Applicability

Applicability. That was why I originally chose to enter an education program. How do I apply the things I learned in undergrad - indeed in life - to have a good effect on the people around me - and perhaps right now - on my students? This question may assume that I already contain all the information that I need to have some sort of effect on students - that I just need to get what is inside of me out to them. In effect it is all about transmission and it is as simple as that. How foolish of me for thinking this way. First - I am by no means an expert in my content area and never could be (no one could ever be a real expert in all areas of "English and language studies" - only a very particular sector of it). Second - I do recognize and can identify with the current mode of education today - a constructivist approach. This is not a phenomenon restricted to only education - but is something which is embedded in our culture - our way of thinking. We are becoming less and less recognized as autonomous beings - we are instead seen as beings which are extremely multi-dimensional and it is the incorporation of the "Others" which constructs our selves. We also help to construct others as they construct us. This lies at the heart of the constructivist ideology. It will be helpful in the future for all of us to be able to read ourselves through the eyes of our students, thus dissolving the boundaries of the body and liberating our minds of the ideologies of difference and autonomy.