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The most important tool for academic success is writing.  If you cannot disseminate your research, communicating clearly and concisely, you will never make it in academia.

When I began my grad school career, being able to write well to succeed was a foreign concept for me.  I knew I would need to be organized, structured, and put forth my full effort to be successful as a grad student but I had not thought about how my writing would play a part in who I was as an academic.  My first graduate class showed me I was wrong.

I am fortunate that my chair is a great writer and writing instructor.  She actually helped start a graduate writing service on Texas A&M University’s campus called POWER writing (POWER- Promoting Outstanding Writing for Excellence in Research).  With her guidance and support (along with a POWER writing course) I started my academic writing journey with a stronger foundation than most graduate students.

Taking what I have learned from both my chair and POWER, I have set out to assist other graduate students in improving their writing and overcoming the anxiety and procrastination that comes with writing and pubication.  Part of this endeavor (made available through my work at Texas A&M’s Center for Teaching Excellence) includes a program I have named “The WRITE Thing to Do” with weekly writing sessions with graduate students, monthly writing groups for feedback, and online resources for review and guidance.

Through my work with graduate students, I have also been asked to speak to classes of graduate students to extend my reach and support for graduate student writing.  It is an amazing opportunity as the POWER model that guides my graduate writing program is unlike the normal writing advice.  It begins with establishing a strong writing habit, seeing yourself as a writer, and strategies for enhancing productivity.  It is not a grammar lesson or a “ways to get around writing” resource.

I have begun to create a series of videos geared toward strategies for enhancing academic writing.   No matter where you are in your academic path, if you want to find ways to enhance your writing, this program is for you.

The newest video (Establishing a Strong Writing Habit) is located here.

Stay tuned for more videos in the series.  If you watch the video, leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

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While I am not a perfect writer, I am constantly looking for resources to help me become a better writer myself so I can pass what I learn on to the graduate students I teach.  During one such search, I came across the book Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip and Dan Heath.  With a cover that feels like actual duct tape and one of the authors in education, I was sold.

I teach graduate students how to establish strong writing habits to increase their academic writing development.  It is a role that was unexpected and has become a greater blessing than I ever imagined.  Does this mean I am a perfect writer?  Absolutely not!  What it means is I have developed strong writing habits of my own (write daily, log my writing, accountability) and I have the ability to pass these skills on to others.

What I found while reading “Made to Stick” was not only a book to increase my writing development but a resource applicable for teachers, bloggers, marketing managers, business owners, and basically anyone who wants to deliver information others will remember.  So, if you find yourself wanting to get your message across and looking for great ways to do it, you should read this book.

The message behind this book is all great ideas have some basic features.  Specifically, “many of us struggle with how to communicate ideas effectively, how to get our ideas to make a difference” (p. 5).  Even when we have great ideas, how do we make them matter to others?

As a classroom teacher, I would spend HOURS planning lessons and developing ideas I thought would help my students learn and retain a new concept.  Sometimes my best plans, the ones I was most excited about, fell short for my students.  It was disappointing but more than that, I worried they did not actually learn or retain what I planned for them too.  In the time constrained world of K-12 education, there is little time for lessons to flop.  I wish I had the ideas shared in this book to help frame my lessons.

The basics described in this book on how to make an idea “stick” include:

• Simplicity
• Unexpectedness
• Concreteness
• Credibility
• Emotions
• Stories

While every lesson or idea does not include all of these basics, many do.  Reflecting on my lessons that flopped as a teacher, I now realize I could have incorporated many of these features and made my lessons “stick”.

As I sat in church this morning, I was listening to my pastor and this book came to mind.  My pastor is an amazing speaker.  It is obvious that preaching is truly his gift from God.  It seems to come effortlessly to him.  As we all know, for something to look effortless, a great deal of work has gone into the development of that skill.  Think Michael Jordan, George Strait, and the smartest person you know.

My pastor has the ability to take God’s word and apply the basics as listed in “Made to Stick”.  He first takes an often difficult concept and explains it simply so those of us who do not study the bible can understand.  He finds ways to share God’s message in a concrete way, emphasizing the unexpected and amazing things God does for us.  He then brings in stories to add credibility and relatability to help trigger emotions.  Has he read this book, I have no idea, but he has found a way to make an audience of hundreds of people hang on his every word to learn God’s word.  It is amazing and something I have never seen before.   He makes his message “stick”, making God’s message “stick”.

Not only do I want to be able to share God’s word in this way but I want to be a teacher who can make my message “stick” in the same manner.   The book goes on to give various examples of ideas that “stick” and what made them have this sticking power.  Through simple and engaging writing, the Dean brothers deliver a message we all will benefit from hearing.  Each basic (simplicity, unexpectedness, concreteness, credibility, emotions, and stories) is well described and detailed in the book and helps you develop your own ways to deliver a message.

If you have read this book, comment on your thoughts and reactions and let me know what you think.

Just this past year, I enrolled in an online course for my degree.  I was excited about the course and what I was going to learn that I knew would help me in my future.  After the first week of assignments, we learned the rest of the course would be group work and we were all put into groups and had to complete the remainder of the course with our small groups.  Did I mention it was an online course?  My group mates were all over the United States and there was no way for us to meet in person to work.  So, we used Google Hangouts, Google Docs, and a lot of emails.  Long story short, it was miserable.  One of my group members did basically nothing, and being an overachiever and a perfectionist, I ended up doing 60+% of the work in a group of four.  It wasn’t that the other two group members didn’t try, but I did not have time to wait until the last minute to complete an assignment.  I put things on my calendar and don’t have time to waste.  Needless to say, I learned much less from that course than I would have if I had just completed the project individually.  The experiences reinforced my dislike of working in groups as a student.

As a teacher, I LOVE when my students are working in groups. Research supports the use of group work for learning and I have seen first-hand how working in groups can increase a student’s achievement. It was not until I went back to school I realized a difference exists between working in groups and collaborating. Between putting students in groups to do work and having students learn from their peers.

As a student, I greatly dislike working in groups.   I am an overachiever and I usually end up doing the bulk of the work and frustrated at the group member who does the littlest they can to get by. It was not until I had a class that put me in a group with the objective to collaborate and learn, not just complete a task, that I start to fully understand group work from a student perspective.

In my experience, working in groups is just for task completion. The group is given an assignment they must complete. Learning is primarily done by each individual, with little discussion, collaboration, or enhanced understanding, if at all. At most, discussion includes who is going to complete each part of the assignment. If you have ever worked in a group before, you may be able to relate.

Learning in groups looks entirely different. Yes, there is a task to complete but it is more about the process than the product. Group discussions lead to collaboration. Collaboration then leads to a better understanding of the concept and internalization of the concept. It involves brainstorming, setting goals and objectives, discussing difficult, open-ended questions, and completing a product that is more than just enough to get an A. It is the way we learn when we do book talks, or Bible studies, or painting in groups (e.g., Painting with a Twist). We are excited to be there, full of inquiry leading to discussion, and optimistic about the end result.

As a teacher, I can sadly say that I did not fully understand the concept of working in groups until I became a student again. I often divide my students into groups; flexible, intentional groups. It is not the way I group my students that is the problem, I have looked up many successful ways to do group work over the years. It is the assignment and objectives I give that are lacking. I set my students up to divide the project into pieces, with each student taking part, to compile a final product to turn in. I incorporate reflections and individual pieces to make sure everyone has to pull their weights (as much as possible), but I realize now learning was not optimized.

I must change the way I conduct group work so my students are not just completing a task in groups but truly learning while working with others. Collaborating to enhance their understanding. If these are the types of group assignments I implement, the level of student learning will grow and develop. I cannot wait to try out my new ideas and I know my students will benefit. It will be difficult and my students will have to push themselves, but shouldn’t that always be the goal? If you have great ideas for learning in groups instead of working in groups, please let me know.

Before starting this post, it is important to add that this applies to all parents and anyone who is parenting a child in all of the various forms that encompass.  I am just a mom so I approach all things through my mom lens and now a PhD mom.

I became a mom almost 3 years ago.  As an older mom (I was 35 when my daughter was born), with over 10 years of teaching experience, I naively thought I would have a different experience as a mother.  I was fantastic with children and knew how to motivate and engage even the most challenging personalities.  I quickly learned none of that mattered with my own child and nothing I had used before was going to work.

When my daughter was just a week old, we took her to take newborn pictures and after the photo session was complete, our photographer said, “I don’t want to alarm you, but I think your daughter may have acid reflux.  She cannot seem to get settled and she appears uncomfortable.”  My first thought was, How could she know that?  My daughter didn’t spit up or show any of the usual signs of acid reflux.  Regardless, after many nights of endless screaming and pain (for all of us), we mentioned this to our pediatrician and shared more about the constant crying and screaming.  Sure enough, our daughter had “silent” acid reflux (definitely not silent as in side effects, but silent as it does not exhibit the same signs as traditional acid reflux).  I was grateful she was not physically sick, but I knew she was in pain.  We ended up putting her on acid reflux medicine and things got better quickly.  I just couldn’t watch her in pain any longer.

Being a mom is hard.  Being a mom of a 1-year-old is hard.  Being a mom of a 2.5-year-old is hard.  Friends I know with children that are 5, 12, and 19 all say being a mom is hard.  It is worth it, but I have a long way to go before it gets easier.

Knowing this, a little over a year ago, when I realized I had an amazingly brilliant, talented, beautiful, strong willed, stubborn, 1.5 year old, as I always did when I faced a situation in my classroom I did not know how to tackle, I turned to experts on parenting to help me be a “better mother.”  What I found was a lot of judgments splattered with a few understanding words of wisdom.

I was shocked at the number of blog posts with perceivably judgmental messages; “Why we NEVER use time out in our house” (capitalization added by them, not me), “What you are doing to cause your child not to sleep.”  What?  How do they know what works for my child?  My child is not like their child.  I found myself comparing my child and parenting style to theirs and feeling like a failure on all fronts.  I am not saying these authors were trying to make other moms feel bad, I am sure they were trying to help others, but my heart hurt as I read these posts, wishing I could be like them.  I was forgetting the feeling of true amazement and joy I felt the first week I brought my beautiful gift from God home and was instead letting Satan steal my joy as a mother. (My husband continually told me to not read these posts, but I did not know where else to turn.)

I already felt guilty enough since after only being a mom for 10 months, I went from a stay at home mom to a full-time Ph.D. student, I did not need to feel worse.  When I would stop and assess my feelings, I was always amazed at how easy it was to feel accomplished and successful as a student, with checklists, and schedules, and resources to guide me, but regardless of how diligent I was at making checklists, and schedules, and reading resources for being a mother, it never got easier.  At that point I knew, being a mom is harder than getting a Ph.D.

For some reason, it is okay to admit when I am struggling as a student or have an episode of “imposter syndrome” but when it comes to being a mother, I must clean up the clutter before taking a picture for Facebook or buy my child things at the store so we can make it through without a scene (I have gotten over this one, but partially because I do not want more stuff to clean out of the way before taking Facebook pics).

When I finally reached my breaking point, I stopped to reflect on why getting a Ph.D. was so much easier than being a mom and I came to the following reasons:

1.  While getting my Ph.D., I have a chair.  Someone who has been in exactly my same place and knows the resources to get me where I want to be.  We have lengthy discussions about my goals and how I will achieve those goals.  While my chair is also a mom (of twins…arguably more difficult than my only child), her boys are different than my daughter and there are many variables at play.  Also, we talk mom stuff, but not near to the extent that we talk academia.
2. While getting my Ph.D., I have a support group of amazing friends I take classes with, study with, and cry with.  Many of my friends are moms, and we talk about mothering things, but we are focused on academia and graduating at some point.
3. I don’t really advertise my academic life.  Very few people know what I am working on or my ups and downs, and even if they did, fewer people have an opinion or insight to share.  As a mom, I feel more compelled to talk about what is going on in my life (this is not necessarily good or bad, just a reflection) and more often, people who know very little about me, feel the need to share their opinion.  I’m not saying I do not want people to comment, but when I walk through the grocery store and my daughter kicks off her shoe, why does someone feel the need to tell me that if I did not put my child in flip flops that are uncomfortable, she would not kick them off.

My reflection has taught me that as moms, we need LESS judgment.  If your child sleeps through the night, responds to other strategies besides spanking and time outs (neither of which work for my daughter, or time ins, or talking, or anything some days), count your blessings and focus on the joy in your life.  Being a mom is the hardest thing I have ever done and will probably ever do, so I need to worry about myself and my family and not spend my precious time worrying about others.  It is one of those moms unite kind of moments…support fellow moms.  Be someone’s chair as a mom, their support group, their place to talk, share fears and successes, cry, and laugh.  As moms, we deserve it!

And even on those days when we lose it and nothing we try has worked, remember it is okay if on the way back from a somewhat difficult family trip to give your child the iPad, and sit back for a few moments of necessary peace even though everything in you knows you should be doing alphabet flash cards or findings green things as you look out the window.  Finding Dory has plenty of things your child needs to learn as well, right?