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Susan's Introduction
Like other participants in the institute, I am an educator. I have
enjoyed the teaching role all my life. I went to a K through 8 inner
city public school in Phila and then to a large inner city high school,
followed by matricultion at a large city college, Temple U. in Phila. I
lived at home and spent my free time working to earn money at various
jobs on and off campus. During all these years, from grade 4 on, I help
other students in my classes. In college, I tutored and also
volunteered as a reader for the blind. To put my husband through
professional school, I worked as a technician in a research lab at
UPENN. There, I developed a sence of myself as a capable scientist and
teacher. When my hsband graduated, I began my graduate education. I
wanted to pursue my own ideas and realized that I would need the
credentials afforded by a Ph.D. I was facinated by the brain, maybe
because of the limitations of my own. Much later as the parent of two
children, I went through the process of seeking help with my son's
developmental issues and discovered why school had always been both a
joy and a struggle for me. I have auditory processing issues. All
through elementary school, my teachers reproted hearing deficits. My
parents were instructed to take me for testing at the Board of
Education in Phila. No hearing deficit was ever found and no further
testing was ever recommended. My issues were not lack of ability to
hear sound but to process sound. In addition, I reverse opposites. As a
young person, i would stop on green and cross on red. Without an
analysis of my frequent almost disasterous pedestrian encounters, I
trained myself to verbalize the color of the light and the appropriate
command. I also reverse letters and needed to train myself to verbalize
while I read. Knowledge of my own learning and application issues have
made me very sensitive to the potential needs of my students. I have
always used multiple ways of communication just in case my students
need them. Verbal, auditory, visual instruction (both in class board
and handouts as well as my class website) are used in my classes each
day. I worked as a research scientists for 11 years. During those years
I taught, formally in the teaching of Gross Anatomy to Penn dental
students, and informally to train the multitude of technicians,
undergrad and grad students, neurology residents, and post doc students
who came through our lab. I loved the teaching aspect of my life. In the mid 1980's, when
research money became tight and the demands of raising two young
children not compatible with the demands of tissue culture based
research, I choose to investigate the independent school system. In a
private girls school, I have now taught for 18 years. I have taught
science to kindergarteners, 5th, 6th, and 7th graders and also AP
Biology to seniors. For the last nine years, I have taught Grade 7 Biology and the AP Biology course. My experience in both public and private schools
and in all three levels of pre-college education as well as post
college teaching have contributed to both a wealth of personal
experience and observation and a wealth of questions that need
exploration. That is why I enrolled in the 2006 Brain and Behavior Institute and the 2008 Science as Inquiry Institute.
Comments
Loved listening your
Loved listening your introduction. Did you ever see the bumper sticker that says, "It will be a great day when our schools have all the money they need, and our air force has to have a bake-sale to buy a bomber." Thought you might appreciate it.