Category Archives: Write6x6

Write6x6

Top 5 Tips to Success in Learning and creativity

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Do you ever get writer’s block? Do you sit down to take a test and your mind goes blank? Do you wish you were more creative? Try some or all of the following tips to enhance your learning and creative success.

Mindfulness is a hot topic these days! It is really about awareness and focus. Don’t let life happen to you, take control of your life and pay attention to your thoughts and your actions. Be present in everything you do. If you drift, bring your attention back to your breathing so that you can refocus. Notice your environment: the colors and shapes, the smells, the sounds, and the textures. Multitasking is the opposite of being mindful.

Exercise will enhance blood flow to the brain and build Brain Derived Neurotropic Factor (BDNF) which helps to grow new brain cells and connections. Exercise also helps us produce endorphins or happy hormones which relax our mind and help us build confidence and good mood. A quick walk or swim can do wonders for getting creative juices flowing!

Rest well by sleeping for 7 to 8 hours each night. Readjust your schedule to make this happen. If you don’t make it a priority, your body will find a way to make you rest, which usually comes in the form of illness or injury. A rested brain can focus better, remember better and help you to be creative.

Nutrition is a critical component because without planning we may not get the critical nutrients we need. Eat every four hours to avoid blood sugar drops. Eat whole foods rather than processed or refined foods to slow down the digestive process and control blood sugar better. Foods containing oils that are beneficial to the heart and brain include walnuts, avocados, and salmon. Two-thirds of your plate should come from plant foods (whole grains, fruits and vegetables).

Build habits for future success! You are building habits every time you repeat a process, good or bad. We tend to have a lot of mindless processes that end up becoming automatic…we do them without thinking. Starting tomorrow, work on a simple habit that you would like to work into your routine. It could be as simple as waking up and saying three things you are thankful for about yourself, another person, and your environment.

The bottom line is that you have to take care of your mind and your body.

 
Write6x6

Not Knowing Any Better

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I love what I get to do five days a week.
Every day in my classes, I am asked “why?” by a student, and everyday it makes me smile.

I have been thinking about this a lot in light of the fact that I was asked by PTK to speak at their induction ceremony tonight and I needed a topic. I looked around me to find my inspiration, and it came from my students. A student as a “why” question and I knew what to talk about with PTK… the importance of asking why.

Often when we have been in academics for a long time, we forget to ask the creative why, or why not questions.  We have been told that something is cannon in our discipline because it is, or we are told that something can’t be done because it simply can’t be done, and after a while, we have accepted those answers and we stop asking the questions. Our students don’t know that they should not be asking those questions, so they ask, and good for them.

Sometimes we need to challenge the idea that something can not be done. Admittedly, if something has not yet been done, most of the time it can’t be done… but sometimes, it simply has not been tried with the right approach. Our students can see the situation with fresh eyes, and because they don’t know any better, they ask.

Here’s to not knowing any better.

 
advice, rules, Write6x6

Don’t Mind Me. I’m Just Breaking the Rules

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I know you’re reading this, but technically this post does not exist. I love Write6x6, but since I’m on sabbatical this year, I can’t participate in any on campus activities. Hence why you are not really seeing this post.

But I could not resist posting about my inspirations for who I am today. No doubt it is those who came before me and had the responsibility to coach and/or supervise me. I was an athlete growing up; pretty much still am to this day, so I’ve had many coaches along the way. And when I started teaching, I realized that department chairs served in much the same capacity as a coach for teachers. My first teaching job was at Deer Valley HS way back in the day. My first chair’s advice to me was: “I’d rather you beg for forgiveness than ask for permission.”

Well, I took that advice and ran! I thought she was crazy, but if that is how she wanted to play it, I was game. The quote is attributed to Rear Admiral Grace Hopper. The idea is not that you abuse the situation and just do whatever the heck you want. It’s meant to encourage others to go for things if they truly believe in it. A lot of good ideas go by the wayside because it’s too complicated to figure out how to get permission. Hopper believed “If it’s a good idea, go ahead and do it. It is much easier to apologize than it is to get permission.” So it’s really about knowing when to push the boundaries.

In my 30 years of working in education, I’ve learned that there are a lot of naysayers, those who can’t think outside the box and just want to follow the status quo or their perceived rules. It’s a wonder we get anything done sometimes, but I think it’s those that push the boundaries and take risks, and often have to beg forgiveness, that help move things along and drive innovation. So that has pretty much been my motto and way of life for the last 30 years. Luckily I didn’t have to do a lot of begging.

So I’d say I was inspired by that first chair, and because I took her advice, I think it shaped who I am today as an educator. It opened up lots of opportunities I may have never gotten had I asked for permission first.

Cheers to Jeanne Sabrack who now teaches adjunct at Scottsdale Community College.

Adjunct Faculty, Write6x6

The Professor and the Politician

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This is my third time doing a six-week blog for Write 6×6. In previous years, I focused on the prompt and sort of went spur of the moment with what I talked about with very little connection or theme between posts. I wanted to shake things up a bit this year. Over the next six weeks, I am going to take an in depth (or at least as in depth as six blog posts allow) look at the skills that teaching develops and how those skills can be useful in other arenas. Before I get into specifics, I need to provide a little context…

author and wife dancing at wedding
The happiest day of my life

Those who know me know that my life has undergone some significant events in the last half decade, starting with my marriage to my partner of (now) 17 years. In 2017, the first year I participated in Write 6×6, I was still in the process of adjusting to life in a new area and trying to get both my physical and emotional well-being on track. Life’s track is more like a roller-coaster and finding any sort of balance was near impossible, but through the ups and downs I began to find bits and pieces of a better version of myself.

Moving forward to 2018, I had become active in my local community by serving as a member, and eventual chair, of the Economic Advisory Board. That volunteer service forced me to expand my knowledge of web design, photography, videography, content creation, and marketing. The reason I say expand is because being an online instructor had already provided me with a base knowledge in most of those areas. My skills as an English instructor specifically became invaluable when I was placed on the Planning Commission. This may come as a shock (/sarcasm), but how laws and municipal code are worded can have a major impact on their effectiveness (and legality).

Snip of Municipal Code
Boring essay? Try legalese…

In Summer of 2018, the unexpected happened. One of our local council members had to retire for health concerns, and I was appointed to fill the vacancy. It was both exciting and horrifying at the same time. As a teacher, I have always striven to see the good and promote the best in those around me, and that effort was almost always reciprocated in kind. I discovered in my time as a volunteer the political arena had the potential to be a much uglier experience, even with the best of intentions.

Image of author and Mayor shaking hands after appointment.
The smile hides the fear of my appointment.

Without going into specifics, I will say that both my excitement and my fear have been justified on multiple occasions. Outside of the support of my amazing wife, the thing that has kept me from drowning in the stormy seas of politics has been the experience and skills I acquired over the last dozen years of teaching. Over the next few weeks I want to elaborate on those skills and why they are so important and underrepresented, and exactly the sort of skills communities need. I hope that maybe (just maybe) in the process I will encourage fellow instructors to get active in their communities as well.

Best case scenario: I succeed.

Worst case scenario: I educate.

It is a win-win.

 
Write6x6

Small Gestures

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     A long, long time ago when I attended high school for its excellent social atmosphere and academics were easy and less important, I was kind of a mess of not knowing what I wanted to do or where I wanted to go or maybe even who I wanted to be. There was something I did know: My counselor at the time, Dr. Brown, was not going to give me a psychological compatibility test that would show me the type of man I should look for as a husband. As a 9th grader, I was mortified, and if high school was going to prep me for boyfriends and marriage, I wanted nothing to do with it. Luckily some of my friends recommended I just go see their counselor, Mrs. Paluch, and so I did.
   
     Rosie took me under her wing and gave me some sense of purpose by suggesting we start a peer mentoring program and recommending me for Anytown, U.S.A., a leadership camp focused on diversity. One time Rosie even took me to a reading at A.S.U.--Adrienne Rich! These were all valuable experiences in my life, and I could not be more grateful to Rosie for seeing something in me that maybe I couldn't see at the time, for caring about me. At a basic level, she saw me.
   
     While I currently work with adults, I try to remember that teachers can help and inspire people of any age. I try and see strengths in my students and recommend books or documentaries or the Honors Program here at GCC. Doing so is my way of giving back and honoring the teachers and mentors who aided me along my way. Rosie was  a true gift to me in high school. I don't know how many Dr. Brown orphans she adopted, but I often feel gratitude that even though it may have meant a greater workload for her--and I know that now--she never said anything about that. She gave her time, so my experience was better. I hope I have done and can continue to do the same for my own students.

“Seek opportunities to show you care. 
The smallest gestures often make the biggest difference.” 
John Wooden
CTLE, Write6x6

Back to Basics

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This morning, I am bedeviled by the details. I’ve spent the last 2 hours chasing a microphone problem. I had a lot of equipment running along with the mic the last time I used it, so Jenn (our awesome Office Coordinator) and I tried every combination of equipment and microphone one at a time, eliminating possibilities. These included:

  • lighting: on, and off
  • various cables: touching, or not
  • mic 1, mic 2, or mic 3
  • camera power cable: plugged in, or not
  • camera battery: attached, or not
  • camera mic settings: auto, or manual
  • camera monitor: plugged in, or not, powered, or not, muted, or not

We were chasing a buzz, and not the fun kind. Rather, the annoying kind, where in addition to voices and the sound of the air conditioner, our mic is randomly recording the most annoying audio buzz ever. And spoiler, we did not find the cause.

But our search uncovered another problem. Mic 3 was only recording sound on the left channel.

Disgruntled, we were about to begin trying to isolate that problem.

  • Maybe our camera’s microphone jack is bad.
  • Maybe there is a camera setting we need to adjust.
  • Or maybe the mic is malfunctioning.

Fortunately I had one of those intuition flashes that I get now and then. I’m always grateful when I notice and act on them. In this one, a picture of the headphone plug popped into my head, and I had to go compare the plug of Mic 3 to Mics 1 & 2.

See if you spot the difference:

The plug for Mic2 has 2 stripes, and the plug for Mic3 has one stripe.
Mic2 plug on the left, Mic3 plug on the right

If you noticed the stripes on the plugs, give yourself a gold star. 🌟

In case you’ve never run into an audio plug with only one stripe, here’s what’s going on. One stripe indicates a single (mono) audio channel. If you see two stripes, there are two (stereo) audio channels. This is basic information I was taught in my very first class about microphones.

illustration of stereo audio plug with two black stripes, and mooo audio plug with one black stripe
Image by Scansound.com

 

So, my “problem” microphone is working exactly as expected.  And my flash of intuition or memory just saved me a chunk of time, because there is no need to test this microphone in different equipment to figure out if the “problem” lies with the mic or the camera I connected it to.

Lesson: No matter what trouble you are troubleshooting, start with the basics.

 
empowerment, Write6x6, You Matter

YOU MATTER!!!!

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6900297405_0596fc8ae5_b   A message that has been on my heart lately is YOU MATTER. In order to be successful in anything that you do in life on a personal and professional level, you have to always remember these two important words. I truly believe that our success is dependent on it. How do you know that you matter? I think that it really starts in the mirror. When you look in the mirror, what do you see? Do you see a person of worth and value? Or do you see a person who is worthless and has no value? Your perception of yourself significantly impacts your actions. I have worked in higher education since 2006. I’ve worked for community colleges and universities and I have worked with faculty, staff, students, administrators, and community organizations. I have witnessed the difference between individuals who believe that they matter and those who feel like they do not. Those who feel like they matter walk around with an air of confidence that radiates off of them. They work from a place of excellence and integrity because they know that the work that they do not only impact themselves but impacts others as well. They approach life ready to invest the time that is needed for success. If you don’t feel like you matter, every day can be a struggle. You may put in the work, but wonder if your efforts really mean anything at all. At this point in my career, I feel like I matter. I feel like I am a person of worth and value and I am confident in the work that I do. Unfortunately, I have not always felt that way. I have been in the place where I felt like my efforts did not matter. To be perfectly honest with you, that was a tough place to be in, and it really hurts my heart when I come across people in life who feel this way. No one should ever feel like they don’t matter!!! It’s one of my missions in life to make sure that every person I come across in life feels like they matter. I want every person that I come in contact with to feel like they are a person of worth and value, I want people to feel like they matter. For the next six weeks, I am going to focus on this theme: I matter, you matter, we matter. I hope that you will join me for the ride. I truly believe this message significantly impacts teaching, learning, student success, and life. =>)  
Write6x6

Money Brings Happiness in the Classroom!

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At the beginning of my ESL classes, I often hand out strips of paper with a single warm-up question that can be answered relatively quickly (I haven’t timed them, but I think the average is 10 seconds). This gives students an incentive to arrive on time to get a few points and partake in an interesting warm-up discussion. Some examples: What do you often dream about? What is your greatest fear? If you changed your name, what would it be? Recently,  I gave them this question:

How much money do you need to be happy?

They quickly began to pencil in their answers; as each student finished, I collected their strips of paper. One student was taking longer than the usual 10 seconds. We joked that he must be writing quite a lot of zeros! He turned his in and we discussed the amounts everyone had written. The lowest was “$20” – the highest was a tie between “too much” and “whatever Jeff Bezos has.”

Then I asked them, “Do you know of a word in English to describe an amount so large that it can’t even be counted..?” Being ESL students, they were stumped, so I explained that they can use the term “a zillion.” I then passed out zillion dollar bills. They beamed and were amazed because they look and feel like real money. One student said, “Wow! Now I can quit my job!” Another said, “I’m going to buy a house – and I’ll be getting some change back!” One asked “How many zeros are in a zillion?”

I asked them, “So, now do you feel happier?”  

The answer was a resounding “Yes!”

For a few minutes, these students smiled and laughed together, helping to build connections and community in the classroom, something that just may bring more happiness than a zillion dollars.

 
Adjunct Faculty, Administration, GCC Students, Student Engagement, student success, Write6x6

WEEK 6: The “One Thing” and The Final Step

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Welcome back to the final week of the” One Thing” you can do to raise enrollment, a six week “how-to” series.

The NUMBER ONE REASON employees cite for NOT completing their employee bio page:

Now you know!
Your employee Bio Page is the ONE THING you can do to influence the student decision-making process, raise enrollment, and raise GCC’s reputation in an increasingly crowded marketplace.

If you’ve been following along, you know by now that completing your employee bio page is a seemingly SMALL thing that pacts a powerful, influential punch.

But if you are just joining us, follow these links to catch up on this data-driven strategy:

Week 1: What’s on your GCC bio page right now?
Week 2: Quotes – their power to connect.
Week 3: How to get a rep.
Week 4: Your face.
Week 5: The “One Thing” Before and After

Here we go – Week 6 – the final step: today you find out how to copy and paste your story into a simple Employee Biography online form, and click “submit”.

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • First name
  • Last name
  • GCC email address
  • Credentials (such as MS, Ph.D.)
  • Biography (Hint: Review Weeks 2, 3 and 5, and be relatable, not stiff)
  • Areas of Expertise (Special knowledge or field of study)
  • Office Hours
  • Headshot (This is a photo of your face. It should be cropped to a perfect square. You will click to upload a jpg, which will be resized to 280×280 pixels. See Week 4 for photo tips)
  • Personal Website URL (This is a separate step: To include a link to your work-related Website, login to your Maricopa profile using the Manage My Account tool, and add the url there. It may take up to a week for the link to appear on your Employee Bio page, depending on how often the Web Team refreshes the Website.)

Ready? Use this form to update your bio page.  (The link to this form is listed here on the GCC website.)

That’s it! 

For those itching to know the broader impacts, read these final bits:

Dear Faculty, you, perhaps more than anyone else, are uniquely empowered to factually communicate GCC’s reputation by explicitly stating your credentials and experience, why you continue to choose to teach at GCC, your areas of passion, and your teaching methods. You have been empowered to give the community concrete reasons to choose you, and GCC, over every other institution. The broader impacts of doing this one thing includes reputation, enrollment, media attention, and funding.

College Reputation
Your employee bio page impacts the reputation of the college. Faculty completing their Employee Biography pages serves to significantly elevate GCC’s reputation and raise its credibility on a local, national and international scale. We need to tout the talent and body of experts who teach at GCC. It hinders efforts to fill classes when faculty are too humble to talk about their personal contributions and proudest moments.

Student Enrollment
Your employee bio page impacts enrollment. When comparing colleges, student not only look at cost, location and facilities, but they also compare faculty between colleges. “Who will be teaching me? What are their qualifications? Will I like them?” Students want to pick the “right” instructor and are looking for a reason to choose you. Your employee bio page empowers you to teach students how to think about you. Be relatable.

Media Attention
Your employee bio page impacts media attention. The enormity of all faculty specifying their “areas of expertise,” on their employee bio page cannot be emphasized enough. Members of the Media are using google to find experts to weigh in on current events and issues. For example, a USA Today reporter used a google search to find an expert on “Living Libraries,” and GCC popped up in the top of the search results. “Everybody has a fascinating story, all of us,” said GCC faculty member Heather Merrill in a USA Today article on the Human Library. “Our students are craving this, and they’re craving help having these conversations.”

Funding Awards
Your employee bio page impacts the GRANT AWARD decision-making process. It is common for REVIEWERS to search the web for insight into the applicant’s reputation. When a GCC Faculty member applies for grant funding, they are competing against other institutions to win that award. Faculty bio pages provide an opportunity to showcase your integrity and past performance, both of which work to influence the REVIEWER COMMITTEE’s decision to award a grant.

Small things make a big difference. Tell your story in your employee bio page.

 
Write6x6

THE JUMP: Adjunct Faculty to Full Time Faculty

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“Every successful person in this world has jumped. You eventually are going to jump, you cannot just exist in this life”

steve harvey

                        -Steve Harvey

The above quote is an excerpt from the inspiring video of Steve Harvey delivering a speech to his Family Feud audience. It is one of my absolute favorite videos. (CLICK THE STEVE HARVEY PIC FOR THE YOUTUBE VIDEO). Take the time to watch it. It may inspire you in the same way it inspired me.

When I watched the video, I had already made the jump and I was already reaping the benefits of my bold decision. Watching it encouraged me to keep jumping. The video made me realize the significance of one of the many jumps I have made in my life. The jump I am referring to is my leap of faith decision to transition from adjunct faculty to full-time faculty at a community college. I only started teaching part-time because I thought I was going to be out of a job and I needed something to help me pay some of my bills. I started teaching, fell in love with it, and decided that full-time teaching was a path I wanted to follow, but was absolutely terrified of the decision I had made.

My decision meant going back to school to obtain an MA in Communication Studies. My decision was a financial and professional risk. Best case scenario: I graduate, a job opens up over the summer at the community college I want to teach at, and I start in the Fall. Worst case scenario: I graduate, nothing really opens up for years, I find nothing in my state, and I play the waiting game for a really long time since relocation was not an option for me, there is also the risk that the dream is never fully realized.

I decided to jump, and the best-case scenario presented itself when I completed the program. I am currently in my fourth year as a full-time professor at the community college I wanted to teach at, and I am nearly one year away from tenure (if accepted by the college by the end of my probationary period).  I am also the co-faculty developer for the Center of Teaching Learning and Engagement for my campus, a center committed to the personal and professional development of faculty and staff. I also present at conferences, have published chapters and web content for a university, and I do presentations for corporations and institutions in higher education. The topics include communication in the workplace and teaching strategies for faculty. None of this would have happened if I didn’t take the leap.

I encourage you to jump, but I strongly encourage you to carefully consider the positive and negative consequences of leaping into the fold. I made the jump, but I put a significant amount of thought into the consequences that could unfold as a result of that choice. The jump was so scary and it was risky, but it felt like a jump that I needed to take. While I was falling, like Steve Harvey said in the video, “my parachute did not open”. I had some doubts. I thought that there was a possibility that I had made a mistake.  I was worried that it wouldn’t open. It eventually opened for me. I had many conversations with God, myself, my husband, my friends, and my mentors. I had a vision for my future but knew it could only come into fruition if I took the jump. I’m so glad that I did. I would not be in the place that I am in today if I did not take the leap.