Happy Birthday James!

Today my son turns 35.  Time has flown by so quickly.  I posted on his Facebook page that I have loved him since before he was born and that is true.  Sometimes our journey has been rocky yet my love for my child has been abiding and strong.

He is an accomplished adult who is also the father of our grandson, Ronan.  He works hard and is well respected in his career and among his peers.  I admire the adult he has become knowing the journey he has taken throughout his life. 

Here is a photo of the two of us together when he was just a little boy.  I cherish those memories and hope we are able to make many more as we move through this phase of our lives. 

So Happy Birthday to my wonderful, talented and accomplished son!  May you have a long and wonderful life, surrounded by people who love you!

Photo Credit: RPM

Here we are today.  This photo was taken by my grandson, Ronan. 

"Life gets mighty precious when there is less of it to waste"
Bonnie Raitt 

A Walk of Faith

It has been one of those days.  Today I found out that my position at the college where I work will be eliminated by the end of May this year.  This is frightening for me because I am an older worker but not close to being able to retire.  I am trying really hard to look at this as a walk of faith for me.

I know that God will provide for my husband and me but it is so hard to rest in those promises right now.  My mind is spinning with possibilities.  What will I do?  How will we make it?  My job is the source of our health insurance coverage and that is scary.

In talking to friends here where I work I have been told unofficially that a place will be found for me.  I am highly trained and have taken on every learning opportunity that has been presented to me.  My employer also paid for my doctorate (I was fortunate to graduate debt free).  Why would they want to get rid of someone they invested so much money in?

So I have to just wait, and listen to the voice of God.  Knowing that what is coming, although it will be new, will also be a wonderful opportunity for me.

I am asking for your prayers if you are reading this post.  Also, I will let you know the outcome.

"I am no longer a slave to fear.  I am a child of God"  -  Bethany Music 

Back in the Saddle...

For the past two semesters at work I have been taking on new responsibilities.  Last semester I accepted an assignment as a course developer for one of the online psychology courses at the college where I work.  This semester I was asked to be the course mentor for the same course. 

A course mentor is someone who interacts with the faculty for an online course.  If the faculty run into problems with the course construction or internal workings of the curriculum they will do a report about the issue.  It is my job to respond to those issues, either clarifying the problem or possibly fixing an issue that was not found as part of the course development. 

After I took the position of course mentor I found out I also had to take an online course where I get certified to be a course mentor.  All right, I have taught online courses for the last few semesters at the college where I work.  I also took many online courses as part of my doctoral program.  I wrote many papers and journal entries during my studies about my love/hate relationship with online learning. 

So I started this course last week.  It goes for six weeks and has all the attributes of an online course; discussion board posts and responses, homework and assignments with deadlines and quizzes.  Yikes!  I have forgotten the pressure you experience in an online course keeping everything straight and trying to fit all the work in with your other responsibilities.  Did I mention deadlines?  I'm sure I did.  There are lots of deadlines. 

In my work as a college professor and course developer I had forgotten what it is like to be a student.  This course is bringing back all the memories, good and bad (remember love/hate relationship)?  It's fun to challenge myself and learn new things but I hardly seem to finish one session and have to move onto the next.  I am doing this while working a full time job, teaching two online classes and still working as a course mentor for a class.  (Also being Grandma to my grandson).

Although I am totally stressed usually at some point during the week, overall I am loving it.  It reminds me that this is what my students are experiencing.  I have a greater appreciation for what they are going through as they navigate my classes. 

January 31 - let's see where we are.

I started this year with talking about goals, not resolutions.  So on this final day of January 2017 I am looking at my progress so far this year with the goals I listed at the beginning of this month.

One thing I wanted to do is write in this blog regularly.  So far I have posted something each week, either on Monday or Tuesday.  So I am pretty pleased with myself on meeting that goal.  Last week I even embedded a YouTube video to illustrate my point about educational journeys.  That would not have been possible six months ago.  Although probably most first graders can embed a video, digital immigrant that I am, I did not know how to do it.  I served as a course developer for my employer last semester and through that process I learned many new digital skills, which included embedding videos into my course content.

Another thing I wanted to do this year is become more physically active.  Late last year I read an article in AARP magazine (Yes I do read it.  They have great articles often about performers I like.  It's kind of like "People for old folks!") The article was titled "Younger Next Year"   It was a quick little two page article with a list of things to do to turn back your biological clock.  The first was plan to exercise six days a week including 45 minutes of cardio for four days and strength training the other two days.  Ok, I want to be younger but I hate to exercise.  But I made a commitment and tried it.  Since I live in the midwest and it is winter here it is difficult to get out and do cardio right now.  So I pulled out my Beachbody - TurboJam videos and started to exercise along with them regularly.  It was hard (remember I hate to exercise) and at the beginning all I wanted to do was say "I'm too busy for this"  Yet something happened about week three - all of a sudden I looked forward to that time of pushing my body and sweating.  It is becoming a habit.  (I still hate to exercise but I really like what it is doing to my body and mind!)

Now on to writing.  I am writing regularly in this blog but my fiction writing is still at a stand still.  I want to do it and have great ideas yet the habit of writing eludes me.  Then out of the blue one of my writer friends invited me to a writing group.  We will meet regularly and all focus on the craft of writing.  Just what I needed to get me going (a blessing from God in my thinking).  I will keep you updated on how that is progressing.

So I can report that I am making progress on my 2017 goals.   I am keeping up with my blog regularly, I am exercising regularly and I have plans to be part of a group that will encourage me to write.  So far it has been a good year. 

Educational Journeys are not Easy

Over the holidays my husband and I were watching television and this commercial played.  It is one of those commercials where you are watching it and saying to yourself, "what is this for?"  If you take the time to watch it above you will find out it is an advertisement for the University of Phoenix.

Yet while I was watching this and tears came to my eyes it reminded me of the educational journey so many people experience.  It can be a lonely journey where you find yourself separated from your community and family, although still physically a part of both.  It can be a journey where your friends do not understand what you are doing, and maybe are a little put off by your perseverance and persistence in reaching your goals. 

I work at a community college.  Every day I stand in awe of many of my students who work to overcome numerous obstacles to reach their educational goals.  Many are the first in their family to attend college.  So a large part of my job is not just advising them academically but also helping them navigate the culture and rules which make up college.  I often check up on my students asking how they are doing in classes and also how they are doing in life.  College is not easy and for many the support, or just acceptance, of their family, friends and community means the difference between success and failure.

I returned to college in my 50's to complete one of my educational goals, getting a doctoral degree.  For over six years I pushed myself to complete that goal.  It was not an easy journey, I almost quit several times.  I carried textbooks and reading material to family events, hospital rooms (both my mother and stepfather passed away during this time) and sometimes sporting events.  Because of the support and encouragement of many people I completed my goal.

What are your goals?  Do you think about returning to school to try something new?  Do you want to train for a physical goal?  Do not allow yourself to be discouraged.  I am so happy I said "yes" to the challenge rather than doubting myself and never trying.  

Priceless - Part 2

Last Friday I drove to Nashville TN to pick up my grandson from his great-grandmother's house and take care of him for a few days. My son was on tour and would not be back until late Friday night. He asked me to pick up Ronan and then stay for the weekend. The visit started when I pulled up to his great grandmother's house and Ronan was on the balcony watching for me. She said that he had been asking all day "when will my grandma get here?" We visited for a short while, his great grandmother is on his mother's side, and then Ronan insisted we leave.

On the way to my son's house Ronan decided he "REALLY had to potty" but we were in bumper to bumper traffic on the interstate and could not find a place to stop. So once we pulled into his dad's driveway Ronan got out of the car, dropped his pants and peed in the front yard. Remember this is Tennessee, and his dad lives in a small country town. I just acted like it was no big deal for him to drop trow and potty in the front yard.

The rest of the weekend alternated between wonderful fun times and clashing heads and wills. Ronan's parents are not together any longer so this almost-4-year-old is struggling with the differences in expectations between his mom's and dad's houses. Then you throw in grandma who is totally clueless and we definitely had some clashing of the wills to navigate. He has trouble with boundaries (No, Ronan that is Grandma's phone). He also struggles with bedtime (Grandma, I'm not tired. But Ronan Grandma is tired).

We had a wonderful time between the clashing of our wills and tempers. We had to have a few talks about respecting other people's property. We also had to talk about boundaries with his NERF guns - "No you do not shoot people in the face or head with your NERF bullets!)

The weekend was priceless and ended with many hugs and both of us telling each other we love each other and will miss each other when I went home. He is a normal, energetic, lively, and totally lovable boy (No, I am not showing favoritism).

I went home totally exhausted. I told my husband, who did not make the trip, "Don't talk to me I need some extended quiet time!"

We will be returning in a few weeks. I can't wait to see him again.

New Year, New Semester

In the past I have mentioned that I am a college professor.  I started with teaching introduction to psychology classes in a face to face format.  That is a traditional classroom format that includes weekly meetings of the class but also some online content.  More recently I have been teaching online classes.  These classes are asynchronous classes where there is a weekly "session" with learning objectives and assignment deadlines.  I still teach psychology but have added Abnormal Psychology and Social Psychology as additional courses.

Throughout my doctoral program I wrote several papers on my love/hate relationship with online learning.  As my students do, I love the convenience of online learning or teaching.  As we joke about online classes "You can go to college in your pajamas!"  In spite of the convenience you do need to meet your deadlines and course goals.  As I told my students today in the start of the semester announcement "Do Not Get Behind In Your Work!"  There is no leeway for bad days, family issues or anything else.  Going to college in your pajamas means you must keep up on your assignments.

As an instructor I love the convenience of teaching online (Yes I can Teach in My Pajamas!) but I do miss the face to face interaction with students.  In the traditional classroom being part of a really great class where everyone participates is total magic.  I learn from my students as they learn from me and their peers.  Online learning waters that immediate interaction down to discussion board posts.  There is no immediate challenging of ideas just mostly polite interaction.

Learning is learning to me.  Whether you take college classes online or face to face you are still working toward an educational goal and moving forward in your college career.  It does work for many of our students with busy lives.   So online learning has its place.  Yet there is nothing more fun, or more frustrating, than jumping into the fray of a group of young people and exchanging ideas and vision.

If you are thinking about going to college, or going back to college, please pursue your goals and do it.  You will not regret your experiences.