Book Circles - Spring 2022
The CTLT hosts book circles every academic quarter and during summers. They are open to all Cal Poly educators. Selected books draw from a broad array of thoughtful and inspiring educational literature. These are opportunities to enrich your knowledge about timely and significant topics related to higher education while engaging with colleagues from across campus. Themes for book circle selections include: inclusive educators, mastery teaching, mindful educators, navigating academia, educating for sustainability, and writing instruction. Participants receive a complimentary copy of the selected book with the expectation that they will engage in three or more discussion sessions.
NOTE: Our cumulative Book Circles list of titles is available here.
Register for Spring 2022 Book Circles
Grading for Equity: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How It Can Transform Schools and Classrooms
by Joe Feldman
Do you wish that more students would be intrinsically motivated learn rather focusing so intently on points and grades? Are you weary of when students plead for a few more paltry points? Do you have a nagging feeling that the grading practices that you use might have some shortcomings? This book was written for you. It's reasonable to assume that we all strive to use grading practices that are accurate, equitable, bias resistant, and motivational. Even better would be practices that minimize grade inflation, reduce failure rates and foster stronger student-faculty relationships. In this book Joe Feldman argues that traditional grading approaches have serious flaws that can inadvertently promote inequities and demotivate learners -- especially those learners that the educational system tends to disfavor. He offers a broad menu of more equitable and more effective approaches for adoption (selectively or comprehensively). The result over time will be grading practices that better reflect your core values as an educator dedicated to equitable practices that benefit all learners. For a brief overview of Feldman's ideas see: "What Traditional Classroom Grading Gets Wrong" (Education Week).
NOTE: Download book (free) from the Kennedy Library website
Meeting Dates & Times: Thursdays (12:10-1 pm) April 14, 21, 28 and May 5 (four sessions)
Meeting Location: Online in Zoom (link will be sent to registrants)
Facilitator: Dr. Stefanee Maurice, KINE, and Dr. Patrick O'Sullivan, CTLT Director
A "Mastery Teaching" selection
An "inclusive educator" selection
Burnout: The Secret To Unlocking The Stress Cycle
by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski
It was two years ago in Spring 2020 that our professional and personal worlds were turned inside out by the pandemic. In that time, the stresses on our physical and psychological wellbeing have been relentless as we strived to sustain the quality and consistency of our work as educators. This book circle is intended to be a restorative retreat, an opportunity to tend to our own wellbeing at a time when our personal capacities may be running low. The book was selected in recognition of the accumulated toll the last two years have taken -- especially on women. Through stories and science, the co-authors Nagoski sisters guide us through the sources and consequences of chronic, destructive stress common to women. They offer alternatives, including specific activities, as opportunities to apply the science in ways that can help steer away from burnout and toward greater wellbeing. Brene Brown's interview with the authors Emily and Amelia Nagoski offers a rich preview of this book. Enhancing your own skills for navigating chronic stress can strengthen your capacity to support your students through their parallel set of wellbeing challenges (NOTE: For more information on both student and faculty wellbeing see the CTLT's Teaching for Wellbeing pages). In addition to well-informed and engaging guidance from the Nagoski sisters, this book circle also offers another way to connect with your Cal Poly colleagues for mutual support and rich, caring human contact.
NOTE: BOOK CIRCLE FULL
Meeting Dates & Times: Tuesdays (12:10-1 pm) April 12, 19, 26 and May 3 (four sessions)
Meeting Location: Online in Zoom (link will be sent to registrants)
Facilitators: Dr. Sarah Macdonald, CTLT Assistant Director; Dr. Megan Lamberz- Berndt and Dr. Anuraj Dhillon, COMS
A "Mindful educator" selection
