My sister is awesome.

A Passage that spoke to me.

The following is an excerpt from The Social Neuroscience of Education that I found particularly resonant. Tell me what you think:

Filling a position once held by tribal elders, teachers can guide their students to become the heroes of their own stories. At the same time, teachers must also become heroes by overcoming prejudice, ignorance, and the bureaucratic status quo to make learning happen despite the forces that may be working against them... 

Carl Jung said that the answers to our most important questions are to be found in the shadow. The shadow is the repository of our own pain and shame; hidden with it is the pain of our families and the demons of our inner lives. The heroic teacher acknowledges the pain, suffering, hypocrisy, and lack of fairness in the world. Because you can't completely banish the shadow, you must learn to develop a relationship with it. If the shadow can be acknowledged and included as part of the emotional reality of the classroom, the teacher becomes transformed into a guide on the path to wisdom. Wisdom is knowledge mixed with compassion and presented in a manner that helps others to heal and grow. In other words, wisdom is knowledge in the service of others.  

In order for teachers to become guides, they need to be familiar with their own shadows, which will allow their students to confront their own inner demons. Because a teacher who adheres to unfair rules will be seen as too insecure to be a guide, a heroic teacher must be brave enough to break the rules in service of his or her students. A successful guide snatches victory from the jaws of defeat, gaining freedom from determinism. The teacher invites the student to take a journey out of the narrow confines of his or her life into a new world beyond limitations of the neighborhood, family, and culture. (199-200)

 

A Quick and belated post.

This week and last weekend have allowed me to coin a term that encompasses my current emotional state quite well: determinedly overwhelmed. Sure, there's an inconceivable amount of work to be done, but hey! "Poco a poco" as the Spaniards say. A better update will be had this coming weekend. In the meantime, if you're wondering what a Duke MAT graduate student reads, check out my recently updated shelf on goodreads shelf (an ever broadening shelf, it seems):

http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/6164533?shelf=grad-school-year-at-duke

¡Hasta pronto!
-S.

Week One: Readingforever and "the triangle"

Excitement. Stoked-ness. Angst. Over-caffeination. Readingforever. Snacks. Eccentricity. Hot.

These real and fake words sum up my first week of classes in Duke University. 

Firstly, let me say that I can already tell with absolute confidence that I am in the right place. My teachers are fantastic. My classes and classmates are engaging, intelligent, and interesting. Durham, while confusing as hell to navigate, is already starting to feel like home. I've been here for something like 2 weeks now, have explored half a dozen cafés and been to a Durham Bulls baseball game. I joined the frighteningly athletic crowd that walks around East Campus's "wall." I even went to Biscuitville. But this, my friends, is only the beginning. 

I met my mentor teacher on Monday at student orientation and she told me that one of her colleagues used to have this sign on her door:

This is already my reality. Yet, at the same time, forgoing my social life for awhile allows me to bask in the grand ideal of an intensely disciplined academic life: too much coffee, depleting eyesight from an excess of reading, rapidly declining social skills, and a overly-optimistic study schedule that is always in danger of being sabotaged by napping. This is all for a university that I don't owe my true allegiance to for I have yet to buy their token t-shirt (NOTE: I've of course been waiting to see if giving thousands of dollars to the graduate program would earn me a free one, but, alas, it appears I'm mistaken.). However, this cheap-assery is easily made up for by the fact that all MAT students get free unlimited Keurig coffee in the office. There is a God. 

This week's cool and useful discoveries: 

1. I can park for free in front of a retirement home near campus to rob Duke of a $100+ parking pass.

2. There is an excellent Zen garden café with delicious coffee ironically located next to Super Walmart (see photo).

3. Planning a class is not at all an intuitive process. 

4. The homemade raspberry danishes from the farmer's market are quite possibly God's gift to humanity. 

From now until mid-August it seems that my sole purpose in life is to read, write, and research, so if you don't hear from me apart from this blog for awhile, you know what I'll be doing. Until next week!

-S.