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…
A Fine Balance
Posted October 8, 2015 by Tara Pealer
If you’re a junior or senior in undergrad, it is likely that by now you have friends in grad school. Your grad school friends seem like they have their lives together. They know what they are doing, and what they want to do, and how to get there. (This is a lie.) And it may seem, to you, as it did to me, that there are two types of grad school students. Type A, we’ll call them, is the type who is always studying. You haven’t seen them in months. You haven’t even seen them on Facebook in a while. They are doing well, you know, because they have always done well, but their entire life is now centered on completing their studies. You admire their dedication and passion, and have no clue how they manage to keep it up. Type B, on the other hand, seems to always be doing “The Things You Wish You Were Doing.” They’re the ones with pictures of fancy food they made on Instagram. They went to that supercool…
Health Comes First
Posted October 7, 2015 by Jill Silverberg
Does anyone else remember the days when they would pretend to be sick to get out of classes? I certainly do. Back during my high school days, I would sometimes wish I would get sick just so I wouldn’t have to get up at 6:20am and endure about eight hours of mind-numbing and soul breaking school. During those days, I would have to be strategic; pretend to be sick too much and the parents would certainly catch on. I doubt I missed a total of ten days throughout my entire high school career and certainly at least three or four of those times I probably truly needed to miss school, but I’ll be honest, those days when I could stay home and relax were always worth the risk of getting caught faking it. Ironically, high school would be the last time I ever truly enjoyed getting sick. In my first semester as a freshman, I caught the Swine Flu, H1N1, and missed an entire week of school. Not only that, but my parents had to drive four…
Confession
Posted October 6, 2015 by Alison Mitchell
Here’s a confession. Sometimes I forget I’m in school. This morning, a friend asked me how school was going, and I launched into a story about a conversation I had with my older daughter’s teacher. My friend listened politely, then said “I mean your school.” Right. I’m in school. It’s kind of hard to believe I could forget about it, since my assignments and deadlines are always on my mind. But right now school seems a little more abstract than it has other semesters. Part of it is that I’m not physically on campus as much as I have been in the past. I’m taking one online course and one evening course, so I’m only there Thursday nights. Part of it is that my kids need a little more attention this fall, both physically (I drive the two of them to more gymnastics practices than I thought humanly possible) and emotionally (one is feeling the stress of a harder grade and more classroom work this year, and the other just likes to tell me every….