Teaching and Learning at John Jay College -- Podcasts from the TLC

In this episode, Jerry Lim, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Art & Music, asks "How do you get past the surface?” as he reflects on his own teaching and learning experiences and his journeys with students. Listen as Lim explores wrestling with biases in terms of content and style and the idea of permission in responding to student work and asking for their feedback. “I want to be as vulnerable as possible in the class,” he says, because “I have a feeling that my students can ask me anything." Join Jerry Lim in getting past the surface to immerse yourself in great student-centered teaching.

In this episode, Madhura Bandyopadhyay, Doctoral Lecturer in English and 2023 Winner of the John Jay College Distinguished Teaching Prize, shares her experiences in learning from colleagues, keeping a teaching journal, discovering reciprocity from students during the pandemic, digital writing and the impact of AI, and the importance and practicality of continuing to learn while dealing with trauma. “It’s good to wander a little,” advises Bandyopadhyay, with a further reminder that “Teaching is not individual.”

In this episode we celebrate the teaching of Marie-Michelle Strah, Adjunct Assistant Professor of International Crime and Justice. Teaching at John Jay for just three years, Dr. Strah brings a wealth of military and private sector experience to her teaching about international cybercrime, cybersecurity, and complex financial crimes. She explains her teaching as focused on working from student strengths, building skills in collaboration, and encouraging fierce advocacy for algorithmic, data and design justice. A TLC Faculty Fellow in Online Teaching, Dr. Strah also focuses on how discrimination is embedded in online systems and can be avoided through universal design principles. She is particularly attuned to ensuring visual communication as an essential 21st century skill.

In this episode we celebrate the teaching of two-time winner Gregory Donaldson, Associate Professor of Communication and Theatre Arts. Greg Donaldson has been teaching for 54 years and he has more than a few things to share, like how to motivate students to be present, how to structure a course so you have the ability to pay attention to the students within it, and how important it is to value what is unique in a student. He wouldn’t use these buzz words, but his teaching is student-centered, strengths-based and culturally responsive.

In this recording, John Jay Teaching & Learning Center Director Gina Rae Foster reads an original poem commemorating the legacy of 9/11. Written in 2019 at the invitation of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, the poem explores the connections between the experiences of that day and our memories and assumptions now as we continue to grieve and to work with our students to develop more responsive and empathetic lives.

Please see http://johnjay.jjay.cuny.edu/911memorial/pdfs/Remembering_What_Matters_9_11_poem.pdf for the full text of the poem.

In this episode, Teaching & Learning Center staff Durkel Dalrymple and Sherley Paulino interview John Jay students Erika Pacio, Hanna Yeum, and María Plata about their experiences of feeling respected and disrespected in their remote classes during the pandemic. Each student offers her own perspective on how instructors manage culturally responsive, inclusive, and antiracist teaching in ways that support or interfere with learning. This is the first of two episodes dedicated to the DEI Faculty Initiative project at John College of Criminal Justice, which will create and offer workshops on antiracism and other forms of social justice this coming year.

In this podcast, TLC members share their thoughts about working at the TLC and how it connects to their academic and professional lives and plans in the future, they also discuss the mission and values of what they do at TLC and how it plays an important role in their lives.

Winner of the 2021 Distinguished Teaching Prize Crystal Leigh Endsley, Associate Professor of Africana Studies, explains her ideas about acknowledging students as producers of culture, critical hip-hop pedagogy, project-based learning, and the deep humanity required of those in our profession.

Winner of the 2021 Distinguished Teaching Prize Edward Fabian Kennedy, Lecturer in Writing, talks about the flipped classroom, learning by doing, online collaboration and how teaching online fosters student workshops, peer review, and student engagement.

Winner of the 2021 Distinguished Teaching Prize Professor Richard Haw (Interdisciplinary Studies) talks about project-based learning, sourcing diverse course material, helping the students find personal meaning in course materials, the purpose of general education, updating curriculum, and learning from watching colleagues teach.

TLC Spotlights interview one or more faculty and staff members to focus on a particular teaching and learning issue.  This spotlight interview with Dr. Crystal Leigh Endsley, Assistant Professor of African Studies; Dr. Beata Potocki, Adjunct Assistant Professor of English; and Dr. Lisa Tsuei, Adjunct Professor of Psychology, focuses on the processes that help online educators establish and maintain more resilient student communities in their courses. Interviewed by Dr. Gina Rae Foster, Director of John Jay College’s Teaching and Learning Center, Drs. Endsley, Potocki, and Tsuei share strategies and experiences that have helped them create effective learning communities while teaching online.

In this TLC Spotlight Series podcast, Assistant Professor Erica King-Toler, Percy Ellis Sutton SEEK Department; Associate Professor Schevaletta Alford, Percy Ellis Sutton SEEK Department; and Assistant Professor Wendy Johnny, Percy Ellis Sutton SEEK Department at John Jay College of Criminal Justice share their expertise with teaching students experiencing drama, trauma, and mayhem both inside and outside the classroom. Speaking from three distinct pedagogical perspectives, these professors illustrate these terms with theory and anecdotes to provide rich definitions and examples of engaging students with capacity and time in multiple contexts.

Winner of the 2018 Distinguished Teaching Prize, Professor Aída Martínez-Gómez, discusses experiential learning, role-playing, serving Hispanic students, extra-curricular engagement, mentoring of students, and the Student Interpreter Service Program.

Winner of the Distinguished Teaching Prize 2011 Andrea Balis, Lecturer in History, discusses backwards design, reflective teaching practice, helping students learn how to learn, and question what they know.

Assistant Professor of Africana Studies, Crystal Leigh Endsley, discusses winning the Distinguished Teaching Prize in 2016, why spoken word helps students develop agency, how she creates community in her classrooms, inspiring students to have courage in themselves, in-class writing and much more.

Winner of the 2018 Distinguished Teaching Prize, Professor Amanda Harris, discusses motivating students in their own learning, teaching about privilege, sharing one's humanity and failures with students as a way of modeling success, and anti-racist writing instruction for more just outcomes.

Adjunct Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies and Post-Doctoral Researcher in Social Psychology at the Graduate Center Giazú Enciso Dominguez talks about inclusive teaching practices, connecting content to students' lives, feminist teaching as the co-construction of knowledge, and the importance of checking in with students.

Assistant Professor of Forensic Entomology Jennifer Rosati discusses winning the Distinguished Teaching Prize (2020), the power of instructors to shape student mindsets, teaching students how to study, experiential learning, and more.

Associate Professor of English and Director of Writing Across the Curriculum Program discusses winning the Distinguished Teaching Prize in 2020, collaborative work, moving to the side of the classroom, creating student authors, and writing to learn.

Associate Professor of Sociology Carla Barrett discusses winning the Distinguished Teaching Prize, talking about race in the classroom, group work, writing to learn, and how staying vulnerable with students allows real conversations to flourish.

Assistant Professor of Law and Society Michael Yarbrough discusses winning the Distinguished Teaching Prize in 2015, doing research with undergraduates, providing feedback on writing, showing respect for students, low-stakes writing, and creating a community for peer learning in the classroom.

Lecturer in Communication and Theatre Arts, Elton Beckett, discusses winning the Distinguished Teaching Prize in 2012, why we should be focusing on our C students, working with student strengths, mentoring students to use campus resources, facilitating group work, and listening to students. He also explains what kinesensics is, so don't miss that.

Assistant Professor of Latin American and Latino/a Studies, Isabel Martinez, discusses winning the Distinguished Teaching Prize in 2013, Latinx students, creating an inter-institutional course with students at the University of Texas El Paso, using ePortfolio and other tech in the classroom, and supporting DACA students.

Associate Professor of Communication and Theatre Arts Greg Donaldson discusses winning the Distinguished Teaching Prize in 2014, teaching as coaching, motivating students, identifying student strengths, using drama in the classroom, and creating memorable experiences.

Adjunct Assistant Professor of English and Gender Studies, Rob Faunce, discusses winning the Distinguished Teaching Prize, learning from Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, flexibility, group work, scaffolding, how he humanizes himself for his classes, and builds trust.

Associate Professor of English Alexander Long discusses motivating students using the growth mindset, active reading, and empathy.

John Jay Distinguished Teaching Prize with Jill Grose-Fifer

Distinguished Teaching Prize Interview with Eloisa Monteolivia Garcia 

Please join the Teaching and Learning Center at John Jay College as we discuss the challenges of teaching with professor Matthew Perry 

TLC Spotlights interview one or more faculty and staff members to focus on a particular teaching and learning issue.  This spotlight interview with Dr. Gina Rae Foster, Director of John Jay College's Teaching and Learning Center, focuses on how understanding trauma and resilience can make us better teachers. Dr. Foster discusses how trauma affects our capacities to learn and how we can work with our students to make our classrooms places of stability and community that allow for resilient learning.