Teaching Online and Why I Love It!

In case you didn't know, I teach several online courses for UW-La Crosse as an Ad Hoc Instructor for the Therapeutic Recreation department. Since they have added several Child Life classes in the past few years...and I have been looking for ways to supplement my income without being away from my kids...I found a few gaps that I thought should be included in their curriculum and proposed some courses. Luckily, they were able to add my courses to their course schedule by offering them through the Continuing Education department. The only downfall of this is that I get paid a percentage of the tuition raised from the class...so when I had 1 person registered for my summer session class (which I still held since the student needed it to fill a requirement for the child life exam), I didn't make a lot of money.

This winter session I am excited to be teaching my death and dying course for the first time (officially titled Helping Children Cope with Grief and Loss) and I have 12 students taking this course (I even have a student from Maryland enrolled this semester). Since I am a Certified Child Life Specialist-current students, or recent graduates, can take any of my online courses and use them for the requirements to sit for the Child Life Certification Exam (one of the new requirements is that each student MUST take a course from a Certified Child Life Specialist). This has really helped me boost my advertising ability to other child life specialists and recent graduates because they can take the course as a "special student" without officially applying to UW-La Crosse and while paying a discounted rate.

What I love most about teaching online is the flexibility that it offers (to me and to my students). I can work on the courses I create while my kids are in school... and I often grade papers while they are in bed at night. They barely even notice the time I spend on it and I am able to make money in the process. I also love that students can take these courses and still fit them into their current class schedules. They can find a time that works for THEM to work on coursework.  I always inform them that they should be prepared for a great deal of work for an online course. Some students believe the myth that online courses are easier (but having gotten my master's degree online-I KNOW this is not true). There is a great deal of self-discipline required...as well as a need to be a good writer (because most of your assignments are written).

I love finding ways to spice up the online learning experience by including You Tube videos, Jing presentations, and other innovative methods to help engage the students. I also require that they respond to their classmates posts so that I know that they are engaging with others in our "classroom". I have had a lot of positive feedback about the online learning environments I have created and this is great because I spent a LOT of hours creating these online courses. The good news is...that once I create a course online...I can copy it and paste it into a new course to use another semester (of course I delete items, change test/quiz questions, update information, add new requirements). So far I have 3 permanent courses that are now set into the TR course rotation (Helping Children Cope with Grief and Loss, Coping with Pediatric Disabling Conditions, and Helping a Child in Pain). I am also working on creating two more (one on family centered care and the other to be determined) so I will eventually have 1 course every semester (including summer and winter sessions).

Another thing I LOVE about teaching is that I get to connect with many of the students I have in class through my job at Gundersen. I am in charge of supervising all of the child life students that do practicums and independent studies at Gundersen Lutheran. Many of these students that I have in my classroom also complete hours with me in the Outpatient Surgery Center. It is always fun to help them apply what they are learning in class to what they see in their hours with me!

While I really enjoy teaching, I am fortunate enough to be able to do it without being away from my kids. I did teach one semester of in class coursework (Child Life Theory and Practice) while the regular instructor was on sabbatical and I hated being away from my kids for 4 hours every Thursday. Teaching online is a great compromise for my family and for my students.

I Can't Remember Anything (or..."I told you that already Mom"

I have a HORRIBLE memory. It drives my husband CRAZY and at least twice a week he tells me..."I told you that already!"  Now a lot of this is his fault because I have also told him eight million times that if he doesn't put it on the calendar (ie: I'm running a marathon next weekend), then it doesn't exist in my world.

My oldest son thinks this is kind of funny because it leads to some great book discussions. I remember almost NOTHING about the books I read (even if I just finished it I would have a hard time giving you any specific details besides the basic plot). Jacob, on the other hand, remembers every detail of every part of the book. We often discuss the book he just finished and he will say "remember that part Mom?" and of course I do NOT remember that part. I think that is why I only read Fiction books, because then it doesn't really matter if I remember it or not (ie: If I read about about JFK I would probably only remember that he was a United States President and he was shot).

This really comes in handy when I go to see a movie that is based on a book....I am ALWAYS surprised at what happens! Case in point...Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I read the book in one night (getting it at Barnes and Noble at midnight and reading until 4am when I finished the last page). When I saw the movie the ONLY thing I remembered was that Dobby died...the rest was all a surprise. My boys kept saying...oh yeah, remember that from the book, and I would say "Nope"! I really enjoyed the ending of that movie.

I also forget a lot of other things (doctor's appointments, meetings, etc) but I have found a great workaround for this...GOOGLE CALENDAR. I have our entire life planned out in google calendar and it sounds an alarm on my phone 10 minutes before each event (ie: every day at 2:30 my phone alarms to remind me to pick up my kids...because I have forgotten this too...like on the first day of school this year). I have found that this 10 minute window allows me enough time to get where I need to be when I forget (like dropping off my car for new tires or getting snack for Katie to take to school). The other bonus of google calendar is that it also alerts my husband of what I am doing every day (since his phone is synced to my calendar). On a typical day he would get the following alerts:

Work 6 OR 5 TR (that means a busy day at work)
CMN meeting at 7:30
Bible Study 8:30
Watch Ceci 11:30
Help Sarah in her classroom 1:30
Pick up kids 2:40
Choir 3:30
Pick up Jake from Homework Club 4:30
Grade papers for online course 6:00
Jake Karate 7:30

These constant alerts remind him that I am NOT sitting at home all day watching TV and doing nothing...and he doesn't have to ask me what I did all day...instead he can ask me how Choir was! It's win-win for both of us and seems to be a good work-around for my HORRIBLE memory!

The other day someone said to me "I heard you have a blog, what is it called?". That was a great reminder that, yes, I do have a blog and I should probably write something on it....because, of course, I forgot!

I am a Child Life Specialist

"You're a what?? Oh, so does that mean you get to play with kids all day?" You have no idea how many times I have heard this comment. I am so much more than a "playlady"! 

I have wanted to be a Child Life Specialist since I was seven years old.  A Child Life Specialist is someone who works with children in a hospital or clinic setting to provide psychosocial support and make their hospital or clinic experience as normal and positive as possible.  As the Child Life specialist in Gundersen’s Outpatient Surgery Center, I get to see all of the kids that come in for outpatient surgery.  I bring them toys to keep them busy, show them pictures of things they will see while they are there, and provide preparation and distraction for IV starts. As part of the Teddy Bear Care program that I created, I provide tours for children a few days before their surgery so they know what to expect when they come in.  I have been at Gundersen for a little over nine years, and it has been such a joy to finally be doing what I always dreamed-making the hospital experience a little less scary for the children that come in. 

I have heard horror stories from older individuals about their surgery experiences when they were younger.  One woman told me that she still remembers, 65 years later, the doctors and nurses holding her down and covering her face with chlorophorm as they put her to sleep to take out her tonsils. Now many of the nurses that I work with tell me stories of children who don’t want to leave when it’s time to go home.  Now that is what I love to hear-the story of a child who is having so much fun playing after surgery that they want to stay at the hospital all day.  Hopefully, in the future, all hospital staff will hear, “Mommy, can we come back here to play again?” as a family is walking out their doors.  Now that is great customer service!  I am so glad, in a time when our medical advancements are expanding by leaps and bounds, that the people at Gundersen Lutheran realized how important it was to provide advancements in psychosocial care as well, and I am proud to be one of the people that is able to provide that!!

 

What is Child Life?

By: Steve Slowinski, former Child Life Intern
at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center

What I’m not:
A nurse.
A doctor.
A social worker.

A “Keeper of the Toys.”
A magical “make-this-kid-not-cry”
person.
Only someone to play with the kids.

I’m not superfluous.

What I am:
I am a teacher,
A helping hand,
A support,
An advocate,
An active listener,
A therapeutic touch,
And a child development specialist
Every.
Single.
Day.

I am an OR prep-er,
An IV teacher,
A de-coder of PICC, VCUG, MRI and
NG,
A distraction provider,
An inpatient support,
And a guide and voice for siblings
All in the same day.

I am calm despite cancer, CAT scans,
and catheters.
I am strong in the face of syncope,
sickle cell, and surgery.
Kids can’t always do these things for
themselves.
That’s why I’m here.

I am deliberate in all of my actions and
words
Because I use the language of children
And it has power.
I am flexible and go where I’m needed
Because children can’t always be
flexible
About when they’re going to freak.

I am not here to merely play with
children, give them toys, and distract
them
With “SpongeBob”.

I’m a Child Life Specialist.
When kids say they can’t, I tell them
they can. 

To learn more about child life-check out the Child Life Council website!

Why I Chose to be a Leader for Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts-or in other words-Yes I am Crazy!

My mom was ALWAYS around when I was growing up. She came to help at school, went on field trips, and had a snack ready for us when we got home at the end of the day. While sometimes it was a little embarrassing (think 13 year old girl on a field trip trying to avoid her mother), I knew that she would always be there for us and that made me feel safe.

I want my kids to feel the same way so I try to be involved as much as possible in their lives (which is fine now because they are 7, 8, and 9...but I will cry the first time my oldest tells me he doesn't want me to come on his field trip). One of my favorite activities to do with them is scouting.

I started out as the scout leader for my middle son because they didn't have anyone else to do it. Then I signed up to be the leader for my daughters girl scout troop. Now I am so glad I did because I get to spend all that time watching them interact with their friends and learn new things. Their friends know who I am and say hi to me when I see them. I hope that will continue as they grow older because I want them to feel comfortable with me around (then I can keep closer tabs on what they are up to)!

In college I spent a lot of time in classes with education majors (since child life was under the education department) and I LOVED the lesson planning and the projects. Now I could NEVER be an elementary school teacher (I love kids but I don't think I have the patience to teach them all day long for 9 months). I LOVE getting ready for scout meetings. I like taking the information they are supposed to learn and making it fun and interesting (because some of it is NOT that fun and interesting). Take, for example, our last boy scout meeting...we were supposed to learn about "Being Ready" in emergency situations. I knew that they had just spent 8 hours sitting in class listening to their teacher lecturing them so I decided to add a little more fun to our meeting. I created a jeopardy game out of the information they were supposed to learn (complete with prizes for the winning team). They LOVED the competition and after we were done I had them create a safety scene out of legos- SUCCESS. I was AMAZED at the things they created (a very detailed house on fire scene complete with flames and the angel of death). The boys had a blast and I hope they will remember the things they learned.

Besides helping my kids and their friends learn in exciting ways...getting ready for scout meetings also gives me something to do while they are at school! I work part time (6:00am to 10:00am) so I have the rest of the school day to find stuff to do! Of course I do the normal, boring, things like cleaning, cooking, laundry...but you can only do so much of that in a week. Getting ready for these meetings lets me be creative and gives me something to do to fill those long hours while my kids are gone.

I hope that when my kids grow up, they will remember all the fun things we did in scouts and appreciate the time I put into being they leader. Yet, even if they don't, I will always have the memories that we are making together, and those are worth all of the time I spend on scouting!

Please Be on Time (at least when you are going somewhere with me)

I am NEVER late...and I'm almost ALWAYS 10 minutes early. If I'm not early...you should probably call me to see if I'm okay (you know, make sure I wasn't in a car accident or check to see if my kids don't have me locked up in the basement). I think this stems from always being late growing up. My mom (sorry Mom-you know I LOVE you) has a small problem with time management so we were usually running behind. Granted-if I had 5 kids I would probably have a harder time getting places on time too. It actually drives my mom crazy most of the time that I am always 10 minutes early (ie: I said I would be over to drop off my kids at 7:00 and when I show up at 6:50 and she is still not dressed...but really-was she going to be dressed with her hair and make-up done in the next 10 minutes...probably not).

I have gotten a little better over time (I now show up at school at 2:40 to pick up Katie instead of 2:20-even though she isn't done until 2:50). Yet it has gotten even easier to be early now that my kids can get their own shoes and coats on (I don't have to build 15 minutes into our exit plan to allow for getting them ready to leave the house or buckling them into their car seats).

I think the thing that bothers me the most about people who are late is that my time is valuable too! I understand that there are legitimate reasons for running late (my car battery died, my daughter threw up before we left the house) but I still feel that most of it is poor time management and a lack of respect for other people's time (sorry to offend people here but I have to get this off my chest)! I am a busy working mother too and nothing annoys me more than working my butt of to get somewhere on time just so I can wait for someone else to meet me wherever we are going!!

I LOVE DEALS

For those of you that know me pretty well-you know that I love a good deal! I think this comes from my dad who always gets excited when he gets a good coupon for a restaurant or finds a cheap hotel on priceline. I remember going out to eat many times when I was younger and watching my dad pull out his buy one get one free coupon and exclaiming over how much money he saved on our meal.

Today I am going to share with you some of my favorite deals-starting with my personal favorite: Happy Hour

1.  Manny's-while I don't really like the food here (I know, I know...my family raves about it but I was not impressed), they have THE BEST margaritas and you can get them 1/2 price from 3-6 everyday (even the GIANT margarita).
2. Tequila's-Monday and Tuesday 2 for 1 margaritas.
3.  TGI Fridays-drink specials and 1/2 price of select appetizers from 3-7 and 10 to close ($3 margaritas)
   Outback Steakhouse-2 for 1 drinks from 2-6pm (my favorite-the wallaby darned-YUMMY)
4. Famous Dave's-1/2 price appetizers and good deals on drinks (Mama's Backyard Punch-best drink there!) from 3-6pm and 9pm-close (you can also get some good coupons online or by signing up for the P.I.G. club)
5. My all-time favorite deal Starlite Lounge-1/2 price martinis and 1/2 price appetizers Tues-Friday from 4-7.  My favorite drink-the key lime pie martini (I once drank 3 of them in 30 minutes-they taste like candy). My favorite appetizer-blackened chicken nachos without banana peppers (they make them soggy) and pepper jack cheese bites. I'm pretty sure my brother "ate dinner" here for several months in college (Right Andy?)

Now for my favorite deal on food:

1. Buzzard Billy's-my favorite restaurant in town and kids EAT FREE on Sunday. The best part about this deal is that you can take 3 kids and 1 adult and all the kids eat free. 
2. Tequila's-kids eat free on Sat and Sun (1 free kids meal per paid adult meal). Great deal when you are really craving Mexican food.
3. T.G.I Fridays-you can ALWAYS find a coupon for TGI's. Also-as a member of the Get More Stripes club, you earn free food for your visits (combine this with their great happy hour and you can eat out pretty cheaply).

Some of my other favorite (random) deals:

1. Every year before school starts we take our kids to the Mall of America. You can get a wristband for the rides at Nickelodean Universe for $19.95 after 5:00pm. That still gives them about 5 hours to ride all the rides they care to ride (and they LOVE all the roller coasters and rides there). If you really want to spend an entire day there-you can get a wristband online for $24.95 online before you go (normally priced at $29.99).
2. The Passport Membership at the Children's Museum in La Crosse is $120 and gets you into tons of children's and science museums around the country. We have used it several times on our trips to Chicago (Planetarium, Science and Industry Museum, Field Museum, Children's Museum), Minneapolis/St. Paul (Children's Museum, Science Museum of Minnesota), and Madison (Children's Museum). If you use it ONE time you get your money's worth!

Some of my favorite websites for deals:

1. www.travelzoo.com
2. www.cheapcarribean.com (we used this site for our trip to the Bahamas)
3. www.retailmenot.com (coupons for EVERYTHING...food, clothes, online websites-I never buy ANYTHING online until I check for coupon codes on this site)
4. www.hotwire.com (my family has gotten some FANTASTIC deals on hotels at this website-think 4 star hotel in downtown Chicago for $40)
5. www.landsend.com then check out the Overstocks (I have gotten all my kids backpacks here-in the middle of the school year-for about $15 and they last forever)

I would love to hear any deals that you would like to share!!

My One True Love-Diet Coke

I LOVE diet coke! If there were a support group, or a diet coke anonymous I would go. I have tried several times throughout the last 10 years to break myself from this habit...enduring horrible caffeine withdrawal headaches for days....only to return to that lovely silver can a month later. There is just something about those refreshing brown bubbles that make me feel so good. When I'm tired...I grab a diet coke. When I'm sad...I grab a diet coke. When my house is a mess and my kids are insane and I feel like I just want to get in my car and drive away...I grab a diet coke.

I suppose I should be lucky that I am addicted to such a cheap, mostly harmless drug (think of how much I would spend a year if I was addicted to cigarettes or Vicodin)! I don't know if anyone else also believes this...but diet coke is even better from McDonald's! I have heard that it is the straw that they use (it's wider so it lets you slurp in more of that delicious beverage than sipping from a can).

One of the biggest disappointments I can have in a restaurant is when I hear those dreaded words..."is diet pepsi okay?" I just want to scream back at that waitress..."NO IT'S NOT OKAY! It tastes nothing like my delicious diet coke." This drives my husband CRAZY because he actually prefers diet pepsi (I know, what is wrong with him!) and he doesn't believe there is anything different in taste between the two. I have actually been known to choose one restaurant over another because I know they serve diet coke.

I know I should be drinking water...but it just doesn't taste as good. There are no bubbles to quench my thirst.  It doesn't wake me up and feel like a real person after I have gotten up at 4:30am for work the last 4 days. It doesn't come in a beautiful silver can with that cute new logo (yes-I LOVE the new logo). Maybe someday I will overcome this addiction...but for now I will keep by 24 pack stashed in the back of my mini-van and hope that it doesn't freeze this winter and explode all over before I get to enjoy it's delicious goodness.