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It was with great anxiety that I approached going back to school. It had been a very long time
since I last sat in a classroom as a student. The first course I enrolled in required much
work and learning how to organize the rest of my life around it was an immediate priority.
As you surmise, I succeeded and this awareness of what would be needed for me to complete
this learning process was critical to the rest of my journey.
Now, let’s get back to the classroom itself. It became readily apparent that students have
changed over the past decades. No longer are they content to sit and sponge up information.
They challenge, push, and ask a lot more questions than in my day. I never dreamed of asking
for an extension to a deadline. Pulling an ‘all-nighter’ was the penalty I was to pay for poor
planning on my part. But students today are much more participatory and to my surprise, the
faculty had come to expect it. Constructivism is a whole new ballgame for me. Fortunately I
am very self-driven. I don’t need a lot of push to make me try harder, do better, and
outshine myself with each endeavor. I found this new ‘creative freedom’ most agreeable to
my learning style.
In previous learning adventures, I had faculty intent on proving how smart they were and how
stupid the students were. Fortunately, the faculty that I encountered in my courses at the
University of Tennessee did not subscribe to that philosophy. They were always helpful,
excited about their course, and eager to listen to their students.
It has been a wonderful experience.
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