Enlarge Your Vision

December 13, 2005

I'm actually very sad that Child Psych. is ending. I had thought the first half of the semester was wonderful because Henriette Warren was such an admirable, articulate instructor. She was a very warm, friendly, genuine, and expressive woman. And because of this, I had thought that no other teacher would be able to top her knowledge and great rapport with the students. But to my surprise, Crystal Cullerton-Sen made the second half of the semester even more wonderful. And I am sad that it is all ending now.

I gained a lot from Ms. Cullerton-Sen; she was definitely an inspiration to me -- and not to forget, a very knowledgeable and intellectual teacher. I loved everything about her. Ms. Crystal Cullerton-Sen is the ideal college instructor in my opinion. What I admire the most about her is her ability to think on her feet, she would carefully construct her wording and explain concepts and ideas so well that there would be no room for misunderstandings. She wasn't a lazy instructor in the least bit. She was always highly organized in her thought process!, especially for a class that early in the morning, she always came to class prepared to teach with her brain in high-thought mode. She was considerate of the students. She had an ability to verbally translate the interesting information and knowledge that she held of the subject to her students with patient use of time management, effective wording and articulation, and carefree disposition with the class. She would encourage discussion and made the most out of her teaching position by trying to get us students to think critically about the topics we were discussing. She was also an abundant source of information. In presenting the material to us, she would be able to think on her feet and carefully construct her words and rephrase the presentation quickly as to explain the topic more thoroughly. In answering her questions in lecture, she would not only rephrase the entire question out loud again to confirm her understanding of the question, but also answer it with deep thought and careful consideration.

You might think, 'wait a minute, this sounds familiar. you've said very similar things about dr. hal grotevant, joel weinsheimer, and henriette'. Well, yes... but what makes Ms. Cullerton-Sen different is her sincerity in wanting to share valuable knowledge with us. Her genuine interest in the subject and encouragment for us to think critically, and apply it to our own lives made the class interesting. Not to mention, being nervous as she started out made her very relatable. And to see her overcome the challenges very much inspired me. I was doubtful of her at the beginning, but seeing her rise above my expectations through her efforts inspired me to do the same thing. I can accomplish anything if I am hard-working and conscientious like her.

Ms. Cullerton-Sen made me think today. She shared a story about her college identity struggle with us, how she had gone straight into college from the beginning thinking she had known exactly what she wanted to do: to become a marine biologist and study dolphins. But after 1 whole year of taking chemistry courses and the like, she realized that marine biology was not for her at all, and that she had to get it together and figure out what she wanted to do and who she was. Haha. This is something I can DEFINITELY relate to. Anyways, where was I getting at? Oh yea. What she was trying to illustrate was the idea that we are constantly developing our identities by restructuring our ideas about ourselves, and through questioning who we want to be and want we want to do. Are we happy with what we are doing? Her college confusion was just one example of that. The idea is that even after the stage of adolescence, identity development or our sense of identity becomes more complex and differentiated. She also mentioned that this is why college is so great. It gives us the opportunity to try different things and to figure out what we like and dislike.

Looking around the lecture classroom, I suddenly didn't feel so alone. Her story and this information made me realize that what others may appear to be may not be that way after all. Maybe other people seem to be set on a career path already, but they're really not. And if we are constantly questioning our identities, I am not so "immature" or a late bloomer afterall. Oh yes. Here's the other big thing I realized today. I had a hard time deciding when adolescence ends when asked the question. Adolescence ends when you don't need to depend on your parents anymore, when you rise up to meet the challenges of adult life and take on the responsibilities of being independent. When you no longer have to depend on the people who you've been closest to. I realized that I've been doing this to the deepest extent. I have not backed out of adolescence in the least bit, and I am what? almost 20! I don't want to be stuck in 'adolescence' forever. I need to break free and discover the woman inside of me soon.

me was here @ 11:53 AM [ ]

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