Thank you!

Thanks to everyone who have sent me messages of congratulations for the new addition to my family -- I figured since many of you have asked to see a picture, that I'd post one here.

I had my son, Logan, on July 4th! He weighed 6 pds 4 ozs and was 20 inches long. He is a complete joy and such a wonderful blessing in my life.

Now, back to grading!! Thanks to all of you for your patience. I wasn't expected to have my son until the class was over, so it was a bit surprising to have him so early.

Blog URLs are posted!

This week everyone should already have their blog set up and should be starting to post their reflections and project 1's to it. I'm looking forward to reading your work and reading your comments from other students.

For those of you who are not as familiar with the concept of blogging, let's discuss a few things that might be helpful.

1) Write with the reader in mind - you are writing for others to read, share your opinion, share your thoughts, etc. Stay on topic - don't write about something that has nothing to do with the assigned task or subject matter. The blogs should be specifically about your class experience, your library experience, how you felt doing assignments, or blogging, or posting to discussion forums.. things like that. Feel free to incorporate your own life into the post, we definitely want that, but tie it in somehow to the purpose of the assignment.

2) You don't have to write a novel but a few sentences is NOT ENOUGH. A good blog post is about 250 words -- or a few well developed paragraphs. Try to stick to that. When you are asked to reflect on the course, please don't just write a post something like "I like the class but it is harder than I thought." Really talk about your experience, you won't be graded on your opinions -- you will however be graded on providing a thoughtful response!

3) Use links where possible -- posting to blogs is a great way to share things you've seen on the Internet that you'd like to talk about. If you come across a cool blog that you would like to share with the class, by all means do so!

4) Update your profile -- post a picture of yourself or something that interests you. Tell everyone a little about yourself. It's a great way for your blog readers (aka classmates) to get to know you.

5) Comment, comment, comment! Let people know you've read their blog. Say hi. Leave a small comment. Blogging is a form of communication.

For more helpful tips, see Tips to Writing Blog Entries.

Okay, those are my thoughts for today! Happy Blogging everyone!

Summer 2009 starts now!

Well, here we are with another summer LIB 3 class... I'm very excited because LIB 3 is my favorite class to teach and I only teach it once a year. We do lots of fun activities and it seems that we really get to know one another.

My summer schedule is pretty limited at the LAC library - I will be working on campus only the first few weeks of June, and mostly in the evenings. If you need to contact me, the best way will be through email or instant messaging.

Looking forward to the class!

Update on my Father

Thanks to all of you for your support this past year -- many of you were aware of the fight my father was having with Lung Cancer. He was diagnosed in Feb/Mar and had several rounds of radiation and chemotherapy. Thankfully he had a good summer and was able to be quite independent and enjoy himself. But sadly, in September of this year he took a turn for the worse. After whole brain radiation in October, he was not able to walk or care for himself independently.

He put up a good fight and continued to be his charming, generous, entertaining self throughout. He taught his home-care worker how to cook Italian food... mentoring someone in even his last few weeks of life. He encouraged the young adults in his life to be the best that they could be. He will be missed greatly.

http://obit.desmondfuneralhome.com/obitdisplay.html?id=618435

Have you voted!?

Get out and vote today!

Here's the Google Logo for the day -- I love when they do these things! Isn't it cute!



Let's hope this election goes the way I want it to :)

Falling Behind, Catching Up

Some of you may have wondered if I have fallen off the face of the earth the past few weeks... and, well, yah, I guess I have. Not intending to drag my students into my personal life, I haven't really mentioned what has been going on, and I'm kind of struggling with whether to throw it out there or not. But, since I live within the definition of "being human" I figure what can it harm.

I was out of town last week, back in Michigan, to visit my very ill father. Several months ago in my blog I mentioned that he had recently been diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer with brain metastases (cancer tumors). He had radiation and chemo back in the Spring and I'm happy to say that he had a pretty good summer. However, the cancer took back over last month and it's been a pretty rough downhill spiral. I made an emergency visit to see him and assist with his care (he refuses to go into a nursing home for care so my siblings are doing a fantastic job helping him with his 24/7 care).

Therefore I apologize if I've been a bit "absent" the past two weeks. I'm intending to catch up on grading and will have the remaining assignments posted shortly. Thanks for your patience and understanding!

In all honesty I have greatly enjoyed reading the blog postings and project 2 responses. As always, I love the forum participation. Even if I'm not putting my $.02 in everywhere doesn't mean I'm not here... looking on like the proud teacher I am. I love when the students "get it" and I can see the lightbulb going off as well.

Keep up the great work!

Dena

Week 6 of the fall semester

Wow. Week 6 already! Seems like we just started the semester.

Library 1 is coming to an end soon. Good class. This is the first semester I've taught it as a graded course instead of a CR/NC class. Quite a difference in student performance when a grade is at stake, which I appreciate. I've pulled the research project due date to week 8 to see if I get better quality work. Some projects seem very thrown together at the last minute. I have another section of Library 1 starting the last 9 weeks of class and it will be a very full class! Very full. Already have over 50 people on my waiting list. I'm going to see how many people I can pull in from that.

I really love Library 204, a great group of students and the first of the core library technician students. We've talked about concepts that are a good reminder for me about why I enjoy being a librarian. The ultimate purpose - we are here to assist our patrons with their information needs, whether that patron is standing in front of me or talking to me through instant messaging, sending an email or just visiting our website.

Sometimes I get so caught up in the Systems aspect of my job - the computers, the databases, the Voyager system (and upgrade), the statistics, the computer labs... that I feel further from the real purpose. I guess that is why I enjoy teaching my classes so much - gives me that one-on-one connection with the students and allows me to share some of my knowledge with them that hopefully they can take on to further places and share with others - their kids, friends, parents, and maybe someday their own students if they go on to become a librarian. Perhaps!

Well, this is my own 6 week reflection. All the students in my class probably hate the reflections I ask them to do - so I figured I'd do my own too. Just so I can enjoy the process as well!

Take care!