|
|
|
Academic Calendar 2024-2025
Mar 4 & 5: Exhibitions
Mar 8: Last day of classes for spring session 1
Mar 13: Session 1 Grades Due in Campus Cafe by 5PM
March 17: Spring Semester session 2 begins
March 23: Last day to register for spring session 2 classes
| | |
|
“People start to heal the moment they feel heard”
-Cheryl Richardson
| |
|
What happens when life doles out an overwhelming experience that happens too fast, too soon, or too much and is beyond a person’s ability to cope? Trauma, whether caused by systemic harm, exposure to violence, a loss, or other adverse experiences, can have a profound impact on a person's emotional, cognitive, and physical well-being. For students, trauma can manifest in a variety of ways, including affecting their ability to focus, regulate emotions, and engage with learning effectively.
At College Unbound, we seek to employ trauma-informed practices. Trauma-informed educational approaches acknowledge the widespread impact of trauma and aim to create safer, more supportive and responsive environments for all students. With some understanding of trauma and the inclusion of trauma-informed teaching methods, faculty can support students to feel safer, more connected, and better able to thrive.
Check out these ways in which trauma-informed practices can support student learning. Pick a practice that you want to employ in your course:
-
Recognize the Signs of Trauma: Students who have experienced trauma may exhibit difficulty concentrating, irritability, reactivity or hypervigilance. Recognizing these signs helps faculty better understand their students' behaviors and needs, rather than labeling them as disruptive or difficult.
-
Build Trusting Relationships: Trauma often disrupts a person’s sense of safety and trust. Creating stable, nurturing relationships can help students feel more secure, supported, and more open to learning.
-
Provide Emotional Regulation Tools: Students who have experienced trauma may struggle to regulate their emotions in stressful situations. To help students manage stress, faculty can employ strategies that support emotional regulation, such as mindfulness practices and breathing exercises at the start of class or during a transition.
-
Create a Safe Learning Environment: A trauma-informed approach recognizes that physical and emotional safety are foundational to learning. Although we can never promise a completely safe environment for anyone, we can create an environment that is predictable, consistent, and free from harm. This helps students feel more comfortable engaging in the learning process.
-
Empower Students: Students who have experienced trauma may feel powerless or out of control. Trauma-informed practices emphasize empowerment by offering students choices in their learning, encouraging their voices to be heard, and acknowledging their strengths.
-
Improve Long-Term Outcomes: When trauma-informed practices are integrated into education, students are more likely to stay engaged, succeed academically, and develop resilience. This can help break cycles of trauma.
| |
WE CU Unbound Stories Podcast
Episode 1: Finding Community
| |
In this episode of WE CU Unbound Stories, host De'Vonte Parson sits down with CU students Vera Epps, Christopher Senice, Jarvis Henderson, Aubrey Johnson, and alum/community ambassador Deb Jonfelix for an insightful conversation.
If you have a podcast episode idea and would like to bring it to We CU Unbound stories email amanda.esons@collegeunbound.edu.
| | |
Community Voices ~ Rhoan Garnett, CU faculty | |
"...this learning from experience, this is where people would say, "enjoy the journey." And I've often said that I don't know that I enjoy the journey so much as I enjoy the journey in retrospect. So meaning when I'm in the moment and experiencing the hardship of the moment, I'm not sitting there like, oh, I just really appreciate what I'm experiencing. It's when I've moved on. And so now I just know that when I come up against an obstacle where I really do see it as a challenge, I just, I don't know how long it's gonna take me to break through, but I just know to stay the course. And that's the lesson that I've learned from my experiences of what people will actually define as failures. And that's what I try to really communicate. You become the instrument, right? You become the instrument of the story."
Listen to Rhoan's story here.
Read the transcript here.
| |
Digital Storytelling in Sound - Community Sharing | |
|
CU Community members are invited to join Erik DeLuca's Digital Storytelling in Sound class as they present their final course projects:
Join us for an informal Zoom gathering featuring powerful and poetic audio storytelling by Michelle Johnson, Otto Munoz, Claribel Pinales, Christopher Senice, and Greg Thompson.
March 3rd at 6 PM via Zoom link: https://massart.zoom.us/j/2113585745
| |
LinkedIn Learning CU for Faculty & Students
CU Students and Faculty have access to a vast library of high-quality, on-demand courses.
To start your account, register at this link. When asked, use your CU login credentials.
| |  |
Reminder: Faculty Absence Form & Policy
CU has various policies and procedures for when faculty need to make arrangements for absences, both expected and unexpected.
Refer to this Faculty Processes for Absences and Late Arrivals document for details!
| | |
Faculty Support Sessions
Various Faculty Support Sessions are scheduled for the rest of Spring. Check out the schedule of sessions linked below on the Faculty Support Calendar and come with questions on the theme!
| | |
Lab Faculty Reminders & Resources
| |
Week 8 Exhibitions
If you haven’t yet, please complete this Exhibition Info Survey to indicate your plans.
Whether this is your student’s 1st or 11th Exhibition, there is a Feedback Process, a critical part of the learning journey encouraging constructive feedback, equity, centering the learner, and opportunities for growth!
| | |
Heading into Session 2!
Session 2 is starting on March 17! All students should be aware of their course schedules. Please discuss academic plans as needed during 1:1s.
First semester students are starting their asynchronous Introduction to Organizational Leadership and Change courses. Students may need assistance in learning more about asynchronous courses.
Unbound Journey begins once a week for one hour. This first semester course will guide students through registration for summer and fall.
Writing for Communications is a session 3, 16 week course that resumes after the break.
| | |
Project Support
Need inspiration for pushing students along with their projects?
Lab activities & org
Need a workbook to organize the components of Lab? Thank you, Melissa Herder!
Check out these resources your colleagues are incorporating into the Lab space:
| | |
Call for Faculty Curriculum Committee Members | |
|
College Unbound values the involvement and engagement of faculty in the life of College. We think it's critically important for faculty to play a role in guiding key decisions related to the academic life of the College, including the curriculum, courses, and academic policies.
We are inviting Lab faculty who are interested in becoming members of the Faculty Curriculum Committee to notify us of their interest in serving on the committee by completing the Faculty Curriculum Committee Self-Nomination Form. Faculty Curriculum Committee members must have taught at College Unbound for a minimum of two semesters, have a record of effective teaching, and be committed to actively engage with the Committee.
Scope of work & additional information is available on the form.
Nominations must be submitted by Monday, March 17, for full consideration.
| |
|
Sincerely,
All of Us at College Unbound, including:
| | | | |
