graduated or will be graduating soon. 

I encourage you to identify one or few professors with whom you have developed a close relationship? Have you thought about how you will keep in touch after you graduate? Why keep in touch, you ask? Well, the practical answer is that you might want a letter of recommendation some day or want to network with your professor. If you have kept her or him posted on your whereabouts and what you are doing, that will all be easier and more effective. Keeping in touch with former professors is also a source of good energy for you both!

So, plan your contact. Will you add your prof to your holiday card list (and if so, include an update letter)? Or perhaps you will add reminders to your schedule to send your professor update emails twice a year? Whatever your strategy, keep in touch!

cheers

Harriet