Day 177, Sept. 9, 2020
Beautiful Thing
Some days are like hard, intense, blasts of light. Light so bright you can feel its resistance as you try to move through it. That was today. It was very productive, but intense. It took a concerted effort to squeeze in a late lunch, and then I finally called it quits around 7:30 because I still hadn't started dinner. I think the day felt good, like a long bike ride... without all the health benefits.
I mentioned to one of my colleagues how I always enjoyed how almost every meeting I am in with her she is outside somewhere. It is refreshing to see how pleasant it is outside, even if I am still at the kitchen table. Then she told me that she actually changes where she is working throughout the day. She treats it like walking to a meeting and sets up in a new location for each meeting. That seemed brilliant to me, to become untethered from my kitchen table, the creature comforts of the 2nd monitor, mouse, and keyboard, and instead, squint at my screen outside on the patio table while the breeze rustles the leaves and chipmunks hustle to and fro in the background.
The truth is, particularly now in these first days of the semester, I have become a chronic multitasker. I have so many windows open on my desktop it is hard to find the one thing I've been working on because it is buried under all the other things I have also been doing when distracted from, interrupted by, and sent to. In the middle of Zoom meetings I am constantly drawn to the silent alerts of emails coming in, text messages from colleagues, side conversations in chat. There are times when I think to myself, this is important to pay attention to, and even then, a few moments later I find myself waist deep in email and suddenly not sure I followed what was just talked about.
But this morning, I was in a Zoom meeting, and finally allowed myself to focus. I returned to my old practice of taking notes during the meeting, notes about the meeting. It was enjoyable, for the short span of time that I was able to stay focused, to concentrate on one thing, to feel the creative juices flowing, the new and evolving ideas... it was like being in class. Because, that is really what makes people love being students and teachers, that excitement that comes from focusing in a concentrated away on a specific topic, the poem, the short story, the novel, the piece of music, the specific plant, the particular biological process, a certain theorem.
It is easy to forget how distracted we are most times throughout the day, whether it is the active physical motions of multitasking, or maybe we are just day dreaming about something different, what we might have for dinner. I think that is what I liked about riding my bike, back when I used to ride to work. It was very hard to get lost in thought when riding, there is a much more intense focus when traveling on a road with cars, navigating hills and bike paths. While one might start a ride thinking about work or other things, in a short time the mind seems to grasp on to mantra, little snippets of a song that repeat over and over in my head, a little fraction of a sentence that falls into the rhythm of my cadence. It is like a physical poem.
When I lead a reading group each spring, one of the things I try to encourage is for every participant to carry a 3x5 card and a writing utensil with them wherever they go. And sometime during the week, everyone is supposed to write down a beautiful thing. I could be something they overheard, something they saw, or even something they remembered. The goal, of course, it to encourage each other to slow down and recognize the things we are seeing and experiencing, to take note of it and, like the writers we are reading, try to write it down. It is good practice for me too, because I have to set a good example and do the thing that I assign to everyone else.
Here's to hoping everyone has a chance, at least for a little while out of each day, to slow down and capture a beautiful thing.
Take care,
Leo
From Our Friends:
From Teaching Tolerance:
Register for Our Live Q&A With the Filmmakers of Bibi
Teaching Tolerance’s new streaming classroom film, Bibi, tells the story of a Latinx father and son and sparks discussions about identity, culture, family and belonging. Register today for a live Q&A panel with the filmmakers and cast at 3:30 p.m. CT on September 21. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn more about Bibi and its intersectional lessons!Podcast Episode: A Playlist for the Movement
Music chronicles the history of the civil rights struggle: The events, tactics and emotions of the movement are documented in songs of the era, from The Freedom Singers to Sam Cooke. Check out the latest episode of our Teaching Hard History podcast, in which historian Charles L. Hughes explains how your students can use music for both historical insight and evidence in the classroom.From Inside Higher Ed's The Key:
[NEW EPISODE]: Latino Student Success and How to Close Equity Gaps
Amid growing evidence the pandemic and recession are worsening equity gaps, Excelencia in Education last month released an analysis on Latino representation in higher education, as well as on degree attainment and completion rates.
We spoke with Deborah Santiago, Excelencia's co-founder and CEO, about the report's findings and to hear about key data points it identified. She also spoke about what some institutions are doing right with Latino students and where opportunities exist for colleges to do better.
From Yamaha:
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From Anne Wiley:
September is Hunger Action Month and this Thursday, September 10th is Hunger Action Day. This is an important opportunity for us to spread awareness about food insecurity and the work we do!
You can spread awareness by wearing orange and posting pictures using the hashtags #HungerActionMonth and #HungerActionDay as well as tagging The Food Bank of Western Mass on social media, Feeding America, and even your local legislators if you want to get ambitious!
Here are The Food Bank's social media
Instagram: @foodbankwma
Facebook: @FoodBankofWesternMA
From the Chronicle of Higher Education:
How I Built a Diverse Leadership Team at a Predominantly White College
It began with a refusal to accept excuses for why it wasn’t possible.
Scholars Talk Writing: Martha S. Jones
A Johns Hopkins historian, whose new book on Black women’s suffrage is out this month, shares the legal, academic, and artistic influences that come together in her work.
From the Mass Cultural Council:
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From the Daily Yonder:
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From UMass' College of Natural Sciences:
Join us for our next Zoom webinar, Unexpected Solutions: The Science of Problem Solving, on Tuesday, September 29 at 1pm, EST.
This webinar features an online discussion focused on the applied research and innovation that stems from the College of Natural Sciences (CNS) to solve tricky problems, such as developing more effective antiviral face masks.
The moderator will lead our expert panelists through a series of questions designed to:
| • | Highlight examples of applied research being conducted and how these projects are expected to impact lives, communities, and future innovation |
| • | Explore differences between applied research and basic research |
| • | Share how industry partnerships bring professional research experience to our students |
Participants are invited to submit questions for discussion upon registering; the panel will do their best to answer as many questions as possible in the time allotted.
Registration is required to obtain a link to the event, and can be done by visiting umass.science/unexpectedsolutions.
Today's Online Teaching Tips:
From ACE Engage:
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From Magna:
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