News2012March

CCT News

26 March 2012
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

Registration for summer 2012 courses opens on Monday, March 26th. Registration for fall courses opens on Monday, April 2nd.
Summer 2012 courses:
Face-to-face courses:
CRCRTH 601 "Critical Thinking," M-Th 3:00pm-6:00pm, July 9-July 26, McCormack Hall room M02-0208, Class #1907
CRCRTH 618 "Creative Thinking, Collaboration and Organizational Change," Fr, Sa July 13-28, 9:00am-4:15pm, McCormack Hall room M02-0209 , Class #1909
consisting of three two-day workshops (Diversity Awareness, Cultivating Collaboration, Facilitating Participatory Planning and Design)
CRCRTH 688 "Reflective Practice," (1 credit), July 20-21, McCormack Hall room M02-0209, Class #1911
Online courses:
CRCRTH 612 "Seminar in Creative Thinking", theme: "Inside the Creative Process: Exploring Blocks and Finding Creative Ground" May 29-July 12, Class #1908
CRCRTH 619 "Biomedical Ethics," online, July 16-Aug 23, Class #191
CRCRTH 627 "Issues in Antiracist and Multicultural Education", May 29-Jul 12, Class #3424

The withdraw deadline for spring 2012 courses is April 5th.

Printable version of the CCT student handbook is now available at http://www.cct.umb.edu/handbook.pdf

Entrance interviews, Mid-program check-in, and Reflective Practice/Metacognitive Portfolio
Before the end of the semester the Program plans to catch up on Entrance interviews and Mid-program check-ins. Graduating students who missed the check-in or did not prepare and submit a Reflective Practice/Metacognitive Portfolio are encouraged to work this into their exit self-assessment. Other students who missed the check-in or did not have a Reflective Practice/Metacognitive Portfolio ready at the time are expected to do both before the summer semester starts. (Here's the formal requirement: "Two weeks after the end of the semester in which you take their fifth course towards the CCT M.A. you should submit your Reflective Practice/Metacognitive Portfolio thus far and evidence of Research and Study Competencies you have acquired.")

CCT's social media presence: You may have noticed more frequent facebook & twitter postings for CCT and the Science in a Changing World graduate track. Stay tuned for new developments in the ways the program is using wikis and other social media to foster "personal & professional development, community building, and educational-innovation activities beyond the formal CCT program of studies."

Friday, April 15, 2012: Deadline to apply for the Delores Gallo fund
The Delores Gallo fund (established on the occasion of her retirement) invites proposals for funding small projects of CCT students and alums, e.g., to bring in guests to your classes, initiate a new creative project, prepare your writing/photography/etc. for publication, buy materials for your classroom...
More info at: http://www.cct.umb.edu/gallofund.html

CCT Community
Bob Schoenberg, CCT alum. and online faculty, is offering a free online workshop for instructors, starting April 16th: "Strategies for Promoting Online Student Collaboration". See below in Opportunities for details.

CCT Events
CCT Deep Exploration: Digging Deeper into Building Support for Our Work, Learning and Lives
Monday, April 2, 2012
6:45-9:00pm
Campus Center, 2nd Floor, Room 2545
Open to all. Refreshments will be served.
Join members of the Critical and Creative Thinking community as we share experiences with support circles, clearness committees, and other forms of engaged support. Participate in a supportive listening exercise and dialogue with others about past success and challenges getting the support you need.

Alum and CCT associates Notes
Ashok Panikkar ('97) reports on the first "Metaconversations" blog post, "An antidote to premature clarity", from Meta-Culture Center for Conflict Transformation and Dialogue in Bangalore, India.

Jane LaChance ('07) was featured on Haverhill Community TV in January as a story-teller. See the item dated 1-6-12.

Brooke Stephens ('03) reports: "I got a job connected to my work in the CCT Program! I'm teaching the Cultural Connections classes at the Sacramento Children's Museum. They're paying me to develop the lessons, prepare their cultural calendars and teach the classes. CCT was one of the best things I've done! Thank you."

Mike Cartledge ('03) reports: "I got to use CCT when hired as math resource teacher 2007 for Barton Elementary, Bristol Township School District, Levittown, PA. Position lasted three years until grant money ran out. I am teaching second grade. It is a good time, but with standardized tests and the new core curriculum, there is not enough creative time.... to do neat things.... ( but I do sneak it in).


Events
The Feminist Classroom Conference
Friday, March 30, 2012
11:30am-6:30pm, The Thompson Room at Baker Center, Harvard University.
For grad. students developing a teaching profile in women's, gender & sexuality studies, http://on.fb.me/x746C4

Cambridge Science Festival
Thursday, April 26th: Health: What's Race got to do with it?, 7:00-8.30pm, with Peter Taylor
Saturday, April 28th: Dialogue & Collaborative Exploration, any time from 10:00am-4:00pm, with Science in a Changing World graduate track

Opportunities
"Strategies for Promoting Online Student Collaboration": a workshop for instructors of online courses
Instructor, Bob Schoenberg, bobsch3@gmail.com
Online, starts April 16th, and lasts for 3 weeks. Mostly self-paced, with one Skype meeting over the three weeks, and expectation of completing readings and some independent and collaborative activities. Free.
Contact Bob at bobsch3@gmail.com for additional questions and to register, and see the full description for more details and course outline: FacultyWorkshop-OnlineCollaboration.pdf
Brief Description: This workshop is for faculty teaching either completely online or a “blended” course, who wish to learn how to incorporate collaboration by students into their courses. You will learn how to take any assignment for any subject and turn it into a collaborative one.
You will actually have an opportunity to experience collaboration first hand, but working online with other faculty. Some experience with a Wiki is desirable, but not necessary.

Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies, 2012-13 courses open to UMB students: http://web.mit.edu/gcws/courses/index.html


Resources
http://la.thepublicschool.org
"THE PUBLIC SCHOOL is a school with no curriculum. At the moment, it operates as follows: first, classes are proposed by the public (I want to learn this or I want to teach this); then, people have the opportunity to sign up for the classes (I also want to learn that); finally, when enough people have expressed interest, the school finds a teacher and offers the class to those who signed up.
THE PUBLIC SCHOOL is not accredited, it does not give out degrees, and it has no affiliation with the public school system. It is a framework that supports autodidactic activities, operating under the assumption that everything is in everything."

Food for Thought
Things that will never happen: http://www.rense.com/general81/dw.htm

Jasiri X raps on Trayvon Martin's death: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKaJoEyYXyI

Based on Dr. Seuss's final book before his death, this is a story about life's ups and downs, told by the people of Burning Man 2011., http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahv_1IS7SiE

Fear Heightens Appreciation of Abstract Art: http://www.miller-mccune.com/culture/fear-heightens-appreciation-of-abstract-art-39728/

Humor