On Not Knowing
I made it through HTML/CSS and miraculously I still have a computer and most my sanity. These weeks of learning HTML/CSS have happened to coincide with my first weeks of being a Teaching Assistant. Having these experiences together has been invaluable for a few reasons.
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It has forced me to be a student again. While I am still in graduate courses as a student, it has been many years since I was in a course where my knowledge of the subject was so limited and my teachers knowledge so extensive. I’ve already gained a lot of insight into how to calmly and politely point out to a student that what they are doing is completely off base. This is a gift the Praxis team has given to me.
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If has reacquainted me with the feeling of “not knowing.” In graduate school it is rare that I find myself completely out of my depth. I take courses in my field with professors who study the same things I study. In Praxis I have had to embrace confusion, work through frustration, and learn to ask (what feel like) stupid questions, over and over. This is a gift the Praxis team has given to my students. Reconnecting with feelings of “not knowing” have helped me act more compassionately with my students and embrace my role as an educator to help them work through their frustration and confusion.
To watch all these fun emotions manifest you can follow the development of my very first website here: http://cmarque1.github.com/
Right now it is mostly a mess but in time I’m hoping for masterpiece status.