“It is as though the word itself were an island, born of the meeting of two great rivers of language…” (69)

“…the Bengali language was an angry flood…” (79)

“river of words” (83)

“…her words have come flooding back to me in a torrent.” (134)

So far, I have really enjoyed reading the Hungry Tide and I keep thinking about how the novel ties back to our overarching English/360 conversation of home and exile. The themes of home, belonging, and exile come up quite frequently in the text--Piya, who's heritage and physichal appearance make her look like an insider still feels somewhat siloed from the Indian culture and way of life, and seemingly feels more at home when searching for the rare species of dolphin. Kanai, who is more of an insider than Piya, also plays the role of an outsider as he reads and learns more about Kusum's story. Another way in which home comes up in the text is when Piya recalls the memory of how attached her father was to a towel that had become an old, tattered piece of fabric. "In general, the least sentimental of men [... the cloth] was almost like a piece of his body, like his hair or nail clippings; his luck was woven into it" (73). These themes of home/belonging/exile in the text raise the questions: can one feel like and be an insider and outsider in a space that is supposed to be his or her home? Is it possible for an object to represent home? Can such an object (natural or unnatural) feel like it is a part of us? 

Emily Crispell

Multicultural Education

Inquiry Project

April 17, 2014

Increasing Latino Parental Involvement through Parental Partnerships with Schools

Introduction

The schedule for the 2014 Blended Learning in the Liberal Arts Conference is up! This year's conference has something for everyone, from reports on experiences with flipping a classroom to faculty experiments with using threaded discussion, gaming, mapping and Twitter to achieve pedagogical goals. Speakers were drawn from almost a dozen colleges across the country, and include a range of perspectives -- faculty across a range of academic disciplines, instructional support staff, administration, and students. 
 
A detailed schedule is available here: http://repository.brynmawr.edu/blended_learning/2014/

This year's conference will be on May 21 and 22 on Bryn Mawr College's campus, just outside of Philadelphia. The deadline for registration is May 15:

For more information about the conference and to register, go to our website: http://blendedlearning.blogs.brynmawr.edu/conferences/

Kabul

(Translated by Dr. Josephine Davis)

Ah! How beautiful is Kabul encircled by her arid mountains

And Rose, of the trails of thorns she envies

Her gusts of powdered soil, slightly sting my eyes

But I love her, for knowing and loving are born of this same dust

My song exhalts her dazzling tulips

Exploring Multiple and Intersecting Identities:

Themes and Suggestions for Action

Hummingbird, Kma, and Cece Lee

Introduction

            In Spring 2013, students working with Professors Jody Cohen and Alison Cook-Sather began facilitating focus groups to explore the way Bryn Mawr was supporting and could better support its increasingly diverse student population. This semester the three co-writers of this paper joined those facilitating focus groups as fellow student facilitators. While the groups were originally focused on the experiences of international students, we’ve broadened them this semester to look at all students on campus and their varied identities – acknowledging that even domestically we have a very diverse student population and that all members of our community face different challenges because of the way they identify themselves and feel perceived by others.

Curriculum

Monday

Project Based Learning and its Implications in a Multicultural Mathematics Classroom

When I was a junior in high school, I was placed into AP Calculus. On the first day of classes, I came to that particular class to find that my favorite math teacher, Mr. Best[i], was the instructor for this years AP class. He began the class explaining that we will be preparing for the AP examination in June, as well as preparing a final exit project. He went on to explain that we would be having two assessments: a midterm and a final, as well as this project. Our grade would consist of the two exam grades as well as the project grade, attendance, participation and homework completeness. He began to give us examples of projects that students completed in the past, and told us that literally anything is “fair game” as long as you’re able to describe it using mathematics.