News2011October

CCT News

CCT News31 October 2011
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

Spring 2012 registration begins November 7th. You must register by January 1st to avoid late registration fees.
Courses offered:
Face-to-face courses:
CRCRTH 612 Seminar in Creative Thinking (Theme: Invention and Innovation) (Thursdays, 4:00-6:30pm)
CRCRTH 649L Scientific and Political Change (Wednesdays, 4:00-6:30pm)
CRCRTH 651L Cognitive Psychology (Tuesdays, 4:00-6:30pm)
CRCRTH 694 Synthesis of Theory and Practice (Tuesdays, 4:00-6:30pm)
CRCRTH 688 Reflective Practice (Mondays, 6:30-9:00pm, 2/6, 3/5, 4/2, 5/7)
CRCRTH 693 Action Research for Ed., Professional, and Personal Change (Tuesdays, 7:00-9:30pm)

Online courses:
CRCRTH 602 Creative Thinking
CRCRTH 616 Dialogue Processes
CRCRTH 618 Creative Thinking, Collaboration and Organizational Change
CRCRTH 649L Scientific & Political Change (to be taught using a Problem-based learning approach that accommodates students' diverse interests and backgrounds)
CRCRTH 693 Action Research for Educational, Professional, and Personal Change

For all admissions and advising inquiries, email cctcoordinator@umb.edu. While Peter Taylor and Arthur Millman are on sabbatical (during the fall), emails to this address will be answered by the Assistant Coordinator of the Program, Jeremy Szteiter.

CCT Community
Current students and alumni are sought as volunteers to help represent CCT at the university's Graduate Showcase on Wednesday, November 16th, between 4:00-7:30pm. Please send a note to cctcoordinator@umb.edu if you are willing to join us for any amount of time within that period and speak to prospective students about your experiences.

CCT Events
CCT Graduate Program Open House
Monday, November 7, 2011; 6:45pm-9:00pm
Location: Healey Library, 11th floor, room A.
Email cct@umb.edu to RSVP and for additional details.
Theme: CCT in Service: The role of critical and creative thinking in our "life's work", which may extend beyond our work life and include to volunteerism, community service and civic engagement, and interests in activism, mentoring, or other interests in providing service to others.
Open to all, including prospective students and guests from outside the university. Refreshments provided. Skype participation possible for those at a distance - details available when you RSVP to the email address above.
The final Fall 2011 open house will take place on December 5th.

Alum and CCT associates Notes
(alums may submit future items for this section by emailing cct@umb.edu)

Exhibition: LOST + FOUND
CCT alum. Luanne E Witkowski
November 2 – 27, 2011, Wed-Sun noon–5pm and by appointment
Kingston Gallery, 450 Harrison Avenue #43 in Boston
First Friday opening reception: November 4, 5:30-8pm
Artist Talk: Thursday, November 10, 6pm
For more information: http://www.kingstongallery.com/

• Strongly influenced by the shore and woodlands of outer Cape Cod, Maine, and now Nova Scotia, my ‘research sketchbook’ consists of documentary photography and video of environmental installations I create as references for my mixed and multi-media works in painting, photography, and video projection. I work intuitively to create abstract contemplative pieces that are rooted in and extracted from landscape and experience.

• Process-driven, using non-traditional materials, I am intrigued as I translate experience into visual language… from the tiniest grain of sand to mountains of stone and architecture, from a drop of rain to a raging tsunami, the quietest sparkle of dawn to foreboding dusk. Incorporating the very elements that influence and inspire –clay, pigment, chemistry, technology– engages me to embrace the impact, to understand.

• My current work explores what is LOST to busy-ness. Nature is pushed aside as we get LOST in and between running from project to project. What happens if we stop and look? What is FOUND as we get LOST in what is taken for granted? I am LOST + FOUND reaching beyond the limits of the expected while expanding the possibilities of outcome and reflection.

---

A letter to the CCT community from 2003 alum Tamami Nakashima:

• Hi fellow CCTers,

• I'm an alum who lives in Japan. I currently teach at a private high school in which about 80% of the students were previously unable to attend school for emotional and psychological reasons.

• Last semester, I taught a class called "How to enrich our lives." In one of the lessons, we did a discussion on "Amae." This Japanese word has at least two definitions. One is to expect others to fill one's needs and desires. Another is to be spoiled. These two definitions often get mixed up and cause people--especially the youth--to suffer from anguish.

• In an earlier lesson, I passed out a list called "Ways to take care of ourselves." This was a list of little things we could do in our everyday lives to take care of ourselves psychologically and emotionally. One of the ways I introduced on the list was "To clearly state yes or no." A student asked me what that meant. So, I told him, " For example, if you are told to go somewhere you don't want to go, say no." He immediately replied, " If I said that, I would be told, ' don't be a spoiled child' so I would never say it." He was probably thinking of his parents telling him to go to school.

• As in this case, being honest to oneself about wanting to be understood and one's own needs met by others is often considered being spoiled. Through the discussion on "Amae" I felt that most of my students feel that they shouldn't depend on others and that they need to do everything on their own. I believe this is due to their being told so over and over from their parents and other adults around them. They are extremely strict on themselves.

• The Japanese generally tend to educate by pointing out what's not good and not commenting on what's good. This causes people to focus on their weak points and to possess little confidence in themselves. Lack of self-esteem is a major social problem in Japan to the point of producing over 30,000 suicides a year.

• I feel that a heavier weight is put on discipline than expression of love and attachment. I came across a cross-cultural research on how lonely 15 year-olds feel in developed countries. Japan scored incomparably high. I mean, insanely high.

• Recently, it is said that Japanese children's cognitive level and academic performance have fallen. But I believe that this is due to lack of love. Their basic need to be loved is not been satisfied that they cannnot go up to the level on which they can absorb what they are being taught. I feel that strongly, from my own experiences and watching my students.

• Lack of love and confidence lead citizens to become disutrustful of each other. This is evident especially in the political scene. Nobody trusts the leader, and politicians don't trust commoners or each other. They are overly critical.

• But I still think that people want to trust each other, and want to do good.

Events
2011 UMass Boston Graduate Showcase
November 16th, 2011, 4:00-7:30pm
UMB Campus Center ballroom
Visit all graduate programs at UMass Boston and get a chance to speak with representatives from the program.
See http://www.umb.edu/admissions/visit/graduate_studies_showcase/
for more information on schedule and workshops being offered

Opportunities
Upcoming workshops of interest to music educators:
Saturday, November 19, 2011, 1:00pm-4:00pm: Middle Eastern Music For Classroom & Choir
Saturday, January 14, 2012, 1:00pm-4:00pm: Ballads and Play Parties
sponsored by BAKE - Boston Area Kodaly Educators. For more information and to register, see:
http://www.bostonareakodaly.org/
Email for more info: bmafera@gmail.com
Flyer: BAKE_flyer.pdf


Resources
Time Management Workshops for students:
Wed. Nov. 2, 12:00-1:00pm and Thurs. Nov. 3, 11:00am-12:00noon.
Location: Reading, Writing, and Study Strategies Center, Campus Center 1st floor
Free workshops on managing schedules, deadlines, and course materials.
No registration necessary - just drop in.

Hints for finding your way around the new UMass Boston web site:


Food for Thought
[Late addition]--The strange success of #OccupyWallStreet, by a participant anthropologist, David Graeber.

Steve Jobs, in his 2005 Commencement speech at Stanford:
"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

Saying Yes to Your Dream: http://whitehottruth.com/creativity-art-design-articles/say-yes-to-the-dream-how-frank-ghery-made-the-leap/

How to Stop Your Creative Thinking: http://blogs.psychcentral.com/creative-mind/2011/10/how-to-stop-your-creative-thinking/

Is Pole Dancing Art? A Court Rules No, Thwarting One Nightclub's Heroic Quest

Humor
Is Google Saying Something about Mitt Romney?