HollyHippensteel

Hi everyone, my name is Holly and I thought that I posted my introduction WEEKS ago but I just realized that I had created my profile and not actually posted an introduction here...so maybe the first thing that I should say about myself is that I haven't used a wiki before and may not be the most technically adept person. :)

So anyway, I am working on my PhD in Educational Administration at Kent and have completed 6 classes so far. I hope to finish my coursework in the fall of 2009 so I'll be around for awhile. I am currently the Director of Student Life at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh PA. My partner and I have 3 children (5, 2, and 1 month).

I am serving as a teaching assistant this semester here at Carnegie Mellon in fullfillment of this internship. The class is for graduate students in the Public Policy and Management program and covers legal issues in higher education. It has been a great experience so far!

Journal Entry - //Hi everyone, here is one of my journal entries from earlier in the semester. I chose it because I feel like I learned a lot about myself as a teacher on the night that I'm talking about. My entries can be a little stream of conciousness so I'm sorry for the run on sentences and poor grammar.//

October 10, 2007 8:28pm

This evening’s class session just ended and I decided to stay behind to write some notes in my journal in the moment rather than reflecting on my drive home and then writing. Tonight we discussed legal issues related to residence halls – duty of care, access, privacy rights, etc – which is a topic that I have a lot of knowledge about. I am conversant and comfortable with all of the material in the course but the issues about residence halls span my academic and my professional experiences so I bring a more intimate understanding of the material. Tonight’s discussion of hallmark cases and examples of how those rulings impact higher education policy and practice gave me some insights in to my teaching style – strengths and weaknesses.

What I realized is that, because of my familiarity and understanding of the material, I was really able to concentrate on the discussion at hand and sort of get lost in the discussion. I have experienced teachers in my time as a student who lose track of time because the class really dove in to a topic and I experienced that some tonight as an instructor. Without realizing it we spent 30-35 minutes talking about what is ethical versus what is legal related to searches and seizures of residence hall rooms. The discussion was really interesting and seemed to strike a chord with the students who are all graduate students who live off campus but who were able to see the pull between personal interests and institutional interests.

This realization affirmed for me that my teaching philosophy is grounded in helping students see the interconnectedness of the material that we are studying or not just the interconnectedness but really the complexities, bringing in to focus the shades of gray that make the material interesting and relevant. I realized too that I am a very practical person so identifying why information is relevant is very important to me. Because of this importance to me I presume that practicality of information is important to the students as well and so this is a strong influence in how I frame information and concepts. This works well in a higher ed law class where the applications are fairly apparent but I wonder how it would impact my teaching in a more theoretical course?

The other observation that I made about myself tonight is that I was too quick to respond to questions from the students. When asked questions about developing policies I could have and maybe should have asked back to the class – “what do you all think?” or “if you were our legal counsel, what would you advise based on what we’ve read?”. These questions back to the class would have given them the opportunity to consider the question and the material that we were reading and discussing and come to their own conclusions or at least weigh in with an informed opinion. It also would have given me a chance to see how they were processing the information and what either was or was not making sense to them at that point. If no one picked up on a key point, for example, then I could have gone over that material again or asked more about what we learned from a particular case. I think because I was so excited to see the conversation going well and because I was comfortable answering the questions I got caught up in the moment and didn’t capitalize on some of the educational opportunities that I was presented.

I believe that students gain a deeper appreciation for course material when they are given an opportunity to apply it or explain its relevance. I realize as an instructor that it can be easier and even personally fulfilling to answer students’ questions myself or just talk about the material that I know. The temptation to just give the information, either by lecturing or answering all the questions myself, is great but is that really teaching the students? No, I don’t think that it is.

As I read __Pedagogy of the Oppressed__ and consider Friere’s perspective on teaching as a tool for social change I am thinking more and more about my own educational experiences, how they have changed me and how they shape my perspective as a teacher. //Knowing// the kind of teacher that I want to be versus actually teaching in the way that I believe is most effective are two very different things though just like knowing the material and helping other people to understand the material are very different. I knew before tonight that being a good teacher takes more than knowing the material but I think I thought that knowing the material really well would make the teaching easier and I realized tonight that it actually presented me with new challenges. Being really comfortable with the material can make you forget that others are less comfortable, it can lead you to presume that everyone is following the discussion when there could be critical components that have been lost.

Tonight was a good reminder for me that how we teach, our style and the way that we interact with students, should match our philosophy on teaching. And that while that is easily said, it isn’t always so easily done.