Presentations: Or, the overwhelming fear you’re doing it wrong
Posted October 29, 2015 by Tara Pealer
I love to give presentations. Give me a PowerPoint or Prezi, a somewhat captive audience, a chance to pretend to organize my notes, and I’m off. My philosophy for presenting is ‘if you want to make a splash, you’ve got to jump’. For me, that means is that when I start a presentation, I go into it believing that the most important part of a successful presentation is the actual presenting. If I go into a presentation knowing everything, having an exact plan, but get nervous and stumble or get mentally disorganized, I feel like I’ve negated any work I’ve done. My confidence is derailed completely. Other people, I know, feel confident in their presentation if they’ve collected and organized all the knowledge they wanted to get across. They just hate the presenting part. I’m flashy. I’ve got the substance, sure, but flash is where it’s at for me. I did a presentation last week which I kicked off by handing out two jars of m&m’s to the closest guesses of the number of book…
Happy Halloween!
Posted October 28, 2015 by Jill Silverberg
Grab your pumpkins and copious bags of candy ’cause Halloween is right around the corner! This year the holiday fortunately falls on a weekend which means that us students do not have to deal with the epic struggle of deciding whether or not to attend class dressed in full costume. While I will certainly support anyone who has/would do it, I sadly have never really had the opportunity to do so. Life just has a way of messing with my plans. Oh well. In preparation of All Hallows Eve I’ve been binge watching and reading anything and everything that reminds me of my favorite autumn holiday. From watching Let’s Plays of survival horror video games to reading a horror novel set within a store reminiscent of IKEA, I know that come November 1st, I am definitely going to need a year to recover from my apparent Halloween overdose. But until then, the parade of all things spooky, creepy, and nightmare-tastic will keep marching on. While I sadly could not make a visit to Salem, MA this…
Flexibility
Posted October 27, 2015 by Alison Mitchell
One thing I like about being an older student is that I have some flexibility. I’m not trying to finish SLIS super fast to get a job or move somewhere else — my job and family are already here. I can take my time with the program and get what I want out of it. Since I have two kids in elementary school, that flexibility is pretty important to me. When I entered Simmons, I expected to take three years to finish the program — two classes each semester (instead of the traditional three) and no classes in the summer, since my kids would be out of school. It seemed like a good plan. Then I took a three-credit short course late last spring, which put me ahead of where I expected to be. Suddenly, I had options — should I take another short course and graduate a semester earlier than I’d planned? Should I take only one course some semester, and pick up additional work hours? Which brings me to the upcoming semester. As…
Shifting Focus
Posted October 24, 2015 by Amy Wilson
As a SLIS student at Simmons, there is a big deadline for two important items. One is finishing the TOR (Technology Orientation Requirement) and the other is to complete your first advising session. I finished the TOR before the semester started and this past week I completed the second task with my adviser, Jim Matarazzo. What a wealth of knowledge that man is! Connecting with him was a bit of a circuitous route of self-discovery (through another advisor, the registrar’s office, our Assistant Dean Em Claire Knowles, and finally Jim) and by the end of all these conversations, I had changed my concentration and found my voice. Choosing classes meant that I had to make a decision about where I wanted to take them – online or on-campus? This semester both of my classes have been on-campus, and it is definitely a lot of work to run back and forth; however, I still think it’s worth it for me. I absolutely see that online learning could be useful for someone who has social anxiety, or lives…
“The Process of Submitting Call for Papers Proposals”, As Told By Picture Book Characters
Posted October 23, 2015 by Katie Caskey
Step 1: You find the Call for Papers. It even aligns perfectly with your particular area of research and interest! You excitedly save the link to your bookmarks tab. This is something to seriously consider. Then the daydreaming begins. What if your proposal was accepted? You could be a published author in an academic journal! You have arrived! https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/ab/ff/4c/abff4c459eb3d169f4c0551b3086d071.jpg Step 2: You realize you actually have to write this proposal! Can anyone say “writer’s block”? While the prompt was most likely engaging and thought-provoking when you chose it, those original inspirations have quickly vanished into a cloud of confusion and self-doubt. How will I ever get this done when I have all of my other class work to do? Should I even be submitting something when I don’t have a degree yet? Am I an academic fraud? Don’t feel bad…we’ve all had these thoughts. The important thing is moving through this phase without completely halting all productivity. Even if all you can muster out of your overwhelmed and overworked brain is one sentence or idea…
The Fraud Police and the Real Adults
Posted October 22, 2015 by Tara Pealer
This semester I’ve had trouble finding time to read books for my own personal delight. There’s the Excitement of A New City and of My First Semester As A Graduate Student, and the stress of When Will Someone Find Out I Don’t Know What I’m Doing?, all of which have taken over most of my time. It’s about halfway through the semester now. No one’s noticed yet that I’m making it up as I go. I’m getting worried. In her book, The Art of Asking, Amanda Palmer describes that feeling as ‘The Fraud Police’. The Art of Asking, which is the only book I’ve read this semester in full (though I’ve read it religiously) is about asking for help, and about accepting help. It’s about flowers and donuts. It’s about a lot of things, really. I have the section on ‘The Fraud Police’ underlined and highlighted. It helps to hear other people tell you that they’re also making it up as they go along. Amanda Palmer’s book cover For most of my life, I’ve been…
The Million Dollar Question
Posted October 21, 2015 by Jill Silverberg
Every now and then I journey home to Long Island, NY to spend time with my family, friends, and cat, Ella. This was the first time I was home since the start of the semester, so everyone wanted to know how my year had been going so far. Besides asking about the usual stuff (school, work, and my friends), I noted that there were two questions that everyone wanted ask me. And trust me when I say that that utilization of italics is not an overreaction. The first question, I guess, should have been anticipated: Are you ready for another Boston winter? While I do admit that last year’s winter was bad, it wasn’t the worst thing in the world, at least not for me. Since I don’t have a car and can walk to everything I need, the only complaint I had was the fact that I missed one or two classes. Besides, I LIKE SNOW. So what if we have a lot of snow this year? I seriously do not mind. As for the second…
Talk to your advisor!
Posted October 20, 2015 by Alison Mitchell
SLIS assigns each student an academic advisor at the beginning of the program. As part of 401, students have to meet with their advisors to talk about course plans and get certain paperwork signed. I remember meeting my advisor last fall, having a pleasant conversation, and moving on. At the time, I probably thought that was our first and last meeting, since I knew what classes I wanted to take and what I wanted to do after SLIS. I probably even thought, I’m a grown-up, how much advising do I need? Plenty, it turns out. I’m struggling a little bit, attitude-wise, this semester, and wasn’t feeling inspired by any of the classes offered in the spring. In a last ditch effort to save my attitude, I sent an email to my advisor. I outlined my lack of enthusiasm and quickly had an appointment with her for the following week. That appointment was yesterday, and all I can say is that I’m really glad we met. She had some ideas for courses that I hadn’t considered,…
That’s not this week, is it?
Posted October 15, 2015 by Tara Pealer
-A statement said by me about all my assignments so far. A major part of my first semester at Simmons has been deadlines. Beyond the usual multiple assignment due dates carefully written in color coding in my planner, there’s the days I have to meet with group members (group members being new to a highly independent English major, but definitely welcomed), and, finally the important due dates of TOR and the LIS Program Planning Sheet. Both of which are due on the same day, and both of which were a little nerve wracking. The TOR(Technology Orientation Requirement) had been a breeze for me, until I reached the HTML coding section and a tiny monster inside of began to insist that I had no clue what I was doing. Which, notably, is the point of TOR. It exposes students to technology they may have some trouble with. Anyway, I shut down at that point, and haven’t looked at it since. I just need to sit down and allow myself to not understand something, to accept that,…
Star Struck at the Horn Book Awards
Posted October 9, 2015 by Katie Caskey
I think by now we can all agree that the SLIS programs at Simmons are pretty amazing. The small class sizes, the tight community, and the easy access to so many resources in and around Boston…all huge plusses. But, if you still need a bit more convincing, let me just say this…the Boston Globe Horn Book Awards! OK, the mere sound of these words may not make you jump and squeal like a schoolgirl (like they do me), but allow me to elaborate, and you will soon see why this is just the best. School. EVER! The Horn Book Magazine was founded in 1924 and is still one of the premiere publications in the field of children’s literature, with a fun mix of academic articles, book reviews, and editorial comments. Spawning out of this publication’s outstanding reputation, the annual Boston Globe Horn Book Awards work to recognize excellence in three categories of children’s literature: picture books, fiction, and nonfiction. And, because of Simmons’ close partnership with The Horn Book, guess where the awards are…