Session F:

Title: Culturally Relevant Teaching

Presenter: Tracey Garrett (Teacher Education)

Description: Have you ever experienced a cultural mismatch with your students? This session will explore the idea of culturally relevant pedagogy. What is it? What does it look like in practice? What strategies can you incorporate into your practice to help develop a culturally responsive mindset?

Presentation: Culturally Responsive Teaching PPT.Tracey Garrett.pdf

Session G:

Title: Leveraging Civic Engagement in Upper-Level Science Courses

Presenter: Davida Smyth (Mercy College), Danielle Jacobs (Chemistry), and Kathy Browne (Geological, Environmental, & Marine Sciences)

Description: The incorporation of civic engagement into the science and mathematics curriculum is something that Rider faculty do well for introductory and non-major science courses. While this can be helpful in attracting students to the sciences, can we also vertically integrate civic engagement into upper level coursework, and support student success, engagement, and retention in these more content and skill driven courses?
This session will provide an example of such a strategy in an upper-level biology class. Davida Smyth, Associate Professor of Biology at Mercy College (Dobbs Ferry, NY) will present her research-based course "Microbiology of Urban Spaces" as a model for integrating civic engagement into the microbiology curriculum, and the impact of her efforts on student retention, engagement, and success. Following Dr. Smyth’s presentation and Q & A, participants will have the opportunity to share related strategies they use, and brainstorm new ideas for incorporating meaningful engagement activities into their major STEM courses.

Presentation: DSmyth FDD2017 Rider University.pdf

Session H:

Title: Creating a Cross-Over Classroom to Spark Interdisciplinary Dialogue

Facilitators: Tami Musumeci-Szabo (Psychology) and Nancy Wiencek (Communication and Journalism) Description: A Cross-Over Classroom Event is when two or more courses representing different disciplinary perspectives come together to accomplish something more than they could on their own. During our session, we will: a) provide a "how-to" create a pedagogically sound event, b) discuss data collected from both students and faculty that attended our two events, and c) provide an opportunity for session attendees to experience a Cross-Over Classroom. Our aim is to deliver an interactive workshop that demonstrates the efficacy of this high-impact teaching practice AND provides attendees with the initial tools necessary to develop a Cross-Over Classroom Event of their own.