Assessment of learning and professional development over this semester:
Over the course of this semester, I've learned a lot about the purpose of education. I am currently finishing my second education block of nine hours (3 classes). In these classes, I've learned that a teacher is not merely a person who knows and loves a certain content or field of study. A teacher needs to love his or her content area, but furthermore, a teacher needs to care about his or her students. So a teacher needs to love his content area and his students is the first thing I've learned about education. The second thing I've learned comes from Senior Seminar. Education exists to preserve culture. This is the reason education began and is why it still exists today. With these two implications in mind, the thought of meeting a student who needs that extra help learning how to write concisely seems appropriate. With these in mind, taking the extra time to add encouraging comments on assignments seems the Most important. My job as an educator will be to preserve culture while loving my students and my field of English.
Also over the course of this semester, I've learned a lot about formality of resumes and cover letters. These are skills everyone needs to learn, things that would be embarrassing to ask for or learn outside of the college environment. So I am also thankful to learn these trades and information as well.
As for this class, it seems as though my time is done.
Thanks for reading this far.
good night and good luck.
Out.
Monday, December 13, 2010
#26 Assigned 12/7
Plan for lifelong learning:
I look up to my girlfriend's grandmother so much. She (Honey) is 77 years old; however, her heart is still beating strong with a passion for life. Last year, Honey decided she need something new to keep her mind active, so she went out and bought an acoustic guitar. She and Melissa's sister took guitar lessons together for at least a few months. And this is just one clear example of this growing zeal for life. Honey is a model reader. She reads more books this month than I've read in the past year! With all of this knowledge, one would think Honey is very smart...and she is. My girlfriend and I believe we can go to Honey for information or insight concerning every avenue of life. But this would not be possible without Honey's lifelong learning habits.
This is something I desire to-lifelong learning. I desire to never cease to learn new tricks, read new books, etc. And Honey will be my inspiration. Many claim "You can't teach a dog new tricks!" I used to agree with this phrase; I mean what's the point of teaching a dog a new trick when they would not be able to use it for very long? Then I met Honey, and I learned the truth: We continue to read hard texts and learn new tricks because stretching one's self causes growth. This applies to knowledge and to relationships.
My plan for lifelong learning:
-Continue to read up on Christian apologetics written by dead men (their writings are the hardest to understand and yet so rewarding)
-Read Newsweek and books by those with opposing world-views
-Stay in the close friendships (Even though they're messy, they can grow me the most and will mean the most)
Out.
I look up to my girlfriend's grandmother so much. She (Honey) is 77 years old; however, her heart is still beating strong with a passion for life. Last year, Honey decided she need something new to keep her mind active, so she went out and bought an acoustic guitar. She and Melissa's sister took guitar lessons together for at least a few months. And this is just one clear example of this growing zeal for life. Honey is a model reader. She reads more books this month than I've read in the past year! With all of this knowledge, one would think Honey is very smart...and she is. My girlfriend and I believe we can go to Honey for information or insight concerning every avenue of life. But this would not be possible without Honey's lifelong learning habits.
This is something I desire to-lifelong learning. I desire to never cease to learn new tricks, read new books, etc. And Honey will be my inspiration. Many claim "You can't teach a dog new tricks!" I used to agree with this phrase; I mean what's the point of teaching a dog a new trick when they would not be able to use it for very long? Then I met Honey, and I learned the truth: We continue to read hard texts and learn new tricks because stretching one's self causes growth. This applies to knowledge and to relationships.
My plan for lifelong learning:
-Continue to read up on Christian apologetics written by dead men (their writings are the hardest to understand and yet so rewarding)
-Read Newsweek and books by those with opposing world-views
-Stay in the close friendships (Even though they're messy, they can grow me the most and will mean the most)
Out.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
#25
An assessment of the role of humanities and the liberal arts in a well-lived life and in society:
While traveling through Laos this summer, the group I was traveling with visited a friend of a friend of mine (actually the friend we were visiting is my friend sara's fiance). Well, the guy we were visiting (let's call him Mark) worked in a school, teaching English and Laotian languages. He showed us the school's library, and a shocking detail rubbed me in an interesting way: The library did not have many books, English or Laotian. I remember asking Mark why, and he answered, "Most of the students don't know how to read." I learned later that, in fact, only 1/4 of the people of Laos can read and write their native language. Therefore, Mark's job is to first teach the students to read and write their own language first, and only then could teach the people of Laos English.
What does this have to do with the role of humanities and liberal arts in a well-lived life and society? Well, let's compare the difference of my life compared to someone of a similar age in Laos. I am in school, I can read and write, produce thoughts for others to process, I can continue to learn whatever I want, whenever I want, by myself. A similar aged person of Laos most likely cannot read or write and therefore depends on others more heavily than I do. His forms of education must be taught and are even then only resonating on one level (the level of lecture from teacher to student). Furthermore, a huge form of entertainment for me rests in reading and writing. A good day for me constitutes having had the time to read and write. Then again, I guess I can afford to spend the time reading and writing. My equal in Laos, on the other hand, cannot spend that time reading, writing, or even learning to read and write because he/she is too busy working in the fields, making food, trying to survive. The fact that I live in America, where I do not have to work in the field and it does Not take me all day to prepare a meal had a definite effect on my ability and opportunities to read and write.
Out.
While traveling through Laos this summer, the group I was traveling with visited a friend of a friend of mine (actually the friend we were visiting is my friend sara's fiance). Well, the guy we were visiting (let's call him Mark) worked in a school, teaching English and Laotian languages. He showed us the school's library, and a shocking detail rubbed me in an interesting way: The library did not have many books, English or Laotian. I remember asking Mark why, and he answered, "Most of the students don't know how to read." I learned later that, in fact, only 1/4 of the people of Laos can read and write their native language. Therefore, Mark's job is to first teach the students to read and write their own language first, and only then could teach the people of Laos English.
What does this have to do with the role of humanities and liberal arts in a well-lived life and society? Well, let's compare the difference of my life compared to someone of a similar age in Laos. I am in school, I can read and write, produce thoughts for others to process, I can continue to learn whatever I want, whenever I want, by myself. A similar aged person of Laos most likely cannot read or write and therefore depends on others more heavily than I do. His forms of education must be taught and are even then only resonating on one level (the level of lecture from teacher to student). Furthermore, a huge form of entertainment for me rests in reading and writing. A good day for me constitutes having had the time to read and write. Then again, I guess I can afford to spend the time reading and writing. My equal in Laos, on the other hand, cannot spend that time reading, writing, or even learning to read and write because he/she is too busy working in the fields, making food, trying to survive. The fact that I live in America, where I do not have to work in the field and it does Not take me all day to prepare a meal had a definite effect on my ability and opportunities to read and write.
Out.
#18
Ancient Literature took place in what's known as the Bronze age. Writing systems date back to this time (3000 BC). Stories filled with strong tribal and familial loyalty, with polytheistic believers, and with pessimistic and powerless characters are all characteristics of Ancient Literature. An example of a work from this time includes The Epic of Gilgamesh. Other Homeric epics fall into this Ancient Literature category.
Classical Literature ushers in the development of drama, history as art, philosophy, and the increasingly sophisticated lyric poetry. Under this umbrella, we find the work of the Greeks: tragedies, comedies, philosophy.
English Literature begins with Beowulf in its Wessex dialect of Old English. Within English Literature division, we find Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
Renaissance Literature includes many famous works: Cervantes' Don Quixote, Shakespeare's sonnets and plays, King James Bible, and Milton's Paradise Lost.
British Literature includes many important sub-sections: Restoration period, Romantic period, Victorian Era, British Realism, British Modernism. Enlightenment sensibility: balance and harmony; peace and prosperity; satiric wit all helped herald the growing literature in Britain at the time. Another factor that facilitated the growth of British Literature was the publishing of periodic essays for the middle class. Important works from these divisions of literary history include Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, and many more.
American Literature can be broken down into many subheadings also: colonial American literature, early American, transcendentalist writings, American renaissance, realism, naturalist writings, and modernist writings and its responses (Multicultural/Contemporary/ Postmodern/Postsecular writings). When most people think of American author's, they probably think first to these from the modern fiction writers:
• F. Scod Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
• William Faulkner (Nobel Prize), The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying
• Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises
• John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
• Flannery O’Connor, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”
Out.
Classical Literature ushers in the development of drama, history as art, philosophy, and the increasingly sophisticated lyric poetry. Under this umbrella, we find the work of the Greeks: tragedies, comedies, philosophy.
English Literature begins with Beowulf in its Wessex dialect of Old English. Within English Literature division, we find Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
Renaissance Literature includes many famous works: Cervantes' Don Quixote, Shakespeare's sonnets and plays, King James Bible, and Milton's Paradise Lost.
British Literature includes many important sub-sections: Restoration period, Romantic period, Victorian Era, British Realism, British Modernism. Enlightenment sensibility: balance and harmony; peace and prosperity; satiric wit all helped herald the growing literature in Britain at the time. Another factor that facilitated the growth of British Literature was the publishing of periodic essays for the middle class. Important works from these divisions of literary history include Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, and many more.
American Literature can be broken down into many subheadings also: colonial American literature, early American, transcendentalist writings, American renaissance, realism, naturalist writings, and modernist writings and its responses (Multicultural/Contemporary/ Postmodern/Postsecular writings). When most people think of American author's, they probably think first to these from the modern fiction writers:
• F. Scod Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
• William Faulkner (Nobel Prize), The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying
• Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises
• John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
• Flannery O’Connor, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”
Out.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
#27
List of current issues facing higher education:
1) Role of Liberal Arts, English, History in society
2) Surplus of PhD graduates
3) Role of technology in higher education
4) Credibility of distance learning (Devry, Phoenix)
1) Role of Liberal Arts, English, History in society
2) Surplus of PhD graduates
3) Role of technology in higher education
4) Credibility of distance learning (Devry, Phoenix)
#20, Assigned 11/4
Anyone who has traveled across then United States will attest to the changing dialects of English. Scratch that, anyone who has travelled around their state will admit language changes depending on the region. I will; I spent 18 years of my life in Houston, Texas and then moved here, Lubbock. The physical distance between the two seemed to exaggerate when I talked to my first West-Texanite.
Even heading back to Houston for the holidays causes me to step back and re-evaluate my speaking. I always come back home saying more "yalls" than the rest of my family. This osmosis begins to scare me to a greater degree. Even though I'm an English major, has my application of English been so influenced by my surroundings that I would not be hired for a teaching job up north?
Another consideration in teaching involves bilingual issues. While completing a mentoring assignment at Atkins Middle School here in Lubbock, I got a chance to speak with a faculty member. He informed me that Atkins was a certified "bilingual school." I really did not understand what he meant. He explained: Atkins Middle School only hires teachers with backgrounds in bilingual education, for most of their students speak Spanish and yet need to learn English. I asked him how that works, and he responded that in Kindergarten, teachers do their 80% of their lessons in Spanish and 20% in English. He said that native English speakers merely get an introduction into Spanish, while Spanish speakers are taught from the beginning how to read and write in Spanish; basically, all students are starting on the same page. As the students progress through the grades, the percentages of English and Spanish instruction are leveled out to 50/50 and then finally to the point where English instruction is the primary. I remember feeling shocked when told the research showed this was The most effective way to teach. Now though, I think the idea and implications of bilingual education holds endless possibilities.
Out.
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