The i>clicker has been adopted across the UM campus to increase student engagement in classes. If you are not using the i>clicker yet, attend a training session on Friday, September 4 from 11:15 a.m. to  12:05 p.m. in Memorial Classroom Building, room 212. If you are using the i>clicker, encourage your colleagues to attend.

The session will cover using the i>clicker in class to increase engagement, synchronizing the clicker numbers with your Blackboard roster in order to see names in i>grader, and uploading clicker results into Blackboard.

To register for the i>clicker Training session, go to http://www.iacmiami.org/events. For more information on the i>clicker at UM, go to http://www.miami.edu/iac and click on the “Clickers” link, e-mail [email protected], or call 305-250-2255.

Air Force ROTC invites UM attendees to enjoy a performance of the U.S. Air Force Honor Guard Drill Team on Thursday, September 3 from 12 to 1 p.m. at The Rock. The performance will feature a standard 16-person professionally choreographed sequence of weapon maneuvers, precise tosses, complex weapon exchanges, and a walk-through. The drill team promotes the Air Force mission by showcasing drill performances at public and military venues to recruit, retain, and inspire airmen. For more information, call 305-284-2870.

On Friday, September 4, Air Force ROTC will sponsor a blood drive for Branches After School Program. Branches is nonprofit after-school program for 6th- to 8th-graders that offers free tutoring five days a week. In addition to offering local youth homework time, Branches provides a hot snack. Donate blood between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m., in front of Rhodes House (the corner of Dickinson and Merrick). Donations of canned food for the after-school snack at Branches will also be collected. For more information, call 305-284-2870.

Judge Abu Laila is forced to become a taxi driver when the government runs out of money to pay for his wages. On the day of his daughter Laila’s seventh birthday, his wife insists that he needs to be home early with a present and a cake. Abu Laila has nothing else on his mind than completing this mission. However, daily life in Palestine is a bit chaotic and takes him in many other directions before he gets home. Laila’s Birthday is a wry, comedic vignette tracing a day in the life of an experienced judge-turned-taxi driver, and a portrait of ordinary people living in impossible circumstances. This film is in Arabic with English subtitles. Admission is $6 for all University of Miami faculty, staff, and alumni; free for students. General admission is $8. The film screens on Friday, September 4 at 9 p.m.; Saturday, September 5 at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.; and Sunday, September 6 at 4 p.m. For more information visit www.cosfordcinema.com.

Simon is a bright high school student who lives with his uncle, Tom, following the death of his parents, Rachel and Sami. When Simon visits Rachel’s dying father, he learns that Sami may have killed himself and Rachel by deliberately crashing their car. In Simon’s high school, his teacher, Sabine, reads a story about a terrorist who tried to blow up an airplane by planting a bomb in his girlfriend’s luggage. Simon claims the story is about his parents. Sabine suddenly becomes close to Simon, while debate about his father’s actions lights up the school. The truth behind the death of Simon’s parents slowly unravels as the film progresses. This film is in English and French with English subtitles. Admission is $6 for all University of Miami faculty, staff, and alumni; free for students. General admission is $8. The film screens on Friday, September 4 at 7 p.m., Saturday, September 5 at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sunday, September 6 at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. For more information visit www.cosfordcinema.com.

Speak into the open mic on Friday, September 4 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Oasis Deli Café at the Whitten University Center as the Creative Writing program inaugurates its USpeak series with featured young-adult novelist and UM alumna Crissa-Jean Chappell. Her novel Total Constant Order is a Florida Book Award medalist.

Enjoy an evening of fiction, poetry, and music, whether you’re there to perform or to listen. USpeak will be taped and broadcast by WVUM, UM’s student radio station, and is sponsored, in part, by the Citizens Board and UM’s Auxiliary Services. The event is free and open to the public. For directions and more information,call 305-284-2988 or visit www.as.miami.edu/english/creativewriting.