Facilitators: Laura Aspinall, Andrea Alexander, and Tara Johnson (All DRD) 

Homework: There will be 3 hours of outside work assigned for this group, with none assigned for the last meeting 

Full description: This Community of Practice (CoP) will address how to utilize Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in instructional and educational spaces. UDL is a practice that seeks to make learning environments as proactively accessible for as many learners as possible, and to mitigate the need for accommodation. Although we all benefit when we embrace and implement UDL, for minoritized students who have been historically excluded from post-secondary education, it is critically important. Administrators, classified professionals, and faculty are all invited to participate as student learning takes place both in and outside the classroom. CoP participants will have opportunities to share and exchange ideas, as well as hear from colleagues who are currently incorporating UDL in their work. 

Meeting Dates: 

This CoP will be fully online via Zoom 

March 3rd: 10:30-1:00pm 
March 17th: 10:30-1:00pm 
March 31st: 10:30-1:30pm 
April 14th: 10:30-1:00pm 

 Native American Lecture and Discussion Series: Current Issues Within Indian Country

Facilitators: Lori Laiwa Thomas and Mary Churchill  

Homework: There will not be outside homework for this group 

Full Description: The purpose of this CoP is to provide faculty, classified staff, and administrators at Santa Rosa Junior College with foundational knowledge for understanding contemporary Native Americans and current issues in Indian Country. The series begins with key concepts then turns to important issues, topics, and methods in Indian Country today, with a special emphasis on California Indigenous Peoples. The CoP focuses on six major areas: 1) What is Indian Country, tribal sovereignty, and federal recognition? Who is an Indian? 2) The #LANDBACK movement in Indigenous communities; 3) Native language revitalization and envisioning a Native language center at SRJC; 4) Survivancy, resiliency and reconciliation; 5) Storytelling as Indigenous methodology; and 6) Native American women and activism. The information presented and discussed will help faculty wanting to incorporate or supplement content on Native Americans into their courses. In addition, the CoP will provide faculty, classified staff, and administrators with a foundation for working with Native American students, colleagues, community members, and Nations and an understanding of contemporary issues critical to Indian Country so that these professionals can make policy and practice decisions on a more informed basis. The series is led by the new tenure-track faculty member in Native American Studies, Lori Laiwa Thomas (an enrolled member of the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians), and the new coordinator of the Native American Center, Mary Churchill (Cherokee). This CoP will help to familiarize the campus with these new initiatives focusing on Native Americans and facilitate professional collaboration across campus units. 

Meeting Dates: 

Some sessions will be hybrid while others are in-person events 

February 3, 2023, 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm 
February 17, 2023, 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm 
March 3, 2023, 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm 
March 17, 2023, 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm 
April 7, 2023, 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm 
April 21, 2023, 12:00 pm - 2:30 pm 

STEM Enrichment Activities CoP

Facilitators: Jurgen Werner Kremer and Rima Dasgupta 

Homework: There will be 2 hours of reading per session, for a total of 10 hours of homework 

Full Description: An exploration of assumptions about identity through the lens of readings by Kwame Anthony Appiah (The Lies That Bind), Gloria Anzaldua (Light in the Dark), Bayo Akomolafe (The Wilds Beyond Our Fences), and select articles and videos. Normative Western assumptions about identity are inextricably entwined with the history of colonialism and the shadow of enlightenment modernity as it manifests in racism, heteropatriarchy, economic inequality, and other ways. Understanding the origins of the persistent violence of coloniality/modernity and its role in identity formation seems critical. Tuck & Yang (2017) write in their introduction to an issue of Critical Ethnic Studies: “Identity has a chilling effect on analysis. It is a “leading idea” in the hegemonic sense, organizing under its umbrella a sweeping consensus for diverse projects and otherwise divergent politics. ... “Identity” as a term dampens clarity and conversation; it soft- pedals meaning.” Decoloniality offers a framework to explore in-between spaces and to retell identities and their entanglements with reality and thus to develop clarity, meaning, and questions beyond what seems commonsense. It encourages the exploration of questions where fear often prevents inquiry and discussion. Terms like “trans-raciality” (Akomolafe) and “post-oppositional perspectives” (Keating) offer starting points to heal the Western history of violence and its impact on identity and to re-imagine not only who we are but who we can be and what we may want to educate for. The discussion of pedagogies that facilitate learning beyond the blinders of Western assumptions will be an important part of our discussions. 

Meeting Dates: 

All meetings will be conducted via Zoom 

2/27, 3/6, 3/13, 4/3, 4/10, 4/17 
Meeting time Mondays 1-3pm, 4/17 meeting 1-3:30pm 

The COR of the Classroom: Integrating IDEAA Principles into the Course Outline of Record

Math Pathway from Non-Credit to Credit 

Creating an Anti-Racist PSYCH 1A 

Facilitators: Catherine Williams and Jurgen Werner Kremer 

Homework: There will be no homework outside of the meetings 

Full Description: The Psychology Discipline has been meeting regularly to reimagine ourselves as an anti-racist discipline - we are moving PSYCH 1A through the curriculum review process to clean out the threads of colonization and imbue it with honoring indigenous wisdom and science traditions. For example, our new course description explicitly charts our course: "Students are invited to study behavior and mental processes by applying their life experiences. The field of psychology will be approached from transdisciplinary, decolonial, and anti-racist perspectives." However, our faculty have identified a need to be trained on how to deliver this new curriculum as we were all steeped in the tea of colonial western science traditions. Unlearning racism, sexism, homophobia, classism, indigenous extermination/invalidation, anti-Black, "one-English" takes a lifetime. Specifically, the field of Psychology is moving through its own atonement for its actions that actively contributed to systemic oppression efforts: https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2021/10/apology-systemic-racism. The purpose of this CoP is to invite participants to bring their experience, strengths, and wisdom forward to develop a shared PSYCH 1A Canvas resource that will be available as a training resource all future instructors of PSYCH 1A at SRJC. In this way, we hope to grow our own trained anti-racist, decolonized instructors of psychology who honor indigenous ways of knowing and help students critically evaluate psychological theories, research, and practices in their soico-cultural-political contexts. 

Meeting Dates: 

All meetings will take place via Zoom 

Meeting time: First Tuesdays of the month: 2/7, 3/7, 4/4, 5/2 - 3 hours 3:00-6:00pm, with the last meeting going until 6:30pm.

Hands-On Teaching Strategies for Equity and Success for All English 1A Students

Facilitators: Sheryl Cavales-Doolan and Marc Bojanowski 

Homework: There will be 2 hours of homework for each session for a total of 8 hours of homework to occur outside of the meetings.  

Full Description: In response to AB 705 and AB 1705, English Department faculty members are innovating, experimenting, and challenging themselves to teach creatively, responsively, and well. The Department’s goal is for all students—from all backgrounds and with a vast diversity of prior experience with reading, writing, and critical thinking—to learn, to demonstrate knowledge and skills, and to pass English 1A in their first year at SRJC. This is important for students so that they succeed early on and persist toward their educational goals. 
 
Building on the conversation at the English Department’s Fall Retreat, this CoP will provide opportunities for participants to share and see specific, concrete, and successful strategies that support strong, equitable learning. Hands-on strategies for equity and success include syllabus and course policy development, selection of texts, scaffolding strategies and assignments, writing assignments, grading strategies that emphasize teaching and learning, and building a community of learners. 
 
Successful completion of English 1A also supports the College’s enrollment health: students who have confidence in their reading, writing, and critical thinking skills and pass English 1A are more likely to take classes in subsequent semesters. Finally, when students pass transfer-level English (and Math) in their first year, the College receives additional funding, which benefits all programs and students. 

Meeting Dates: 

All meetings will occur in person on the Santa Rosa Campus 

Th, Feb. 9, 3-6:30 (3.5 hours) 
Th, Mar. 9, 3-6. (3 hours) 
Th, Apr. 13, 3-6 (3 hours) 
Th, May 11, 3-6 (3 hours) 

Exploration of best support practices for trauma-impacted students 

 Spring 2022 CoPs