EDCT 585 Class Environnment

EDCT 585 Class Environnment

In my Masters program I feel that I have been placed around the right people at the right time. Being a young Masters candidate at 27 I wasn’t sure how I would fit in with a majority of my classmates being older than myself. I’ve always been comfortable around those older than me since I grew up without any younger siblings or cousins, and my parents owned a marina that was across the street from a RV park full of retired individuals. What I was worried about was whether I would be taken seriously, being young and only having done student teaching and a long term substitute position as my professional educational background.

In all classes I was welcomed with open arms and learned a great deal from the diverse group of people in the Masters in Education program, but most of all this harmony came from EDCT 585. People were willing to talk, even the most shy of the group. There were a multitude of different theories that individuals latched on to, making the conversations meaningful in their diversity. Bonds between my peers grew at an exponential rate, and I can’t recall anyone entering the classroom and not getting a hello from someone. Absolutely everyone in that class wanted to participate in some way shape or form, and I hadn’t experienced that before in my life.

I learned much from the formation of this class. The professor, Perry Marker, set up the students to speak more than he did. He invited the class to share their ideas in small groups and large, through pre-assigned one-page responses and through 10 minute collaborative art pieces. He understood that process is as important as product, maybe even more so. I value this idea, because I want to run a classroom where students can think through ideas with the comfort of their peers, not alone in a house late at night while they scramble to finish assignments. I think that the students in EDCT 585 were just as important to the enriching experience. From my peers I learned that passion for a subject leads to an openness and willingness to listen to differing viewpoints on content. I see passion as being important in my endeavors as an educator. I want to appeal to the passions of students and allow the freedom that this class gave. Watching and participating in the cohesion of this classroom gave me insight into how I might change my own future classroom to be a more cooperative environment.

The Artifacts

- One Pager - EDCT 585 - PSA - Marriage of Classes - 3D Gamelab -

The image used on this page was borrowed from the following website:
- Image 1 -