Response to Carol Thesing's Mid Program Reflective Paper

Carol,

I really enjoyed reading your mid program reflective paper. It was rather like dij` vu during some parts of the paper, as I had some very similar experiences. Grade school was a very enjoyable experience for me and I already knew at that time I wanted to be a teacher, so I too played school with my siblings. In junior high and high school, my reaction was the same as I had difficulty attaching relevancy to many subjects. I was reinforced in my decision to be a teach, because I had experienced many good teachers in my learning experience, and after my high school frustrations, I wanted to be a good teacher for other students.

As I read your paper and reflected on my formal and non-formal learning experiences, I found myself agreeing with your surprise as we learned about transformative learning. I have always found myself relating experiences and past learning opportunities to my life, or new learning experiences. That often helped me to grasp a new concept or comprehend a topic that was new to me. I shared your surprise at finding that not all people thought about the why and what of happenings in their life. I imagine many people would be surprised to examine their own reflection process and see how that has really been used in their own learning and growth.

I liked your definition of transformative learning as we learned it, indicating a change in the formation of the thought process to bring about a different, more accurate understanding. Transformative learning is difficult to describe to others for the very reason that not all people think about the happenings in their life, or consciously recognize the reflection process.

I also enjoyed your summary of other educators and philosophies. I am planning to keep your list of other readings handy, but don't intend to read them until after I've completed the work for my final project!

-- Anonymous, March 01, 2000