About Me
- Sue Parler
- New Jersey, United States
- I'm currently in my 32nd year teaching at DePaul Catholic HS in Wayne, NJ. I teach Game Design, Cryptology, and Spanish -- yes, it's an odd mix -- even I admit it. I am the IT Coordinator at DePaul Catholic as well, which means I manage the network, the student information system, the website, and the 900+ computers in the building. Yep, keeps me busy.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Me as Learner
I’m probably every teacher’s worst nightmare as a student – and I have been as far back as I can remember. We have movies (yes, movies!) of my first birthday party where I saw a candle for the first time. Apparently I was quite intrigued by the flame and made several attempts to touch it – all thwarted by my ever-vigilant mother. Then Dad said, “Let her touch it.” Of course, there was no sound with those movies, but through the combination of reading my dad’s lips and the horror on Mom’s face, you get the gist of the conversation.
And I was permitted to touch the candle. So started my pathway to self-discovered knowledge. And I’m still traveling that path today.
I constantly received N’s (needs improvement) in the “Completes what s/he begins” area of my grade school report card. I started everything, but as long as I knew I could complete it, I moved on – teach me more, because I already know that stuff. And when the teachers insisted on staying on task, I went off along my merry way experiencing my own learning.
I took apart everything. Sometimes I would even put in back together. I have a picture of myself at three hanging in my office - screwdriver in hand, sheer delight expressed, as I was taking apart a Baby Ben alarm clock. I captioned the picture “Hang on to the Wonder and Awe”. At three I had no fear of failure – just wonder and awe. And I’ve attempted to live each day hanging on to that desire to learn. So far, it’s been a breeze.
The World Wide Web was made for people like me – more information, faster, vaster, no borders; no limits – all at my finger tips. My dad bought me “The Answer Book” when I was six. He told me to look things up for myself. And I did – and still do.
So the educational system that would work best for me has little direction and limitless boundaries. It is purely personal. It is not without any degree of ambition. It is not without any degree of focus. It is simply driven by the student, which means that whatever the student chooses to learn has a built-in significance – to that particular student.
If you acknowledge that 1) You want to learn, and 2) Limitless information is readily available, then Media Literacy is paramount to the process. The recipient of this information must be able to analyze the validity and reliability of the information. The other component to Media Literacy is to be able to then produce media – adding to the (educational) literary body of work. I liked Wesch’s concept of since the information is readily available, perhaps a better take would be how do we harness that information and make something new out of it.
Would a CMS help me in my insatiable quest for knowledge? If it were well constructed to guide a student’s path – not dictate it. If it allowed students not only gain knowledge, but challenged them to use it with real-world applications. If it cultivated the sharing of ideas to create a group synergy that far exceeds the accomplishments of any single participant. Then yes. But it is not the CMS that does this – it is the instructor that designs the course. The instructor paradigm shifts from knowledge expert to knowledge guide.
Welcome to the journey.
And I was permitted to touch the candle. So started my pathway to self-discovered knowledge. And I’m still traveling that path today.
I constantly received N’s (needs improvement) in the “Completes what s/he begins” area of my grade school report card. I started everything, but as long as I knew I could complete it, I moved on – teach me more, because I already know that stuff. And when the teachers insisted on staying on task, I went off along my merry way experiencing my own learning.
I took apart everything. Sometimes I would even put in back together. I have a picture of myself at three hanging in my office - screwdriver in hand, sheer delight expressed, as I was taking apart a Baby Ben alarm clock. I captioned the picture “Hang on to the Wonder and Awe”. At three I had no fear of failure – just wonder and awe. And I’ve attempted to live each day hanging on to that desire to learn. So far, it’s been a breeze.
The World Wide Web was made for people like me – more information, faster, vaster, no borders; no limits – all at my finger tips. My dad bought me “The Answer Book” when I was six. He told me to look things up for myself. And I did – and still do.
So the educational system that would work best for me has little direction and limitless boundaries. It is purely personal. It is not without any degree of ambition. It is not without any degree of focus. It is simply driven by the student, which means that whatever the student chooses to learn has a built-in significance – to that particular student.
If you acknowledge that 1) You want to learn, and 2) Limitless information is readily available, then Media Literacy is paramount to the process. The recipient of this information must be able to analyze the validity and reliability of the information. The other component to Media Literacy is to be able to then produce media – adding to the (educational) literary body of work. I liked Wesch’s concept of since the information is readily available, perhaps a better take would be how do we harness that information and make something new out of it.
Would a CMS help me in my insatiable quest for knowledge? If it were well constructed to guide a student’s path – not dictate it. If it allowed students not only gain knowledge, but challenged them to use it with real-world applications. If it cultivated the sharing of ideas to create a group synergy that far exceeds the accomplishments of any single participant. Then yes. But it is not the CMS that does this – it is the instructor that designs the course. The instructor paradigm shifts from knowledge expert to knowledge guide.
Welcome to the journey.
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2 comments:
Sue, during school hours I gazed out the window and watched how the light filtered through the tree leaves in the schoolyard, or noticed how different smells drifted in through the window from the surrounding neighborhood. Always picked up on how a breeze sounded as it slipped through a set of blinds, or how the chirp of sparrows sounded different in the morning than in the afternoon. Paid attention to dust particles moving like small, floating planets in erratic orbits, in and out of a shaft of late afternoon sunlight. All little stuff. Yet it all felt completely significant to me. I had no idea what a sight and sound person I was until my dad put a camera in my hand. It was a revelation. I collected rocks and fossils. Stared at dinosaur books instead of doing my math. My dad bought me a small microscope. Another revelation. He bought me a telescope. No words to describe my first look at the craters on the moon. I built and disassembled stuff in our garage. My dad didn't mind. Once turned our entire garage into my own natural history museum. Charged 25 cents. Put a sign up. No one came, but I was satisfied with what I had created. My imagination built astounding, strange places and events. I wrote. Filled pages with short stories and drawings.
And school? Absolutely meaningless. Always in trouble for not "paying attention". I didn't mean to be this way, honest. Just was. My brain was always thinking of enormous things while the classroom felt small.
So I completely understand. I only hope I can be the kind of teacher who notices the Sues and Bruces of this world, kids gazing out the window, wondering at prehistoric animals, touching candles, drawing unseen worlds, taking apart radios...
Great story Bruce. I always knew we were separated at birth.
Peace, Sue.
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