I am a Snarky Bastard.
Below the cut, you'll find the introduction to my exit portfolio. Every time I reference say, "my resume" or "my transcript" or "this collection of work"... anything tangible in this text, including "my mother"... I've linked to an appropriate document, website, or email address.
Oh, and the colours are hideous purple background offsetting a bright maroon-type text-- just for emphasis.
And yes, I'm snarky as all else, and proud of it.
Dear Reader,
For the purposes of writing an introduction to this collection of work, I've contemplated several approaches to talking about who I am as a person, a professional, and a teacher. The first approach I considered was delving into educational theory and the implications of using developments in educational pyschology in the classroom. I have, through the course of my education at Northern Michigan University, been well-schooled in this approach to constructing a philosophy of education...
I even have an interesting survey, developed by a former professor, that would help guide me in choosing my teacher-labels. ...But, I believe, as Dr. Nagel suggests in her book, The Tao of Teaching, "The Way [to becoming a good teacher] is Nameless."
I also considered just leaving the viewers of this portfolio with a link to my resume and a copy of my transcript, to simply state that I am an English Education major minoring in History at Northern Michigan University, and then allowing those who would make suppositions about based on that arbitrary information to do so, and to leave all others to ask questions of me, perhaps in the form of an email. So much of my work is self-explanatory, but, as an extroverted judging type, I'm willing to talk about anything I've put time into.
Another useless introduction to this collection, perhaps, would delve into my roots-- where and when I was born, perhaps insight into my childhood. The knowledge of these facts would perhaps be viewed acceptable or even expected for an introduction, seemingly based on some strange leftover Freudian philosophy that the core of my being is decided not in the choices I make and have made, but in the origins of my physical self. Not to say I cannot recognise the worth of my youth, but rather I fail to see the relevance of such information to anyone other than myself, and perhaps a geneologist. If you are in fact interested in mapping out my family tree, however, please feel free to email my Mother. I'm sure she would express interest.
There was also, briefly, a flirtation with the idea just to link this entry to my Educational Observations weblog, located on BlogSpot's fine servers, and just leaving all judgements about me to what little information can be gleaned from my somewhat slanted descriptions of events that have occurred in classes I have been a part of. That idea was also quickly discarded because I wanted the opportunity to present myself as plainly as I could, as me, not as a collection of memories.
So, as I'm doubtless any reader of this introduction can surmise, I was at somewhat of a difficult decision regarding the introduction to this work, which has consumed a significant portion of my life of late.
All I can say of myself is, 'Who I am, and who I am as a teacher are one in the same.' There is no complication to that statement. In a sense that each of us imparts to others knowledge, every day, it could be said that all of us are teachers of a sort, from the classroom teacher to the man who, every Sunday, walks by your apartment with his golden laborador. The difference, I believe, between myself and the man with the yellow dog is simply that every aspect of my being centers around inspiring others to knowledge.
I have no desire to be a teacher so I can have my summers off, or for the paycheck. I want to inspire, to enflame, to enrich, and in turn I want to spend my life dedicated to learning and growing.
Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.
This quote, attributed to Socrates, spells out my own personal beliefs about teaching. I fail to see the real-world applications of fact- and figure- cramming. The point of going to school is not to be told what to think, but rather to be shown paths to developing how to think. The important part of this quote is the sentiment, "kindling the flame"... the spark for learning is already with children, from the moment they open their eyes (or earlier, depending on your beliefs), a child is learning about the world and his and/or her place in it. Teaching is about fostering that learning and helping students develop new processes.
So, please, enjoy the fruits of my labour. I hope you learn something along the way about me, or even just about the processes contained within this string of zeros and ones.
Oh, and feel free to email my advisor, and tell her how much you love my work.
I'm sure she'd love to hear one of her "chickens" is doing well.
Also, if you'd like to know more about what I do when I'm not working on projects for classrooms, please discover the joy of my "extra curriculars" page, which could never encapsulate the depth of my experiences outside of the classroom, but which does a pretty good job of giving an overview of what I do in my "down time."
Thank you for your time,
Shawn O'Neil
Oh, and the colours are hideous purple background offsetting a bright maroon-type text-- just for emphasis.
And yes, I'm snarky as all else, and proud of it.
Dear Reader,
For the purposes of writing an introduction to this collection of work, I've contemplated several approaches to talking about who I am as a person, a professional, and a teacher. The first approach I considered was delving into educational theory and the implications of using developments in educational pyschology in the classroom. I have, through the course of my education at Northern Michigan University, been well-schooled in this approach to constructing a philosophy of education...
I even have an interesting survey, developed by a former professor, that would help guide me in choosing my teacher-labels. ...But, I believe, as Dr. Nagel suggests in her book, The Tao of Teaching, "The Way [to becoming a good teacher] is Nameless."
I also considered just leaving the viewers of this portfolio with a link to my resume and a copy of my transcript, to simply state that I am an English Education major minoring in History at Northern Michigan University, and then allowing those who would make suppositions about based on that arbitrary information to do so, and to leave all others to ask questions of me, perhaps in the form of an email. So much of my work is self-explanatory, but, as an extroverted judging type, I'm willing to talk about anything I've put time into.
Another useless introduction to this collection, perhaps, would delve into my roots-- where and when I was born, perhaps insight into my childhood. The knowledge of these facts would perhaps be viewed acceptable or even expected for an introduction, seemingly based on some strange leftover Freudian philosophy that the core of my being is decided not in the choices I make and have made, but in the origins of my physical self. Not to say I cannot recognise the worth of my youth, but rather I fail to see the relevance of such information to anyone other than myself, and perhaps a geneologist. If you are in fact interested in mapping out my family tree, however, please feel free to email my Mother. I'm sure she would express interest.
There was also, briefly, a flirtation with the idea just to link this entry to my Educational Observations weblog, located on BlogSpot's fine servers, and just leaving all judgements about me to what little information can be gleaned from my somewhat slanted descriptions of events that have occurred in classes I have been a part of. That idea was also quickly discarded because I wanted the opportunity to present myself as plainly as I could, as me, not as a collection of memories.
So, as I'm doubtless any reader of this introduction can surmise, I was at somewhat of a difficult decision regarding the introduction to this work, which has consumed a significant portion of my life of late.
All I can say of myself is, 'Who I am, and who I am as a teacher are one in the same.' There is no complication to that statement. In a sense that each of us imparts to others knowledge, every day, it could be said that all of us are teachers of a sort, from the classroom teacher to the man who, every Sunday, walks by your apartment with his golden laborador. The difference, I believe, between myself and the man with the yellow dog is simply that every aspect of my being centers around inspiring others to knowledge.
I have no desire to be a teacher so I can have my summers off, or for the paycheck. I want to inspire, to enflame, to enrich, and in turn I want to spend my life dedicated to learning and growing.
Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.
This quote, attributed to Socrates, spells out my own personal beliefs about teaching. I fail to see the real-world applications of fact- and figure- cramming. The point of going to school is not to be told what to think, but rather to be shown paths to developing how to think. The important part of this quote is the sentiment, "kindling the flame"... the spark for learning is already with children, from the moment they open their eyes (or earlier, depending on your beliefs), a child is learning about the world and his and/or her place in it. Teaching is about fostering that learning and helping students develop new processes.
So, please, enjoy the fruits of my labour. I hope you learn something along the way about me, or even just about the processes contained within this string of zeros and ones.
Oh, and feel free to email my advisor, and tell her how much you love my work.
I'm sure she'd love to hear one of her "chickens" is doing well.
Also, if you'd like to know more about what I do when I'm not working on projects for classrooms, please discover the joy of my "extra curriculars" page, which could never encapsulate the depth of my experiences outside of the classroom, but which does a pretty good job of giving an overview of what I do in my "down time."
Thank you for your time,
Shawn O'Neil