Faculty Senate Meeting
November 22, 2013
10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Redwood Campus, Room J-1
Present (in bold):
Brandon Atkins
Kori Bieber
Karl Brake
Vicki Brown
Fran Cardoza
Navarro Chandler
Andy Childress
Sandy Contreras
Kevin Culhane
Tracy Davenport, co-chair
Annie Droullard
Mandi Feetham
Robert Felthousen
Kathy Foster
Kiersta Fricke-Gostnell
Kirk Gibson
Amanda Hackwell
Neva Harris
Gary Heigel
Jamie Inglehart
Alex Kozlowski
Chris Licata
Greg Marton
Lorri McIntosh
Joe Momyer
Diana Moynahan, recorder
Deb Murphy
Josh Ogle
Ron Robson
Julie Rossi
Jim Shaw
Midge Shaw
Serena St. Clair, co-chair
Denise Swafford
Dorothy Swain
Jeremy Taylor
Introductions and welcome
Introductions were made, and the minutes from the last meeting were approved.
Volunteers for sub-committee to plan May luncheon and Faculty Awards
Kiersta Fricke-Gostnell, Dorothy Swain, and Christ Licata volunteered to serve on the sub-committee. Serena said we want this to be separate from the awards at spring Inservice this year. Kori noted it was her idea to separate student and faculty awards for Honors Night in the spring and asked the college to find a different venue to honor faculty and staff.
Setting the tone: Intentional Reflection
How and why does your teaching facilitate life skills and career visioning for students?
Chris Licata – students need to think about what they want to be and to do. In the graphic design class, she asks them “what is your dream job.” Some students don’t know what they want to be. Some don’t have an answer. She asks them to close their eyes and think of all possibilities, and if all the money, strength, etc. were there, and they could do whatever they wanted for the rest of their lives, what would that be. It may not have anything to do with graphic design. Break down the job that they want with what they love. It makes them think about what they want to do, and she doesn’t take “I don’t know” for an answer. Then they work towards those projects to building their portfolio. You try to get students from where they are today to next term, next year, etc.
Kathy Foster – An Aspire mentor talked to her about her interests and what she did with her time to get her thinking about her future.
Julie Rossi – Regarding careers in college, what students know is only the tip of the iceberg of what they could do; they need to make decisions that are right for them.
Serena St. Clair – Some students don’t want to take DE classes and take their classes in Adult Basic Skills instead. How do you get students from GED to career goals: career exploration and financial literacy information?
Kiersta Fricke-Gostnell – She works with non-native speakers and brings people from the community to the college to talk to students about various issues, i.e., what to do when a police officer pulls you over.
Dorothy Swain - Chemistry is a hard class, and if a student wants to drop because the class is too hard, what can they do when they hit the wall – how do you respond to that – these are life and career skills to address.
Karl Brake – Advising occurs sometimes by happenstance. For example, in an Art History class, a student was struggling in class, and Karl discovered that the student had memorized the Iliad. Karl suggested that he could do a paper on historical fiction.
Greg Marton – He interviewed a potential part-time instructor, an RCC graduate, and she described herself as someone who defied the statistics. She felt this was true because she was a single mother who had dropped out of high school, who nevertheless has earned a master’s degree and has successfully pursued a professional career. Greg asked her if he could tell her story to his students, and she agreed.
Vicky Brown – In the Nursing program, most students get jobs in their fields. Teaching life skills is very important.
VP of Student Services: Chair side with Kori
Conversation about how faculty contributes to the development of students beyond specific course content.
Student Services works with a student development theory that guides the programs and services and where to situate those. Many authors, Arthur Chickering and Linda Reisser, (Student Development Theory) talk about learning objectives. ILOs (Institutional Learning Objectives) are similar to what we have in Student Services. What is the whole student, and what does the student look like. Help students develop emotional control. Need to be calm and in control so you know what is being said to you. How can you interact with the student in your classroom? There is the Student Code of Conduct that addresses disruption of the learning environment. How can you help students to manage themselves in the classroom by putting your own emotional needs aside to work with the student. It’s more than content area. In her former role as dean of students, Kori worked with students to help them follow the rules in the classroom. For example, sometimes a secret signal was established to give the student a heads-up that he/she was being disruptive.
Regarding professional dialogue process incorporating comments about student development – does your syllabus reflect your expectations for the classroom, and are you willing to engage with the student in conflicts (disciplining a student)? View it as letting the student know that what he/she is doing is in the way of learning what you have to teach him/her. You help them to learn, to develop, and to be better people. You can also help your part-time instructors understand that. We have a lot of first generation students who need to know what is expected in the classroom as far as behavior is concerned. Use your syllabi to state your objectives and expectations. Frame it in the context of work – emotional control. All of the students are in transition and want to go on to do something. The career discussion is helpful to frame any feedback you give the student about behavior, hygiene, etc. Some classes don’t have real linear careers attached to them. Helping students understand where they’re going helps them today in class – there is a path. It’s impossible to give up on anyone when you’ve seen it happen before (students who go on and succeed). Help students get clear about what their goals are. Bring new experiences into their lives. Real interfaces in the theory of student development work. Help people be the best they can be by educating them to the world beyond their classroom.
Karl Brake – Instructors should get out of the defensive position; if a student is afraid, it’s hard to get through to them.
Greg Marton – We need to own our part of it (the frustration).
Vicki Brown – How does this play out for online students? Kori – Online instructors can address inappropriate posts or emails; feel comfortable with your own issues with people. Put yourself aside and deal with the student.
Professional Dialogue Rubric. How do we capture and integrate these ideas about student development within our rubric for professional dialogue with programs?
The first draft of the professional dialogue was compiled as a starting point. The co-chairs will gather information from today that was turned in, or it can be emailed it to the co-chairs, and it will be sent out for review.
At the April meeting, we can work in groups of three Faculty Senators with the programs/departments. This will be formative feedback in a supportive environment to prepare for their program reviews. Karl noted that it still might feel like evaluative feedback to the departments. Dorothy suggested we get better at it with practice, and we shouldn’t do the first evaluation with departments. Instead, do it with each other using role play; what are trying to elicit from them. Perhaps at the February meeting we’ll do the role playing as a precursor to April meeting.
The next meeting will be January 24, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at HEC 117.