Celebrate your first week of teaching with the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology’s Fall Kickoff! Pizza, camaraderie, and professional development starts at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, August 25, at the Instructional Technology and Development Center. Get a preview of new and returning fall workshops. We’ll be discussing incorporating special events on campus in your teaching and using mindfulness to center ourselves as educators and human beings. Stop by when you can. No registration is necessary.

Special mini-workshops include the following:

She Kills Monsters: Theatre, Dungeons & Dragons, and Your Classroom
Noon to 12:15 p.m.
Janet Wilson, Theatre and Dance

In this session, the director of Theatre and Dance will present a reading from the play She Kills Monsters will share how faculty across disciplines can classroom assignments and activities using as the point of entry the Illinois State production of the play, directed by Paul Dennhardt. Learn how She Kills Monsters opens up a space for deeper discussions of issues of sexuality, disability, and identity as well as coming to terms with grief after the death of a loved one.

Mindful Meditation
1 to 1:15 p.m.
Jim Almeda, Health Promotion and Wellness

Mindfulness and meditation are practices that have been studied and proven in research to reduce stress and anxiety; improve sleep, healthy eating behaviors, and academic performance; and contribute to a greater sense of well-being and happiness. Learn about the art and science of mindfulness, what it is, and how it works, and practice some mindfulness meditation techniques that are used in the Koru Mindfulness class that Health Promotion and Wellness staff facilitate for students and for faculty/staff.