Felicia

July 24, 2020

Make Cultural Assets Count in Community College Math: Lessons learned from piloting real-life math tasks in a Yucatec Maya School

“Obviously, it is not feasible for community college instructors to conduct ethnographic studies on their students every semester. Also, students’ cultural backgrounds vary widely within a class. However, drawing from my research and teaching experience, I piloted an activity in a community college math classroom that allowed students to solve problems that were culturally relevant to them. In a pre-statistics math class, the very first math class that many community college students take, I assigned the following task for homework:”

You can access the full article on the Teachers College Press Blog. This article was originally published as an Innovation Abstracts, Volume XLII, No. 25, July 9, 2020, by the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) at The University of Texas at Austin.

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July 22, 2020

Rejuvenating Guided Breathing, Body Scan, and Meditation led by Felicia Darling, PhD

Feel a wee bit stressed, low-energy, or anxious? This is a great way to rejuvenate and relax for an hour. First we will check in and land in the room. This will be followed by some relaxing, diaphragmatic breathing exercises. Then we will do a joyful body scan that I call, Little Points of Light Body Scan. One person remarked after the body scan, “I feel like the Milky Way.” Finally, we will do a comfortable optional sitting or lying meditation for 30 minutes, where we bring our attention back to our breath. Participants may pick up tools to help navigate stressful moments, since research shows that diaphragmatic breathing, somatic awareness, & mindfulness meditation help down-regulate the sympathetic nervous system. Here is the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgE4l6qSSgE

May 3, 2020

Before you write an academic book, read this comic flowchart:)

May 1, 2020

Something from ©Professor Funnies to make you laugh:)

April 6, 2020

Tips to support community college students during this challenging transition

Community College Instructors are Front Line Workers in the Time of Coronavirus. Tips to Make it Work.

“The bottom line is that community college instructors are on the front lines during this coronavirus pandemic. We are showing up to teach students how to be successful in college, as always. However, now we are doing it, while we all are simultaneously navigating a global crisis. While medical first responders are risking their lives to quell the rise in cases, we are doing our parts to make sure that students emerge from this crisis, healthy and continuing on their journey to achieve their educational dreams. Our continued work ensures that in a post-coronavirus world, social and economic mobility will continue to become increasingly attainable for all students.”

November 23, 2019

2 Articles in Ed Week on Student Agency and Equity

Check out “Student Agency is Ownership” by Larry Ferlazzo in Education Week. In this article, Larry asks scholar/educators (including me) to respond to the question: What is agency and how can teachers encourage its growth among students?

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/classroom_qa_with_larry_ferlazzo/2019/10/student_agency_is_ownership.html

Check out “Fair is not Equal” by Larry Ferlazzo in Education Week. In this article, Larry asks scholar/educators (including me) to respond to the question: What is the difference between treating students “fairly” and treating them “equally”? What are some examples of how that looks in the classroom?

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/classroom_qa_with_larry_ferlazzo/2019/11/fair_is_not_equal.html

November 3, 2019

How do you build a community of powerful learners?

If your college is a member of NISOD, you can attend my webinar for free on Thursday, November 21st at 11am PT. The webinar is called, Five Breakout Moves to Build a Community of Powerful Learners.

Participants learn:

how to create classrooms where students feel safe to explore, experiment, improvise, take risks, make mistakes, and co-construct new knowledge with their peers
strategies to ensure that inquiry-based group learning is inclusive and equitable for students from all backgrounds
instructional moves that can immediately be incorporated into pedagogy to ensure that inquiry-based group learning is inclusive, engaging, and equitable.

https://www.nisod.org/forms/webinar-series/register.php?id=164&code=396907802

November 3, 2019

What is student agency?

You may want to check out the Q&A article by Larry Ferlazzo of Education Week called, What is agency and how can teachers encourage its growth among students? I am one of eight education leaders whose responses Larry shares in this article. I hope that you enjoy it. Here is the link below:

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/classroom_qa_with_larry_ferlazzo/2019/10/student_agency_is_ownership.html

August 8, 2019

Interview about community college education at KPFA tomorrow

I just wanted to let you know that Kitty Kelly Epstein from KPFA’s Education Today is interviewing me tomorrow about Teachin’ It! at 2:30pm. That is Friday, August 9th at 2:30pm, if you wanna check it out☺, here is the link https://kpfa.org/program/education-today/

July 26, 2019

Teachin’ It! mentioned in The Chronicle of Higher Education twice:)

Hello:)

Yay! The Chronicle of Higher Ed mentioned Teachin’ It! twice. You can access the shout-outs in the articles called, How to make Authentic Research Experiences Widely Available and in the article called, Selected New Books on Higher Education.

From reading Teachin’ It!, instructors will discover new strategies to create equitable, engaging, interactive classroom environments where students from all backgrounds feel invited to take risks, make mistakes, share their unique perspectives, and develop their own identities as powerful lifelong learners.