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A Personal Growth Assignment for College Students

Recently I created an assignment for my online speech classes that I think is simple and light, yet at the same time inspiring and valuable.  Here it is (short and sweet): Assignment: Journal Entry about Managing Anxiety This assignment has 3 steps:  After I created it, I kind of fell in love with it. I’m…

Favorite Inspiring Book Lately: Mind Your Mindset

Lately I’ve been going on walks around my little town and listening to my new favorite book on Audible, Mind Your Mindset by Michael Hyatt. I can’t recall how I stumbled upon it, and I’ll be honest, it’s not a particularly exciting book (more like a textbook that has some Malcolm Gladwell elements- but I’m…

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Make time for passion projects (just because)

When I started adjuncting over a decade ago it was simply because I was passionate about teaching and inspiring students (you know what they say, do what you love and the money will follow). But I don’t believe passions necessarily need to make money. For instance, I have a cheesy dream of writing holiday novels…

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What’s the Recipe for Success as an Adjunct Instructor?

I’ll ask the controversial question: What’s the recipe for success as an adjunct instructor? Do you have a plan for being successful as an adjunct instructor? I know I certainly didn’t when I first started out, I was in my early twenties, just going with the flow and not thinking too much about it. I’m…

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The Best Books I’m Rereading/Listening to in 2020 to Get Inspired

Being a mom to two tiny kids, who are home all day (and bored a lot of the time) during a pandemic, while I’m also working at home in the same home office as my husband, while also trying to remain an inspired and energetic person is really really hard (and that’s an understatement). No…

6 Way to Stay Connected and Sane When You’re ‘Stuck at Home’

At some point in your life you’ll probably be ‘stuck at home’ for some long period/s of time. Whether you’re social distancing due to coronavirus, you have an infant that limits your ability to leave the house, or you’re taking care of a loved one or relative, staying home can be harder than it sounds…

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How To ‘Do It All’ (But Not at the Same Time)

I don’t know if this is exclusive to women, but in our day and age, I get the impression that we all tend to feel like we’re supposed to do everything, do it well, and do it fairly easily. But as I’ve gotten older, and taken on more responsibility each year (a job with ever-increasing…

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How to Keep Growing and Learning When Teaching Online

The transition from teaching predominantly in the classroom to teaching almost exclusively at home comes with a lot of adjustment, and if you’re not careful, it can become a slippery slope to barely teaching at all and/or losing a good chunk of your income. Here are 5 easy things I’ve done during the past four…

How to Increase Student Success With One Simple Email

The title of this article immediately caught my attention: She sent 1 email. Grades increased 25%. (Here’s the link: https://www.eab.com/daily-briefing/2018/08/20/she-sent-1-email-grades-increased-25-percent? As someone who likes to produce results in simple and efficient ways, I was engaged immediately. To summarize the short article, if you email students in an encouraging and non-judgmental way after doing poorly on…