Happy New Year from the Campbells

I have seriously neglected my blog this semester, but I'm hoping I will resume blogging regularly in 2013!
As I reflect on 2012, I feel a mixture of sadness and excitement as it ends. 2012 was a difficult year, but our little Campbell family experienced so much joy as well. Here is our recap of 2012
In May, Murad passed his licensure exam and is now a licensed master social worker! This was truly an exciting day for him and his hard work paid off tremendously. Since earning his license, Murad switched careers and is now a hospice social worker. Working in pallatative care can be exhausting, but Murad is gifted in his care of individuals and families experiencing this difficult time in life. Murad has also become more active in social and professional groups around Dallas. He enjoys the opportunities given to him to network and volunteer in our community
In May, I also experienced a career change as I left K-12 public school teaching after seven years. While I enjoyed enriching the lives of young folks each year, my passion changed once I became a mom. Not wanting to be far from education, I now teach developmental writing part-time at a community college, and serve as a teaching assistant for an online university. In addition to that, I started a small resume-writing service. Working from home and part-time has allowed me to spend more time at home with Joel while still keeping my foot in the door career-wise.
This year also marked a big change for me as I did the "BIG CHOP!" I had been going natural for almost two years, but having long, curly hair was not for me! I was forunate enough to have the support and encouragement of my husband when I decided to do it!
Well, Joely had an exciting year as well. In February, he was kicked out of daycare. Yes! You read correctly. At first, we were bummed, but we later figured out that his care-providers were not as compotent as we thought. He now is with Rebecca who is wonderful! I had the pleasure of teaching Rebecca's children years ago. Her son Austin is a freshman at Richland College and her daughter Shelby is a freshman at Berkner High School. Shelby often baby-sits for us on date-nights too. Both "kids" are the kind of children who make parents proud! While with Rebecca, Joel has mastered baby-sign language and is now beginning to talk. Rebecca also takes Joely to a preschool program called "Gym Dandies," and he loves it!
In May, we celebrated Joel's first birthday with two birthday parties!!! His New Jersey grandparents hosted a baseball themed party in their home, and we hosted a Sesame Street themed party in our home. Both parties were amazing!
Since entering his 2nd year, we have seen more of Joely's little personality come out--good and bad! He imitates his father, but loves on me! He is obsessed with Sampson & Maya. He imitates their growling, tries to eat their food, gets in the cage with them, kicks them and chases them. Fortunately, they love him too. I think our neglected pups are just glad to get some attention again! Since the weather is cooler, I've started walking with them.
What is in store for 2013? Murad will continue working as a social worker. I will change gears a bit and teach developmental reading for a small, Christian university. Joely will turn two (help!). Sampson and Maya might get a break from Joely once he figures out that he's not a dog! We plan to travel and hopefully do some remodeling on our home. We are looking forward to the new year!
Happy New Year from the Campbells!

DEFINITELY

Not definately!

Remember, the word definitely comes from definite (we could break it down even further to finite). Also, think of infinite. We wouldn't spell its adverb infinately! Infinitely!

This website should help you to remember!

the teaching of writing

For the past month, I have been heavily involved in the teaching and tutoring of writing. Not only, I have taught and tutored students in a traditional classroom, but I have also taught and tutored students online. I'm continuing to expand my "practice" as I like to call it. This little Ashlea Campbell Writing stuff is taking off, as I am giving more seminars and workshops as well.

I continue to provide writing assistance to those outside of academia, usually in the form of resume help. I charge a small fee (very small compared to resume-creating companies I've researched), but I started to wonder why we don't have community writing centers.

In almost every major metropolitan area, community literacy centers exist. These centers might carry the name "Adult Literacy center," but the mission is still the same: teach community members to read. The name literacy is somewhat misleading because it implies that reading and writing will be taught together. This is not the case as most exclusively help community members to read.

While it is imperative to have reading skills in order to think critically and secure and maintain a job, isn't developing writing skills just as necessary? What are writing centers limited to postsecondary institutions? What if adults could come to a place where they could develop their writing skills. In that center, adults could receive FREE, quality resume help. In fact, a writing center is just the kind of place our economy needs to get people thinking, writing and working. I thought I'd share a link the the Albuquerque Community Writing Center. I only found two writing centers like this when I did a quick Google search. Hopefully, more will spring up around the nation. Who knows? Maybe I'll get the gumption to start one here!

In an effort to promote skill development in writing, I will post links to some of my things from time-to-time. I cannot post too much because I am attempting to go through the publishing process again. This time instead of focusing on reading activities for middle school students, I hope to publish some the original writing tools I created for college level developing writers.

For now, I leave you with a link to APA running head formatting. This has been an ongoing issue with many of my online college students. It is such a tricky thing to master as the rules seem to change, especially if you are like me. I was an English Education major. All of my English papers had to be formatted to MLA standards while all of my Education papers had to be formatted to APA. Luckily, when I entered graduate school, I was exclusively APA.

Great Verbs for Resumes

Check out "My 380+ Favorite Verbs"

Health Educator Sample Before & After Resumes

Never Say These Five Things in a Job Interview

Great article! Great tips!

Never Say These Five Things in a Job Interview


"Humility is a great trait, but going out of your way to be self-deprecating is an interview turn-off.

You should always be candid about your role, but your interviewer doesn't care about your team dynamics or organizational chart. He wants to know what you did. He wants to know how you think. He wants to know about YOU."

5 Reasons Why You Never Hear Back After Applying for a Job

This article really highlights some of the pitfalls to avoid when job searching. I cannot stress enough how important networking is in finding and securing the job you want. Don't limit yourself to traditional networking. Social media allows HR departments to exist everywhere. Utilize LinkedIn to maximize your networking experience.

I also strongly agree that looking for a job is a job! Take it seriously. Devote a certain number of hours each week to looking for a job. If you can, spend an hour a day job searching. You may want to avoid doing this on your current employer's time. Limit your search to the newspaper and use your home computer or PDA.

While it is okay to look for new job while you're still employed, avoid job-hopping. Be proactive, but do not walk away from a company just because you think you can find something better. Potential employers do look at things like longevity and loyalty.

Remember to update your resume periodically. If you need assistance, please email me for help! writingbyashlea@gmail.com

English BA Resume

Everyone says it's impossible to find a job with a degree in the Humanities, specifically English. I've been surprised by how many friends have found well-paying jobs with this degree. In fact, many of them majored in English because they enjoyed writing and reading. Their decisions had very little to do with securing a job. Isn't that how it's supposed to be? Maybe not. In this day and age, people tend to gravitate towards majors geared towards careers. Despite this, there are ways to market yourself by highlighting the skills you have.

This resume uses simple fonts with a fancier font thrown in sparingly. The resume is easy to read, which is ideal for potential employers. This particular client was interested in a job in information management, as her master's degree that she is pursuing in library science will focus on this field.

Resume Samples

Before & After Resumes- Property Management/Real Estate! Free Resume help! email writingbyashlea@gmail.com
Before-bottom
After-top

The Weed Family

Click here to read this interesting article on The Weed Family.

Encouraging Reluctant Readers

Click here for a great resource on using the Internet to encourage summer reading among reluctant readers!

Supporting breastfeeding teen moms

Here's a link

to my article on breastfeeding and teen moms!

Online Tutoring

Since I spent most of my career helping struggling writers, I want to offer tutoring services. I do not have the time to travel, so I'm going to venture into online tutoring!I did this some back in college when I worked for the University of Kansas Writing Center. Now that I'm working as an online TA, I figure what better way to hone my online skills and do something I loved doing in the past!

Send me your essays, resumes, cover letters, and other documents. I'll give feedback and provide you with a personalized lesson to address your areas of weakness!

Celebrating your online degree

This is for all my friends who graduated this weekend, or who will graduate in the near future. Whether you earned your high school diploma, bachelor's degree, master's degree, medical degree, doctorate degree and whether it be online or the traditional route, make sure you celebrate!

Celebrating your online degree

Successful Online Learning

How can one gain a truly great online educational experience? Click here!

How to write a strong thesis statement

Today I held a seminar on writing a good thesis statement and supportive details. I think it went very well. A few of the attendees came up to me afterwards and said they wished they had this information prior to the end of this semester. I now know to hold this this particular seminar early in the semester. Since this was my first seminar, I was a little nervous. I really did not expect many students to show up to a Saturday afternoon seminar, but I had a full class. In fact, I ran out of copies!

One of my former students was there and she told another student, "Professor Campbell is good and fast!" I like that...I guess? Well, since so I'm speedy, I'll share my tips for tthesis statements with you!

Thesis Statement = Fact + Opinion
ex. Because the Internet is filled with tremendous marketing potential, companies should exploit this potential by using Web pages that offer both advertising and customer support.

A good thesis statement should answer one question; therefore, it should have one main idea. If you have more than one main idea, then you may not have a clear focus for your writing!

A good thesis statement can be argued.
Ex. Because Banana Herb Tea Supplement promotes rapid weight loss that results in the loss of muscle and lean body mass, it poses a potential danger to customers.
One could argue that the supplement promotes weight loss through the use of healthy, organic herbs.

The following questions can be used to guide your writing, especially when developing thesis statements and supporting details. These particular questions work well when writing an analysis paper on a piece of literature or journal article. I have my students complete current events activities. They choose one current event (usually an opinion piece) to wrto turn into an argumentative essay.
What is the writer’s position on this issue? Why is it important?
What benefits would be realized or what problems would be eliminated
What evidence (facts/statistics, personal examples, expert testimony) do you have in support of your argument?
What arguments go AGAINST your claim? What are the counterarguments? What could you say to rebut those counterarguments?

The above information is a snapshot of what we covered. Overall, remember that your thesis statement is the basis for your argument. It needs to be introduced early on in your
writing. Your thesis statement needs to state a fact and your opinion on that fact.

References: Indiana University

How to Blog

Thinking of starting a blog? Check out these tips

on starting a blog that will make you happy and possibly rich!

Financial Trading? Yes, Please!

I'm quickly learning this whole freelance writing thing is a big gamble; however, when it works out well, the reward is great! After having Joel, I kind of felt lost. I struggled to find my identity. I no longer knew if being a teacher was what I really wanted to do. Luckily, I had a little help from Craiglist and a little inspiration from Joel. Yes. Contrary to my fears, Joel did not ruin my career, but he helped me redefine my career and reignited a passion. Freelancing will allow me more time with my bub and allow me to have a career.

If I hadn't been perusing Craigslist, I never would have found my first freelance job. It really was pure magic! Now I am not only actively seeking out freelance jobs, but people are getting in contact with me. Sometimes, it's all about who you know, right?

A friend of mine contacted me today to see if I'd be interested in doing some writing on the financial trading world. I really have no idea what this entails, but I'm pretty stoked to find out more about it. I hope to develop in this area and expand my portfolio.

Stay tuned for more writing on not only the financial trading world, but a few others (I'm a little bit behind in some areas!).

Robyn O'Brien

I'm going to see Robyn O'Brien, author of The Ugly Truth, speak Saturday morning. I'm super excited. The city of Plano is hosting a Learn 2 Live Green conference and I get to see her speak on her research on the health of the American family and its food system. O'Brien has been hailed as "food's Erin Brocovich."
As a mother, I am thankful for her work. As a writer, I am inspired by her writing. She took her love for her family to create a career that helps her and others. She truly is an insipiration to me and others like me who are embarking on a writing career.
If you are not familiar with Robyn O'Brien, check her out!

Inspiring Writers

I have neglected this little blog in the last month. As soon as things die down a little, I plan to make post more of my writing. That is the reason you are here though. I have some plans for the summer and fall with my writing.
-write more on families
-write more green and healthy eating articles. Since Joely was born I've implemented more eco-friendly products and routines into our home. Although Murad was resistant at first, he's come around. I'm hoping to make it to the Learn to Live Green conference this weekend to get some tips and inspiration for writing.
-include more writing help tools on this blog including lessons and tutorials for struggling writers

I found this little blog today when exploring the NCTE. Jeri is a former English teacher who left the classroom to do freelance writing.
Check her out here!

Sneak Peak

The Leadership Gold 4 Women site is up and running! Check out the site here and take a look at my article!

Where Do Periods Go in Quotations?

-Should Have- Versus -Should Of-

Snowblowed or Snowblew?

How to Use Single Quotation Marks

Prepositions Song(Lady Gaga Parody)

Smith9wcs group preposition song to Yankee Doodle

UNT's master's degree in Applied Anthropology

How refreshing is it to see an online degree program geared towards people interested in something besides business, management or education? REFRESHING! While online education may not be the most preferred method of education, it is ideal for those who are traditionally underrepresented in anthropology.

This review highlights the benefits of studying through UNT's online program. I'm still waiting for it to be reviewed, but the link is up! So here you go!

Examiner article!

New Logo

So cute, right? My friend Elaina designed out. She's an awesome friend and an even awesomererer designer!

What's the deal with online learning?

A little article I did about the benefits and risks associated with online learning. Check it out here

"Today was a good day"

Thank you, Ice Cube!

Today my guest blog entry posted on Blended Family Blog!

My friend offered to design a new logo for Ashlea Campbell Writing for free! She said mine looked homemade, and it does. I'll take the free gift!

I scored my second freelance gig!


Ashlea Campbell Writing is open for business!!!!!