Published by the CFCC Teaching/Learning Institute.
Contact Person: Joe Zimmerman, Building 1,Room 103A
Ocala Campus, Extension 1782 or 1708

Vision Statement
Energetic, purposeful, creative, Central Florida Community College
promotes learning in an open, caring, inclusive environment which encourages
individual and community development inspired by shared values of
integrity, service, responsibility and diginity

by Joe Zimmerman, T/LI Coordinator
The numbers are clear and disturbing. According to an investigation by the Government Accountability Office of Congress and a survey by the Student Public Interest Research Groups (Student PIRGs), students in 2005 spent an average of $898 per year on textbooks. This number represents 72% of tuition at the average community college. If the trend continues, in a few short years our students at CFCC will be paying as much for books as they do for tuition.

Even more disturbing than the spiraling price of textbooks is the fact that textbook publishers are almost surely engaging in unfair business practices. A study by Yale University last year came to the conclusion that American textbook companies sell the same textbooks in England for far less money than they charge in the U.S. These companies are gouging our students as well as our financial aid resources, and I really think it’s time that we as professors start doing something about it.

The book reps—who always behave like long lost friends when they open our office doors—tell us how expensive it is to research and develop textbooks (as they pass out canvas bags filled with goodies, bring lunch to all who will sit and listen to them, and send desk copies to teachers who no longer work here). They tell us that new editions have to come out every three years so that they can be up to date. They tell us how little money their companies actually make. They tell us how many free books they have to send out to professors to get one to actually use the book. But I find it hard to feel sorry for the 8 billion dollar textbook industry.

The sad thing is how little colleges and professors are doing to fight back for our students.

I know that our textbooks are an extremely important tool in the educational process. I know that many textbooks do need to publish important up to date information. But for a lot of different courses—history, literature, math, humanities, English—I find it hard to believe that the changes of a new edition warrant a $100-$150 price tag on a book.

What is surprising is how little the previous editions of textbooks cost. Go to half.com or Amazon.com. and type in the title of your textbook. Now compare the prices of the current edition of your text with the previous edition. I did this for the book we use in Freshman Composition II. The new edition at our bookstore sells for $85. The previous edition on half.com sells for $5. The difference in the books is negligible—they took out a few poems and stories, they added a few. But I was happy with the previous edition (and the one before that). Textbooks companies make huge amounts of cash by constantly churning out new editions because frankly they don’t make any money on the used books. (Think of the sustainability issue here, Steve!).

How can we help our students? Below I offer some suggestions, and if you can think of any others, please let me know so I can print them in our next issue. Special thanks to Sandra Cooper and Diann Stowers for their thoughtful input to this list:

1.    Give students extra time to get their textbooks for your class. Many of our students are savvy—they do get their texts online. (One of our learning outcomes is “self direction,” so it follows that we should support our students who pursue cheaper books)  But this means it might take a few days for them to get it shipped to them. So put several copies of your textbooks on reserve at the LRC so that the students buying online can keep up with the readings in that all important first week of class. And tell students it’s OK not to buy the text at the bookstore; this is America.

2.    Try to choose textbooks that have a longer new edition cycle than similar texts. I use the Norton publisher in my literature classes because their cycle is every six years while their competitor puts out a new edition every four years.

3.    Post textbook titles and ISBN numbers on upcoming class schedules.

(Yes, Jenzabar can actually do this!) As soon as students sign up for a class, they can start searching for good textbook prices. Simply give the textbook information to your friendly staff assistant when they are imputing the new schedule of classes. You can post the textbook info on your office door as well.

4.    If you can, let your students use a previous edition of your text. (But be specific as to how far back you will allow them to go).

5.    Lately textbooks companies have been bundling their texts with extra items like workbooks and CDs. This makes is it harder for students to sell back their books. If you don’t use these add-ons, let students know so that they can buy a used edition of the book.

6.    Beware of the recent ploy of “premium” companion web sites. In this scam, the students who buy the new textbook pay less for the web access than students who buy a used book. Fees for access also go up without notice. Here at CFCC, when mycomplab launched, access was $9.95 per year; now access is $24.95 per year. Professors were never notified that the price more than doubled in less than three years.

7.    Facilitate student book swaps. On the last day of class, ask students who want to sell their textbooks to write down their name and phone number. Give this list to the first meeting of your next class. Other colleges sponsor student book swap events the first week of classes, in the gym in the cafeteria. I recently spoke with Marjorie McGee and Dr. Cooper about this and they would support such an event. This of course would have to be student driven.

To read the Yale study on lower textbook prices in the UK go to

http://www.econ.ucy.ac.cy/~sofronis/pub/TEIPD-EconLet.pdf

The following site is an interesting national student site with some great ideas for lowering prices: http://www.maketextbooksaffordable.org

Welcome Michele.
Thank you.

You are a veteran at CFCC, a veteran of the Citrus Campus. What is it like teaching in Lecanto?
Well we have a small campus, obviously, and it’s nice because there’s a certain bond that you can develop with the students; the faculty and adjuncts work closely together. It does have its limitations, but sometimes these limitations can be strengths. But anymore with internet and video conferencing I feel a lot more connected with the main campus. I don’t feel as disconnected as I did when I first started teaching out there.

What courses do you teach?
Studio art, I’ve taught drawing, design, sculpture, and painting. I also teach humanities and art history.

Do you have a philosophy of teaching?
Yes. I sum it up as “DOA.”

That doesn’t sound promising.
Well it’s not what you think. It’s just a way that makes it easy to remember. The ‘D’, for example, is for dynamic. If you are presenting material that you present it in a way that it was intended. Like if it’s a certain piece of literature, or a certain style of art that you’re showing, you want to be able to put yourself into it and give gestures and voice that go with whatever that is….

What’s the ‘O’?

The ‘O’ is organic, like a growing thing. For example you start a semester at point zero and you grow with the class, like a plant. You feed and water and hopefully you get that back.  You have to be ready to change. I have learned that success in teaching is connecting what I’m doing in class with what students already know, or think they know. So, again, in every course a teacher has to be ready to change, which kind of goes back to the Dynamic part also.

The ‘A’ is for authentic—every time you walk into class there’s an honest kind of repertoire that I try to build with these people. They are students, yes, but they are people. And so am I. I like to think that students tap into my enthusiasm. I am absorbed in my subject matter, in and out of class. When students know you are honestly and sincerely moved by the subject matter—which I am—they have a good chance of learning that subject matter.

It sounds like a very humanistic teaching philosophy. But let’s get more specific. Studio art. You teach drawing. How do you do that? How do you teach somebody to draw? Where do you start? 

More like constructivist, but Humanist is fine. OK, first of all …Let’s take figure drawing. Nine times out of ten, the people who come into that class think that they already need to know how to draw in order to take a drawing class (weird!). We start with basics. There are certain sets of proportions, such as those used in drawing the head and the figure.

Such as…

Well, how many heads high for the figure, setting up the head in 3rds and 4ths, how to set up the curve of the spine, ways to compare the width of the shoulders to some other length or width, things like that.

Does inspiration play a part?
It depends. In freehand drawing one it’s mostly skill building for the first half of the semester. Then you can do projects where they can experiment and be more creative individually, after they’ve gone through the four basic subject matters—still life, figure, portrait, and landscape—and you’ve exposed them to certain media and methods.

So anybody can be an artist in Michele Wirt’s class?

Anyone can be creative; anyone can learn skills; anybody can have fun; but are you going to leave the courses having learned enough to go forward and be successful professionally at art? For a living? Without a day job?

Competence , yes. But inspired? A teacher can’t necessarily make that happen.

Learning the elemental skills reminds of the teaching style of Jack Thursby. Do you like Jack’s work?

Yes I do.

What do you like about it?

Well…Color is everything about Jack’s mature work, along with the emphasis on brushstroke, a result of his training in the Japanese Sumi-e techniques with Yolanda Mayhall. The draftsmanship was always there, but then his application of color theory is one of his trademarks. I think his art has great humor—a lot of visual puns—I like that, too. And I always see something new when I look at his work…it’s enduring.

So let’s talk about your art, Michele. What is your forte?
I’m involved with doing portraits at the moment, have been for a while…

In oil?

In acrylics, I most enjoy doing portraits of musicians in acrylics. It’s fast. I tend to be very immediate and direct…I don’t like to labor too long on a piece…I like to have similar themes running through the work…And I like doing musicians because someone always has something in their hands, they’re always interacting with the instrument, the way they hold their bodies…that fascinates me.

I saw some of the works you are describing in your show last year. What town was that in again?

Old Homosassa, which was a fishing community way back when.

I remember the show was in an unusual building…there were old …

Printing presses. It’s a print museum, [The Old Mill House Gallery Printing Museum, next to the Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins]. It’s really quite famous.

So you did an art show at a Print Museum. I remember there was music and beer. That was some art show.
The proprietor is an old friend, James Anderson. I wrote a piece for the local paper, a profile on he and his wife, the whole process of how he got started with the museum, and as a favor to me for doing that he let me do an art show there of my work.

Wasn’t he in the band?

That was him. His stage name is Boe. He has a blues band.

All this talk of beer and music is distracting me. Let’ focus. You attended the Summer Fantasy Workshop in July and if I remember correctly you told me you had just completed a course offered by FSU in techniques for online teaching. Tell us about one thing you learned in that class that you use in your online teaching.

Well there were a few. One of them was the use of a Wiki space.

Tell us about Wiki.
A Wiki is a collaborative document that the students create. You have to be careful that they don’t edit or delete other students’ work…
At first I put discussion topics up there, wide open ones. What is the purpose of art, that sort of thing. Now I’m constructing the topic objectives to be more conducive to collaboration, for example having them create questions which others in the course have to pose answers for.

How is that different from a discussion on any other kind of discussion board, like Web CT?
It has some great advantages. In a regular one you have to open up every single message, or you have to compile them, and open up all the texts. But in Wiki you can see all of the posts on one page and it’s just visually a lot more interesting and fun, the students can add pictures as well.

So the Wiki is successful?
So far. We had a few setbacks. Some of the students were accidentally deleting each other’s stuff.

Do you assess the discussion posts?
Yes I do, and make comments on them as well; 20% of the students’ grades are based on the quality on their overall postings.

Weren’t you experimenting at Summer Fantasy with something called Diigo?
That’s an animation tool for Wiki. Students post things and it looks like regular yellow post it notes. This is so experimental I haven’t really built it into the course in that way yet. And some of these students have challenges as far as technology goes.

You took some students to Italy last summer. Let’s talk a bit about that. Where did you all go?
Rome, Venice and Florence.

How did the trip come about?

Originally, the year before I ended up taking them, I tried to get an Italian Renaissance Art course passed, partly because I was involved in an exhibit in Florence, so I thought it would be neat to be in the exhibit and brings some students so they could see the artwork there, meet other artists, absorb another culture. But that didn’t pan out. So instead, the next year, I took the students as an independent study course.

Was the trip successful?

I hope so. Many of our students don’t travel much, so I think they were all very enriched by being in Italy, seeing a lot of famous art in original settings. There’s a big difference looking at a piece of art in an art history book and seeing that piece of art hanging in a museum in Florence. Or seeing the statue of David, or the Pantheon. I hope to offer it again sometime in the next few years, but to do things differently, more tailored to our students needs.

Something you said earlier in the interview has been bothering me, a little. How do you teach art without teaching in a studio?

Well, we do have one classroom that has no carpet and a sink and storage space and has tables instead of desks. So over time I’ve bought easels, filled cabinets with supplies, kept past student work .Sometimes I bring stuff from home. I want to give back. These are courses students don’t have to take, so when they do take them, and then they come back for another course, and then another…that really keeps me going.

Thanks for your time, Michele.

Thank you.

A Fond Farewell and Best Wishes to our Retirees

Brenda Frazier, Kathy Kilcrease and Vi Surmons

Vi Surmons’ love of teaching is exhibited each time she enters the classroom. She is a skilled teacher who captures the interests and the involvement of her students in learning. Vi never desires to take center stage; however, her quiet leadership was evident during her term as program facilitator and in her service to the college and the community. I appreciate Vi’s involvement with the implementation of the QEP.

Kathy Kilcrease displays a strong personal commitment to learning – for students and for faculty. Kathy provided valuable leadership for the Teaching and Learning Institute during the development of the faculty promotion process and the adoption of the Institutional Learning Outcomes. I appreciated Kathy’s assistance with the development of “New Faculty Orientation and Training” and the many other activities involving faculty.

Brenda Frazier strongly motivates her students to achieve optimal learning in the Surgical Technology program. For many years, during her tenure as Director for the program, the students received 100% passing rate on the national certification exam. This program was also recognized as one of the top 20 Surg-Tech programs in the United States. I have appreciated Brenda’s candor and her ability to organize a very complex training schedule for her students.

Sharon P. Cooper, Ed.D.
Vice President for Instruction

I’d like to thank Kathy Kilcrease for being the fantastic teacher she was. She certainly made Geology come to life for me. Thanks Kathy! ~ Trish Glennon 

Kathy’s trips to the Galápagos Islands in the late 80’s were the inspiration for my course on Darwin, Evolution, and Galápagos Islands. She was very helpful and supportive of me while I was developing the course and I’ll never forget that.

  ~ Adam Hayashi

There were a few occasions when I needed some uplifting and Kathy happened to be there; she made me feel like there was someone else who also cared!  
  ~ Zinnia Callueng

Vi Surmons: A pure heart and a kind soul, Vi is a shining example of excellence and faith. I will remember her always. She inspires me.  ~ Cassandra J. Robison, Ph.D.

Vi Surmons got me my first job judging art at a local festival—the person in charge of the Inglis-Yankeetown Arts/Seafood “festival” knew Vi from some other community projects, and besides, they were probably desperate!

~ Michele Wirt

Vi was on my interview committee and I still remember my first impressions and how her response to me made me think, “I want to teach at CFCC”. Vi was dressed in her very professional and beautiful way and she smiled at me as she sat down at the table–her smile lasted longer than just a quick greeting smile; it was more like a comfort smile and I immediately had a feeling of being welcomed from this woman. During the past eight years I have watched students start to realize their potential because of the way Vi has of making people know they are welcome in her presence – just as she did for me. Students have worked very hard for Vi and she has touched many with her magic. Her firm faith permeates her entire life and she is one of the most Christian human beings I have every experienced. I will miss Vi and I hope she knows that she has touched my life in so many wonderful ways.   ~ Connie Tice

Kathy Kilcrease—“energetic, purposeful, creative”—she is our vision statement personified. Kathy tops the list of people to have by your side or leading when you face any challenging task. Kathy's student and learning centered philosophy helped to forge the vision and mission of the Teaching/Learning Institute. With her laughter, clear thinking and determination, she encouraged and nurtured her colleagues in the development of new ideas. For me she has been friend, confidante and partner. Thanks for guiding me over the rocks, dear hiking buddy.  ~Lynne Boele

Brenda is a nurse, a surgical technologist, and a teacher. She created our Surgical Technology (ST) program in the early ‘90s and has taught the program since that time. Brenda has maintained high standards, as demonstrated by the ST gradates 100% certifying examination pass rate and the ST accrediting agency designation of our program as a Top Twenty program in the country. The ST program and students have been the center of Brenda’s life. Her dedication, expertise, and initiative have influenced the lives of many students and, through her graduates have, positively impacted health care in the CFCC service area and beyond.   ~ Gwen Alcorn

Brenda is a ‘real’ person…She will chat about any current issues – in nursing – in cooking – in arthritis – in student behaviors….Doesn’t matter. You can always get a response – a real response. Not glittered up but usually with a laugh! She takes pride in her program and is not afraid to let us know that the surg-tech program has high state (and national) rankings. Some may call it bragging, but she feels she has bragging rights!    ~ Barbara Anderson

Kathy Kilcrease and I have spent many years discussing how the college can better do “housekeeping.” What that means is why talk about all the technology, if you don’t have pencils! Thanks to Kathy for her leadership in the Teaching/Learning Center, where her work along with the rest of us helped create the Fantasy Workshops that have helped improve instruction and education all over this campus.   ~ Dave Hartley

Vi Surmons unselfishly led the Communications Department for more years than any human should…mostly because no one else wanted the thankless job. Here’s some thanks for all of that hassle and work. I cannot number how many students have told me in passing how helpful Mrs. Surmons has been in their college experience. All that, and she bakes wonderful desserts!   ~ Dave Hartley

Working with Elvira for 23 years now, I have always considered her the emotional rock of our department; she faces her work with unshakable determination, and consistent professionalism. As a teacher, Vi has a big impact on her classes; I can always tell when I have one of Vi’s students sitting in my classroom; they are the most organized and always put forth a lot of effort. As program facilitator—an often impossible job—Vi inspired us to do better and never lose site of the student, and the personal challenges that so many of them bring to our classes. She was always fair, and practical, and helpful. I have never known a person more grounded in the values of teaching. The college is losing a valuable treasure.
Good luck to you Vi; we miss you already.    ~ Joe Zimmerman

During my third year at CFCC, I had the opportunity to attend the Florida Developmental Educators Association Fall Conference in Orlando. I was a relatively new faculty member at the time and was excited at the opportunity to get to know my fellow developmental educators from around the state and get to know my conference roommate Vi Surmons. I was looking forward to being able to spend some time with Vi and get to know her better as a person and a friend because I already knew and respected her as a wise and gifted educator.

During that conference, I got to know Vi much better and was amazed at her boundless energy and her determination to get the most out of every minute of every day—literally. She showed me that she demonstrates more than one interpretation of Colossians 4:5 in her daily walk “Be wise in the way you act towards outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.” She also showed me that even though she was a veteran educator, she was not ready to slow down and coast, but that she was truly like the Energizer bunny and she was going to keep going and going and going to get the most out of life.

She set a great example for me as a faculty member who was just beginning my higher education career and I have never forgotten that.  ~ Jana Bernhardt 

To Vi: You have been a friend, mentor, and confident. I am going to miss you. 

   ~ Judy Haisten

To Kathy: I have enjoyed getting to know you. Have a wonderful retirement.

   ~ Judy Haisten

Vi Surmons has been a good friend and co-worker for the past twenty-three years. She always cared about her students and tried to make a positive influence in their lives. Vi has such a loving and good heart—I cherish our friendship! I will truly miss Vi and her words of wisdom!   ~ Diann Stowers

Learning Theme Update

by Jana Bernhardt, College Success Coordinator

In keeping with the current year’s learning theme of Service students in SLS 1501 and SLS 1101 courses had the privilege of hearing CFCC Alumni Michael Fluker speak to them about the Principles of Success and Service.
Michael was in Ocala for a book signing celebration at Barnes and Noble in recognition of his new book and also he was here to support the theatre production of Once on This Island presented in the Fine Arts Auditorium. Fluker is the President of the West Coast Black Theatre Troupe.

Students were uplifted by Fluker’s motivational message of empowerment. He shared with them the idea of empowering themselves for success through using the power in their thoughts, actions and words. He encouraged students to develop their potential and to use their inner power to create, connect with others, and care. He shared many humorous and personal insights from his days as a student at CFCC and shared his journey since he graduated CFCC in 1991.

The four simple principles of success that he shared with students are:

1. Don’t use your power to resurrect the dead. The only time you should resurrect the dead is to give life to others.  He encouraged students to not to give past academic and personal difficulties power over their lives, but to focus instead on using their inner power to create opportunities and experiences for the future. He admonished students to only focus on their past barriers and problems when they are sharing examples in an effort to encourage others in a positive manner.

2. Whatever you’re looking at is what you will see; whatever you are listening to, you will hear. He encouraged students to use their power to focus on positive aspects of life issues and not get focused on problems and barriers to success. He admonished students that when they focused only on the problems they encounter, they will fail to see the solutions, opportunities and resources all around and available to them.

3. We are so driven to succeed, that we forget the road to success is called failure. Fluker encouraged students not let failures and disappointments turn them in a different direction looking for an easy way around their problems in an effort to feel like they are successful and can accomplish something. He stated that it is better to keep making a repeated effort to accomplish a goal rather than to fail an attempt, give up and change direction and settle for being successful accomplishing a goal that you don’t truly desire.

4. You won’t discover the greatness you have until you go where greatness is needed.  Fluker passionately shared this main point of his presentation with students. His emphasis was that students all have talents and greatness within them, but will often not discover these attributes until they put others first and discover their talents and greatness through service to individuals and their communities.
Students in the SLS 1501 classes did a follow up personal journal writing that provided a response to Fluker’s message and also had to identify at least one positive area of “greatness” that they possess or would like to possess and one area of service in which they could use this greatness.

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Super Saturday Surprise

By Rita Lammot, Communications

Everyone’s definition of a super Saturday varies. Some of us wake early to hit garage sales, hoping to find priceless unnecessaries. Some of us take a morning run to get over the week’s stressors. Some of us gauge the super part of our Saturday by how long we were able to lull in bed before having to get up.
My usual definition of a super Saturday is: roll out of bed at a disgusting lazy hour – say 8:00 a.m.; indulge in a carbohydrate loaded breakfast such as pancakes at Scrambles; drink coffee refills at my table while reading the paper until the waitress gets impatient. This past Saturday I traded in my normal routine for CFCC’s Super Saturday. I thought it was a stretch to use the term “super” in relation to working on a Saturday, but I was proven wrong.
This Super Saturday was held in the new Professional Development Center. If you have yet to visit the Professional Development Center, I highly recommend it. For adjuncts who share an antiquated IBM in a joint office/storage room, the Professional Development Center is an oasis. Multiple computer labs, scanners, and printers abound. However, the staff alone is what makes it worth the visit. Sandy Scott, Steve Hill, and Chuckie Delano were patient, entertaining, and (at the risk of blowing my parallel structure) extremely helpful.
My chosen project was to create assignment specific rubrics for my ENC 1101 class. I had noble aspirations, but I realized, compared to the other participants in Super Saturday, my project was boring—they were creating multimedia extravaganzas for their classes. Integrating streamed media, Jeopardy games, Word scrambles, and Excel spreadsheets left my project in the dust. A variety of disciplines were represented: business technology, social sciences, and communications. We met, discussed our projects over breakfast, worked steadily until lunch, indulged in too much lasagna, went back to work, and met at the end of the day to share our projects.
I was impressed by the professionalism of the projects and by what was achieved in a few short hours. The interaction with co-workers outside of my discipline; the creativity exhibited and readily shared; and the helpfulness of the Professional Development Center staff, made my Saturday great. I will submit a proposal to participate in next year’s super Saturday; however, I only hope competition will not be tough. Did I mention you have to work on a Saturday?

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As educators, we encourage and appreciate those wonderful “aha” moments for our students when they suddenly gain understanding of a difficult concept or master a particular skill or have a meaningful personal revelation.
How many of us have had our own moments lately? Sometimes they come at the most unexpected times and in the most unexpected places.
Last month when I stopped by K-Mart to pick up my allergy medicine at the pharmacy, it was late, I was tired, in a hurry and was walking in a fog of fatigue when I heard a small voice ahead of me say “Mama, look—It’s my professor!” 
I looked up to see Amelia, one of my students, pushing a cart with bulging trash bags full of waste from the Little Caesar’s pizza restaurant. She was closely followed by an older woman pushing a similar cart full of trash. The older woman walked slowly with sagging shoulders and a sleepy stare while hunched over the bar of the shopping cart. In class, Amelia is attentive, quiet and has a smile that frequently lights up the classroom. I have observed that her quiet and positive spirit is infectious as it spreads to her classmates during group learning activities.
Amelia’s eyes lit up and that wonderful smile brightened her face as she stopped to say hello. She introduced me to her mother and I made the comment to Amelia “I didn't know that you worked here.”  She replied, “I don’t—Mama works here and I come and help her close up and take out the trash when she works late.” I told her, “You are such a good daughter!” I looked at Amelia’s mother and suddenly she was not tiredly stooping over the cart and a smile was growing on her face.
Her mother’s eyes were shining with pride as she asked me “How is she doing in college? Is she doin’ alright?” I replied, “Yes ma’am. She is doing more than alright, she is doing great! She is a wonderful student and has a very positive attitude that she shares with her classmates.” Suddenly I saw the veil of fatigue lift from Amelia’s mother’s face and I realized where Amelia got her bright smile from because I saw that same beam radiate across her mother’s face.
As we finished our chat and Amelia and her mother went to finish their work, to my amazement, I no longer saw a dutiful daughter and an exhausted working mother finishing a shift, but I witnessed two energized women smiling, talking and walking much taller than before. I also witnessed myself, no longer tired, in a hurry and focused on getting my medicine and getting home.
My epiphany you ask? I am reminded that such a small, common moment can demonstrate how much personal power we have as educators to impact the lives of our students and their families in ways we often never realize.
So often we do not witness the daily struggles that our students endure to be able to sit in those seats in front of us in the classroom. We do not realize the personal influence we have on our students as they and their family members really do view us and respect us as teachers, mentors and role models. We do not realize the power we have to make a positive difference in the lives of our students and the individual power we can wield to help them be successful.
In our busy lives, we often do not realize the powerful impact we have on our students when we stop and make the effort to connect and share a few minutes of our time and a few words of encouragement with them.
As an educator, I am now ever more mindful of the power of my words, the power of my attitude and the power of my actions in the classroom and how these impact my students in ways I do not always realize at the time. I am humbled, renewed and ever more committed to providing a positive and encouraging learning environment that creates a culture of success for all of our students.

By Glenna Morelock, Wellness

“Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.”
                                                                                    William Butler Yeats

Defining a personal philosophy of learning is a daunting task. How do you clearly describe the fundamental values that move you through your life and work? Students are unique individuals and there can be no generic proclamation of what they “need” to be successful—it varies as much as they vary. Discovering and defining that essential element is the art of what we as teachers do. A teacher’s role is at its best the facilitating of the students’ development of self sufficiency, self awareness, and clarity in their thinking and learning. We do this in as many different ways as we have differing students.

Communication is the key. Some students require a sounding board for their exploration. Many students need support and an affirmation that they are capable of making the right choices. Learning to rely on their own judgments—learning to ‘own’ their education—is powerful, but every student does not easily acquire this power. Many come filled with self doubts and it is our task to enable them to move beyond those doubts by teaching them how to critically evaluate the choices before them and accept the success or failure resulting` from those decisions. Indeed, communication is the fundamental element in all teaching and learning. The voice I choose must be one that my student can hear, or no real learning will take place. I believe teaching is, at its best, the development of a relationship with a student. Student development literature clearly demonstrates that one of the most consistent factors that successful students share is a personal connection to some staff member. If I am authentic in my passion for their success, my students will more readily accept the guidance I offer and make that connection.

How we accomplish these tasks is at the heart of what any philosophy truly involves. My philosophy is that all philosophy is best defined through actions. My students are not clients or customers or whatever the ‘educationese’ of the month labels them—they are students. My work is to teach them—to overcome barriers to their goals, to develop educational self-sufficiency, to help them solve those problems that prohibit learning.

My actions within the classroom define who I am as a teacher. I believe that students learn best from example and I demonstrate my commitment to my academic values through my behavior and my expectations for excellence in the classroom. I demonstrate my commitment to learning as I consistently evaluate my own programs, strive for improvement, and involve myself in life long professional development. I demonstrate my commitment to my students by regarding each individual as unique and striving to create a partnership with every student to work toward his or her academic success.

A meaningful personal philosophy of teaching must be applied and so I strive to assist my students in actively applying the principles they study. My goal is that my students carry the academic skills they learn into the world outside the classroom. In the information age in which we live, reading and thinking critically must be at the heart of a quality education. For my field, lacking this ability can significantly impact the quality of health and life. To that end, my courses always require application and critical evaluation of current research and information. I attempt to model this learning as I continue to read, evaluate, and introduce new information in my field to my students and as I strive to model the positive wellness choices that are the focus of my teaching by including at least one section of a fitness course, Aerobics, in my course load each term.

My long term goal is to continue to learn as I hope my students continue to learn. In the immediate future, I hope to gain expertise with the new JICS system, so that I can enhance my communication with my students by posting announcements, syllabi, assignments, grades, handouts, etc. In the next five years, I would like to expand the courses offered in Wellness, particularly by increasing the courses targeted for future physical education teachers. I would also like to revise the curriculum for the health course, HSC2100, to reflect a more “global” health perspective and to provide a course with a family focus, as this is currently the trend for this course within the state universities. I plan to continue to work with the Curriculum Committee. I also hope that the work of the Service Learning Task Force, on which I currently serve, expands the opportunities for service learning within the college as a whole and that I am able to expand those opportunities for my students as well. A lifelong focus for me has been the expansion of opportunities for girls and women in sport. I plan to continue my community work to enhance sports experiences for girls within our area both through my direct active support and by exploring potential grant opportunities.

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Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 1:27 AM
 

A few notes from Krakow. My work with the disability community has been fantastic. I also have slides from a public art installation by the polish poet, Zbigniew Herbert, who was featured in the NY Times book review last Sunday. He took celebrated works of art from various masters, produced a minimalist sketch of his own and then added 75 words of prose. Each was presented on a 15 by 6 foot banner which was affixed to a ribbed metal backing. These backs were then attached and set out in the town square in Krakow. What a treat!

Hope all is well. More writing below.

     Pat

Another sparkling morning in Krakow. The street sweepers and bottle collectors are busy at work preparing the square for the onrushing hordes who will dine, drink, chat and soak in the atmosphere of this city which is celebrating its 750th birthday.

My visit to the polish countryside was memorable. A three hour one way ride (in a Mercedes minivan) took a friend and me to her father’s birthplace (he left here in the 30s) where we dined twice, first with a niece and then with his sister. Polish means polite is my new marketing slogan for this land where horns go unblaring on the road and everyone seems ready to please. I like that.

The niece had two boys, one, a twenty year old law student who seems more interested in his girlfriend, his grafittied guitar and beer, had a winning smile and somewhat limited English speaking skills, and the other, at 18, has been dealing with the effects of water on the brain (partial paralysis, sight and hearing loss) for five years. He saw his weight fluctuate from 154 lbs to 211 lbs in four months, the common effects related to the steroids which have helped relieve his symptoms. His English and mind are quick and solid. At one point, he left for his bedroom to retrieve at least six large photo plates, each with at least 30 tomographic scans of his brain. He asked me to compare the sheets and evaluate his progress. Yikes!

Throughout this process he has depended on his doctors (the lubina clinic, in his mind, is the best Poland and most of Europe has to offer) and his faith. On another trip to his bedroom, he returned with a small four inch figurine of the Madonna and child. He and his mother, who has been his rock throughout this five year period, visited this place and he gave testimony to his faith and hope.

My goal was to examine the relationship between disability and religion while in Poland. This and another extensive interview I had with three people running an organization for people with Down syndrome has provided ample fodder for my work.

Today is the downer day: the visit to Auschwitz. Sadly, Poland, at 98% pole, is not a diverse country. Anti Semitism and racism are not hard to find. My meditation on the horrors that took place not far from where I am typing this begins in about a half hour.

I better run.

Keep your umbrella up and smile ablaze, Joe.

Pat