Lynn,
I am able to access your Fostering Creativity course (thank you, Sarah!) and I just read the whole discussion board over coffee this morning. Oh, my! It is just wonderful and has me revved up and excited for teaching this class with you. In a perfect world, I would spend the next few days reading the text and making a million notes about how what you have relates to this new edition and my own thoughts. Alas, I have Jarrame until Monday and I want to make the most of it because I won't see him for a while. When I arrive at my father's next week, I will be able to devote some time to this task.
I want to find a few great websites on multiple intelligences (which I have squirrelled away in my wonky filing system) and add them to the readings. I can see so many ways to incorporate the service learning and observation piece into this great framework. As much as I love our curriculum class, I am going to enjoy this one even more because I get to use my art background in the context of my early childhood background - a validating and centering experience for me!

Follow up to our Wednesday discussion:

The ISBN for Bridges Out of Poverty is 13: 978-0-978642-00-6
As per our discussion about your interest in science, here are a few of my favorite titles from the world of quantum physics:
The Tao of Physics, by Fritzof Capra
The Dancing Wu Li Masters, by Gary Zukov
Art and Physics, by Leonard Shlain
There are others related to this list, but these are the three that had the biggest impact on me personally na actually produced the mental shift that changed my way of seeing a lot of things. I came to have a comfortable relationship with my mother's death because of these books. The first two helped me see the amazing connections between science and spirituality, and the third one helped me understand why art is more than meets the eye. If you really want to get into the science and mystery behind quantum physics, read Schrodinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality: Solving the Quantum Mysteries, by John Gribbin. It will knock you off your pins!


A few Assignments I use and like:

Satisfaction Survey Satisfaction Survey Potentially worth 5 points of extra credit! The purpose of this survey is to assess the effectiveness of this course and the methods used. It is meant to supplement CCV’s evaluation and will be used to improve specific elements of this course. It is very important that you also complete the official CCV evaluation concerning this course, which will be available to you at the end of the semester. PLEASE FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY: Copy and paste this survey into a Word document, enter your answers, and email it to me at the address below no later than April 30th. When I receive your survey I will add up to 5 points of extra credit to your total points, but these will not show up on the gradesheet. Blackboard has a hard time accommodating “extra credit,” so I will manually add them at the end of the semester. I thank you in advance for taking the time to give honest, well thought out responses to the questions. Your opinions are valuable to me. Suzanne suzpurcell@gmail.com Spring, 2009 Satisfaction Survey Title of the CCV course you took this semester: How did this course fit into your plans for the future? How many online courses have you taken? Is online a good environment in which to take this course? Did the structure of this course (weekly opening dates for the discussions, deadlines for original posts and peer responses) work well for you. Please explain. Did this course cover the topics you expected? Please comment on the textbook(s) used for this course. Did it meet your needs? What did you like the most about the text? What did you like least? What was your favorite aspect of the course? What would you change to improve the course? Did you feel you could ask for help when you needed it? Did you feel comfortable in approaching the instructor for help? Did you feel comfortable approaching your peers? Would you recommend this course to other students? Please feel free to add any comments in any way relevant to your experience in this class: Thank you for taking the time to provide this valuable feedback. Suzanne suzpurcell@gmail.com Letter to Next Semester's Students, used as part of the final for English Comp.: Write a letter to next semester’s students. In this letter you will welcome them to this class, and tell them what they need to know to be successful in this course. Among the elements you might address in this letter are ideas about building a good learning community, how to overcome writer’s block, how to effectively use the journals for generating ideas, how you rate the elements of writing in terms of importance (grammar, mechanics, structure, flow, audience, voice, generation of ideas, writer’s confidence, etc.), how to provide constructive criticism to peers, how learning to write more confidently impacts the writer, or anything else of interest and importance to you. Your letter will be at least 500 words in length, carefully proofread and spell checked, and shared with at least one other person before submitting. This letter is a chance to show off the skills you worked hard to acquire this semester, so make it a nice piece of writing.