Monthly Archives: October 2017

Joyful Tidings #27 Return of Discussions: Zoom Conversation and Jill Malone

Classroom Teaching, Conversation Starters, Designing and Facilitating Discussions, Joyful Tidings

I have two resources to share with you: 1) a video of our first Zoom Conversation: Discussing Discussions and 2) an amazing email about discussions I received from our wonderful colleague Jill Malone. If you have time for nothing else in this email today, please watch the video Jill included in her email — I am reasonably confident it will make you happy.

Conversation #1: Discussing Discussions

https://youtu.be/vYL_anCQd9I

We videotaped our first live Zoom Conversation about discussion strategies. You can view it here (and count your time for flex) or you can visit this resource in Canvas (on’t forget to enroll in our PDP canvas site on your way). Curry Mitchell and Lisa Lane have some very creative and effective insights into discussions to share with you; I hope you will visit with them when you have time.

Keep reading this amazing post ->

Joyful Tidings #26: Discussing Discussions

Classroom Teaching, Designing and Facilitating Discussions, Joyful Tidings, Online Teaching

Greetings Friends:

I come to you today in yet another pathetically transparent attempt to encourage us all to chat a bit about teaching and learning at our college.

I know, I know, it is week eight! What is wrong with me!

But week eight is just the right time for some rejuvenation — just the right time to bring that pulse of energy back into our onsite or online classes with a new discussion technique for your bag of tricks.

You may even find yourself injecting discussion leadership strategies into some of your meetings (they worked for me when I was on jury duty).

And every one of us — staff and faculty — has experienced discussions both enthralling and stultifying. We all have opinions, ideas, and tips to share.

Not surprisingly, we are not alone in our interest in this topic. And during this week-long celebration of discussion (wait…what?!), I will be sharing web sites, and books, and other tools we can use to sharpen, expand, reinvent, renew, restore, recalibrate and otherwise transform our discussion skill set.

Continue reading this amazing post ->

Joyful Tidings #25

Classroom Teaching, Conversation Starters, Joyful Tidings

image of video

Our new Canvas PDP site offers all sorts of wonderful opportunities for exploration, especially via our Project Joy link which highlights faculty led teaching and learning related initiatives at MiraCosta.

Today, I would like to focus on our Integrative Learning page, which pulls together resources gathered by faculty working in our learning communities and health start programs, all of which focus “fostering students’ abilities to integrate learning—across courses, over time, and between campus and community life” (“A Statement on Integrative Learning”).

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Joyful Tidings #24: Two Highlights from the Mailbag

Classroom Teaching, Conversation Starters, Equity, Joyful Tidings, Musings

image of open mail bag

So while we wait for the thousands of responses to Joyful Tidings #23 to roll in, I thought I would take a moment to highlight two wonderful follow ups to previous conversations from Maria Figueroa and Sunny Cooke:

From Maria Figueroa in response to our conversation about empathy…

So I’ve been reading your emails..well, most of them and I always come back to the Mayan philosophy of InLakEch. InLakEch roughly translates to “tu eres mi otro yo, you are my other self,” following is a poem:

 
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Joyful Tidings #23: Teaching Students to Learn – An Invitation to a Conversation

Classroom Teaching, Joyful Tidings, Student Success

book cover

Last week I served on a jury in Temecula (I know…I know…scary huh?)

Reading on the Sly

While I spent most of my days frantically trying to keep up with my classes and PDP work during the hours I was not in court, I also used my downtime during the trial — waiting in hallways and jury rooms — to start reading Saundra Yancey McGuire’s Teach Students to Learn: Strategies You Can Incorporate Into Any Course to Improve Student Metacognition, Study Skills, and Motivation.

Springboard to Our Conversation?

I will not burden you here with all of Yancey McGuire’s cool strategies (which she summarizes neatly in some very helpful jury-trial-lunch-break-friendly appendices).

Continue reading this amazing post ->

Joyful Tidings #22 “Love Over Fear” More on Empathy and Real World Learning

Cultural Competency, Joyful Tidings, Student Success

heads speaking to each other

Greetings Colleagues:

Last Monday’s email​ about the connections I was discovering between the ideas I had heard recently from colleagues about empathy and “real world” learning resulted in some wonderful further reflections by colleagues.

I share those ideas here. I hope you will spend some time exploring the smart, creative, and inspiring thoughts of your colleagues.

Alicia Lopez (Sociology and Chicano Studies)

I am happy to know how Darder has inspired you and the role that I played in helping that happen.

Keep reading this amazing post ->