News2015September
News from the Graduate Program in Critical & Creative Thinking
University of Massachusetts Boston18 September 2015
Student Matters
Applications for the spring 2016 semester are due on November 1 (October 1 for international students). Those with applications already started may check the status of their application here (using the id and password supplied to you by Graduate Studies).
CCT Community
Student visitor to CCT from Portugal, Liliana Abreu, seeks a room to rent from from 1st of March until 30 of June. Please email her host, peter.taylor@umb.edu to get in touch.
CCT instructor Bob Schoenberg has created three strategies/lesson plans for promoting critical thinking which will be published by Wisdom Creek Academic. The author of the book Steve Miller will include these strategies in his book Why Brilliant People Believe Nonsense: A Practical Text on Critical and Creative Thinking (A Classical Discipline Meets the Digital Age), available on October 1 (accompanying website: http://www.criticalcreativethinking.wordpress.com). The strategies are designed to be used in any class or subject (secondary through college level). For further information, contact Bob Schoenberg at bobsch3@gmail.com.
CCT Events
CCT Community Open House
Monday, September 21, 7:00-9:00pm, UMass Boston Campus Center, Room 2540 and online.
Participation at a distance possible for those who reply to cct@umb.edu.
Theme: Fall 2015 Welcome and Gathering
All new and returning students, prospective students, faculty, and others are invited to join us for this gathering as we welcome back the CCT community for the fall semester, where we will share introductions and get to know each other further as reflective practitioners and explorers of critical and creative thinking. Refreshments served. For more information, please see http://www.cct.umb.edu/CCTNetwork21September2015.html or RSVP to cct@umb.edu.
Additional fall 2015 open house events are planned for October 22, November 19, and December 10.
Rethinking Critical Thinking
CCT community members are especially encouraged to participate in one or more of the Fall series of Collaborative Explorations (CEs) on Rethinking Critical Thinking, through which the Program is taking stock of possible directions and newer initiatives in the fostering of critical thinking.
These CEs are completely asynchronous (no live meetings) and welcome members of the CCT community to explore the specific monthly topics and make contributions through written discussion posts. CCT program alums, current and prospective students, and others are encouraged to add posts to a public Google+ community at http://bit.ly/CCRPgplus that align with each monthly theme:
September: How do people have their thinking changed? (A CE in which participants practice applying critical thinking at the same time as developing their own direct or indirect approach to fostering critical thinking in others.)
October: Everyone can think critically! (A CE in which participants learn as much as possible about how critical thinking is presented and promoted by others.)
November: Manifesto and Plan for Practice in Critical Thinking (A CE in which participants formulate specific plans for how to continue your own development as a critical thinker and, as a result, be able to foster the same among colleagues or students in your work/life/teaching situation.)
Alum and CCT associates Notes
CCT alums and associates are encouraged to send items of interest to the Critical and Creative Thinking community to be included in future newsletters. Please submit events, announcements, and opportunities through this form: http://bit.ly/CCTSICWi
Richard Paul, founder of the Foundation for Critical Thinking, passed away on August 30, 2015. Please see here for thoughts shared as part of his recent memorial.
Events
Two-day Workshop: Living Now, Facing Later: Conversations with Ourselves and Others About What Matters
September 25-26, 2015
First Parish, Waltham, MA.
Information, registration, and cost: http://www.therapytrainingboston.com/content/living-now-facing-later-conversations-ourselves-and-others-about-what-matters
Attending now to what matters to us is a key step in being present to our inevitable mortal future. That investigation also helps us be more sensitive to others who are going through life transitions, whether due to illness, injury or aging. In this workshop we will consider ambitious questions, the answers to which can serve as guides for present action: What gives my life meaning? How do I want to be remembered? What do I think increases well-being for myself and others? What keeps me hopeful? Asking ourselves these questions, listening to others ponder them, imagining conversations with clients and/or loved ones will be one focus of the workshop (see more)...
The UMass Boston Film Series continues in fall 2015 and shows films of general, cultural, and social interest, often including Q&A by filmmakers. All films are open to the general public, and those held at the UMass Boston campus are free to all and do not require tickets or reservations. For a listing up upcoming films, check here: https://www.umb.edu/filmseries
8th Annual Mentoring Conference: New Perspectives in Mentoring: A Quest for Leadership Excellence & Innovation
October 20-23, 2015
Student Union Building, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
For more information and registration (due by Friday, October 9th): http://mentor.unm.edu/conference/registration
2015 AIS CONFERENCE: “Impact for the Common Good?”
October 22-25, 2015
Hosted by Merrimack College
The theme of the 2015 AIS conference, “Impact for the Common Good?”, is addressed as a question to provoke thinking about how impact is defined and measured, and who is included in the conception of the “Common Good.” We invite members of the academy, practitioners, and members of the community to participate in dialogue and exchange ideas about how interdisciplinary studies can play a pivotal role in advancing and expanding notions of the Common Good, and also to highlight interdisciplinary partnerships between the academy and community that can serve as models for change.
For more information, visit http://www.merrimack.edu/academics/education/2015-ais-conference/index.php
IDEAS Boston
October 28, 2015 at UMass Boston
IDEAS UMass Boston is a unique event where some of the region’s leading thinkers from every imaginable sector push boundaries and share their latest big ideas to create fertile ground for innovation. For more information and to register: https://www.umb.edu/ideas
Opportunities
UMass Boston Academic Support Programs is seeking to hire graduate students to work as tutors in our Reading, Writing, and Study Strategies Center. We would appreciate your help in advertising these positions to your History graduate students.
• We are seeking graduate students who have prior teaching or tutoring experience relevant to critical reading and writing for undergraduate courses.
• These are NOT assistantships; rather we pay tutors an hourly wage of $16 per hour.
• Candidates must be available to work between the hours of 8:30 and 6:00, M-Th, 8:30-5:00 F
• Candidates must be available to work between 5 and 15 hours per week spread over a least two days.
• Candidates must be available to attend a weekly training/supervision meeting on Wednesdays from 3:00-4:00 (those with 4:00PM classes may leave 10 minutes early).
For more information about the center visit: https://www.umb.edu/academics/vpass/academic_support/tutoring/rwssc
The Reading, Writing, and Study Strategies Center (RWSSC) offers tutorial support in analytical language development, with special attention paid to the reading, writing and thinking strategies needed to succeed in General Education courses. The Center is staffed by professional tutors/faculty and by graduate students, primarily from the Education, English, and Applied Linguistics MA programs. The tutors are specially trained for work in critical analysis and language use, the intellectual functions engaged by the General Education Curriculum and upper division course research writing. RWSSC tutors are certified by the CRLA International Tutor Certification Program. In contrast to tutoring in the subject areas, which is restricted to lower division courses, the Center serves students enrolled in undergraduate courses at all levels.
Holyoke Public Schools is hiring. We are specifically looking for several candidates in the following categories:
English Language Learner Teachers -- Middle and High School Science Teachers -- Special Education Teachers
Know someone who is interested but not licensed? In partnership with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, we will work with all candidates who are in the process or need assistance with obtaining their license requirements. For full listings and information, see http://www.schoolspring.com/jobs/?employer=11631
Resources
The UMass Boston Customer Service Center has now closed as the centralized source for requests and information about all aspects of campus life and facilities. Please now contact individual departments for any campus requests for service using this contact information: https://www.umb.edu/customer_service/common_inquiries_and_contact_information
The California Institute of Integral Studies offers a Public Performances series with a wide variety of performances, conferences, lectures, workshops, and other events that may be of interest to many engaged in interdisciplinary work, critical and creative thinking, reflective practice, and society and culture. For upcoming schedules, registration, and other details, visit http://www.ciis.edu/Public_Programs.html
Food for Thought
(additional web links and posts can also be found on CCT's Diigo pages. General critical and creative thinking focus: https://groups.diigo.com/group/ccreflect; Science in a Changing World focus: https://groups.diigo.com/group/sicwumb)
To Watch:
Embrace the Shake
Blooms: Strobe-Animated Sculptures
Spiders Tune In To Web's Music
To Read:
The Complex Relationship Between Gentrification and Displacement
Parents: 19 Meaningful Questions You Should Ask Your Child's Teacher
Interdisciplinary Studies at a Crossroads
50 Percent Off A College Education? Not Such A Good Deal After All
No, Social Science Is Not Doomed - Pacific Standard
Insights from The 2015 Global Creativity Index
Malcolm Gladwell’s ‘Outliers’ Says Redshirting Is Integral to a Child’s Success—But New Research Raises Questions About the Practice
The Depressed Cake Shop: Can grey cakes cure depression? Let's find out!
A Life in Games: The Playful Genius of John Conway
What is “creepiness”?
We’re All Artists Now
The Creative Apocalypse That Wasn’t
Square Root of Kids' Math Anxiety: Their Parents' Help
The University Is Not an Oasis: Crime Alert Emails, Campus Policing, and Low Enrollments of Black Students |
Why the Future of Social Science Is with Private Companies
Art is about Resilience, It Always Has Been
How do you keep teachers from having to buy supplies with their own money? Open a free store.
Many scientific studies don't stand up to testing
Why Graduates Of For-Profit Colleges Are Struggling To Pay Back Student Loans
Economic View - Why Free Parking Comes at a Price
Teens : Shots - Health News
The Depravity Standard
Actual Sentences Found In Patients Hospital Charts
Neglect and Creative Resilence
Random Acts of Kindness: A New Improv Game - The School of Laughter
Air umbrella
Kansas testing data this week will give parents a different look at classroom success
When policymakers ignore science
Let’s Abolish Social Science
Touring Dates for "The Draft"
Anthill Art - Casting Ant Colonies with Molten Aluminum
Project Teacher, INC
The Myth of the Myth of The Right Brain Difference: And Why It Matters
New York Times Standards: We Don’t Care About the Facts
Stanford research shows how to improve science students' critical thinking
How Trigger Warnings Are Hurting Mental Health on Campus
The Lessons We Have Not Learned
Watch A Girl Named Isabella Unpack A New 3-D Printed Arm
A Peek At New England’s Long History Of Ingenuity
Camera Restricta by Philipp Schmitt, Interaction Designer
Knitting your way to a healthier, happier mind
Part of Your World: On the Arts and Wellbeing
Humor
Actual Sentences Found In Patients Hospital Charts
(Un?)creative:A New Bar ...
A very, very, sorry dog