The Office of Academic Affairs is hosting two half-day events to kick off the new semester.
Recharge, Reconnect, Restart offers activities for faculty and staff focused on trauma-informed pedagogy and anti-racist pedagogy in a way that will allow you to reconnect with each other and renew your commitment to your teaching and your students. This event will be highly interactive, positive, and affirming.
Register now for this event.
Tuesday, January 26, 2021
Opening session: 12:30 p.m.–2:15 p.m.
[https://bmcc-cuny.zoom.us/j/83984434087]
- Welcome, Anthony E. Munroe, President; Josiah Ramesar, Student Government Association President
- Teaching During the Pandemic. Faculty facilitators: Edna Asknes, Nursing; Jen Longley, Teacher Education
During this interactive, participatory session, faculty will explore how to create an academically sound and empathetic learning environment. Participants will generate strategies for teaching during a pandemic which can be incorporated into their interactions with students and synchronous or asynchronous classes.
- Learning from Students: Student Experiences of Remote Learning
Mah Noor – Science
Alex Hill – Financial Management
Josiah Ramesar – Writing and Literature
Yama Faye – Psychology
Michael Hutmaker, Dean of Students, Moderator
Concurrent Sessions: 2:30 p.m.–3:30 p.m.
- Panel Discussion: 2020 Distinguished Teaching Award Winners
[https://bmcc-cuny.zoom.us/j/89765691610]
Joel Barker, Accounting
Cara O’Connor, Social Sciences, Human Services, and Criminal Justice
Kimora, Social Sciences, Human Services, and Criminal Justice
Jae Ki Lee, Mathematics
Jim Berg, Associate Dean of Faculty, Moderator
Discussion of teaching and learning during the pandemic with the winners of the 2020 Distinguished Teaching Award.
- Increasing Student Engagement with Digital Tools and Projects
[https://bmcc-cuny.zoom.us/j/84471436299]
Mohammad Azhar, Computer Information Systems
Celeste Conway, English
Thomas Harbison, E-Learning
Timothy Leonard, Academic Literacy and Linguistics
Hao Tang, Computer Information Systems
We will share a range of digital tools used to facilitate student interaction and engagement in BMCC classes, including document-sharing and annotation, asynchronous video discussions, website authoring, and various forms of messaging. We will touch on strengths and weaknesses of these and discuss the challenges involved in assembling a manageable, well-balanced tool set.
- Hello? Is Anybody Out There? New Models for Synchronous Teaching
[https://bmcc-cuny.zoom.us/j/84558263098]
Laurie Lomask, Modern Languages
Adele Kudish, English
Brielle Buckler, Business Management
Angela Polite, Speech, Communications, and Theater Arts
We’ve all experienced the challenge of teaching to black boxes on Zoom. How can we engage students and build community without requiring students to turn on their cameras? In this session, we’ll share ways to engage on Zoom and other synchronous platforms and will try out some of the ideas discussed. You’ll have an opportunity to connect with colleagues in small groups.
- Alternative Forms of Assessment
[https://bmcc-cuny.zoom.us/j/82568116122]
Maureen Keenan, Music and Art
Caterina Mata, Science
Siddharth Ramakrishnan, Director of Research
Rifat Salam, Social Sciences, Human Services, and Criminal Justice
Assessment is more than just exams, especially in the times of the pandemic. We will discuss alternate forms of assessment – from multiple choice questions to lab reports to video/audio uploads. The panel will discuss examples and what worked and did not. Come with your questions
Closing Session 4 p.m.–5:15 p.m.
- Reconnecting with Colleagues
[https://bmcc-cuny.zoom.us/j/83376909784]
Difficult: connecting with colleagues while working and teaching remotely. Easy: binge-watching Korean melodramas on Netflix. This session is a chance to reconnect with your peers and talk about what you have been doing for the last nine months: crafting, baking, finding ways to do research from a distance. This session will have break out rooms for semi-structured conversations and sharing.
Wednesday, January 27, 2021
Opening Session: 10 a.m.–11:15 p.m.
[https://bmcc-cuny.zoom.us/j/82399714127]
- Welcome, Erwin J. Wong, Acting Provost and Senior Vice President
Towards creating a more inclusive, culturally competent, and anti-racist curriculum. Shirley Leyro, Social Sciences, Human Services, and Criminal Justice
The call for anti-racism, as well as resolving to being an anti-racist, involves more than merely “not being a racist.” It is an intentional process whereby we make conscious decisions towards fighting racism in all forms, including at the institutional and structural levels.*As educators, we sometimes perpetuate racism and racist ideals by the materials we incorporate in our classes, the language we use during our lectures, and the canonical literature we focus on as the basis for our lessons. Indeed, as professors in the largest urban institution in the nation, the vast majority of our students are members of the very groups that have been historically marginalized and negatively impacted by all levels of racism. Keeping this reality in mind, let us ask ourselves: “Who are the authors and scholars I rely on to ground or frame my lessons? Why do I choose them? Is my curriculum reflective of recent scholarship?”As historians have found, many times Black and other persons of color have made significant additions to all manner of the humanities and sciences (social and natural sciences alike) but have remained ignored in their fields–are there examples of these in your field that can be recognized for their contribution? Any resolution in anti-racist pedagogy will require a true investment in fighting against racism. This will involve intense and sometimes uncomfortable self-reflection and a commitment to making decisions that may prove difficult. During this presentation we will discuss how we can work collectively towards anti-racism, and we will all be encouraged to make a frank and honest review of our pedagogical materials towards creating a more inclusive and culturally competent curriculum.
(*source: Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture)
Concurrent Sessions: 11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
- Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy Book Discussion
[https://bmcc-cuny.zoom.us/j/88390709449]
jean amaral, library; Mishka Anderson, Teacher Education
Culturally sustaining pedagogies can increase our courses’ relevance to and engagement with our students. Our conversation in this session will jump off from Paris and Alim’s edited collection Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies: Teaching and Learning for Justice in a Changing World. All are welcome regardless of familiarity with this text. Interested faculty are welcome to read the first chapter “What Is Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy and Why Does It Matter?” [links to dropbox]
- How to Support Students in Their Learning
https://bmcc-cuny.zoom.us/j/9470083231
Nandrani Algu, Supplemental Instruction
Greg Farrell, Tutoring
John Hiue, Early Alert
Carei Thomas, Advising
Neda Hajizadeh, Counseling
Daphne Gilles, Accessibility Services
Janice Zummo, Assistant Dean for Academic Support Services, Moderator
Representatives from key support areas will discuss academic and affective issues that impact student success. Panelists will highlight key challenges students are facing, and provide a guideline for how staff and faculty can communicate their needs and collaborate to support student success. Q & A included.
- Dealing with Stress and Anxiety: Thriving in the Mess
[https://bmcc-cuny.zoom.us/j/6994075985]
Eglys Santos, Counseling
Robert Cortes, Counseling
Jessica Levin, Experiential Learning
Venita Andrews, Research
2020 was quite a messy year, on personal and global fronts. This session brings participants together to discuss life / work stressors and how those have shifted and magnified in the world’s current climate. Participants will be guided to share ways to not only manage, but strive towards your best self when life gets messy.
- Ethnic Studies as Anti-Racist Pedagogy in ANY Classroom
(https://bmcc-cuny.zoom.us/j/89337059099)
Soniya Munshi, Social Sciences, Human Services, and Criminal Justice
Linta Varghese, Ethnic Studies
In this session, we will revisit the creation and institutionalization of Ethnic Studies both nationally and at BMCC. Through interactive exercises, reflective writing, and discussion we will then examine how the central components of community control, redistribution of power and resources, and the importance of public institutions in ensuring racial justice can inform our pedagogical practices, regardless of discipline.
- From Attacks on our Democracy to Engaged Global Citizens: the Promise of Higher Education
[https://bmcc-cuny.zoom.us/j/85194067319]
Leslie Craigo, Teacher Education
Tracy Gray, Teacher Education
We will discuss the history of voter suppression, white supremacy, and white power. We will share methods to incorporate the promotion of active citizenship into our engagement with students, and invite participants to share their expertise and questions pertaining to the promotion of active citizenship.
Details
Date:
January 26
Open to:
BMCC Faculty and Staff
