CCT News

27 June 2009

See also previous news, alum news and exchanges, items for the upcoming news, and CCT calendar.
Inform cct@umb.edu if you have news OR want to be emailed when there's a new news compilation (no more than once/month) OR want to be removed from such mailings.

Contents: Student matters, CCT community, CCT events, alums, other events, opportunities, resources, food for thought, humor

Student Matters
CCT Face-to-face Summer Courses in July (term code 1840 on WISER): files/summer09.html

• Metacognition (CRCRTH 655) (Theme: Cognitive Modifiability of Students)
• Critical Thinking (CRCRTH 601)
• Creative Thinking, Collaboration and Organizational Change (CRCRTH 618)

Non-matriculated students can register thru http://ccde.umb.edu/credit/summer09/gr/crcrth/
Please spread the word, especially for Critical Thinking and for Metacognition, which seek more students

CCT Fall Courses (term code 1910): files/fall09.html

• Current students may need to update their emergency contact information before WISER will let you registermust register.
• Note CrCrTh688, Reflective Practice (1-3 credits), has now been approved as a formal course, to work in conjunction with the CCT Network events.

Applications still being accepted for Fall matriculation

Homework for CCT students

• 1. Put up an index card above your computer to remind you that
  • it's is short for it is whereas its is the possessive of it.
• 2. Add other mistakes that you make often to the card.
• 3. Learn how to use the page break command to start a new page. (Never again will you insert blank lines to get you onto a new page.)
• 4. Learn how to set tabs (under "format") to line up text across the page (rather than use multiple tabs to fill in space).
• 5. Find someone to ask if you need to learn these and other handy-dandy tricks in wordprocessing.
• 6. Don't get to the end of your CCT program without these skills and end up using the time of the CCT coordinator to fix up your formatting at the 11th hour.

CCT Community

CCT Annual Report, files/AnnualReport09.html

The CCT Program was represented at the Creative Problem Solving Institute conference, held between June 21-24 in the Boston area. The Creative Education Foundation sponsors this conference every year, representing some of the best minds and methods of creativity in broad areas of problem-solving across many fields. Professor Nina Greenwald led one of the workshop sessions, "The Search for Solutions to Life's Messy Problems (Guiding Problem-Based Learning)", guiding participants through a well-received PBL experience in condensed form.

CCT Events

CCT on the Cape courses start in the fall at Cape Cod Community College, Tuesday & Thursday evenings. Spread the word.

Alum and CCT associates Notes

Ashok Panikkar ('97) sends relections on the 4th anniversary of his dialogue and dispute resolution work in Bangalore, India

Events

CCT Community Open House, Thursday September 10, 6.30pm-9, place TBA. See other CCT Network dates for the fall.

Opportunities

The Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth offers academically talented middle and high school students an opportunity to take an advanced-level class for three weeks over the summer while living on a university or college campus, is in immediate need of two Teaching Assistants for our Philosophy of Mind course, http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/edu/1236675405.html

Visit the New England Board of Higher Education's website for information about the new New England-China Scholarship Program and to view a list of participating Beijing institutions at www.nebhe.org/china. The program provide the opportunity for students to spend up to one (1) year abroad in China-studying the Chinese language and other disciplines, experiencing the culture and visiting world-famous historical landmarks. Tuition and fees for scholarship recipients will be covered by the Beijing Municipal Education Commission. Individuals can also contact Amanda Silvia at 617-357-9620 x105 or at china@ncbhc.org.


Resources

Index of Creativity proposed in MA Unique legislation is working its way through the MA state legislature that is proposing to develop an Index of Creativity and Innovation for the state's public schools. If approved, a commission would formulate the criteria for the Index, which would require schools to annually report on ways that students have opportunities to develop their creativity through the arts, humanities, and sciences. http://www.maash.org

Linn Kier, who has corresponded recently with Delores Gallo, draws attention to her page, http://www.achildsperspective.com, 'Child Development,' with articles by professionals in various field. "With this I hope to inspire parents and caregivers to spend creative time with their children telling stories, drawing pictures and collaborating in creative ways."

Food for Thought

A periodic table of different visualization methods: http://www.visual-literacy.org/periodic_table/periodic_table.html

From Kathleen Wooten ('04) to her teachers: "As we close out yet another school year, imagine your names on my credits list as you watch this:" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkgTb6aq4mQ on the Courage to Teach.

From Jeanmarie Fraser (Certificate '05): See the July-August '08 issue of Atlantic Monthly: "Is Google making us stupid?" by Nicholas Carr, http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google. "Mirroring my concerns about the demise of deep learning, the article makes another clear argument for the continued need for the CCT program and its graduates."

Telling Our Stories to One Another: Narrative is a powerful tool for linking faculty, especially faculty of color, http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/academe/2009/MJ/Feat/osaj.htm

From Tehran 18 June 09
posted on "Balatarin", translated by Nasrin Alavi, the author of We Are Iran:

• "I will take part in the rally tomorrow. It might become violent. Perhaps I may be one of the people who is meant to die. I am listening to all the beautiful songs that I’ve ever heard before… I always wanted to thin out my eyebrows… I am looking through all my family photo albums from the start. I have to call my friends and say goodbye. I just have two bookshelves full of books to my name in this world; I have told my family who to give them to. I have two units to go before I get my degree, but the hell with that… I just wrote these scattered sentences so that the next generation knows that we weren’t irrational and emotional. So that they know we did what we could to make our lives better… but we refused to give in to oppression."

Humor

On being a college professor: http://comics.com/wizard_of_id/2009-06-23/

On Rain

And the Forecast Is... By Michael Rubiner Published: Tuesday, August 5, 2003 Wednesday in New York: Rain. Heavy at times. Followed by periods of precipitation. Thursday: Lingering showers throughout the day. Chance of rain 800 percent. Friday: Moist. Damp. Sodden. Saturday: Rainish. Showery. Precipitacious. Sunday: Light rain followed by heavy rain followed by pouring. Monday: Unseasonably rainy in the morning. Uncharitably rainy in the afternoon. Unconscionably rainy in the evening. Tuesday: Endless showers broken up by occasional flooding. Wednesday: Remember ''Waterworld''? Like that, only with more rain. Thursday: Not sunny. The opposite of sunny. Just forget about sunny, O.K.? Friday: Clearing just long enough for you to make weekend plans. Followed by obscene amounts of rain. Saturday: Take a wild guess. Sunday: Incessant, spirit-crushing rain. The kind of rain that makes it futile to get out of bed in the morning. The kind of rain that seems as if it will never end. And guess what? It never will. Ever. Do you understand? Monday: Please go away. Tuesday: Ample, brilliant sunshine throughout the day. Wait -- did I say sunshine? I meant rain. Really hard rain.