Name: Address:
Phone: E-mail
Year
in the Major:
Background
on you:
Concerns
you have about teaching/Topics you want to be sure we cover
Choose
one quotation from the following, all taken from The Teaching Professor, and write your
response/reaction to the quotation.
“The teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is hammering on cold iron.” (Horace Mann, l796-l859, American Educator)
“The
highest function of a teacher consists not so much in imparting knowledge as in
stimulating the pupil in its love and pursuit.” (Henri Frederic Amiel, l821-1881, Swiss philosopher)
“The
best teacher is the one who suggests rather than dogmatizes, and inspires his
listener with the wish to teach himself.” (Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, 1803-1873, English novelist)
“The
true aim of every one who aspired to be a teacher should not be to impart his
own opinions, but to kindle minds.” (Frederick William Robertson,
1816-1853, English clergyman)
“Teachers
should be held in highest honor.
They are the allies of legislators; they have agency in the prevention
of crime; they aid in regulating the atmosphere, whose incessant action and
pressure cause the life-blood to circulate, and to return pure and healthful to
the heart of the nation.” (Lydia H. Sigourney, 1791-1865, American
author)
Below
are sample inventories I've given to students -- take and use what might be
helpful to you.
From the following list of authors/titles/works indicate what you know or remember about any of them.
1.
Homer/The
Iliad, The Odyssey
2.
The
Old Testament/the New Testament
3.
The
Gilgamesh Epic
4.
The
Koran
5.
The
Taoists
6.
Virgil/The
Aeneid
7.
Dante/The
Divine Comedy
8.
Chaucer/”The
Pardoner’s Tale”
9.
Christopher
Marlowe/Dr. Faustus
10. Machiavelli
11. Cervantes/Don Quixote
12. Shakespeare/The Tempest
13. Milton/Paradise Lost
14. Voltaire/Candide
15. Rene Descartes
16. Mary Wollstonecraft
17. Emily Bronte/Wuthering
Heights
18. Leo Tolstoy/”The Death of
Ivan Ilyitch”
19. Henrik Ibsen/ A Doll’s
House
20. Chinua Achebe/Things Fall
Apart
21. Albert Camus
22. Elie Wiesel
From
the following major themes/issues please select 3 which you find important and
valuable to you; that you are interested in and want to learn more about and
that you want to do more thinking and writing about. Please rank these in order of importance by numbering them
1, 2, 3, with 1 being the theme of greatest interest to you.
______Death
and afterlife/Burial rites
______Belief
in God(s), Religious customs, rituals
______Marriage
customs/Selection of spouse
______Fame,
honor, glory, immortality
______The
Role of Women/Rights of Women
______War
as glory, valuable to manhood
______Peace
and Harmony (national, familial, individual)
______The
place of family/home/homeland
______Heroism/Courage/Bravery
______Freedom/Patriotism/Nationalism
______Value
of the Land and Natural Resources
______Friendship/Loyalty/Trust
______Love (specifically that leading to marriage)
______Wisdom
figures/Respect of Elders
______Sense
of Identity/Coming of Age/Rites of Passage
______Pride/Jealousy/Greed—their
effects
______Justice
and Human Rights
______Psychological
and emotional health
______Physical
strength/Body Prowess
Inventory of Reading/Information Knowledge
l. Name a book (or books) you have read in the past year. Why did you read it? (or them?) What kinds of books do you like to read?
2. What newspapers do you read? How often do you read newspapers? (Indicate if these are your local/hometown papers)
3. What kind of magazines do you read?
4. What news do you watch (NBC, ABC, CNN, local, etc.)? How often do you watch the news?
5. Do you watch any of the news magazine type programs? (for example 20/20, Dateline, Nightline, etc.)
6. Do you listen to news on the radio? Do you ever listen to National Public Radio- NPR?
7. What kind of television do you watch? How much? How often?
8. Do you write letters? Do you do email? Would you rather make phone calls?
9. What kinds of music do you enjoy?
10. What is a topic (or topics) you find interesting enough or are you involved in enough that you read about it or discuss it or want to know more about it?