April, 2017 Newsletter

" Instead of the usual paradigm of the teacher worrying about the disabled student, we might instead focus on the disabling impact of some teaching." (Lewiecki-Wilson, et al, 2008)





Upcoming Opportunities 

June 5 - 8
Creating or revising a course for fall 2017 or spring 2018? Now is the time to plan! This four day workshop is designed to provide you with the tools, time and collegial support to help you work through the course (re)design process.
Begins May 2017 
Up to 12 faculty from across Tufts are eligible to apply for this full year program that begins this spring. Participants will receive a $1000 stipend. CELT and the CDO Office are partnering in this program.

May 22 & 23, 2017 
Fostering Active & Collaborative Learning Environments: From Design to Assessment
Boston Campus 

August 22, 23, 24
Work with colleagues to create an integrated assessment plan that will provide you and your students with feedback and information on student progress toward your learning goals.
Timely Tips

Below are some articles that we hope will help us better understand students on the Autism Spectrum and other learners who are neurodiverse, examine how we think about our students and ourselves, and consider ways to teach more inclusively. When we learn how to teach for a wider range of learners, everyone benefits and we begin to level the playing field.

The following two articles from last year in The Tufts Daily, feature Tufts students who are members of CAST, and shed some light on the Tufts experience. 



Other helpful articles:





Teaching Spotlight 

My Journey to the Joy of Learning or: Would you do a handstand in front of your class?

A few years ago, the keynote speaker for the spring teaching conference was Michael Wesch, Associate Professor of Anthropology at Kansas State University.  For those of you who had the opportunity to be there, he has a unique and engaging approach! 

On Wesch's website My Teaching Notebook, he has a page called "My Journey to the Joy of Learning." If you are looking for some inspiration to add to the change in weather, take a look through this page. He very consciously takes the opportunity to be connected to his learners, and to continuously remind himself (and them) of how challenging and rewarding learning can be. 





Stay Tuned

We are excited! CELT is in the middle of a search for a new associate director who will continue the work we have done to integrate diversity and inclusion pedagogies through all of our  programs, create new opportunities for faculty development, and more generally, work with our team to deliver programs and offer support to Tufts Faculty. We will introduce our new hire early this summer.


Teaching Resources

Faculty Focus is a free newsletter that comes via email each week, and is full of great ideas for teaching. 

Tomorrow's Professor is another free teaching and professional development resource for faculty, published by Stanford University.

Teaching at Tufts is a site jointly developed by ETS and CELT that offers a broad selection of resources that promote excellence in teaching.
"Trending"
In his blog on teaching and learning, author and Professor James Lang from Assumption College talks about enduring lessons in teaching and learning gleaned from Aristotle.

David Gooblar, a columnist for Chronicle Vitae and faculty member at Iowa State, describes how he uses student writing to generate revision criteria collectively, and its impact.