So I had my first week back in grad school, this time working on a Master’s in Education. Right now I’m writing this blog entry because I have writer’s block on a short reflection paper I’m supposed to write about who I am and why I want to teach. I’m staring at the blank screen and thinking to myself, “Who am I? In 2-3 pages? That’s not nearly enough time for me to frame a satisfactory theory of personal identity, let alone try and apply that theory to myself!”
Yes, I know I have problems. Twelve years of philosophy you study, think as straight you will not, eh?
But this certainly isn’t the way I remember beginning grad school the last time. There, it was very much a thrown-into-the-deep-end-of-the-pool sort of thing, with no time for any kind of touchy feely stuff. We were being Serious Thinkers, don’t you know. I had a tendency to slip autobiographical material into my papers – I thought it might make them more interesting to read, and connect the material to life. But most of my instructors disapproved of that. (And in fairness, there were times I was certainly self-indulgent. And the less said about the time I slipped autobiographical detail into what was supposed to be an anonymous examination essay, the better.)
In this program, though, it seems like it’s not so focused on the theoretical stuff. Not to say that I don’t think it’s rigorous, or that I’m not taking it seriously. But reflection papers and introductory icebreakers have a role to play, because there’s a different end goal – rather than develop theoretical thinkers who might also be able to teach, the goal here is to become a better teacher, one who might possibly understand some theories better than before. And we have to have a level of self-awareness because it’s our job as teachers to get up in front of a room and essentially commit an act of performance art every day, engaging an audience and drawing out their involvement. So the social interactions, the understanding of your own thoughts and goals at the start of the process — all of that is key to the learning process.
Heck, you could probably say it’s a Deweyan learn-by-doing kind of thing. Sneaky professors.