Inservice 2/16/07

So the inservice today was about different learning styles, which included an "ice breaker" that included a cute video that was about ten minutes long about a restaurant owners problems with cochroaches. We then took a self examination quiz of how our learning style is an then broke into groups where we had a task in which some groups had to really think outside of there normal learning way to complete the task. People from each group then discussed the task presented to their group and how they completed it and the different problems they had while doing it. Then inservice was wrapped up with announcements from various people, one announcement to look into for, everyone, is the announcement Mary M. made about donations made to Sparrow hospital to help children in need around the community, and the bowling fund raiser.

The Smile Journal

A rumor has reached my ears: there is now a Smile journal in the workroom. the principal is to write down something that makes you smile to share with the office. Or, if you need a smile, stop by and read it.

Since I can't write in the journal at the moment, I thought I'd share my smiles via blog. Feel free to print and (physically) cut and paste into the journal:

Fresh flowers
Dogs playing in the snow (yep. there is snow here now)
Fresh paint in the right color
Still having an opportunity to be a part of the best place I ever worked (yes, that's you)

oh, and I'll be visiting in March, so I'll read yours too...

New Exploration Group -- Becoming a Master Tutor

On February 13th, we had our planning meeting for a new Exploration group with an evolving name -- Becoming a Master Tutor. This is a very enthusiastic and energetic group that is extremely excited about exploring how each of us can develop more effective tutoring skills. (This is right up my alley! Even though I have been tutoring since I was a wee lass, I just love learning about how others tutor and how I might improve my skills.) Some of the things we will be exploring are how to connect with students, how to connect students with what they're learning, recruiting and retaining students (groups and 1:1 tutoring), and how technology can make life easier for our students and for us. We'll also have a free form discussion on immediate concerns. Cool, hunh?

If you would like to join us we meet Tuesdays, 12:10 to 1:00 p.m. in my office. Bring your lunch, bring your ideas, bring yourself, bring a friend -- leave charged up! If you have any questions, please see Matt T. (aka MathMatt), Nick K., or me.

Renée
tutoring@lcc.edu

Links in a Blink Plus

Chelsea (TS Tutor and Library Circluations Supervisor) visited Lunchin' with Laptops for the first time today. After figuring out how to create a new Blogger account, she browsed posts from recent weeks.

We talked about the demo of MP3 players during the Feb. 2 inservice, about which Matt T. and she made comments in the Instructional Lab TLC 218 (see the post Best Kept Library Secrets).

Chelsea asked how to make a link, so blog readers may easily connect to the post. There are two ways:

#1 HTML Code

#2 Blogger Short Cut

CTE Teaching Seminar: Transforming Learning

As some of you know I am currently involved in the Transforming Learning Through Teaching 12-week Seminar through the Center for Teaching Excellence. I thought that I might explore blogging by sharing some of the ideas from the seminar here.

Week 1:
The first week we explored the advantages of icebreaker activities in the classroom. I know that those of us who attend Tutoring Inservices have the advantage of experiencing a wide variety of these in practice, but I was surprised that many of the participants had never tried an icebreaker in their classroom. For those of us who may be running out of icebreaking ideas (hah!!), the CTE has a list of at least 32 ideas and other web resources at: http://www.lcc.edu/cte/resources/teachingettes/icebreakers.html

Also covered was the importance of learning students' names in order to foster a “community of learning.” The CTE has a list of 24 ideas for remembering students names: http://www.lcc.edu/cte/resources/teachingettes/whatsinaname.html
Because I’m a visual/kinesthetic learner, I find it sometimes helps me to write out a name---with my right 1st finger on the palm of my left hand, if no other writing options are handy.


Week 2: Motivating Students
“Whatever a teacher can do to increase the value of the learning to students and to help students hold optimistic and positive expectations about their own ability to succeed will aid motivation.” [Cross, K.P., (2001). Motivation: Er…Will That Be on the Test? The Cross Papers, No. 5, League for Innovation in the Community College, Educational Testing Service.]

…so the best we can do as teachers is to create the conditions for our students to want to learn, & let them take it from there. This session also briefly addressed “Six Principles for Motivating Students to Learn” [Cross, 2001] which may seem familiar to most of us:
1. Expect Success
2. Create Optimal Levels of Challenge
3. Encourage Feelings of Control
4. Capitalize on Intrinsic Motivation (interests, callings, sense of accomplishment)
5. Give Informational Feedback
6. Capitalize on Social Motivation

…but I have to say one of the highlights of the session was an example of using “appropriate” humor (and Dr. Evil) as a motivation device: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnDj4YroP1w

Edu-Blog

As TS coordinator Renee has commented at Professional Development Steering Committee meetings, blogging is here to stay! Use of blogs in education is on the rise.

Check out MSU's Blogs for Learning, a web site recently launched about blogging in higher education.

Another web site Blogs in Education offers summaries about blogging with students in various subject areas.

In our Learning Assistance Department, librarian colleague Kim is using a blog for student feedback during instruction sessions. Visit Kim's Library Blog to see how students are responding and to find helpful research tips.

Any thoughts about how these resources apply to our services to LCC students?

Mouses & Trash Cans

Mary S. (tutor in TS) and Karl (from Library Services) joined this week's Lunchin' for Laptops. Karl, who was one of the facilitators at the 2/2 inservice, plans to start a blog in the near future for use with students at the library and browsed our blog. Mary explored the links provided at last week's inservice by librarian colleague Suzanne B. for Researching Family History.

During today's session, some helpful tips came up about scrolling on laptops without an external mouse:

• hold down the left button on the touch pad mouse while dragging a finger down the pad


• use the touch pad to place the arrow/ cursor on the web page, then tap the tab and use the up or down arrow buttons on the keyboard

Also, tips about commenting on Blogger were shared:

• if the same comment is posted twice and you are the author, find the symbol with a trash can located in the lower left corner undert the specific comment for deleting


• when a comment is deleted, the comment box (which shows in a pop-up window) will read that the author removed the comment

Feel free to ask Mary or I for a live demonstration for any of these strategies!

Researching Family History

At the in-service today, someone asked about doing genealogical research and finding obituaries. Here is a list of places to start. Feel free to add to the list…

Genealogical Research @ Library of Michigan/Michigan Archives
Find workshops and guides to getting started on family history research.

Capital Area District Library (CADL) Genealogy Resources
Resources available at Lansing area libraries.

Social Security Death Index
Use this tool to find the exact date of death for someone who died after 1962.

Lansing State Journal Obituaries
Find obituaries from the Lansing State Journal for the past 30 days.

Michigan Newspapers at the Library of Michigan
Find out which Michigan newspapers are available on microfilm at the Library of Michigan.

Cyndi’s List of Genealogical Sites on the Internet
A large categorized and cross-referenced directory of genealogical sites.

Find a Grave
Search cemetery records to find out where famous and not so famous people are buried.

Who’s Alive and Who’s Dead
Find out which famous people have died and which are alive.

speachwords

hello fellow bloggers

Best Kept Library Secrets

Colleagues from Library Services and Tutoring Services collaborated to facilitate an inservice for February 2 in the TLC room 218. The team has prepared hands-on activities and a range of topics for becoming more acquainted with resources offered by the library. Learning about new resources and becoming familiar with them are assets for our service to LCC students.

The session starts with finding out what colleagues already know about the LCC library, followed by a scavenger hunt with these themes:

• Navigation of the Library Web Site


• Search Strategies


• Electronic Resources


• Mel.org and ILL Services

In addition to the Library Scavenger Hunt handout, a list is provided with colleagues' contact information in the library. There is a catch, though! A few topics are provided to find out who to call for a certain purpose, such as student instruction and the catalog.

During and following the inservice, please comment to this post about questions, highlights, and suggestions for future collaboration between our offices.

hello

......welcome back. I am sure Melissa has something good this term. come. join in the fun of blogging. Join an exploration group. write your favorite smile joke. tickle me.

Hiya!

I made it!! I bet ya'll are excited that i made it right??? (hehehe) but now that I am here I dont know what to say.

hello!

I don't have anything to say just thought I would practice. Thanks for the invite sorry it took so long to get in here.... Guess what melissa... I got bored AND remembered to post something! :) Well now my student is here so off I go! :) woohoo!!!

Hello All!

Greetings from the great state of Oklahoma! (where the wind goes sweeping down the plains, and the waving wheat, sure smells sweet....)

I'm glad to see so many people on the blog, and happy to be able to participate! I miss you!

Hi

I'm here.

Ginny

Lunchin' with Laptops

Would you like to learn tips about using laptops? Want to blog with company? Laptops are set up for test drives and blogging – no experience necessary! Please join us Wednesdays 1:10 – 2:00 p.m in the group room.

Spring Greetings

Hi fellow tutors. This semester looks like a busy one. I am tutoring both Astronomy and Accounting 211. I thoroughly enjoy helping other students understand the material and I get the benefit of reinforcing these concepts in my own mind which is helping me with the more advanced classes I am taking in accounting. I am going to facilitate an in-service in a few weeks and am looking forward to practicing my "tutoring" skills with my fellow "Becoming a Master Student" Exploration group members, Ginny, Kristy, and Melissa S. See you around! : ^)

What's New with Blogger?

Here's an excerpt "straight from the horse's mouth" (that would be Blogger!) about what's new when signing in:

We’re excited about the new version of Blogger, both for what it can do now (which also includes access control for blogs and better input fields for post dates) and what we’ll add to it in the future, now that we have a new, stable, powerful infrastructure to work with. We’re done with “beta,” but we’re far from done with the new Blogger.

It’ll still take a bit more transition time to move everyone from the old version to the new, so for now we ask on our homepage which version of Blogger you use. If you’ve been using the beta, either because you switched or because you created your account after 10 November 2006, click “New Blogger” and sign in with your Google Account.

If you haven’t yet switched, click “Old Blogger” and use the same Blogger account you’ve always used, or — and this is the better choice — click “Switch Now” button. After you sign in with or sign up for a Google Account (free!), you’ll be switched over to the new Blogger, which is both reassuringly the same (your blogs will keep the same URLs, and your templates and profile will be the same too) and significantly better (see above sampling of new features and comparisons to a masterful science fiction television program).

thanks

Thank you, Melissa, for all your hard work. :-)

Basics about Blogging

Click here for directions from Blogger about how to post.

Click here for directions from Blogger about commenting on posts.

Click here for basic info on blogs and blogging.