Dena's Blog (9)

I'm in the midst of my last two MA classes, which I am so looking forward to finishing. I can't wait to be able to just relax and spend weekends with my family instead of my basement office or lately working on the laptop in the dinning room so I can at least be around my family. I keep telling myself..done in August, done in August, it has become my new mantra. For my digital story class, we are to create a unit plan with the use of a digital story. I'm not working and it couldn't be fictious,… Continue

I finished up the Spring semester and have started one of my summer classes already (it started last Monday). I think I'm going to enjoy this class a lot, but it will also be a challenging class. It is Digital Storytelling and there are so many ways that one can implement and use it for various reasons. I think I like it so much because I love stories and sometimes the best way to share knowledge with one another is through a story, so I think there are endless opportunities for the field of dig… Continue

I'm down to the last two weeks of this semester, so I've been in a mad dash to finish up papers, projects, research and everything else. I've got some reviews to finish and one more paper and then I'm done (for a two weeks and then summer session starts). I also graduate this summer,so I have to turn in my graduation paper by June and start working on my portfolio, which I have to turn in by July. So the last few weeks have been quite stressful, trying to stay atop of my schoolwork, my house wor… Continue

I stayed up past midnight last night to finish up some of my projects, so I can spend the entire day today with family enjoying our Easter (with no guilt). As I was finishing up with some research I kept coming across the same theme, which I mentioned in my paper....adult learners (non-traditional students) will be stressed because of all the commitments the adult learner has, such as working full-time or caring for children while pursing higher learning. So I suppose then I have to just find wa… Continue

My research project has been leading me to many conclusions and considering I have only a few weeks left in this semester and then summer semester and I will be done, is it really worth the time for me to change how I've been doing things? Not sure, but I have changed a few things, like I only check my school email account and the course shells during the day, I don't actually do any homework unless my mom has decided to take my children for an hour or two. My homework is now being completed at… Continue

As I was doing more research for my project and how hectic some days have become in my life, I was wondering how many parents out there are using schedules? We have a schedule/routine, but I don't physcially plan it out or have it written down on one of those white-erase boards. Am I crazy for not doing this? The more research I've come across however, the more I read how having a written down schedule really improves your life or at least takes some pressure off yourself, which I'm all about ta… Continue

Is there such a thing as a busy unproductive week? At least that is how I felt this week was like, it was busy with the kids organizing their new things they received for their birthdays and then we went to Recess in Ankeny on my son's actually birthday, but unproductive for me in that I got very little accomplished in regards to my projects for school. And because of that, my drive to get back into "productive" mode is low, it is a trade-off. One of my projects is evaluating the amount of time… Continue

Do you ever procrastinate? Does it ever get to the point that you think if you wait long enough the problem will go away? Or is it just me? I have a homework assignment and it isn't a major issue as it is I just am stuck, no ideas. We are required to upload a podcast that needs to be 2-3 minutes long and I'm at a loss for ideas and it is due tomorrow, so I need to get out of my funk and think of something, but my mind is just blocked. No creative juices flowing. I think I have too much on my min… Continue

Happy St. Patrick's Day Des Moines Families!! Did you happen to go outside today? It was beautiful and the weather was perfect for today's parade. Hi everyone, my name is Dena and I'm a SAHM to two toddlers (my daughter is four and my son will be three at the end of the month). I'm also a part-time grad student. I'm going to be blogging here a few times month mostly on balancing the two with a few fun stories thrown in between. Today was great! We headed down to the parade, which I must admit a… Continue