FIN Commons

For a Love Centered Classroom

Cleavon Smith
English Instructor—Berkeley City College

The BCC FIN team set off to research the power of personal story telling. Along the way they learned how making a space for students to share their story created classrooms in which all felt love. This love-centered classroom enabled faculty to be more creative in their curriculum and students to engage more creatively in their reading and writing assignments.

No More Excuses!

Debra Peterson, Coordinator/Counselor, SANKOFA Scholars—Long Beach City College
E. Elaine Moore, Project Success Instructor & Counselor—El Camino College
A.J. Edwards, SANKOFA Scholars Program—Long Beach City College
Students from Project Success—El Camino College

There are over 100 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). This workshop will introduce students to many of the available HBCU transfer options. A former Community College student who transferred and graduated from Morehouse College, will share his educational experience and two students who recently attended a Black College Tour will talk about the incite they gained from the tour. Fundraising opportunities to attend the Black College Tour will also be shared. Recently developed Transfer Admissions Guarantee Agreements (TAG) and Transfer Admissions Priority Consideration (TAP) memorandums of understanding betwwen El Camino College and Howard, Clark Atlanta, and Morehouse will be presented. Attend and learn how to start agreements at your college.

Pedagogical Based Strategies for Educating African American Males

Cedric Hardamon, Professor—Fresno City College
Gransville Redmond, Professor—Fresno City College

The workshop will demonstrate how to integrate innovative practices into the classroom environment. The presentation will demonstrate how to utilize interpersonal skills to create an environment that fosters student success and program efficacy. The presentation will also address strategies that enhance cognition and move students to becoming critical thinkers and comprehensive learners.

Equity as the Practice of Love and Liberation

Tom deWit, Co-Chair, Umoja Community and English Professor—Chabot College

Faculty from the Umoja Community, in the context of the Faculty Inquiry Network, are testing the premise that deliberately engaging the affective and communal dimension in the classroom improves learning, success, and persistence for African American students. This session will invoke research from the field as well as the many kinds of data—interviews, think alouds, student work, videos of classroom sessions, and journals— collected by the Umoja instructors. In the spirit of inquiry, participants will use a rubric to interpret this data in an effort to unearth the problem(s) around student learning and identify what students are reporting and demonstrating as they experience successes in their basic skills math classes. Beyond working out the connections between the affective and cognitive dimensions of learning, this session will engage the faculty in the evolution of inquiry as a methodology for improving teaching, particularly the creative and strategic nature of this approach to professional development.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities, the Ultimate Transfer Option

E. Elaine Moore, Project Success Instructor & Counselor—El Camino College
Maliki Adams, Counselor—L.A. Southwest College
Maurice Bennett—L.A. Trade Tech

There are over 100 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). This workshop will introduce students to many of the available HBCU transfer options. A former Community College student who transferred and graduated from Morehouse College, will share his educational experience and two students who recently attended a Black College Tour will talk about the incite they gained from the tour. Fundraising opportunities to attend the Black College Tour will also be shared. Recently developed Transfer Admissions Guarantee Agreements (TAG) and Transfer Admissions Priority Consideration (TAP) memorandums of understanding betwwen El Camino College and Howard, Clark Atlanta, and Morehouse will be presented. Attend and learn how to start agreements at your college.

Tying the Umoja Strands: Implementation of All Seven Umoja 2010 Conference Strands
and How They Can Be Incorporated into Your Umoja-Based Community

Chiara Thomas, Ujima Program Director—Pasadena City College

Conference strands will be explored through the lens of Pasadena City College’s Ujima Program. Serving students as a model program for 13 years, having achieved formal institutionalization; characteristics of Ujima can be applied to other Umoja programs at any stage of their evolution.