Bringing Meaning to Study Abroad and Volunteering Abroad - Presentation and Training for Faculty of Whittier College

"The Office of International Programs is pleased to announce a visit from Carlton Rounds on the 22^nd of March (the Tuesday after spring break).  He will be talking about integrating study abroad into your work with students, but the presentation and the conversation that follows will be about much more: making learning abroad meaningful and life-changing. 

 

 

Details below, but first we would like to thank the Mellon Foundation for providing some of the funding, and Bernadette Morris in the Registrar’s Office for helping Whittier make this connection! Have a great weekend!

 

Andy Wallis & Kerry Gonzalez

OIP

 

THE DETAILS: 

 

Carlton Rounds: Bringing Meaning to Study and Volunteering Abroad

Dezember House

4:30-5:30

Tuesday, March 22nd

Andrew Wallis
Interim Director, Office of International Programs
Professor of Modern Languages & Literatures
Whittier College

Language Acquisition, Social Justice, and International Volunteer Service - Workshop!

COFLT - Spring Conference 2106

March 12, 2106 

Workshop 3:
Social Justice in the Languages

Language Acquisition, Social Justice, and International Volunteer Service

How can educators intentionally use language acquisition as a tool for developing critical thinking, emotional resilience, and cultural humility?  Can curricular integration promote a platform that advances social justice, inclusion, human rights, and peace?  We will explore these questions and generate ways to use international volunteer service to add value to the classroom experience.

Carlton Rounds

Carlton Rounds is the Director of Campus Engagement for Cross Cultural Solutions for over 20 years. CCS has special Consultative Status with the United Nations and is a founding sponsor with the Brookings Institution's Bridge Building Coalition for best practices in international volunteer service.

Carlton has been working in the fields of international education, volunteer service, and proactive social inclusion and diversity for nearly 30 years. He has traveled, served, and taught all over the world in areas of democratic transition with the intention of expanding the rights of marginalized people and communities.  

Crime and Found Poetry Training - 3 Day Training (Ethics and Values Clarification)

* Written by Carlton L. Rounds and Bobbi Kyle/ January 1992

ABSTRACT

This is an experiential workshop designed to take place over one weekend in a retreat-like atmosphere. The objectives of the workshop are to enhance self-awareness through experiential exercises. The processing inherent in the workshop will be explored by utilizing various writing techniques. Some of these specific writing techniques shall include play-writing, free-writing, journal writing and poetry.

The number of participants will be limited to twenty, with two trainers or facilitators. Clients will be self-selected, will have had previous experience with the writing process and will share an interest in exploring self-awareness. Clients will receive information before the workshop begins informing them to dress comfortably, and that participation in all aspects of the workshop is required. They will be shown an agenda of the weekend before arrival so they know what to expect.

The weekend will be inclusive, with housing provided at the site, all meals shared with fellow participants and some free time scheduled into the session to allow for self-reflection and the opportunity to enjoy the serenity of the retreat setting. Journal writing will be encouraged throughout the weekend and participants will have the opportunity to share their writings with others.

This workshop will be intense and engaging. Our overall goal is for participants to have a great time and learn more about their strengths as writers and people. It is the trainers' belief that if participants can view the risk factor of an experience not in terms of how much they may lose but in terms of how much they may learn, they are better able to balance the risks against the gains in their own minds and make the decision to participate. Ample processing of all activities will be designed into the workshop through both open discussions and the various writing processes with emphasis placed upon individual achievement.


NEEDS ASSESSMENT

After a warm-up and an ice breaker the first morning, we will give participants time to write in their journals about what aspects of themselves and their writing they would like to strengthen over the weekend. They will then break into five groups of four to share these journal entries. Each member of the group will make a commitment to share expertise and support each other in the workshop. This will create a mini support system within the group. Each small group will then write a letter to the trainers to illustrate their most burning desires for growth over the weekend. As trainers this will give us the opportunity to read about their current concerns and address them within the workshop design.

A more formal needs assessment is not necessary in this scenario as the participants will be self-selected and will have detailed information about the workshop's intent ahead of time. Individual needs assessments will be gathered through the letter writing phase and can be integrated into the weekend's activities by the trainers. The success of the weekend will rely upon interaction and a common skill level. We expect that not all participants will be experienced in all areas but they will share a common desire to experience new things.


GOALS AND OBJECTIVES


1) Participants will be given the opportunity to explore various creative writing techniques.


2) Participants will increase their knowledge of how writing can enhance personal processing.


3) Participants will be given the chance to become involved on an experiential level with other people's writings.


4) Participants will be given the chance to increase their awareness of themselves as writers and as human beings.


5) Participants will have a great deal of fun.


DETAILED AGENDA


DAY I


9:00 - Welcome breakfast with fresh roasted coffee, oven fresh pastries, New York bagels, and fresh squeezed fruit juices.Each participant will be greeted, given a name-tag (with the name of their choice on it - real of fictitious), and each participant will be individually greeted by one of the trainers and thanked for giving their weekend to do something important to them. The trainers will express their enthusiasm and excitement for the coming two day workshop.

10:00 - Participants are brought together in a common room for a warm-up and ice breaker. The needs assessment journal writing and letter writing will follow the ice breaker.

11:30 - 11:45 BREAK

11:45 - 1:00  Writing Exercise/Experiential Exercise (with processing)

1:00 - 2:15 LUNCH

2:15 - MICRO EXERCISE #1 "Buckets o' Drama"

Objectives:


1) To explore the process of play-writing.


2) To write an original play


3) To experience the dynamics of having one's writings interpreted by others.


Methods:


1) Participants will be separated into four groups of five. (5 minutes)


2) Five buckets will be placed in the center of the room containing the following:


Bucket #1 - four identical character descriptions


Bucket #2 - four situational settings


Bucket #3 - four odd props


Bucket #4 - four specific actions


Bucket #5 - four more identical character descriptions


For example: one group might receive "a peg-legged waitress at a McDonald's with an egg-beater interviewing a passing mid-wife about Elvis."

Another possibility: "a mid-wife in the back of a bus with a raccoon coat doing a psychic reading for a peg-legged waitress."

The groups will receive their five bucket items, their instructions and go to their assigned small rooms.


(10 minutes)


3) Given these variables, each group will have to compose a play to be read by one of the other groups. No group will know which play they will end up with. Each play must include appropriate background information, stage directions, a group generated third character and dialogue. Given seemingly unrelated information their challenge will be to create high drama. A copy of the original play is given to the trainers. (1 hour 30 minutes)


4:00 - 4:15 15 Minute Fresh Fruit Salad Snack Break


- trainers will photocopy the plays for distribution.


4) Participants will reconvene to the large common room. The plays will be randomly distributed to the small groups (so that each group has a play they did not author). Each group will be given 30 minutes to read over the materials.

(30 minutes)

5) A group of five will sit in a circle in the center of the room with the remaining 15 participants around them. Task breakdown will include: one person to read background information, one person to read stage directions, two to play the assigned characters and one person to play the group generated character. The group will them do a dramatic reading based only on the script they were given. (15 minutes)


6) Each group will perform Step 6. (45 minutes)

7) Participants will be given 20 minutes to write in their journals addressing these questions:

how does writing for an audience influence process?

how is the play you wrote different from the play you heard read?

what surprised you?

what did you like about it? what didn't you like?

what did you learn about ownership of your writing and ideas?

how does it feel to present someone else's work?


* Participants should leave their journals in the room (for separation from the activity) and continue on to dinner.


6:00 - 7:30 - DINNER of Pasta Primavera in a reduced cream sauce served with fresh hot Italian garlic bread and red wine. Fresh ricotta pie and cappuccino will be served for dessert. The rule at dinner will be that no discussion of the previous exercise will be permitted. This will induce individual internal processing.


7:30 - 7:45 Energizer

7:45 - 8:45 Participants will be given an additional 15 minutes to read over journal entries and make additions. The trainers will then facilitate an open group discussion on the "Bucket o' Drama" Exercise encouraging participants to draw from their journal entries.

8:45 - Closing and Homework


Participants will be ask to free-write in their journals concerning these questions:

- if you had to evacuate your home and could only take five material objects with you what would they be? and why?

- what is one thing you most dislike about your everyday life?

- if you could change anything in the world or solve any problem by waving a magic wand, what would you change? What would you be willing to give up to make this happen?

DAY II


8:00 - Participants gather for a totally delicious breakfast consisting of fresh berries, granola, homemade french vanilla yogurt and a variety of flavored coffees.


9:00 - Warm-Up


9:15 - Intimate Team Building Exercise


9:45 - MICRO EXERCISE #2 "Criminal Defense"


Objectives:


1) To redefine and explore the sources and process for creating poetry.


2) To give participants the experience of arguing from a subverted moral position.


3) To create "found poetry" from a high risk experiential exercise.


4) To heighten personal awareness concerning decision making and judgement in a high risk situation.


Methods:


1) Participants will be divided into two groups of ten (one group for each facilitator). The groups will be sent into different rooms. The two groups will be involved in identical exercises. Each person in each group is given a piece of paper that lists a specific crime they have been convicted of. In turn each member must confess to his or her crime using "I statements" without any other statements or justifications. The crimes would include:


- I shot the President of the United States.


- I shot and killed my spouse.


- I embezzled $100,000 from an orphanage which resulted in its closure.


- I euthanized my 58 year old mother.


- I beat my child so badly that it induced mild brain damage.


- I captured, starved and tortured a dog before killing it.


- I forced my partner to engage in sexual acts against their will.


- I was convicted of vehicular manslaughter and DWI after a head on collision with a family of four.


- I was convicted of distributing narcotics to children under twelve.


- I was convicted of attempted murder for knowingly exposing someone to HIV.


(15 minutes)


2) Further instructions are given to the groups: You will be your own jury whose job it is to sentence five of your fellow criminals to death, three to life imprisonment and two to counseling. Before passing sentences, each criminal will have the chance to plead his or her case. You will have twenty minutes to prepare your defense in writing (journal). You will then have five minutes to present your case to the group. (1 hour 20 minutes)


3) Each group decides on process of sentencing be it by vote, consensus or any group generated method. At this point the group is to be notified that one of the group's "criminals" is innocent. By the end of the 40 minutes the group must present the facilitator with a list of the sentence breakdowns. (40 minutes)


4) Facilitator will announce who the innocent person is in the group. Individuals are then given a half hour to process in their journals addressing these questions:


what was your sentence and how was it determined by the group?
how did it feel to try and justify a criminal act?
is criminal behavior ever able to be justified?
what was a common factor in your group's decision making?
which did you consider the worst crimes?
how do you feel about the fact that one person in your group was innocent and sentenced?
did you learn anything about yourself?
list five statements made by other participants that stick out in your mind


(30 minutes)


12:30 - 12:45 Silent Break with touching allowed


12:45 -


5) After break, participants will be asked to generate two lines or phrases in their journals: one line about how they feel after the above exercise, and a quote they remember from the defense or sentencing discussions. (5-10 minutes)


6) Participants should then in turn read the lines they have generated while one member records the lines on newsprint. At this point the facilitator should then step in and give the group the following instructions: As a group, it is your task to take these individual lines and from them generate a poem. Start by putting the lines in some sort of order (in their original form). Then the group should feel free to edit the lines to allow for smooth transition. A title should then be created. Once the poem has been written, the final draft should be written in everyone's journal and on newsprint. The two poems are then posted in the common room. (1 hour)


2:00 - LUNCH is brought in to the common room. Huevos Rancheros on fresh, homemade corn tortillas, potato skins with chili, sour cream, cheddar cheese and crumbled bacon - with imported fruit juice spritzers (with umbrellas).


3:00 -


7) One representative from each group will stand up and read their group's poem. After which the facilitator should open up discussion to the group. The following questions should be addressed:


- how are you feeling?


- how does your poem play a part in what you are feeling right now? does your poem reflect your experience in this exercise?


- how do feel about the process your group went through in creating the poem?


- what have you learned about the sources of creativity?


- how do you feel this experience will relate to future writing endeavors?



(1 hour 15 minutes)


4:15 - 5:00 Acknowledgement for participation in the weekend and closing ceremonies. Informal mingling where trainers will be available and open for feedback and discussion about improving the workshop. Dessert coffees and sinful chocolates will be available.













* Written by Carlton L. Rounds and Bobbi Kyle/ January 1992

From Shaming to Reclaiming - AARP -Gay & Grey Event

From Shaming to Reclaiming

90 minute facilitated discussion

Aids Survivor Syndrome

Let’sKickASS - PDX

Carlton Rounds - Trainer and Author

AARP Gay and Grey Event, April 2014

Materials needed:

1. Flip chart and easel
2. Magic Markers
3. Tape for hanging sheets of flip chart on the wall
4. Handouts
5. Name Tags

PART ONE  - 10 Minutes

Introductions and Exercises to Focus the Group

Greet the people coming in into the room, ask them to find a seat and await instructions.  We will be seated dispersed within the group. (If we have nametags, ask people to write their name and put them on.) Leader will introduce the team hosts and go over the group agreements for the discussion: Jim Clay will tend to the late arrivals and welcome them to the group, directing them to sit down. Thank them for coming and let them know that their interest and participation is powerful and appreciated and important!   This will be written up on the flip chart.  

Establish a recorder for the group agreements.

(These can be pre-written with space for any extra points.)

1. What is shared in the room during our discussion is confidential
2. People are coming from different places and experiences, and each person’s story is respected and valued.
3. Use I statements when contributing to the discussion. Avoid generalizations.
4. Step up and step back.  – Means step up if you are quiet, step back if you are very verbal.
5. Listen to understand, not to respond.
6. Self-Care: Share what is comfortable for you.
7. Add anymore?

Facilitate: Who is in the room? (This five-word question is important. I like having it spoken verbatim, with a pause before and after, using these five words.)

Stand up in circle: Please tell us your first name, and in one sentence, what drew you to this discussion today?   - (go around whole circle one time)  

Utilize a timekeeper/monitor to help people move along with the sharing.

PART TWO  - 15 min

Next Exercise:  Cross Over

Directions:

Ask the group to stand up and form a line against the wall. Have them face outward in no special order. Explain to them that they are going to be asked questions, and if they identify or interpret the question as relevant to them, they are to leave the line and walk out 10 feet and stand still. Remind them that they are not obligated to answer a question if they are not comfortable.

Reminder: NO talking during the exercise. Silence is required.

1. Crossover if you have lost a person to HIV. (After they move, state this phrase: Notice who is with you, notice who is not.
2. Crossover if you have ever felt that the loss of these people to be overwhelming. (After they move, state this phrase: Notice who is with you, notice who is not.
3. Crossover if you feel if you have ever felt stigmatized or singled out. (After they move, state this phrase: Notice who is with you, notice who is not
4. Crossover if you think HIV negative people can be impacted by HIV in some ways that are similar to how HIV+ people are impacted. (After they move, state this phrase: Notice who is with you, notice who is not.
5. Cross over If you know a Long Term Survivor of HIV. (After they move, state this phrase: Notice who is with you, notice who is not.
6. Crossover if you know of any programs run by or specifically catering to Long Term Survivors. (After they move, state this phrase: Notice who is with you, notice who is not.
7. Crossover if you know or can imagine what AIDS Survivor Syndrome is? (After they move, state this phrase: Notice who is with you, notice who is not.
8. Crossover if you consider yourself a Long Term Survivor. (After they move, state this phrase: Notice who is with you, notice who is not.

HAVE THEM RETURN TO THEIR SEATS

Processing Questions after the group returns to their chairs in the one large circle.

Questions Posed In Sequence

1. How did it feel to crossover?
2. What do you know or imagine about the group that you did not know before?

PART THREE  - 20 Minutes

Next Exercise:

LEAD FACILITATOR will give the instructions on group breakdown:

(Break Into groups depending on size. Either 4, one with each facilitator, or smaller groups depending on the number.  If the group is small, we can still use 4 small groups. If the group is less than 8, then we will decide at the time.) Best not to sit with a bunch of people you already know.

They can bring their chairs to form the groups we choose.

The groups will get a piece of Flipchart Paper. (Will they need to sit near a wall, so paper can be taped to the wall?? It’s a big room.) They will decide on who will play the recorder, the reporter, the facilitator, and the time keeper. LEAD FACILITATOR will go over the roles with the groups. If the group is small, we will just have a recorder and reporter and one of the hosts will facilitate.

In the small groups, we will ask each small group to brainstorm ideas related to definition of AIDS Survivor Syndrome. Each Group will answer one question:

(Facilitators do not contribute but draw out what others are thinking.)

1. What is a Long Term Survivor? Define long–term.
2. What contribute to AIDS Survivor Syndrome?
3. Who is affected by AIDS Survivor Syndrome?
4. What kind of behaviors might be a sign that someone may be experiencing AIDS Survivor Syndrome?

The reporter from each group will present for the group and HE/SHE will be writing the responses on the Flip Chart, so that we can see the collective contribution of knowledge.

FACILITATOR will congratulate the groups and will reveal the established definition that will be written on a poster on the wall. He will compare the findings.

Definition: ASS

AIDS Survivor Syndrome (ASS) describes the collection of signs & symptoms affecting long-term survivors of HIV. The signs & symptoms of ASS include combinations of depression, survivor guilt, lack of future orientation; personality changes; anger; anxiety; emotional numbness; insomnia; social withdrawal & isolation; hopelessness; substance abuse; sexual risk-taking; and/or emotional numbness.

PART FOUR  - 15 Minutes

Facilitator presents the origin of LKA.org, reads its mission statement, and hands out the information flyer with the website. He then talks about LKA-PDX and the movement. He invites the good ideas he has heard to contribute to the group.

PART FIVE  - 30 minutes

Finally, the head trainer facilitates the final closing sharing circle.

1. What will you take away from this discussion?
2. Can you say one word that sums up how you are feeling?
3. Facilitators thank the group.

Let them know we are here after if they want to talk.

Design Your Own University Training - Upward Bound/ School for International Training 2000

Design Your Own University

Experiential Exercise Breakdown

Projected Student Number: 30 (six groups of five)

Abstract: Each group is given a special document that endows them with the power to design their very own university or college.  The letter outlines the task, “Your student group has been selected by a panel of educational experts to design and plan a new university. In order to complete this task, each person will have to participate in individual and group decision-making.  

Each University Design Group of five will meet and decide on a process to pick a name, or a name itself as well as the location of the college and the size.  Each of the five students will also play the part of an expert in a subject.  Each student will be handed a folded piece of paper that will reveal his or her expert status and the information they need to gather from the other experts in their field (from the other groups) to bring back to their University Design Group.  

There are five experts as follows:

1) Admissions

2) Curriculum and Faculty

3) Student Life

4) Financial Aid and Scholarships

5) Reputation/ Claim to Fame

Experts meet for information gathering and strategy and then return to their University Design Group to share their discoveries and to illicit questions from their team.  Then they go back to the expert panel to see if they have any more questions.  Finally they return to their University Design Groups for the last time to design their universities and plan their presentation strategies.  They will present an answer to the question, “Why should a student choose ___________ University or College?”

After each presentation questions are allowed by the audience to be answered by the design team and its experts. (Optional)

ADMISSIONS POLL: After all groups have presented their schools, by a show of hands, have participants indicate their school of choice/

Final Processing Questions

• How did it feel to design your own college?

• Were there good experts in your group?

• What was easiest to agree upon?

• What was a challenge to agree upon?

• Based on the presentations given, what is the most important aspect of a university?

• How well do you know what you want? Is it different now than when we started today?

• Do you know any schools like those described here?

• Is any school likely to have all the things you want?  Most of the things you want?

• How did it feel to have the tables turned, to be able to design the school you want instead of hunting for something you are not sure exists?

• What would you like to know more about?

• What factors (real or imagined) keep schools like these from existing?

Evaluation Facilitated by Students

1. Strengths
2. Criticisms

Workshop leader returns to room to respond to feedback.

ADMISSIONS EXPERT

Questions to Consider When Designing Your University

What kind of student do you want?

What kind of student will you accept?

What is the average high school grade point average (GPA) for this student?

What is the average SAT score?

Will you require an interview?

What extracurricular activities are weighted more heavily in the admissions process/

What is the gender mix?

What is the ethnic/ racial mix?

What is the sexual preference mix?

Does the college admit students in spite of their financial need?

When is your deadline?

When do you notify acceptance?

What is your rejection rate?

What two essay questions do you want applicants to write about?

Will excellent athletes or people with special talents receive preference for admission?

How important is community service in the application process?

Should the application be typed or hand-written?

What do you do with late applications?

How are admissions decisions made? (By committee, by one person, by peers)?

CURRICULUM/ FACULTY

Questions to Consider When Designing Your University

What is the student to teacher ratio?

Why do you believe this ratio to be ideal?

What is the average age of a professor?

What is the gender mix of your faculty?

What is the ethnic/ racial mix of your faculty?

Do you have any famous people teaching at your university? If so, what do they teach?

Are your classes conducted in a formal or informal style?

Do you have study abroad programs? If so, where?

How are students tested?

How do students evaluate professors?

What are the five most important departments or areas of study at the school?

Where are your classes held? (Describe the physical environment)

Can you receive credit for work done outside the classroom? (Community service, internships, work)

Will students receive letter grades, pass/fail, written evaluations or something else?

What would a student have to do to fail out of the university?

How many years would it take to complete a degree?  How many classes each term?

STUDENT LIFE

Questions to Consider When Designing Your University

How powerful is the student government?

Are students required to live on campus?

Give a list of the top ten extracurricular activities at the university in order of priority/ popularity.

What safety regulations or rules would be necessary to ensure peaceful coexistence?

What circumstances would get a student expelled from the university?

How prevalent are drugs and alcohol?

How safe are women and minorities on campus?

Are their fraternities and sororities on campus?  Why or why not?

How many international students do you have on your campus?

What is the most popular student sponsored event each year?

Describe your dining hall.  What is the food like?  

What is your school mascot?

What role does athletics play at your school?

What is the greatest challenge in keeping students occupied?

What do you anticipate would be the three biggest student life problems at your school?

How would you minimize these problems?

FINANCIAL AID/ SCHOLARSHIPS

Questions to Consider When Designing Your University

How much does your school cost per year?

Are their special scholarships? If so, for what and how much?

Who is eligible for scholarships? Are they need-based or merit-based?

How do you decide how many students get scholarships after they qualify?

What do students have to so to maintain their scholarships?

Are there any special circumstances that would influence your college to give or take away money?

Do you have athletic scholarships?

How much does it cost to apply to your school?

What percentage of your students are on scholarship?

Do you have special scholarships for women or minorities?

How would a perspective student find out about these scholarships?

Do you have any way for students to work for the college to help offset the cost?

Can you use your tuition money toward study abroad expenses?

How helpful is the financial aid office in answering students’ questions?

Is the cost of the education worth it?  Is this school a bargain or a risk?

Does you school participate in federal and state financial aid programs?

How much will most students have to pay back in student loans?

REPUTATION/ CLAIM TO FAME

Questions to Consider When Designing Your University

What is your college famous for?

What is your slogan?

Why would a student choose you over another interesting college?

What do your graduates go on to do?

Do you have any famous graduates?  Who are they and what are they famous for?

Please interview a current student at this university for a personal testimonial (to be used for your presentation).

Tell us about the notable history of your college.  Who founded it and on what idea or principle?

What has been your greatest collegiate scandal?  How did you overcome it?

What do other colleges and universities think of your school?

Is your school a responsible community member and contributor?

If your school could contribute one thing that would change the world, what would it be?

If another school started to steal your entire student pool what would you do?

What three things do you do to attract students to your school?

What is the average starting salary of a graduate from your school?

Do you have a career/job placement office?

What percentage of students graduate?

What percentage of students go on to graduate school?

What is on the front cover of your college catalog? What does that say about your school’s priorities?