IRB

In a perfect world, people wouldn't experiment with other people's heads without their knowledge of such experimentations and totally mess them up for ever. Of course, there are wackos out there, and thats why we need the IRB. I have already been well introduced to such procedures in another reaserch methods course I took and a renewed prospect of submitting to bueracracy does not overwhelm me with joy, oddly. Alas, I will, for the sake of expedient exit, conform so that I might be free to say 'fuck the man' another day. At least I dont have to ask permission to take a piss, which many people do these days: inmates, grade schoolers, factory workers, children and some adults in special care units, astronauts, army recruits, women in many nations...thank god for my privilege.

Project proposal

For my senior project I plan to document the process of designing and implementing a service learning course. Research will include pedagogic theory and will be applied using the course as a laboratory. This project will serve as a capstone to my prior research on learning communities and pedagogy and will also serve as a ‘student teaching’ opportunity.

In line with my concentration, Pedagogy for Social Change, the course will introduce students to an environmental issue, mountaintop removal (MTR), and will subsequently focus on methods of addressing the environmental and human rights issues latent within MTR. Furthermore, the course will have the broader objective of activating students to become agents of their own learning, confident in their ability to construct knowledge and be influential members of communities.

As mentioned, this course will be a laboratory where various pedagogic theories and methodologies will be tested. Most, if not all, of this praxis will draw from concepts such as radical pedagogy and critical pedagogy.

In addition to a theoretical framework and analysis of pedagogic praxis, a journal will be kept to document how these concepts faired in the classroom along with reflections on why things worked out the way they did. These journals will follow the model of: What were the objectives for the class?, What happened? What can I learn from the success/failures of the class?

Upon completion of the course, a final reflection will be made where the entire project will be assessed and recommendations will be made to others who may embark on a similar journey.

All about me

My concentration is self designed and is currently titled 'pedagogy for social change' which means teaching to make the world a better place. I have a sociology minor and have dabbled in anthropology psycology and geography as I was searching out my academic destiny. As I've focused my studies I've done three semesters of intensive teaching assistanships where I had the opportunity to lead discussion groups and have conducted extensive reasearch on learning communities and pedagogic theory. I also volunteered/interned at Appalachian Voices where I did everthing from licking envelopes, writing research paper on mountaintop removal, to tabling at Bonarroo. This was interesting because drugs either make people care very much about the envirionment or not at all. Unfortunately if they care very much because they are on drugs then they probably can't write a good letter to their congressional representative, which was what we were asking folks to do. Anyway, go to www.ilovemountains.org to learn about where our cheap energy comes from.

Outside of the academic setting I enjoy being outside, making things out of rocks, wood and other materials, gardening, buckets, being with friends, looking at big things made of concrete, cooking eating, drinking and making merry at appropriate times. I dont like it when people are mean to each other or the places they live, peanut butter, or when windshield wipers go to frequently and make that noise that they make when there isn't enough liquid to be wiped. I also like to fish. My faviorite is when things are in between.