Working at the speed of light … the teacher, the architect, and the student

Part of my sabbatical involved returning to Maine and being engaged in several events from May 4th-12th: a keynote address at a state education workshop; teaching a week-long intensive undergraduate course; and attending the 2018 graduation ceremonies at Thomas College.

There are those who may believe that a sabbatical leave is a one-dimensional experience --- I do not subscribe to this thinking. A sabbatical provides an opportunity to participate in a variety of experiences that inform, engage and expand one’s thinking and purpose. The reason for highlighting these activities is because of my on-going commitment and passion for teaching, learning, and sharing knowledge and information. It is an honor to have a variety of educational opportunities and experiences, and integrating these activities into the sabbatical leave a pure joy!

Highlights of these activities:

Keynote speaker - Gamma Chapter of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society International’s ‘Bringing Social Studies Alive’ workshop. The workshop was on May 5, at Viles Estate in Augusta. The keynote discussion, “Weaving the Tapestry of Social Studies” addressed the question: “How is it even remotely possible to teach all of the subjects that we call Social Studies?” The presentation addressed “how to weave the tapestry of the 10 academic disciplines” that comprise the field of social studies, so that we can see old and new ways of creating the whole cloth of understanding people within their systems.

Social Justice (SY 215) – Maymester, 2018. Intensive courses are part of a series of offerings for students at the end of Spring Semester that are one-week in duration with 8 hours of course time per day. As per the course syllabi, “Emphasis is placed on students examining their own philosophical and cultural backgrounds and experiences via an interdisciplinary framework of course design and organization. We will do this by examining current societal and institutional structures to investigate how well their strategies serves the needs of culturally disadvantage students or employees, identifying frameworks and principals of social justice and human rights, and creating a caring and culturally meaningful classrooms, businesses, or organizations. In particular, students will highlight if current educational or business practices are damaging or benefiting to the growth of their respective professional communities. Course discussions, simulations, reflection activities, case studies, project based research and activities, learning key terms, and Internet resources will be the driving tools to impacting students’ performance.”

Overall, this was an extraordinary, informative, and deeply engaging experience for us all!

Commencement 2018 – An opportunity to participate and celebrate student success and achievement. Working with students is always an exhilarating and inspiring experience --- reminding one of the important work of being a mentor, guide and facilitator of knowledge and learning.

Mahalo a nui loa to the 2018 graduates!