“In the Spirit of Total Engagement: New Innovations in Teaching and Mentoring Men of Color”
BCC Faculty Staff Professional Development Workshop
Friday, February 1, 2013, 12 pm – 2pm, Room G10
This event is funded under the Massachusetts Vision Project
Twenty Berkshire Community College faculty and staff and two staff from Mass College of Liberal Arts joined in this workshop last Friday with Dr. Lloyd Sheldon Johnson, Sociology Professor at Bunker Hill Community College. The session began with fully engaging the participants in pairs. Once we were engaged, Dr. Johnson shared with us a long list barriers that men of color face in their lives and in relation to higher education. He outlined the keys to success in working with at-risk students, including the injuction to become “fearless educators.”As fearless educators, we must see where students of color feel dehumanized or disconnected to the college environment, and work hard to create engagement.
BHCC has structured learning community seminars and joined courses which bring cohorts together for extended periods of time. In those classes, success coaches work with students on skills such as time management, studying, testing, etc. within the classroom environment. Success coaches are now working with students to create life maps to help them visualize success and work/life balance.
Through these innovative approaches, BHCC can cite a 92% retention rate in some of the joined courses. Dr. Johnson emphasized the need to create a “culture of success,” based on engagement and particularly the students’ need to be validated. More than particular pedagogies, he encouraged us to demontrate how we value students as human beings. He cited the use of the stories to humanize the classroom and validate the students’ experience.
