Meditation and Mental Health

Are you feeling like you need a bit of quiet reflection in your day?

Join us for a workshop on Meditation and Mental Health--a collaboration of the student organization Psi Beta, MCC's Health & Wellness department, and the Office of Professional Development: 

Meditation and Mental Health

Thursday, March 12, 2015

2:30 - 3:50 p.m.

Luecht Conference Center, MCC

This will be an interactive workshop from the perspective of positive psychology. Learn more about the mind-body relationship, and how individuals can develop strategies to cope with stress, anxiety, and depression more effectively through the use of meditation.

Susan Hannan, M.A. (MCC Instructor of Psychology), and Bhante Sujatha, who is an abbot at the Blue Lotus Temple in Woodstock will lead the workshop. The session will end with a meditation led by Bhante Sujatha.

Bhante Sujatha, abbot at the Blue Lotus Temple in Woodstock

Getting Things Done at MCC

October is the month to Get Things Done!

We now have six copies of Getting Things Done by national bestselling author, David Allen down in Professional Development (A210) for you to borrow and peruse. Our own Timothy Linehan has been presenting a workshop based an Allen's theories, and he will be re-running this popular GTD session on October 22.

Getting Things Done (or GTD) is a time-management protocol. Although it might sound boring, the method has attracted such a passionate following that some have (half-jokingly) accused GTD of reaching a cult-like status.
Widely-adopted in fields such as information technology and business management, the GTD craze has not fully reached academic circles. This workshop seeks to remedy that problem. Overflowing inbox? Cluttered workspace? Forgotten deadlines? Stop worrying and start Getting Things Done.

Timothy's workshop on October 22 is appropriate both for newcomers and previous GTD workshop participants in need of a refresher. And as someone who is a convert, I highly recommend this session.

Register through the Professional Development auto-registration, now!

Dealing with Disruptive Classroom Behavior

Contributed by Talia Koronkiewicz, Manager of Student Conduct & Campus Life

The Professional Development and Student Conduct Offices are excited to host the webinar, Managing Disruptive Classroom Behavior: Strategies for Creating a Safe & Dynamic Learning Environment on both Wednesday, January 22 at 2 p.m. and Thursday, February 27 at 12:00 p.m.

Cartoon by David Sipress

Whether you are a seasoned faculty member or just starting out, classroom management is not easy. This 1.5 hour webinar will provide you with great resources to start the semester off on the right foot!

Webinar Participants Will:

• Develop an overall philosophy of classroom management that promotes learning and creates a safe environment
• Implement effective strategies for creating and sustaining an engaging and respectful learning environment
• Learn strategies for setting the right tone on the first day of class
• Generate a list of practical strategies for redirecting disruptive behaviors
• Learn how to handle side conversations, digital distractions, and inappropriate comments
• Review how to use positive language in a syllabus that sets expectations, policies, and procedures
• Examine the instructor's role in disruptive student behavior
• Identify when and how to make referrals for student conduct violations

Register via the Professional Development auto-registration site today!

A Successful Faculty Development Day

Kathy Hayhurst and Susan Sieber at the Welcome Table

Thank you, everyone, who participated in and helped to plan this Spring 2014 Faculty Development Day. We were so happy to present the great workshops in the morning and afternoon breakout sessions, and we're doubly pleased that the workshop presenters have made themselves available this semester to lead the workshops again in case you couldn't make one that you wanted to attend.
Here is the list of when each of the workshops will be presented:

• Comments and Rubrics: Canvas’s Speed-Grading Gift with Gabriel Decio, 2/4, 1 – 2:30 p.m.
  Bringing Sexy Back to Assessment with Robert McCord, 2/11, 1 – 2 p.m.
  Classroom Management with Gerry Braasch and Talia Koronkiewicz, 2/18, 1 – 2 p.m.
  
• Creating Your Faculty Web Page with Laura Power, 2/26, 2 – 3 p.m. 
  
• Building a Sustainable Curriculum with Kim Hankins, 2/26, 3 – 4 p.m.
• New School or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Emerging Technologies with Timothy Linehan, 4/9, 4 – 5 p.m.

You can register for these clock-hour workshops in the Professional Development auto-registration system.

We also asked each Faculty Development Day workshop leader to complete an Excellence in Teaching workshop curriculum map, and here they are:

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Check your mchenry.edu e-mail for an evaluation of the day, and check back here next week for some brand new posts.

Have a great first week of the semester!

Spring 2014 Faculty Development Day

Happy New Year, faculty!

Although we've had a relaxing winter break, we're looking forward to getting back to work next week for the Spring 2014 Faculty Development Day. Take a look at the program of workshops we have lined up!

Tips on using the Prezi--click on the "Full Screen" button in the lower-right hand corner, and use your mouse to click and drag to somewhere new in the presentation, or scroll in and out for zooming in on text.

November is a Cornucopia of Faculty Development!

This month, we're giving thanks for the terrific workshops offered here on campus. Look over the calendar and choose one that's right for you.

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And remember that if you can't make a workshop because of a scheduling conflict, let us know what day and time might work better for you!

So Many Workshops!

October offers up some excellent workshops for faculty development. Check them out!

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Customize Your Professional Development

Contributed by Janet Scott, Reference Librarian

A new concept in professional development was suggested recently by English instructor Robert McCord with the blessings of Faculty Development and Professional Development.

Robert’s idea was to allow classroom faculty to earn one clock hour advanced placement credit for spending an hour or so one-on-one with a librarian to collaborate and/or learn something information-literacy related.
This resulted in the librarians creating a workshop titled Librarian/Instructor Consultation, the description of which is:

A one-on-one workshop/consultation to discuss information literacy in your course(s), including such topics as integrating and assessing this general education objective in your discipline, discussing available resources on a class topic, designing research assignments and any needed scaffolding, etc.

Each of these “workshops” will be custom-designed to meet the instructor’s needs. So if you want to collaborate with a librarian on a project, create or revise a research assignment, learn more about resources in a particular topic area, integrate information literacy into your curriculum/course, learn a new research skill, or if you have another information literacy-related idea, pitch it to Janet or Cynthia and we’ll go from there.

Contact Janet or Cynthia for a one-on-one information literacy collaboration!

April Showers Bring May Workshops

Just as the weather starts to warm up (fine-ally!), we're hoping that you stay inside for a bit and take one of the Canvas workshops we have lined up for May--during Finals Week and Intersession.

Check them out:

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If you see something you're interested in taking, log in and sign up using the PD auto-registration.

Hope to see you in A210!

Canvas Training This Spring--Get Registered!

If you're planning to use our new learning management system (LMS) Canvas this summer--or anytime in the future--why not register for one of the Canvas workshops happening this February and March?

Register, Attend, and Get Clock Hour Credit!

Register by going to the Professional Development auto-registration system.

Hope to see you in A210!

Reaching the Modern Student

In preparation for my workshop this Friday, Reaching Modern Students, I did a quick and very informal survey of my two English Composition 152 classes. I asked my students to define a "modern" student and identify what made them "modern" students.

I got a variety of answers, and some were more useful than others (one student claimed to be a "laid back learner," which is a learning style I'm not too familiar with...). But I did get some insightful feedback.


The "laid-back" learning style at play


Many of my students like to be "hands on" when learning concepts. They prefer to get an overview and explanation of a concept, an example of that concept in action, and then they like to take action themselves by using that concept on their own. For my writing classes, this means getting the overview and examples of a particular concept (e.g. using appeals [logos, ethos, pathos] in argumentative and persuasive writing) before applying it themselves during an in-class activity or homework essay. In other disciplines this might mean lab work, discussion, or some other way of the students beginning to take ownership over the course concepts.

My students also seem to consider themselves to be visual learners, and this is a learning style that may be cultivated more and more by the on-screen way young people are receiving information. They want PowerPoint or Prezi presentations (though one student warned that "no matter what, if you don't have good 'stage presence', slides won't make up for it." yikes.) and video clips, and pictures and stories or narratives that reinforce concepts. And although they all noted their heavy use of technology and social media, not one student mentioned an interest in using an e-textbook.

For more about what makes a modern student and how we can reach our students more effectively, register for the workshop, which will take place from 1 - 2 p.m. on Friday, November 16 (use the Professional Development auto-registration system).

Hope to see you then!