Hello…I want to introduce myself and share some of my thoughts on education. I am a fairly recent addition here at Illinois Valley Community College where I offer courses in introductory sociology, social problems, marriage and family and cultural anthropology. As of the summer 2008, I will be offering cultural anthropology and introduction to sociology for online learners. My main areas of interest within my discipline are education, environment, religion, and gender.
If you are new to Illinois Valley Community College, I wish to welcome you to the school and extend my wishes that you find your experience here as rewarding as I am finding mine, and that you embrace and appreciate the gift of higher education. I am confident that if you enroll in one of my courses, you will find the experience enriching and that we will have some enjoyable and enlightening discussions. For this to happen, however, everyone in the course must take an active role in the learning process.
I feel students and instructors should share responsibility for education. A key part of this responsibility, on the student’s end is keeping up with the course readings. Ultimately, I feel it is the student who will determine whether or not s/he learns the material in any course in which s/he is enrolled. As an instructor, I can serve as a guide in your learning, providing examples to illustrate and clarify concepts and theories, organizing the presentation of information in a way that will allow you to build up to the more complex concepts and theories, selecting materials that (hopefully) you will relate to and find relevant, and assisting in finding resources. However, in the end, it is the student’s individual effort and level of participation that will determine the value of any course.
I love working with groups of students with diverse backgrounds, interest, abilities and educational goals. This is not to say that I do not feel challenged, even frustrated, on occasion; but that even at these moments, I could not see myself being satisfied in any other profession. I have always been extremely inquisitive, and it is exciting for me to be able to continue finding new information to share with my students. I also learn from students.
Information in the classroom is not simply passed in one direction. We can all learn from one another’s thoughts and insights. I am fond of seeing students get excited about discovering new insights, as I am fond of having students ask questions or make comments that result in my comprehending something in a way that I had never considered. For this reason, I always leave a bit of wiggle room in the day to day happenings over the course of the semester in all of my courses. This allows further investigation of those things that grab student’s attention. I also realize that important events occur in our area and around the world that relate my course subjects, and want to be able to discuss these events as they unfold.
A fundamental premise of sociology is that we all have life experiences that are affected by larger social forces beyond our individual personalities, abilities, and circumstances. Sociologists often talk about the importance of developing and using the sociological imagination, what my introduction to sociology text refers to as being “sociologically mindful”. We are being sociologically mindful when we utilize our ability to see the relationship between the personal events in our lives and the larger society. In a culture that celebrates the individual, it is often difficult to look beyond our immediate situation and “imagine” how these experiences are related to cultural and/or historical processes. So when we think of societal issues, such as divorce, we often just focus on the personal “failures” of the individual, and we fail to consider the larger historical changes occurring in social institutions, such as the family, the economy, religion, and laws. I ask my students as much as possible to consider how their individual life is influenced by larger social forces. It is exciting to be made aware of the impact that social forces have on our individual lives because it allows us to realize that by changing our social institutions, we can change our society in a way that lessens societal problems that negatively affect our individual lives.
The various sociological paradigms, which are used as a framework for interpreting data, are all based on assumptions about the nature of society, the nature of the individual, and the purpose of sociology. Those assumptions, for the most part are not testable; that is they cannot be either proven or disproved. Our choices as to which assumptions we choose to accept or reject relate to our socialization, personal experience, and current knowledge-base. Because I teach a variety of courses that challenge deep-seated beliefs, I try to cultivate an appreciation in my students that, to a great extent, learning takes place by having our accepted knowledge-base questioned. What impedes learning is that we often concern ourselves with disagreeing or agreeing with new information, rather than trying to understand a new or different perspective. It will never be my intention to tell any of my students what they should or should not believe. It is my goal to teach you how to think critically about the social world not what to think about the social world.
Although at times I may explain my personal believes and the way I look at certain topics in an effort to “walk students through” my thought process, I do not expect students to hold opinions that match my own (or any other sources in the courses I teach). All I ask is that students try to understand the perspectives put forth in my courses. When selecting sources, I try to keep in mind how often we learn more from people that express a viewpoint different from our own than from those who always see things the same way we do. Although there are many instances where things may be just fine as they are, history shows us that often progress comes from ideas and beliefs being challenged and thus changed. Imagine what society, and thus our individual lives, would be like if no one had ever questioned assumptions of the day. Clearly, learning often entails questioning prior assumptions. So that all of the students have the opportunity to question, review, and develop their beliefs, my sources represent a variety of viewpoints. Sources, in my opinion, should also present a holistic, historic, and global perspective. It is important not to miss the big picture while focusing on the pieces, we cannot understand the present without understanding the past, and in the modern world we must learn to look for information beyond our borders.
I hope this information has been helpful and that I will have the opportunity to work with you in some capacity during your time here at IVCC.