JCCT In the Classroom Sessions

"In the Classroom" Discussion Series 2008-2009  

The Johnson Center for Creative Teaching is pleased to announce
it's third year of faculty discussion trainings.

Please join us in
Breidenbaugh Hall, room 209
3:30 pm - 4:30 pm 

Fall Semester

Friday, September 19th

Rubric Relief: Rubrics as a Response to the Paper Load

As the grading pace begins to accelerate, and the piles of paper start to grow, using rubrics might help you enhance grading objectivity and transparency while saving valuable time.  Come hear Marta Robertson (Music Conservatory) and Jonelle Pool (Education) describe how they use rubrics to help manage the paper load and to promote learning.  Discussion will focus on the strengths and weaknesses of this approach as well as on the larger challenges of the grading enterprise. Light refreshments will be served. 

Friday, October 31st
Discussion Leader - Katherine Bradly - Executive Director/Dean of Counseling Services & Health Center

Friday, December 5
Discussion Leader - Faculty Panel - "The Balancing Act" 

Friday, January 30 - TBA

Friday, March 27 - TBA

JCCT "In the Classroom" Schedule
2007-2008

"In the Classroom" discussions are held at 3:30 in Breidenbaugh 209.

September 28, 2007 - Gettysburg Goes Global:  The Increasing Internationalization of the Classroom
                                 

At Gettysburg College, more students are studying abroad, more international faculty and students are joining our campus community, and more courses and programs have a global reach.  As the campus community increasingly globalizes, what possibilities, hopes, and challenges are before us as educators?  Raj Ramanathapillai (Philosophy and Peace and Justice Studies), Florence Ramond Jurney (French and Francophone Studies), Julie Jing Chen (Psychology), Emelio Betances (Sociology and Anthropology), Frank Chiteji (History) and Lisa Portmess (Philosophy) will share their discoveries and wisdom and lead a discussion about teaching in the global classroom.  Light refreshments will be served

October 12, 2007 -  On the Road: "Living" the Curriculum through Field Trips

Last year and this year, President Will has made funds available for academic field trips.  More and more of our colleagues are bringing their students to destinations near (e.g., Gettysburg Battlefield), far (e.g., Berlin), and in-between (e.g., New York City).  What are the best practices for setting up these field trips?  Should students be required to attend?  How can we best connect students' experiences off campus with their learning in our courses?  How can we use field trips to strengthen our overall curriculum?  Please join Laurel Cohen-Pfister (German), Jing Li (Asian Studies), Jack Ryan (English), Michael Ritterson (German), and Kathleen Sasnett (Sunderman Conservatory of Music) for a round-table conversation about the pleasures and perils of taking students on the road. 

November 9, 2007 - Students in Crisis:  Responding to Troubled Students

Sometimes as faculty members we become aware of students experiencing serious difficulties in their personal lives.  How should we respond to these situations?  When should we contact the counseling center?  How can we help students, and how can we draw appropriate boundaries?  When should the student's needs tak priority and when should we maintain our normal expectations of coursework?  Please join Kathy Bradley, Executive Director of the Health and Counseling Center and Associate Dean of College Life, and our colleagues on the faculty for an open conversation about responding to students in crisis.

March 28, 2008-  We have Ways of Making you Talk!  Strategies for Encouraging Discussion In and Out of the Classroom

     
One of the greatest challenges for many teachers is facilitating lively and productive classroom discussions.  There are many strategies for effecting good discussions, but these interact with teaching style, class size, course   goals, etc.  Knowing about lots of different discussion strategies  makes it easier to choose the right one for  the right situation.  Join Jean Potuchek (Sociology/ Anthropology/Women's Studies), in a session designed to increase everyone's repertoire of strategies for using  discussion. Come and share your own ideas and hear what your colleagues are doing to generate productive classroom conversation.

April 4, 2008 - Encouraging Student Reflection about Social Justice

In our classrooms, field trips, and service-learning projects, we often create situations in which students learn about social justice issues.  How can we best encourage meaningful reflection about these issues?  How do we challenge students to develop new perspectives?  How do we avoid indoctrinating them?  Which approaches encourage students to take action?  Gretchen Carlson Natter (Director of the Center for Public Service), and Caroline Hartzell (Associate Professor of Political Science and Coordinator of Globalization Studies), will share their experiences using various reflection techniques and facilitate an open discussion.

Handouts:

Alternative Thinking Chart

Social Justice Readings