Sunday, May 30, 2010
URYY4M (You are too wise for me)
I'm working on a project with a girl from my Philosophy of Teaching class. She also did her undergraduate schooling here. As we worked, I mentioned my nervousness in driving back to campus late a few nights ago, how I didn't want to walk the two blocks from the parking garage to my dorm. The sidewalk takes a path directly under the interstate. I then said that my nervousness was probably just silly. Then she told me how have people been held at knife-point and mugged under the interstate where that sidewalk goes... I guess my nervousness was legit. I ended up parking in the lot right next to my building. No worries Mom!!! :-)
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
My educational philosophy
I don't have one. Not yet.
That's my first class. We meet every day from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for one week. We had homework due the first day of class. Tonight our professor gave us five articles to read. They're all interesting. They're all relevant. And I wish I had more time to spend chewing on them, gnawing them apart. But I don't have much time for anything, really.
I will take a moment to tell you how relieved I am to be here. For some reason, part naivety, part stupidity, I thought I was going to find multiple struggles to overcome in becoming a Catholic teacher. Perhaps fueled by my lingering concerns about the education I received as a Catholic student, more likely fueled by my misplaced anger toward those concerns, I thought learning to teach in a Catholic school would limit my options, my creativity, my reach.
From everything I've encountered so far, I was wrong.
We're learning, reading, discussing the importance of inquiry in the classroom, the need for a social investment in community and positive social change, catholicism (little "c") as a demand for universality, for inclusion of all people, regardless of their differences. And we're learning how to facilitate those forms of learning without sacrificing faith, service or belief. Because they're all part of the same thing.
I don't know if I have means to explain all of this yet; and even if I did, I certainly don't have the time. But I hope to, so please be patient with me.
There's something special going on here. I can feel it. The Jesuits know something I don't about faith, about learning, about teaching, about life.
"What avail is it to win prescribed amounts of information about geography and history, to win the ability to read and write, if in the process the individual loses his own soul?"
John Dewey wrote that 1938. It's still relevant, warning against an educational system of banking information in students, focusing on transmitting information rather than transforming it.
More than anything right now, I can feel the weight of what I'm learning pounding into me the importance of a soul in education, a love of learning and need for growth through it.
That's my first class. We meet every day from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for one week. We had homework due the first day of class. Tonight our professor gave us five articles to read. They're all interesting. They're all relevant. And I wish I had more time to spend chewing on them, gnawing them apart. But I don't have much time for anything, really.
I will take a moment to tell you how relieved I am to be here. For some reason, part naivety, part stupidity, I thought I was going to find multiple struggles to overcome in becoming a Catholic teacher. Perhaps fueled by my lingering concerns about the education I received as a Catholic student, more likely fueled by my misplaced anger toward those concerns, I thought learning to teach in a Catholic school would limit my options, my creativity, my reach.
From everything I've encountered so far, I was wrong.
We're learning, reading, discussing the importance of inquiry in the classroom, the need for a social investment in community and positive social change, catholicism (little "c") as a demand for universality, for inclusion of all people, regardless of their differences. And we're learning how to facilitate those forms of learning without sacrificing faith, service or belief. Because they're all part of the same thing.
I don't know if I have means to explain all of this yet; and even if I did, I certainly don't have the time. But I hope to, so please be patient with me.
There's something special going on here. I can feel it. The Jesuits know something I don't about faith, about learning, about teaching, about life.
"What avail is it to win prescribed amounts of information about geography and history, to win the ability to read and write, if in the process the individual loses his own soul?"
John Dewey wrote that 1938. It's still relevant, warning against an educational system of banking information in students, focusing on transmitting information rather than transforming it.
More than anything right now, I can feel the weight of what I'm learning pounding into me the importance of a soul in education, a love of learning and need for growth through it.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Ad majorem Dei gloriam
For the greater glory of God.
For months now I've been anticipating today - what it would look like, what it would be. As I pulled into the parking lot outside of my 16-story residence hall on campus, I still didn't know what to expect. I still don't.
Let me explain.
About two years ago I heard of a master's program that was basically free if I agreed to teach in a Catholic school for two years. I thought, "Sure. A master's degree for free? Totally worth it." But it's not that simple. This summer I'll take 13 credit hours of graduate classes in two months. I'll live in community with 27 peers. I'll be asked to share my journey in faith with these peers. Then, when those two months are over, I'll be asked to start teaching 5-8 graders full time. I'll be asked to contribute to their growth as Catholics, as students, as people.
This is much more than a master's degree. Something else is going on here, something I don't quite have the words for yet. Many people who read this blog may not be interested in the spiritual side of my journey. And that's okay. I'll be sharing other things too. But I won't apologize for sharing my spiritual journey through all of this, because it wouldn't be true if I didn't. And, anyway, I want to share it with you.
In two months I will be a teacher, and everything between now and then is all the training I get.
This blog will serve as a record of my ups and downs, questions, ideas and general discussions of what I'm learning and who I'm learning it from.
For months now I've been anticipating today - what it would look like, what it would be. As I pulled into the parking lot outside of my 16-story residence hall on campus, I still didn't know what to expect. I still don't.
Let me explain.
About two years ago I heard of a master's program that was basically free if I agreed to teach in a Catholic school for two years. I thought, "Sure. A master's degree for free? Totally worth it." But it's not that simple. This summer I'll take 13 credit hours of graduate classes in two months. I'll live in community with 27 peers. I'll be asked to share my journey in faith with these peers. Then, when those two months are over, I'll be asked to start teaching 5-8 graders full time. I'll be asked to contribute to their growth as Catholics, as students, as people.
This is much more than a master's degree. Something else is going on here, something I don't quite have the words for yet. Many people who read this blog may not be interested in the spiritual side of my journey. And that's okay. I'll be sharing other things too. But I won't apologize for sharing my spiritual journey through all of this, because it wouldn't be true if I didn't. And, anyway, I want to share it with you.
In two months I will be a teacher, and everything between now and then is all the training I get.
This blog will serve as a record of my ups and downs, questions, ideas and general discussions of what I'm learning and who I'm learning it from.