Packing Slip 
item |
Maricopa Writing, Reflection & Renewal Project |
contact |
Bill Mullaney (Chandler-Gilbert Community College) william.mullaney@cgcmail.maricopa.edu |
credits |
Pam Davenport Darby Heath Sandra Stuebner Donna Thompson Caryl-Terrell Bamiro Zoe Luter Robin Ozz Linda Larson and a number of other MCCCD faculty |
college(s) |
Chandler-Gilbert Community College |
discipline(s) |
English, Creative Writing |
summary |
I participated in the Maricopa Writing, Reflection and Renewal Project, an interdisciplinary writing institute, from May 21-25 and August 7-11, 2007 at CGCC. This project focused on writing skills and methods for infusing writing into teaching. |
details |
The activities and the writing which we engaged fostered inclusiveness--helping us to relate to others, celebrate people from various backgrounds, and honor our individuality. We learned methods for helping students prepare for the world of work by focusing on activities designed to enhance their communication skills and the abilities needed to interact with diverse groups. Most exciting for me was the chance to work on my own personal writing, which invariably addressed my role as a teacher and a learner. This kind of reflection can only serve to strengthen my position as an instructor. ------------------------------------------------------------ Outcomes: In a paragraph or two describe what worked well. Did you accomplish your objective(s)? Were you able to complete your summer project as written? If not, what did you modify and why? What did not go as well as expected, if anything? Were there any surprises? Note: Use the questions as guides for your outcomes. Do not include detailed list of workshops attended, speakers who presented, or a list of items you have seen, heard, or read. ------------------------------------------------------------ • The identification of instructional goals, the analysis of the role of writing in various courses, plans for curriculum and in-service activities, and the development of teaching and writing portfolios • The ability to observe and be part of a learning community for the entire summer. I like the planning of the workshop with a week at the beginning of the summer and a week at the end. It gave the chance for relationships to develop and for some important writing to germinate. •As an English instructor at CGCC, I am always looking for ways to improve my own writing, as well as ways to improve my instruction of writing. I especially appreciated the serious discussion on the importance of taking risks in the classroom, a strategy that is ultimately rewarding but is not without its dangers. •As an division chair at CGCC, I am often buried in administrative tasks, which is why I have been so excited about the college’s adoption of formation as a college initiative, which we are calling Renewal and Reflection (R&R). After seeing R&R in action at the workshop, I am ready to become one of its champions at CGCC. ------------------------------------------------------------ Professional Growth: Your own professional growth is a large part of your project. Your professional growth is important to you, your students, your college, and possibly other colleagues. How did project affect you professionally? What skills did you learn? What environments were you working in and how might your summer project influence your teaching or other responsibilities? Did you gain a different perspective? Was it professionally valuable for you? ------------------------------------------------------------ It was personally and professional enriching to be actively involved in experimenting with different forms of writing, sharing stories, and creating assignments that have the potential to be meaningful for students and can lead to deep learning. I relished the chance to learn from my colleagues who are the facilitators, Pam Davenport and Darby Heath, especially to benefit from the training they have received from the Center for Formation in Higher Education. Philosophy, methods and techniques from this training, based on the work of Parker J. Palmer, were be infused into the program and modeled for participants. Since I had not read much of Parker’s work before, this portion of the workshop was especially enlightening for me, given his reputation in MCCCD. Also, the opportunity to interact with our guest speakers, Lynn Nelson and Jim Blassingame, was a treat, as I have also heard and read about their work in the area of writing and composition. Given my busy life, I rarely have time to do any personal writing or reflection. This project was the perfect opportunity to slow down enough to write and reflect about myself as a leader, instructor and individual. The fact that I got to do so with CGCC and MCCCD colleagues made it that much richer of an experience. After the two weeks of the project, my journal is filled with pieces of writing that reflect my roles as husband, father, friend, colleague, scholar, teacher and leader. As the chair of the Language and Humanities Division and an English instructor, I feel more poised to lead my instructors with the mission of teaching from the heart. Some of the skills learned will also have benefit far beyond the workshop, in particular faculty professional growth at CGCC. Because there were six CGCC faculty members there, we are now able to translate some of these skills to others at the college in a variety of ways—through division meetings, R&R circles, our bi-annual writing retreats and a general sharing of assignments that happens naturally at CGCC. Although I sometimes felt overwhelmed, especially during the second week of the workshop as my chair responsibilities started to intrude, the ideals of the workshop helped to keep me grounded and put me in a sound state of mind for the year ahead. ------------------------------------------------------------ Dissemination: How will you share this information with your colleagues, department, students, or college? ------------------------------------------------------------ This process has already started as I asked my colleagues, Pam Davenport and Darby Heath, to give share some of their formation activities at the President’s Executive Council (PEC), of which I am a member. They kindly adapted some of the activities from the workshop for a two-hour presentation to PEC, which was enthusiastically received. Similarly, I, as the chair of the CGCC Division Chair Council (DCC), have decided to begin every weekly meeting of the DCC with some small activity related to formation or R&R. These have included a film clip, a music video and a poem connected to the Touchstones that were an integral part of the workshop. I am not teaching this semester, but when I return to the classroom, I plan to incorporate a number of the writing assignments on which we worked into my African-American literature class. Given the subject matter of the class, which often circles back to the topics of slavery and racism, I can see how the idea of writing from the heart can bring the class to a higher level of understanding. Furthermore, as the person who hires the majority of the English adjuncts at CGCC, I also have the ability to convey to them this part of the CGCC mission. Note! 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web links |
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/fpg/ |
shareback |
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extra |
Last modified: Sep-20-2007 Date created: Sep-20-2007 Visitor count: 721 Dublin Core Metadata record  This package is included in the Faculty Professional Growth Summer Project Reports special collection. |
Maricopa Learning eXchange
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/mlx/slip.php?item=2016
