Kimberly Hirsh

As promised yesterday, I’m going to start tracking my daily work productivity, mostly to help me realize that yes, I’ve actually done stuff. First we’ll get a macro picture of everything I’ve written as part of my doctoral program, and then I’ll get into the work I’ve been doing for my comprehensive exams, where I will detail more than just words written.

I have written the following items as part of my doctoral coursework:

• The Maker Movement and Learning in School Libraries. Literature review. 8,000 words.
• The Role of Archives and Special Collections in K-12 Instruction. Literature review. 7,000 words.
• Organizing and Describing Information for Children. Literature review. 5,000 words.
• School Librarians as Leaders. Literature review. 5,000 words.
• Special Education Training for Preservice School Librarians. Original research. 4,000 words.
• "A Real Fun Scene": Learning Improvisational Comedy in Community. Original research. 7,000 words.
• Everyday Life Information Needs of Adolescents. Literature review. 4,000 words.
• Designing Information Retrieval Interfaces for Children's Use. Literature review. 5,000 words.
• Libraries, Tabletop Roleplaying Games, and Teen Identity Development. Literature review. 6,000 words.
• Cultivating a Community of School Librarian Scholars. Literature review. 6,000 words.
• Unlocking the Door to Adventure: Cultivating a Community of Practice in Improvisational Comedy (and related assignments). Original research. 10,000 words.
• Expansive Learning, Third Spaces, and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (and related assignments). Literature review. 5,000 words.
• Learning from Library Escape Games. Research proposal. 1,000 words.
• Decolonizing and Participatory Research with Youth in Library Makerspaces (and related assignments). Literature review. 7,000 words.
• Possible Selves. Literature review. 6,000 words.
• Teen Participation in Library Makerspaces: A Grounded Theory Study. Research proposal. 5,000 words.
• Youth-driven School Library Services. Research proposal. 1,000 words.
• Racial Equity Initiatives in North Carolina's Public Schools. White paper. (Co-authored.) 6,000 words.

Not bad. (Please don’t ask how many I published.)

Now, let’s talk about the work I’ve done on the comprehensive examination literature review package.

I identified 179 studies that were potentially of interest. Of those, I have identified as useful, read, and reviewed 35 studies. I have written synthetic notes for 33 of those; at an average of about 250 words each, that’s a total of 8,000 words. This is a marked drop-off in word count output. There are several non-writing reasons for that. I’m going to ramp it back up in the near future.

So that’s where I was as of yesterday. Look for another update after today’s work session!

I love reading about other creative people’s processes, especially writers, so this look inside Wil Wheaton’s head as he revises his first novel is my kind of deal. (Add on top of that my near lifelong crush on Wil Wheaton and just… yeah.)

And it inspired me. I’ve been chipping away at my comprehensive examination package, a giant literature review and a milestone in my doctoral progress, slowly but slowly for a very long time. I started while I was still technically doing coursework in the fall, and spent the whole spring semester on it as well. And I expect to be done in December, because I expect it to take me as long as they will allow. (#thanksparenthood #gradstudentmomlife) But I have really been struggling to feel like I made progress.

So starting tomorrow, I’ll take a page from Wil’s book and actively blog each day about the progress I’ve made. I’ll begin with a report about my progress since August, and then add a little bit each day. I’ll be dropping all that stuff in a category called “What Kimberly Wrote” (nothing there yet). It will be everything that counts as part of my writing process, not just getting words out.