To be honest I wasn’t super excited about reading Tuesdays with Morrie for this semester when I first got the email about it. I was familiar with the book’s storyline because I had seen both the movie and play that it inspired. The main reason that I wasn’t so interested in reading the book is that I thought it would be the same tired old sermon about how we only have a limited time to live and we should all cherish each moment. Tuesdays with Morrie is about that, but it’s not preachy and it also really does connect into the goals of Paideia and our cohort’s theme.
Being more reflective about experiences
This Paideia goal is very central to Tuesdays with Morrie. In fact, Morrie and Mitch spend a great deal of their time together reflecting on their experiences. This goal is important (both in the memoir and in Paideia) because it allows an opportunity for us to learn from past mistakes and successes, develop a deeper understanding of how we process and function, and examine the direction which our lives have taken. Moreover, in the context of the book Mitch is given the advantage of hearing Morrie reflect on his experiences, thus benefiting from the life experience of someone who has seen and done a great deal. Upon reflecting about his experiences Mitch discovers that he is not as happy as he might be and that he is very much caught up in a vacuous and materialistic life. Mitch’s realization leads him to “be more intentional about [his] choices” another Paideia goal.
Being more intentional in choices
By being more intentional in his choices Mitch regains control of his life, instead of allowing his work to control him. He also rearranges his priorities, placing spending time with a dying friend above work (granted this choice was made easier by a union strike). Mitch also chooses to let go of the things that might normally upset him (such as bad smells, uncomfortable situations, and upsetting episodes of Morrie’s illness) in order to be the best friend that he can be to his dying professor. Mitch reaches out to Morrie in a way that he would have never expected to, because he chooses that learning from, spending time with, and comforting a friend is the most important thing he can do. Morrie teaches Mitch to use intentional choices not only to free himself from the unreasonable burdens Mitch had accepted from his career, but also to build a more fulfilling future for himself (for instance by realigning his priorities and beginning to rebuild his relationship with his brother).
Understanding human behavior
Morrie is first and foremost a student of humanity; consequently Tuesday with Morrie acts much like a textbook on humanity. In fact, one of the first questions Morrie asks Mitch upon seeing him for the first time in about sixteen years is “Are you trying to be as human as you can be?”. In fact during the rest of their time together Mitch and Morrie discuss the most essential, valuable, and frightening things that are a result of being human, such as aging, regrets, love, family, death and forgiveness. I find Tuesday s with Morrie to be an excellent text for a course that seeks to explore and understand human behavior.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Boys and Girls Club Project (First Blog of 2009)
Although working with the boys and girls club was not my first choice for a civic engagement project I am getting really excited about it. My main goal for this project is to provide help and support to the boys and girls club and the kids that utilize their services. I also hope to be able to develop at least one meaningful relationship with a kid I meet at the club. I expect this relationship to be as beneficial for me (and quite possibly more beneficial for me) as it is for the kid I befriend. I expect to learn a whole lot form all the kids I meet at the club.
I am very open to suggestions as to how our civic engagement should play out, however I do have a couple of possible scenarios in mind. I see a number of advantages to allowing individual or small groups of Paideia students to develop their own activities, projects, programs, etc for the club. The main advantage of this is that it will allow each Paideia student to share with the club the skills that are unique to them. This method of organization is also advantageous because it will help us to engage and meet the needs off all different kids (and consequently a larger number of kids). Some of us may be interacting with students that enjoy sports and physical activities, while others of us may be forging relationships with students who prefer more artistic pursuits. A third advantage to this scenario is that it eliminates the need for us all to agree on a specific area of project that we wish to pursue. As we learned in choosing an agency to work with it is very difficult (if not impossible) for us all to agree on any one thing. I understand that this idea may meet some resistance, as many members of the cohort believe it is important that we all share a common experience for our civic engagement project. However, I feel that the scenario I have proposed is the “best of both worlds” because we will have a common environment in which our experiences take place, but we will all have sufficiently different experiences that we can share these experiences with each other and learn from others’ experiences. I am particularly interested in (and somewhat bias towards) this way of organizing our project, because I have already made some preliminary plans for my own individual project at the club. I plan on tutoring a girl in geometry this semester.
If we choose to utilize the method of organization I’ve proposed most of the parameters of our project are flexible according to what individual or groups of Paideia students choose to do. In other words, some students could organize structured activities while others do non-structured activities; some could work with kids one at a time while others work in groups; some of us could go to the club alone while others go with other cohort members. I think that in order to prevent “social loafing” and so that our efforts remain at least somewhat united we should all present what we plan to do and how it works out to each other at our cohort meetings. As for how often and how long we should do our projects I think one hour every other week might work well. This way students could go on the Tuesdays we don’t have Paideia so our schedules remain fairly consist. Also students could choose if they would rather go every other week or once a week for roughly 30 minutes.
As for questions and concerns, I will be very interested to here from the club representative at our next meeting about what he sees as the primary need of the club, as well as his ideas of how we can meet those needs. I would also be interested to hear the opinions of the kids who use the club. What activities do they like and not like? What are things they do now at the club (and have done in the past) that they really like and want to do more of? What are things that they haven't liked so much? I also wonder what are some mistakes that previous volunteers at the club have made (so we can avoid those mistakes), and what types of projects and programs have had the greatest success (so we can consider incorporating some of those aspects). At this point I am feeling pretty confident and I don't really have too many concerns about the project; I'm excited to begin.
I am very open to suggestions as to how our civic engagement should play out, however I do have a couple of possible scenarios in mind. I see a number of advantages to allowing individual or small groups of Paideia students to develop their own activities, projects, programs, etc for the club. The main advantage of this is that it will allow each Paideia student to share with the club the skills that are unique to them. This method of organization is also advantageous because it will help us to engage and meet the needs off all different kids (and consequently a larger number of kids). Some of us may be interacting with students that enjoy sports and physical activities, while others of us may be forging relationships with students who prefer more artistic pursuits. A third advantage to this scenario is that it eliminates the need for us all to agree on a specific area of project that we wish to pursue. As we learned in choosing an agency to work with it is very difficult (if not impossible) for us all to agree on any one thing. I understand that this idea may meet some resistance, as many members of the cohort believe it is important that we all share a common experience for our civic engagement project. However, I feel that the scenario I have proposed is the “best of both worlds” because we will have a common environment in which our experiences take place, but we will all have sufficiently different experiences that we can share these experiences with each other and learn from others’ experiences. I am particularly interested in (and somewhat bias towards) this way of organizing our project, because I have already made some preliminary plans for my own individual project at the club. I plan on tutoring a girl in geometry this semester.
If we choose to utilize the method of organization I’ve proposed most of the parameters of our project are flexible according to what individual or groups of Paideia students choose to do. In other words, some students could organize structured activities while others do non-structured activities; some could work with kids one at a time while others work in groups; some of us could go to the club alone while others go with other cohort members. I think that in order to prevent “social loafing” and so that our efforts remain at least somewhat united we should all present what we plan to do and how it works out to each other at our cohort meetings. As for how often and how long we should do our projects I think one hour every other week might work well. This way students could go on the Tuesdays we don’t have Paideia so our schedules remain fairly consist. Also students could choose if they would rather go every other week or once a week for roughly 30 minutes.
As for questions and concerns, I will be very interested to here from the club representative at our next meeting about what he sees as the primary need of the club, as well as his ideas of how we can meet those needs. I would also be interested to hear the opinions of the kids who use the club. What activities do they like and not like? What are things they do now at the club (and have done in the past) that they really like and want to do more of? What are things that they haven't liked so much? I also wonder what are some mistakes that previous volunteers at the club have made (so we can avoid those mistakes), and what types of projects and programs have had the greatest success (so we can consider incorporating some of those aspects). At this point I am feeling pretty confident and I don't really have too many concerns about the project; I'm excited to begin.
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