Center for Teaching, Learning and Research

When faculty teach according to the Seven Essential Elements of Project-Based Learning (PBL), they bring high-impact practices into their courses. These practices foster deeper, embodied learning by engaging the whole student—heart, mind, and spirit—and tapping into different parts of their brain, identity, and being. Come hear how faculty colleagues employed PBL this fall with unscripted, “real-world” and hands-on project work.

How has your teaching experience been shifting modalities? What helped? What feedback did you receive from students? What would you need to know from students? These questions will animate this collaborative student-faculty conversation to help us better understand the connections between our pedagogies and our students’ reception of our courses. This interactive discussion will enable deep reflection of where we’ve been, but more importantly, offer creative ideas about working with each other in the Spring 2022 semester, and beyond.

Meaningful writing is a pedagogical concept related to college students’ writing experiences and the factors that make them meaningful. In this workshop, Peer Writing Tutor Jack Torpey ‘24 and Director of the Writing Center Genie Giaimo will share an introduction to this writing pedagogy and research on the state of meaningful writing at Middlebury College. Participants will then workshop meaningful student writing activities and assignments for their courses. This session is part of the 2022 Contemporary Teaching Series.

Trauma-informed teaching practices help students to navigate personal trauma, and also help to ensure that learning environments do not become spaces where students experience trauma. This session will identify challenges for trauma-informed practices that exist in hybrid and online classes, and provide concrete strategies for addressing these challenges. This session is part of the 2022 Contemporary Teaching Series and will be lead by DLINQ members Amy Collier and Sarah Lohnes Watulak. Offered virtually via Zoom.

Alex Shevrin Venet will continue the discussion of Equity-Centered Trauma-Informed Education in this limited registration workshop. Offered online via Zoom. Please visit us on the web for more details, updates, and to register.

Becky Thompson will continue the discussion of Teaching with Kindness in a limited registration workshop. Registered participants will receive the Zoom link in their registration confirmation & a reminder email 2 hours prior to the event. Register here.

Teaching with Tenderness with Becky Thompson
Becky Thompson, a sociology professor at Simmons University and author of Teaching with Kindness, will open the 2022 Contemporary Teaching in the Liberal Arts series.

Registered participants will receive the Zoom link in their registration confirmation & a reminder email 2 hours prior to the event. Register here.

Are you dealing with end-of-the-term challenges in this particularly trying semester—such as issues with grading, handling late work, advising students on whether to invoke the CR/NCR option or to drop a class? If so, consider joining this Office Hours for Teachers where you can problem-solve with experienced colleagues and a student life dean.

Jim Ralph, director of CTLR and History professor, Jen Sellers, Student Life Dean, and Mike Leonard, Student Advising Head, will be on hand to respond to your queries and concerns.

Don’t write alone this finals season. Come join the Middlebury Writing Center at our annual write-in event hosted virtually this fall. Write among your peers in a structured yet friendly setting. Peer Writing Tutors and the Writing Center Director will be present to offer students support for writer’s block, writing destress techniques, completing writing assignments, etc. See more info and register at http://go.middlebury.edu/wc

The Writing Center—in partnership with Wellness and Scott Centers and Libraries—welcomes you to a writing event to process the pandemic. Hosted by peer writing tutors, this event is designed to process painful memories, to support healing, and to create art. No prior experience with personal or reflective writing necessary! To register and learn more visit Go/WC