For many of us, the last year and a half has led us to new approaches in teaching. Many of these have been grounded in the necessity of delivery modalities that were new or less familiar to us and/or to our students. We all have had to be even more intentional in considering how we are approaching our courses and how our students are experiencing them.
For our programming for WAC this year, we would like to continue this deliberate attention to our pedagogy. Our guiding questions will be “How are we teaching now?” and “How do we want to continue teaching?”
Our goal with our programming is to build, in thoughtful and deliberate ways, on what we all have learned and on our raised awareness of ways to help our students learn and be successful.
We invite you to participate in any or all of these sessions and opportunities! You can read descriptions of the sessions at this site:
https://tinyurl.com/wzvd28z4Our hope is to offer all of the Spotlights both in-person and virtual (we have reserved a hy-flex room). All of the meetups will be virtual as will the meditation sessions.
Session 1: Developing Your Purpose and Intentions for the School Year - Melissa Brooks-Yip, Washtenaw Intermediate School District, Friday, September 24, 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. [The informal meet up for session 1 will be Thursday, October 7, 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. (Meet ups are opportunities to have further conversation about the sessions and what we did and learned -- and how we're applying it.)]
Session 2: Inter-Racial Communication - Dr. Dennis O'Grady, Communication, Media & Theater Arts, Friday, October 22, 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. [The informal meet up for session 2 will be Tuesday, October 26, 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.]
Session 3: Findings from the Age-Friendly University Environmental Scan - Drs. Cassie Barragan, Social Work, and Andrea Zakrajsek, Occupational Therapy, Friday, October 29, 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. [The informal meet up for session 3 will be Wednesday, November 3, 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.]
Session 4: Bringing Mindfulness to and Finding Joy in Our Work - Dr. Toni Pressley-Sanon, Africology and African American Studies, Wednesday, November 10, 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. [The informal meet up for session 4 will be Tuesday, November 16, 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.]
Finally, Dr. Pressley-Sanon will also lead Lunchtime Loving Kindness Meditation every other week. These sessions will offer faculty, staff, part- and full-time lecturers, and graduate teaching assistants an opportunity to reflect and make connections between our thinking, values, and teaching. These meditation sessions will be offered Fridays from noon to 1 p.m. on October 1, 15, 29; November 12; and December 10.
