Crete faculty institute: a change in pedagogical style.

Crete faculty institute: a change in pedagogical style. Nearly ten years have passed since the life-changing experience ofmy first NCHC NCHC National Center for High-Performance Computing (Taiwan)NCHC National Coalition on Health CareNCHC National Collegiate Honors CouncilNCHC North Carolina Horse CouncilNCHC North Coast Hardcore (Australia)Faculty Institute in Crete, entitled "DevelopingIntegration Structures in a Cross-Cultural Context." Through mywork with the facilitators of this institute, a transformation tookplace in the way that I think and teach. The institute allowed me tobecome a keener observer, to become more tolerant of ambiguity andunease by thinking and working outside of my discipline, and to be morereflective about what I do in the classroom. Like many participants, Ibrought back to my own campus the field-based exercises and explorationsincorporated in NCHC Faculty Institutes. When I take students on fieldtrips, for example, I ask that they use the City as Text[TM] techniquesof observing through exploration, interpretation, analysis, and writtenreflection much like institute writing assignments. However, I feel themost valuable aspect of the Crete Institute was the effect on me as aneducator and as a person. After the 1998 Crete Institute, Winthrop University undertook thechallenge of revamping its general education curriculum, and in thesummer of 2000, I was one of seven faculty members assigned to create anew university-wide general education seminar course titled "HumanExperience: Who Am I?" geared toward freshmen. As with the writingassignments in the Crete Institute, these six faculty members and Iworked outside of our disciplines; in addition to that challenge, weaddressed provocative issues of self and college (why are you here?),self and nature, self and community, and self and the sacred (why areyou Here?). Similar to the participants in the Crete Institute, thestudents in this course would engage in the fundamental academicactivity of investigating different perspectives and opinions,understanding how things look from "over there" (Burmeisterand Lyon viii). We all worked together in developing this seminar over the summerof 2000, which was a hot one in every sense of the word, but myexperiences from October 1998 tempered the climate, having shown me howto be productive when out of my comfort zone. In the self and naturecomponent of the course, I was forced to think as a biologist andecologist; in self and community as an anthropologist and sociologist;and in self and the sacred as an expert in philosophy and religion. Asin the Crete Institute, I had to look at the world through the eyes ofsomeone I was not. Furthermore, developing the Human Experience coursemade me realize that at times I had vague ideas on where I stood on someimportant issues. But my Crete experience again helped me understandthat we do not always know the right answers and they might not exist. The experience of becoming a student again during the institutealso changed how I view my own students and my role in the classroom. Iam now a more compassionate teacher who focuses on their learning--nolonger the sage on the stage but a learner just like them. I am no lessrigorous in the classroom, but my shift from an inner to outer focus hascentered my teaching on the students rather than myself. Throughout thedevelopment of the Human Experience seminar, I had to read, study, andthink about areas for which I had no training, and, more importantly, noanswers. Again, my experiences as a student during the Crete Instituteallowed me to adapt to this new pedagogical ped��a��gog��ic? also ped��a��gog��i��caladj.1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of pedagogy.2. Characterized by pedantic formality: a haughty, pedagogic manner. style. I frequently tell mystudents that being uneasy is not inherently bad; in fact, if they arenever confused, then something is wrong. I have taught Human Experiencesixteen times since that first semester, and it is just as difficult andas interesting every semester as it was then. Looking at things in newways, thinking about new ideas, and being out of my comfort zone wereinstrumental in this metamorphosis to a more reflective andcompassionate educator. The Crete Institute laid the foundation for thischange. Before October 1998, I had experienced international travel inmeaningful ways, starting with a study abroad in Italy prior to college,followed by participation in a Fulbright group project to China in 1991,and then by a faculty teaching experience at Shanghai InternationalStudies University Shanghai International Studies University (上海外国语大学) is a national-level university in Shanghai, China. It is considered one of the top two universities that specialize in teaching foreign languages in China. during the spring semester of 1994. None of thisprepared me for the whirlwind of that week in October of 1998,particularly the 31/2-day stay in Iraklio. Stateside state��side?adj.1. Of or in the continental United States.2. Alaska Of or in the 48 contiguous states of the United States.adv. Informal1. , I had received allof my travel information, rough itinerary, and reading list, whichincluded Captain Corelli's Mandolin This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims.Please help Wikipedia by adding references. See the for details.This article has been tagged since September 2007. by Louis de Bernieres, a novelabout World War II in Greece, and the works of two Crete natives, NikosKazantzakis' Zorba the Greek and C. P. Cavafy's series ofCollected Poems Among the numerous literary works titled Collected Poems are the following: Collected Poems by Chinua Achebe Collected Poems by Conrad Aiken Collected Poems by Kay Boyle Collected Poems by Robert Browning . I had read, I was packed, and I was ready. Although I arrived in Iraklio on Saturday evening at 4:55 p.m.after missing my flight from Athens due to checked baggage (lessonlearned), plenty of time remained for our group meeting at noon onSunday, which consisted of a general introduction with maps, overview ofactivities, a more detailed itinerary, additional readings such as"Bluffing Your Way through Archaeology," pronunciation guides,and historical readings on the places of interest. That afternoon wespent introducing ourselves, exploring the city, and finally settlingdown to dinner in groups. After dinner I retired early since theitinerary indicated that we meet at 7:45 a.m. in the hotel restaurantfor breakfast. My scribbled notes said to "bring everything,"which meant comfortable shoes, maps, and writing materials. A packed itinerary created the living laboratory envisioned byNCHC's Honors Semesters Committee and this institute'sfacilitators. Within this laboratory, participants discovered a new lensfor honing our observational skills, acquired instruments for discussingand writing about substantive material, and developed a process forreflecting on these experiences and integrating them into who we are andwhat we do. I would like to describe three facets of the Crete Institutethat were transformative. During the institute I learned to look atthings in a new way; I learned to think creatively about and reflect onmy own writing; and, most importantly Adv. 1. most importantly - above and beyond all other consideration; "above all, you must be independent"above all, most especially , I learned the true meaning ofbeing outside my comfort zone. Despite my extensive experience traveling and teaching in culturesunfamiliar to me, not until this institute did I really learn how toobserve another culture. The facilitators explained that our exercisefor the Monday trip to Rethymnon was to walk around the city, eat inrestaurants, view museums and exhibits, and think about how our owneducations and backgrounds influence what we see. Specifically, we wereto choose some aspect of private life as it is lived out in public andto think about how we witness that event. Our written assignment was tocollect impressions of the place and its people, emphasizing how peopleearn a living, how they decorate their homes, how they worship, and howthey interact with one another and with us. We were encouraged not onlyto observe what was happening but also to interpret what we saw byanalyzing what was going on while reflecting on how we felt aboutwitnessing this event. The idea of looking at a place through the eyesof its people was completely new to me. My hastily written notes on myimpression of the trip to Rethymnon are as follows: The questions I asked the Cretans most often: "Do you speakEnglish?" and "Do you know where the folk art folk art,the art works of a culturally homogeneous people produced by artists without formal training. The forms of such works are generally developed into a tradition that is either cut off from or tenuously connected to the contemporary cultural mainstream. museum is?"My observations while walking around were: People were friendly if theywere not busy. If talking on the phone or hauling cargo they were notinterested in stopping to talk to you. It seemed the most willing tohelp were the strangers to Rethymnon, which, of course meant they couldnot help you. It was very difficult to read streets signs and alsodifficult to navigate in the alleyways and streets. I found myselfwalking in circles. In terms of private use of public space, I noticedin the park there were "old man spaces" and"woman/children spaces." Women and children occupied one areaand the old men sat on benches on the sidewalks. Throughout the townthere seemed to be very little "people space." Cars wereparked on sidewalks, and if cars were not present there was a tavern onthe sidewalk. The tavern keepers were very eager to have people in theirspaces, however. The Folk Art Museum (after three hours searching) wasvery interesting and informative. A kind of embroidery called"Rethymnion embroidery".... (Braid 3) When I look back at this entry, I realize that my questions andobservations were clearly egocentric: "How are you going to helpme?" I was not looking at a place through the eyes of its people,and I clearly missed the point about understanding a culture byreflecting on how my experiences influence how I see. Or maybe I did,but was in denial in denialPsychiatry To be in a state of denying the existence or effects of an ego defense mechanism. See Denial. (I'm a psychologist) about being an aMEricantourist. To this day, when I visit a new place, whether foreign or U.S.,I think about observing by exploring, interpreting, analyzing, andreflecting not only through my own eyes but the eyes of natives. On Tuesday, the institute participants were introduced to N. ScottMomaday's The Way to Rainy Mountain Rainy Mountain is a rounded hill standing northwest apart from the main Wichita Mountains in Kiowa County, Oklahoma. It was a prominent landmark for the Plains Indians on the southern plains. as the foundation for ourwriting as participant-observers during the next two days in Iraklio.Momaday's work, which exemplifies Place as Text in the northernplains of Oklahoma, traces the migration of a Native American tribe, theKiowa. Although his text was not required reading for this institute,the book is written in tri-part sections explaining the mythic origin ofthe Kiowa (mythos my��thos?n. pl. my��thoi1. Myth.2. Mythology.3. The pattern of basic values and attitudes of a people, characteristically transmitted through myths and the arts. ), the historical reference to the Kiowa culture(logos), and Momaday's personal journey in the context of thisculture (ethos). Our assignment for Wednesday was to write a papercomprised of a mythic section on a legend associated with Crete(mythos), an historical section relating an event that is connected tothe myth (logos), and a personal section where we place ourselves in thecontext of the other two narratives (ethos). I have assigned many papersin my twenty-five years of teaching, but this was the first time I hadbeen required to write creatively outside my discipline in years. Notonly that, my paper was not going to be turned in anonymously, graded,and returned; instead, we were going to discuss our writing as a groupin seminar. The next day! In the meantime Adv. 1. in the meantime - during the intervening time; "meanwhile I will not think about the problem"; "meantime he was attentive to his other interests"; "in the meantime the police were notified"meantime, meanwhile we were to travel with ourfacilitators to Knossos and visit the Iraklio archeological museum,discuss Zorba the Greek, have dinner, tavern-hop, eat breakfast, anddiscuss island mentality, slippage of borders, individualism,Cavafy's poems, private use of public space, and walkabouts. To saythe least, I was uncomfortable. I thought about the assignment, Iwracked my brain, I started over it seemed a hundred times, feverishlywriting during every spare minute, but I did finish--just in time. Hereis what I wrote: Mythos Freudios, the youngest of the Titans (also called Kronos or time)dethroned his own father and castrated cas��trate?tr.v. cas��trat��ed, cas��trat��ing, cas��trates1. To remove the testicles of (a male); geld or emasculate.2. To remove the ovaries of (a female); spay.3. him in order to become king. Hefathered three children, one of whom was called Idios-god of libido libido(lĭbē`dō, –bī`–)[Lat.,=lust], psychoanalytic term used by Sigmund Freud to identify instinctive energy with the sex instinct. (also called sexual energy) and Thanatos (also called aggressivetendencies). The other two children were Egos-god of reality andSuperegos-god of morals and ethics. In order to keep his children fromrobbing him of his Kingship, he successfully repressed fromconsciousness all three of them, he thought. Much to Freudios'dismay, Idios (sexual and aggressive god) kept emerging. This weighed soheavily on his conscience that he developed a theory about there-emerging unconscious motives. In this theory, he stated that youngmales are motivated by a god called Oedipus Rexos, who is governed byfear of castration anxiety castration anxiety (kastrā´shn),n 1. the fantasized fear of injury to or loss of the genital organs.2. by the father and love of the mother, andyoung girls are motivated by a goddess named Electros, who, in turn, isruled by her anxiety aroused by penis envy penis envyPsychiatry The unconscious desire by ♀ to have a penis which, per psychoanalysts, corresponds to an unresolved castration complex. Cf Oedipus complex. and love for her father.According to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. this theory, resolution of these Oedipus Rexos and Electroscomplexes comes about by identifying with the same gender parent,thereby reducing anxiety. Freudios also stated if this identificationdoes not take place in the young female and male, the child is eithergoverned by the god of Homosexos or turned into a stone wrapped inswaddling clothes swaddling clothesin which Mary wraps her new-born infant. [N.T.: Luke 2:7]See : Nativity and fed to the father. Logos Sigmund Freud was born in 1860 in Vienna, Austria, where hereceived extensive grammar training in the classics--four years of Greekand eight years of Latin. Ethos I have always tried to find myself. I was always questioning as achild and later tried three majors in college, graduating with oneundergraduate degree “First degree” redirects here. For the BBC television series, see First Degree.An undergraduate degree (sometimes called a first degree or simply a degree and switching to another discipline for my advanceddegree. Why do I do this? Why can I not be satisfied? Who am I trying toplease? How do I define myself? Does moving around, traveling, definewho I am? Have my conversations with Italians, Chinese, Germans,Austrians and Cretans defined me? I don't know. I certainlydon't think I am driven by some Freudian impulse but believe myculture has shaped who I am.... (Braid 26) I believe that the Crete Institute also shaped who I am. Theuncomfortable writing process of this institute, along with myself-conscious experience of being a student again as well as aforeigner, transformed my thinking, writing, and teaching. Becoming astudent during the institute changed my role in the classroom fromexpert to facilitator; I now realize that I do not always know the rightanswer and more importantly that there may not be one; being out of mycomfort zone as a writer gave me a way to identify with my students andmore effectively help them develop confidence and skill in theirwriting; and being a stranger in an unfamiliar culture showed me whatmany students feel when they come into my classroom. In short, the CreteInstitute made me a more reflective and compassionate educator.Moreover, the institute was a catalyst in developing the HumanExperience seminar, unique to our university. Although just one of themany general education changes at Winthrop, it may be among the reasonsthat the American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U)recognized our university as one of eighteen institutions to participatein its "Core Commitments Leadership Consortium." References Braid, Bernice, ed. "The Mythos Book: Crete." NationalCollegiate Honors Council Faculty Institute. Brooklyn: LIU LIU Link?pings Universitet (Sweden)LIU Long Island University (New York)LIU Line Interface UnitLIU Lightguide Interconnection Unit (AT&T)LIU Laugh It Up , 1999. Burmeister, Alice, and Kathy Lyon, eds. The Human Experience: WhoAm I? Littleton: Tapestry, 2006. Momaday, N. Scott Momaday, N. (Navarre) Scott(1934–) Kiowa writer, educator; born in Lawton, Okla. Educated first in Indian schools, he received a Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1963. . The Way to Rainy Mountain. Albuquerque: U of NewMexico New Mexico,state in the SW United States. At its northwestern corner are the so-called Four Corners, where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah meet at right angles; New Mexico is also bordered by Oklahoma (NE), Texas (E, S), and Mexico (S). P, 1976. KATHY A. LYON WINTHROP UNIVERSITY