Teamwork & Online Learning

As Enid Irwin said in her presentation about teamwork, “You start your career when you start SLIS”. I think that’s well said and true.  Entering into becoming an online learner was a bit scary, and I really had no idea exactly what to expect.  Luckily, when reading through “The Tips for Success” I’m happy to say I can relate to nearly all of the points.  Some of the points that stood out to me were time management, self-motivation, working independently, and enjoying a challenge.  Being challenged is something that is extremely important to me in both my personal and professional life.  If there’s one thing I loathe it’s being bored and feeling like my intellect, skills, and creativity are not being utilized to their fullest potential.   Sure, I enjoy “vegging out” as much as the next person, but there’s a reason vegging out feels good—and that’s because you’ve worked so hard that you need a break.

When something shifts at work, I am always eager to take on new projects, create new programming, and try new things.  This bodes well for online learning, as I am very self-motivated and I know how to manage my time.  Since my job includes doing a variety of different tasks, I’ve had good practice in prioritizing and managing time.  I’m also very dedicated to things that I’m passionate about and being in library school is something I’m excited to be a part of and have been looking forward to it since I applied!  I’ve also had a lot of freedom at work so I’ve learned to work independently quite well.

I’m happy to hear that teamwork is a big part of being in library school! And I’m actually serious! I have to admit that I’ve had some not-so-stellar team work experiences, but on the whole, I’m a people person and I enjoy a lively discussion, brainstorming, and working through problems with other people.  Something that stood out in both the presentation by Dr. Haycock and the talk by Enid Irwin is that they both believe setting ground rules is crucial to teamwork.  I completely agree.  If all participants are honest and upfront about their expectations at the beginning of the process, and clear guidelines with clear consequences are set, I can only imagine that it sets the stage for success.  The main issues I see in my time spent in programs that serve youth are no set guidelines, no real follow-through on consequences, or confusing/unclear guidelines and consequences.  I can’t tell you the number of times I wished for a behavior management specialist to come in to teach the staff on effective ways to deal with students.  And while I understand we are all adults in this online experience, I feel ground rules/guidelines are needed and effective, as well as consequences that make sense.  I would feel more comfortable personally in a team where we had all agreed upon ground rules and consequences from the get-go.  In the end, I feel this would actually allow us all to be more open and creative.

Another important point of team work that Enid Irwin spoke about was attitude and how essential it is to have a good one! Personally, I feel this is crucial in pretty much all of life, but hey!  It’s such a bummer when there’s a Debbie downer muttering under her breath when everyone else in the group is trying to work out the  team process and how to operate as a team.  It seems like if someone consistently had a bad attitude that was slowing down the process it might be a responsibility of the team leader to step in to talk to him/her about it.  I must note that in all of the teamwork I participated in when obtaining my Elementary Ed Degree, we never had team leaders, so I don’t have any experience with this and I’m curious really on how the team leader is chosen and how effective that process will be.

Overall, I enjoyed the presentations on teamwork and if all students I will be placed on teams with during my SLIS career have also watched these videos, I will be very happy indeed as we’ll all be starting from a place of understanding teamwork.  I must take a moment to note that I am curious about time when it comes to teamwork—in the past it seems that teams I’ve been on haven’t had enough time to truly get to know each other, thus we never made it past stage one or two in the stages of team development. Or, maybe we were just terrible at setting up ground rules and managing our time as a group so perhaps that’s why it felt as though we didn’t have enough time! But I am curious as to how that will play out—I feel working in a team over the course of a semester seems like it might have more of an opportunity to really gel together and set up all the critical pieces to be successful.  We shall see!

I’m a SLIS (School of Library & Information Science) student!

Hello all! I’m happy to report that I am well on my way of achieving my first item on my dreams/goals list for 2012 and that is: I’m an official SLIS student! Hooray! I’ve just begun my first class, which is dedicated to learning about online learning, using social media tools, and  navigating the school’s online interface for coursework.  As some of my classmates have already posted about, I too, was nervous about starting school again.  It took me awhile to decided to go back to school (again!) and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from an online learning environment.

However, I’m pleased as punch to report that so far it’s going splendidly. Honestly, I’ve probably learned much more about my classmates from reading and interacting with them online than I would in a physical classroom. That was something I wasn’t expecting! I also wasn’t expecting to feel so supported and encouraged by everyone in the class-from the teacher to the student mentor to my peers. It’s not that I didn’t think people would be friendly, it’s just that I didn’t expect to feel so excited about logging onto the D2L to read about other students and to participate in discussions about tea, movies, and where we all live. Wow, I feel even more confident in my choice to take this pathway–if these are the sorts of folks I’ll get to work with for the next many, many years, I’m in the right place.

Just a quick note since this topic was about social media tools. I came late to the world of social media. For a long while, I resisted Facebook, and for even longer, Twitter.  I acquiesced to Facebook about three years ago, a little worried about becoming addicted to it, or not understanding it or being afraid of who from my past might want to friend me.  It was fun to explore how to make Facebook useful for me and as someone who is visual (and ok, very interested in what people who don’t live near me or who I’ve been out of touch with do) I love looking at all the photographs. I make sure to stay up to date about all of the privacy issues, because I do post personal things on FB that I don’t want the world to see. I’ve been able to create a smaller group of close friends with whom I feel more comfortable sharing more private issues with.  Once I decided to pursue my MLIS, I knew I had to figure out how to use Twitter. I asked a co-worker for a lesson and boy, was I surprised! I thought Twitter was only so folks could post about what they had for breakfast or how often they watched bad TV. Heck no! I love how information is shared & spread on Twitter and I’ve learned so much from participating in the Twitter world! I’m following lots of librarians and libraries and tech companies from whom I’ve gained so much more knowledge about the library world in the past few months than I would have any other way!

I also have to say, I am loving the fact that right this moment I’m sitting on my couch with a candle burning, a heating pad on my lap, and hot cup of tea in front me as I’m working! OK, that’s enough. I told myself this was going to be a brief post, but alas, it turned into more of a “medium” post.

 

PS, This is what it doesn’t look like outside right now–taken last winter from the blizzard of ’11 (& yes, I am wishing for some snow!)

Goals & Dreams for 2012

10 reasons why I adore “A Sick Day for Amos McGee”

I haven’t posted in a long time, sorry friends! I’d like to share my love of this wonderful book, a love that grows with every reading.

1. The author and illustrator, Philip C. Stead and Erin E. Stead, are husband and wife.  As if that in itself isn’t adorable enough, the story behind the creation of this book is a tear-jerker. Erin, an art major, had a traumatic art education and it took her time to return to drawing after graduation.  Her husband, Philip, secretly sent her one drawing of an elephant to his editor, who loved it.  Together, they created this amazing book (and it sounds like it was a wonderful healing process as well). Philip wrote about Erin in the Horn Book. Erin’s Caldecott acceptance speech is both moving and inspiring.

2. The book has a universally appealing theme that attracts people of all ages.  Seriously, we’ve all been sick and we’ve all wanted to be taken care of while feeling unwell.  The fact that Amos’s friends figure out how to use public transportation (another relatable theme) to visit him and keep him company while he’s ill, is awesome.  Real friends come by when you aren’t feeling or looking your best and his animals pals prove they are worthy friends.

3. The reactions to this book are refreshingly surprising.  When I first read this book, I just fell in love with both the story and the beautifully detailed illustrations. To me, this felt like a quiet, subtle, yet wonderful story. When I read it aloud to a group of K-2nd graders, they cracked up at parts I didn’t expect–such as when Amos plays chess with the elephant and when he lends a handkerchief to the rhino. Their genuine delight was a nice reminder to me that this book isn’t as serious as I first thought (that would be my grown-up slant making it seem so serious!). I look forward to seeing how other groups of children and adults react.

4. The illustrations are gorgeous. Let me say it a bit differently: the illustrations are phenomenal.  Now, there are millions of children’s books featuring animals.  In many cases the illustrations, while cute and funny, don’t depict animals very accurately, which usually is ok with me (although after this book, my standards may have changed).  But Erin has done something I think is pretty unique–she’s drawn the animals in a very realistic manner, yet given them just enough expression that we can relate to them. Wow.  The pencil drawings with woodblock prints evoke a timeless feeling, and we can see the time and care put into each page. I would love to hang a print from this book in my house. Each page is a joy to look out, explore, and discover. I feel the illustrations stand on their own (no offense, Philip!) and that this could be a wordless book.

5. The mystery of the red balloon.  Do I totally understand why the red balloon appears on some pages and not others? No. Do I like that this is a mysterious and magical part of the book that has a thousand possible explanations? Heck, yeah! It reminds of the wordless film, The Red Balloon, a film I’ve always loved.

6. Ok, so while I do believe the illustrations can stand on their own, the text is simple, elegant, and succinct.  There are some great vocabulary words such as clanged, swapped, amble, and limbered.   Philip makes good use of repetition, but doesn’t overdo it or make it cheesy. Also, Amos talks to his sugar bowl!

7. The animals don’t talk.  Enough said.

8. The main character’s name is Amos. Not a popular name in these modern times, Amos is a Hebrew name meaning “to carry”, “to carry a load” or “burdened”.  I like thinking that Amos carries the joy of friendship to his animals every day and in return, they journey to carry comfort and fun to him when he’s sick.

9. Amos lives in an adorable single family house snugly tucked between high-rise buildings. It reminds me of both my own single family house and the house in the film Up.  Amos is clearly old-fashioned with is house, his wood stove, and his glass milk-jar vase.  That feels right and makes me  yearn for a neighbor just like Amos.

10.This book makes an excellent gift. We’ve officially entered Holiday season and I believe this would make a perfect gift for a young person, animal lover, book lover, or art lover that you know. Books are the best gifts, especially with a personal note written in the front with the date. Some of my best memories are of receiving a special book on Christmas morning with an inscription from my parents of why this book would engage me and how loved I was.

So, what are you waiting for? If you haven’t explored this book, go to your library or local independent bookstore! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Pizza & beer: the perfect combo

Tonight I had the pleasure of visiting the newest location of Stone Hearth Pizza in Allston, MA, which is right around the corner from my house (score!).  I had been looking forward to this visit for several reasons: 1)They use local, sustainable ingredients whenever possible; 2)They have local, craft beer; 3) They converted an old gas station into a sustainably built restaurant; 4)They reply to my tweets and invited me to ask for  executive chef Michael Ehlenfeldt!!  (One of the many reasons I am now a huge convert to Twitter!).

I am happy to report I wasn’t let down on any account.  The restaurant looks great on the inside from the wood beamed ceiling to the (what looks like) repurposed glass light fixtures to the old map on the wall in the bathroom of Western Ave. & N. Harvard Street. The  ambience was great with perfect lighting and music at just the right level. It felt “hip” and “fun”, but very welcoming and comfortable (and family friendly). Every staff member we interacted with was very friendly and cheerful. I want to give a special shout out to our waitress (whose name I unfortunately forget) who shared with us her favorite pizza, The Divine Goddess, described on the menu as “Our healthful version of a white pizza”.  When we asked about getting the Farm Fresh pizza sans prosciutto, she made sure to tell us that the meat never touches the pizza because they understand how important that is to vegetarians. As a life-long vegetarian and as one who recently had a terrible experience at a pizza place where they served me pizza with chicken they had picked off (appalling & disgusting), I was extremely happy that she took the time to reassure us about this detail.  We ended up ordering The Divine Goddess, which was very flavorful with spinach, broccoli, and local ricotta cheese. YUM!

I was also quite impressed with the beer selection, which included, but was not limited to: Allagash Beer,  Rapscallion Brewery, Harpoon,  and  Pretty Things.  I chose the Allagash Tripel, a tasty golden ale with passion fruit, honey, and herbal notes, which was a nice compliment to The Divine Goddess.  Coming in at 9% ABV it packed quite a punch!  My friend got a Rapscallion Premier, a golden, Belgian inspired ale that she enjoyed.

We got to meet Michael Ehlenfeldt after our meal! We made sure to tell him we loved the pizza, beer, and the tiramisu that was made on site (this alone was worth going for!!).  He reassured us that this was not, nor ever going to be a “coors light” kind of place, thank goodness! For those of us who love and appreciate good beer and food, it’s nice when a new restaurant opens up in the neighborhood that is committed to serving local, scrumptious fare.  If you live in the area, please support local business and check it out! I can’t wait to go back–I hope to become a regular

Fun spooky photos

This is what happens when I spend an awesome night in with beer, baking, and good music: (thanks to picnik’s awesome Halloween-y featured effects):

 

If you celebrate Halloween, enjoy!

Fall: a time for beer, reading, & tweeting

Last week I got an awesome Twitter “lesson” from my co-worker.  I am now deeply immersed in the world of twitter and I have to admit, I’m loving it! One way that my co-worker put it was, “It’s a way to disseminate information, gather information, and listen.” As a future librarian, who is learning every day how important technology and sharing and accessing information is, I’m happy to explore this particular online world of “conversing”.  While on twitter, I found this article about what to think about when considering a career of librarianship :So you’re going to library school…

Ever since I spoke with  my advisor, I’ve been thinking about the many “outside-of-the box” possibilities that librarianship can encompass.  He encouraged me to think of working outside of an actual building–and to think about other “spaces” that could work to serve people.  This way of thinking–creatively, flexibly, ever-changing–is enormously exciting for me. I am the sort of person who thrives on learning new skills while at work, and not repeating the same tasks day after day. An ideal work environment for me includes thinking creatively, being flexible, seeking out new trends/ideas and applying them, as well as working with people. I’m hopeful a career in the library field will fulfill all of these requirements.

Ok, now for some fun things.  These iPod/iPhone chargers made from old books are awesome and look great when you aren’t using them (not a bunch of wires, hooray):  Book charging stations

Over the summer I read Freedom by Jonathan Franzen.  It was enjoyable, but I’ve heard even better things about his Corrections and I’m looking forward to reading it very soon.  I just read Game of Thrones by G.R.R Martin, and it was fabulous. Engaging, fun, well-developed characters, and a nice through-line. I’m really looking forward to reading the second one soon. (Although at a hefty 800 pages, I wish it could count as two books on my GoodReads Book Challenge, where I’m trying to read 125 books by the end of the year).

I just got these two books and started reading I Knew You’d Be Lovely and it is most excellent. Wow, short stories can be so beautiful and moving.

Although I’ve not had a chance to try this Notch Session Beer yet, I’ve heard most excellent things about it. I am hoping to visit the newly opened Refuge Cafe in Allston, where it’s on tap.

As always, I’m enjoying these two pumpkin beers:

And, on a last note, Mystic, CT is one of the cutest seatowns I’ve ever visited.  The people were all friendly and talkative,  plus the entire main street was aghast when a driver drove like an a*@hole.  I mean, wow, yeah, I want to live somewhere where everyone’s reaction is to frown at bad drivers.