John Henry Newman and Experiential Learning

After reading Newman's discourses I somehow see a connection with the ideal university learning and what a leader should be. Newman believes that a university should not only just be a place where students can gain knowledge of facts, but a place where they can get a deeper learning of themselves and others.

"It is the education which gives a man a clear conscious view of his own opinions and judgments, a truth in developing them, an eloquence in expressing them, and a force in urging them." (170) To know one's self is to become a leader. The university is a place where one can learn who they are through all the different aspects of learning they can come across here. Knowing who you are will better prepare who you will become in the future. Which is a reason why I wanted to go to a university like UT. I knew I had to experience something new to see how I would react. To see who I am as a person outside the norm. Coming here to UT would be an experience of a lifetime that not everyone gets to take. Surrounding myself with different people, the classes, and the new life would help me determine who I really am as a person. Discovering who I am will set me closer to my goal in giving back to my community. In coming here I wanted to take every single thing I learn and use it to benefit people. A year ago I came across a quote that has been somewhat of a motivation for me to pursue my goal.

Success

To laugh often and much;

To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;

To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;

To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;

To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;

To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.

This is to have succeeded.

-Bessie Stanley

To be a good leader one must be able to understand others; which Newman also mentions. "It shows him how to accommodate himself to others, how to throw himself into their state of mind, how to bring before them his own, how to influence them, how to come to an understanding with them, how to bear with them." (170) Leaders must know how to listen with empathy.

(Covey, pg 240) A university should be able to teach the students in doing so. Universities should produce well rounded students. In not doing so, the student will not be prepared for certain situations. Newman writes that the ideal university should produce successful leaders for the world. For my goal in giving back to society, I must learn how to first truly understand others before I can help them. Without understanding them, I will not get anywhere in completing my goal.

Experiential Learning

In high school, or in any time since I started school, I have never really experienced experiential learning before. This method of "active involvement results in processing of information deeper than mere memorization." (184) Experiential learning allows for students to keep in their mind what they learned to use that information in the future to be successful. "It makes use of your own personal associations as a basis for remembering and understanding."(184) It's a method where one will always know the information learned in order to be able to better society. It is like discovery learning; where one can learn and also discover who they are as a person, where they stand on a certain viewpoint, how they will change for the benefit of society.

Woodruff Lecture

How to spot a tyrant:

According to Woodruff's lecture, (which was really different and entertaining than most lectures) a tyrant shows fear, hubris, and lawlessness. The three plays showed scenarios of how different tyrants can be, but yet show the same characteristics. All three references to tyranny show what a good leader shouldn't demonstrate. To be a good leader one has to have empathetic listening.

In Antigone, Creon showed how he is a tyrant through his excessive pride. He was more concerned on his opinion of running the city, which relates to Covey's point on independent thinking, "I'm going to focus on 'me and mine'." He goes on to mention that people live in an "interdependent reality." Creon was too concerned on his rule that ignored what the people of the city wanted. Because of his pride, he didn't "accept criticism" coming from his own son. (Woodruff) Creon did "not listen with the intent to understand; [he listened] with the intent to reply." (Covey, pg 239) Because Creon thought nothing was above his word, he was only listening to what his son his saying just to defend his decision about Antigone. A good leader must know how to listen with empathy. Empathic listening is "listening with intent to understand." (Covey, pg 240) It relates back to "seeing one side at a time, we blunder. Truth has no perspective." (William Stafford, Woodruff lecture) Good leaders must know how to listen effectively to make a decision best for everyone, not just himself like Creon. He lacked understanding and compassion as a leader and made a terrible choice.

In the play Doll's House, Torvald also doesn't listen to his wife with emapthic listening. He was more concerned of what others thought of him. He has already made up his mind calling her an "ignorant child." (Doll's House, Henrick Isben) Torvald was "projecting [his] own thoughts...and interpretation [instead] of dealing with the reality inside [her] heart." (Covey, pg 241) Good leaders do not assume what other people's motives are based on their own perceptions. To be a good leader, being a good listnener is key.

Both men lost something in not being good listeners, much less leaders. They were tyrants. One lost the support of a city and his son, the other lost his wife.

Road Maps

The road maps were really interesting to watch. I didn't think I would get alot out of them. It was pretty cool how much I learned from everyone in that short amount of time. I decided to blog on Zelma, Sana, and Katie.

Zelma:

Her Marily Monroe quote reminded me of my sister, since she lives by it. She is also very close with friends which I can relate to. The bond she created with her friends in high school even though she was new was surprising. I'm not sure if I could have done that. I knew what she meant when she mentions coming to visit UT and knew this was the place to go to college. That's how I chose to come to UT, through a campus visit. The pictures she had of Mexico were amazing. She's really lucky to have visited such beautiful places, and I hope one day I can go visit those places too.

Katie:

I think the fact that Katie has 3 older brothers and seem to be really close is nice. My sister and I used to joke around saying we needed an older brother. Her brothers seem to be the type of older bro everyone wants. Her trip with the band seemed a lot of fun. I know that the band people at my school were really close and I imagine it's the same for her. The fact that we both come from the same school district is awesome. I knew what she meant during her speech about the whole diversity thing during orientation. I was also confused thinking everyone knew about the variety of different people coming to UT, but then I realized some students here went to schools that didn't have diversity.

Sana:

Sana mentioned being really close with her grandma and I admire that. I've never been close with my grandma and I'm still not. She had said in her speech that she was really close with her dad, and its cool that someone else finally knows what I mean in trying to explain how my dad and I. I love how she's been to many places outside the US. It makes a person that much more interesting I believe.

Nam Le

Sorry the picture is not very good. What I remember most was the quote he mentioned from his book "Nothing can make you ridiculous if you are strong." Thinking on it now, it seems like good advice. Being strong in all situations will make a better leader wouldn't it? They will be able to confront any issue head on. On the other hand, can being strong create a sense of pride making it hard to have the compassion a good leader needs? Perhaps the person will be more concerned with being strong and start to ignore the compassionate side of being a leader.

My results

I actually expected some of the results I got from the test. Early on in my senior year of high school my student council advisor had made us take a similar test based on colors. Orange was the extroverted person and green and blue were more introverted types of people. However, it was really vague. This test was a lot more accurate and more detailed. Turned out I was Introverted (33%), Sensing (38%), Thinking (38%), and Judging (44%).

Yea, it’s pretty obvious that I am shy right off the bat, but not so much with friends. At first I am really shy and feel awkward around new people, but in time I do become friendlier. My friend tells me, “Tengo cara de pocos amigos.” Meaning I have an unfriendly face, therefore few friends. That isn’t really the case though. I’m not saying that I am popular with a billion friends, but I do have friends that have stuck it out to see that I really am a good friend. So the friends I have made all have told me they thought I was “anti-social”. My sister always tells me that I should think before I speak in front of people I just met because of how I am; which was what my teaching method was saying to “choose [my] words wisely… not to offend others.” It was creepily accurate on the whole “do not react well to change and resist it.” I tend to stick with the old way and takes awhile for me to get used to the new way. It really gets irritating sometimes when something changes at the last minute after I had already assumed it was set in stone. Last minute changes are rare in my case; rather go with the first plan. The way Professor Bump has started off the class with introducing each other and getting to know each other to break through “the initial coldness” was my type of teaching method (145).

My approach to writing was interesting for me to find out. I had never really put too much thought on my method of writing a paper, but I did know that writing about personal topics or vague ones were really hard for me to grasp or make a concept out of. I “anticipate ideas before writing,” and “follow a set schedule to completion” (147). This is true, I take my time and make an outline before I write. Once in awhile I’ll start writing because I’ll have all these thoughts, but then I will hit a block because I won’t “see where the paper is going” (149). I never really liked writing unless it was writing “logically, objectively, and analytically” (152). Writing for me is easy if I have specific guidelines and more details than free-style topics or personal ones. I also agreed that revising for me is “merely ‘correcting’ or proofreading” (150). I don’t think I actually ever written several drafts from the same paper, except in 3rd grade; even then it didn’t include drastic changes. So when Professor Bump mentioned that revising and rewriting papers was fun, I didn’t see how. I would actually like trying it though because all of the papers I’ve done I was never really satisfied with them. Perhaps this different method of revising, or more accurate method, will help me be more comfortable with writing and then I’ll actually appreciate my papers.

The Instructor/Class Typology was right on the learning, teaching, and writing style. Helped me understand how I write and what I can work on changing for a better writing style. It was a pretty good assignment. Actually recommended my friends to take it, they were also impressed. As for my personality, most of it was accurate as well. It had said I was “humble and focused on credentials and traditions.” That sums me up so far I think. As for the “stabilizing leader” part I am not sure; time will tell I guess.

Famous people with the ISTJ personality were J.D. Rockefeller, Queen Elizabeth II, and Harry S. Truman