Writing about Spanish Community Service Learning


by Ann Abbott

Each week I look forward to getting my "Monday Motivator." It's the e-newsletter from Kerry Ann Rockquemore, Associate Professor of African American Studies and Sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her website, http://www.newfacultysuccess.com/, is a great resource for anyone (even non-academics) who want to put their writing on the front burner, where it should be.

This week the challenge she sets forth in her newsletter is straightforward: write every day for 30-60 minutes.

I write that much or more most days, but I don't always write on the "right" project. For example, this blog is important to me and I do consider it a "publication" in a way. However, if we want to advance Spanish community service learning (CSL), we need more research-based articles on it. (Click here to see the bibliography I have collected so far, and leave a comment if you know of other books/articles that should be on the list.) Since I am in a non-tenure track position in which publishing is not truly part of my job description, my goal is to produce one scholarly article per year. So, while I am working on that, I need that to count for my 30-60 minutes of writing per day. Blogging, creating curricular materials, textbook writing, and other kinds of writing are all "extra" and need to be done after my 30-60 minutes of article writing.

I also need to limit my writing projects. Right now, for example, I am working on two book projects and external grant writing. Believe it or not, I originally wanted to squeeze in even more writing projects for this semester! (I always want to do more that I actually can do.) When I put it all down on paper, and then mapped it out on my Outlook calendar, I saw that just three writing projects was still stretching it. Now that I have those three projects mapped out on my calendar, my goal is to actually follow the map.
What are your writing goals for this semester? Will you be researching/writing about Spanish CSL? Oh, and I think that writing a comment on this blog counts for your 30-60 minutes of daily writing. :)

Comments

  1. Writing a Research PaperNovember 26, 2009 at 5:01 AM

    Many institutions limit access to their online information. Making this information available will be an asset to all.

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