MILLIS EVENT A HUGE SUCCESS
Thank you to all of you who were able to attend the faculty development workshop by Dr. Barbara Millis on February 28. We had close to 100 participants from almost every discipline at BRCC. Dr. Millis left Baton Rouge with a great impression and found our faculty to be "friendly, sharp and committed to the cause." Dr. Amy Atchley, Speech Communications, noted that she plans to "start small" but eventually to move to using "cooperative learning as my method rather than lecture." Mary Miller, Biology, plans to use the jigsaw approach in her classroom. Kathleen Schexnayder, English, said that she plans to use the double-entry journal in her classroom. Russell Nolan, Biology, plans to use problem solving groups in his classroom. I want to remind you that the Library does have three of Dr. Millis' books and she has a number of articles and IDEA papers that could prove useful for you as you use this new tool from your expanded teaching toolkit.


GET READY TO FLIP YOUR THINKING
The next opportunity you have to add a tool in on March 21 at 3:00 PM. Dr. Bill Wischusen, Associate Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at LSU, will visit BRCC to deliver a powerful seminar entitled Flipping the Classroom. This teaching approach has been especially effective for teachers who (among other things) are struggling with having their students complete reading assignments or who are focused on improving their student's critical thinking skills. Flipping demonstrates to your students that they can acquire knowledge in other ways than listening to a lecture. It is a method that stresses student accountability and promotes cooperative and deeper learning. Space is limited and registration has been brisk. If you would like to participate, send an email to Todd Pourciau at pourciaut@mybrcc.edu. This event is part of the Teaching+Learning Center's distinguished speakers series and will be held in 311 Magnolia Building.

CREATE SOME CREATORS
New research continues to emerge about the current generation of college students (sometime called Millennials, Gen Y or boomerangs). For instance, Jean Twenge, the author of the book Generation Me, considers Millennials to be part of a generation called Generation Me. This is based on personality surveys that showed increasing narcissism among Millennials compared to preceding generations when they were teens and in their twenties. Skip Downing, who wrote the ground breaking On Course: Strategies for Creating Success in College and in Life series, suggests that we need to help the current student population to develop a Creator mindset. It is built on self-responsibility designed to help you build the life you want. Downing writes, "when psychologist Richard Logan studied people who survived ordeals such as being imprisoned in concentration camps of lost in the frozen Arctic, he found they shared a common belief. They all saw themselves as personally responsible for creating the outcomes and experiences of their lives." Downing pits the Creator Mindset (people look at multiple options, choose wisely among them and take effective actions to achieve the life they want) against the Victim Mindset (beliefs and attitudes that prevent good choices and decisions; the blame is always on other people or things). His personal guideline is 10 minutes for griping then on to being a Creator and finding a solution. If you have a class full of victims, I recommend that you read Downing's book for strategies that can turn your students into Creators.