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Josh Blumberg

Teaching as performance – Learning Community

This Faculty Learning Community is going to be fun! Joanne Farrell and Kerry Noonan will act as faculty facilitators guiding participants through a series of sessions and workshops designed to provide information, activities and improvisational exercises that will allow us to see and change our performances in the classroom. Other faculty with expertise in Drama and Communications will lend their support.

In conjunction with this Faculty learning Community, a series of workshops will be run open to the entire faculty community.  The members of the learning community will get the opportunity to go deeper, creating a small community to improve their performances and receive personal coaching. Faculty Learning Cohort members will receive 1:1 coaching, explore the book “Performance Breakthrough”, and will set goals and learn to apply new performance skills within a safe and supportive community.  All workshops and meetings will be scheduled Wednesday afternoons at 3:30.

The first 10 faculty members to join will receive a copy of Performance Breakthough:  A Radical Approach to Success at Work by Cathy Salit.  See below for details and watch for calendar invitations to the workshops.  Reply to rmills@champlain.edu to join the Faculty Learning Community Teaching as Performance.

Description:  

“All the world’s a stage”, the classroom is a perfect space where, in our roles as teachers, we make performance choices every moment…By making our choices conscious, we open the possibility for growth and change.  We can see what’s going on not just from our point of view but from the vantage points of audience and other actors in the space.  – Joanne Farrell

Potential Goals/Outcomes:

  • Improved classroom delivery of content
  • Confidence to handle unexpected classroom situations
  • Improved student engagement
  • Increased connection and relationships with colleagues
  • SoTL (Scholarship of Teaching and Learning) projects and conference presentations

Format & Date/Time: Community meetings and stand-alone workshops will be Wednesday afternoons 3:30-5:00 PM. 

This learning community will…

  • Meet regularly on Wednesday afternoons.  The exact number of sessions and dates will be determined by the group. Workshop dates are set. (see Google calendar)
  • Will attend the sessions and the workshops
  • Will set individual and group goals

Any faculty member may attend any workshop. Faculty members will rsvp via Google calendar.

Sessions and Workshops * For longer descriptions see google calendar invitations

Sessions

  • Performing as Listener: We’ll discover ways to listen so conversations in the classroom are more effective because they feel less challenging.
  • Performing with Presence: We’ll discover ways to make use of our bodies and physicality so we are more confident on the stage.
  • Performing Off-Book: We’ll discover ways to break out of the habitual scripts we either devised or were given and open the door for new options.
  • Performing the Story: We’ll discover ways to use stories to teach content.

Workshops

  • Using Your Voice: This workshop will help you use your voice more effectively, both in the classroom and in conference presentations.
  • Space: The Final Frontier? In this workshop, we will work on how we use the space of our classrooms, focusing on deliberate vs unconscious movements, how to use movement to focus attention, and to capture and retain interest.
  • Wake Up a Sleepy Room: In this workshop, we will explore methods and techniques to wake up this kind of room.
  • Lively Lectures and Powerful Presentations:  In this workshop, we will work on improving our presentation skills. We will work on enhancing vocal interest, eye contact and physical presence, and will help you focus attention on your message in auditory, visual, and kinesthetic ways.

Meeting the needs of all leaners – Learning Community

The CLT is offering a Fall 2018 professional learning community– Universal Design for Learning- Meeting the Needs of All Students. To join, or for additional information, contact Rebecca Mills.

The first 10 people to join will receive a copy of Universal Design in Higher Education: From Principles to Practice

Description:  Faculty and staff members will work individually to learn about UDL principles and develop skills to meet the needs of all Champlain students.  In addition, the group will work to envision ways Champlain College might best support students with social, communication and learning differences.

Potential Goals/Outcomes:

  • Create a repository of resources for faculty and staff
  • Become an advisory committee (and perhaps train others)
  • A SoTL (Scholarship of Teaching and Learning) project with research, publication and/or presentation
  • Recommendations for standard syllabus statements.

Potential Sessions and Workshops:
(Still being developed and dependent on the learning community goals)


Workshop 1-Characteristics of Students and UDL Principles


Session:  Resources and Potential Projects, start of readings


Workshop 2– Identifying Necessary Skills and Helpful Pedagogy


Session:  Identifying branches of support at Champlain


Session:  Resources and Chapter Readings Reports-Out


Workshop 3– Practical Strategies and Support People


Workshop 4 – Fac/Staff Response to Difficult Social or Behavioral Situations


Workshop 5– Accessible Materials for UDL


Session:  Crafting a Campus Syllabus Statement and Establishing Campus Practice


Session:   Creating a Syllabus UDL Rubric


Debrief or Wrap Up:   Peer Review of Course Design, syllabus check, or presentations (critical friends model)

Teamwork & Collaboration – Faculty Pedagogy Series

In the spirit of collaboration, the Faculty Pedagogy Series aims to provide faculty members opportunities to learn from one another.  Fall 2018 Faculty Pedagogy Series focuses on classroom practices that foster student teamwork and student success on collaborative projects.

  • Assigning Teams and Early Indicators of Team Success by Kylie King.
    September 9, 12:30 pm  MIC 305Teams are frequently used in class projects as a way to facilitate peer to peer learning and to encourage the development of important personal and professional skills. In order to maximize the effectiveness of student teams, teams should be deliberately assigned and regularly evaluated. This session will introduce techniques for assigning students to teams and will provide examples of evaluating teams and their work.
  • The Advantages of Collaborative, Master Course Creation and Execution by Amanda Crispel
    September 20, 12:30 pm  MIC 305Academic freedom is the corner-stone of our profession, and essential to creating a rich academic environment for our students. Creating a master course through a collaborative process on first glance seems like it would be the exact opposite of academic freedom. However, through this discussion, I will share how the collaborative academic process used to create many of the courses taught in Game Art, Game Design, Game Production, and Game Programming have benefited both faculty and students, and helped to create an cohesive, successful and satisfying learning environment.
  • It’s Not About Being a ‘Writing Teacher’: Strategies for Improving Students’ Written Communication by Megan Munson-Warnken and Miriam Horne
    October 1, 2018 12:30 pm Aiken Morgan

 

  • Team Does Have an “I” in It, After all.  by Warren Baker
    October 15, 2018  12:30 pm  CCM 221People need to be taught the process of working with others before they can produce a product that boosts productivity, feeds innovation and drives profitability. When a team fails to cohere, it’s often because its members lack the skillset of how to be on a team without feeling that their individual, professional goals are being marginalized. In this workshop, I’ll review teamwork strategies that I’ve been using for years to good results.
  • Teaching Collaboration: scaffolding teamwork by Jonathan Ferguson
    October 25, 2018  12:30 pm  Ireland 206