Friday @ the Center
October 8, 2010
Day of Common Learning
The Day of Common Learning occurs in five days and we have a wonderful lineup of afternoon seminars, thanks to many of you! See the CSFD website for more details on the 19 afternoon sessions being lead by SPU faculty, staff and students. The session information will also be printed in the programs distributed at the plenary session Wednesday morning. Please encourage your students to attend and consider spending some class time to debrief the day's events next Thursday and Friday. Feel free to send me an e-mail with anything noteworthy that you heard from your students.
A final note on our plenary speaker, Bishop Lohara: His work through the Free Methodist Church and ministries of AIM Asia has touched tens of thousands in India. He has 900 churches under his care and in a country with a 50% literacy rate, his organization has taught thousands of men and women to read. He has opened orphanages, fed street children, empowered widows through sewing classes, sponsored computer training, run mobile health clinics and ministered to those with leprosy. Three years ago, in the face of violence against Christians in Orissa, Bishop Lohara refused an order to turn around at a roadblock insisting to the armed soldiers that he must see to his people and drove on into the tumult. Both his work and his life speak to the transforming power of the gospel and we are deeply honored to have him on our campus.
Grant Development Workshop
Hosted by Assistant Director for Grants, Laura Lundahl, this workshop will focus on developing the content of a grant, and making the case for funding the project using detailed case statements and need assessments, logic models, and evaluation plans. Lunch will be provided. Register Online by October 21, 2010. The workshop will take place thursday, October 28, 2010, from 12 p.m. - 5 p.m. in the Main Floor Library Instructional Classroom.
Faculty Book Circles
If you are interested in joining any of our faculty book circles and can commit to at least half of the meetings, contact Anna Miller by Friday, October 15, to register and receive a free copy of the book. Each book circle will meet at 4pm for one hour in the Library Administrative Conference Room.
- In Spite of the Gods: The Rise of Modern India
Dates: 11/16, 1/25, 2/15, 3/8, 4/26 & 5/10
- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
Dates: 11/9, 1/18, 2/8, 3/1, 4/12 & 5/3
- Leisure: The Basis of Culture
Date: 11/18
Perspectives on Teaching
Last week I introduced the Teaching Perspectives Inventory, an on-line assessment instrument that helps instructors think about the values and perspectives they bring to the classroom. If you haven't already, I highly recommend taking 5 minutes to complete it.
Daniel Pratt suggests asking the following questions as you review your scores: Are your scores consistent with how you see yourself? Do they make overall sense? Are there any unexpected insights? Do they help clarify how you see yourself as a professional educator? How can insights gained from your own scores assist with reflections on your teaching philosophy as you prepare for major reviews?
On average, faculty have more dominant scores on developing students and transmitting information with less dominant perspectives toward social reform, nurturing and apprenticeship. Pratt's TPI provides a framework with which to articulate how we think about our teaching. If you would like to read more on this topic, I recommend a shorter article, Enhancing Reflective Teaching Practices: Implications for Faculty Development Programs, from the Canadian Journal of Higher Education. For a more in depth look at teaching perspectives see Pratt's book, Five Perspectives on Teaching in Adult and Higher Education.
Namaste,
Margaret Margaret Diddams |
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