Interview with:Ted Nellen [tnellen]
EDUCATION
 | What subjects do you teach? What types of students do you have? |
| Can you provide a link to a site where we can see something about what you do or the center where you work? Perhaps the best place to go would be to my CyberEnglish online book that explains CE, has links to the work of my scholars, and to the lessons I use. In addition links to my presentations, publications, and resume appear on this page.
http://www.tnellen.net/cyberenglish/
The key to CE is to have the scholars make their work public, engage in peer review, and then to pass it on. |
| How have your past experiences prepared you for teaching? How did you become interested in education? Two of my grandparents and both of my parents were teachers. It is genetic, I guess. |
| Who was your most influential teacher and why? I have had four teachers who have influenced me.
My third grade teacher was cruel. She had me writing on the board almost everyday after school: "I will not..."
My fourth grade teacher was the complete opposite and excited me about school.
My high school history teacher was a teacher who believed in me.
My college adviser, English teacher introduced me to publishing and began my thinking that led me to create CyberEnglish. |
| What is your educational philosophy? Constructivism as informed by John Dewey, Paulo Freire, Howard Gardner, Robert Sternberg to name a few.
This web site will offer up links to these and more: http://tnellen.com/alt/read.html
A specific philosophy would be the velcro theory. New knowledge has to find a place to stick itself. In the case of new knowledge, a sticking place is created. Sticking places can be subject to change and reorganization. Some have compared this theory to a file cabinet, which is apt. I'm not sure it is that organized and that static. The velcro theory connotes a more haphazard, fluid, ever growing sticking place. So, the velcro theory applies to the use of technology in education because it assists the scholar in creating a digital file cabinet as s/he refines the current memory system. Technology assists us in finding those elements of assemblage of the velcro theory.
Oh and another thing, I disagree that we operate in circles. We do not return to where we were before. That is impossible. No, it is more like a spiral. |
| What is the most challenging aspect of teaching for you? Attendance. |
| What kind of relationship do you have with your students? Professional and first name. |
| What is the secret to instilling interest in knowledge? Self discovery and the construction of webpages. As the scholars construct their webpages they become more invested in their own education and acquiring knowledge. |
| What is your philosophy on homework and grading? |
| Is it possible to teach creativity? how? I think so and see it constantly when the scholars creatively construct their webpages. They discover their creative sides when creating webpages, which then translates into their writing. |
| How do you establish authority? What do you do when a discipline problem arises? I greet them pleasantly when they enter the classroom. Since I am dealing with adults seeking to complete high school, I don't have discipline problems. Mutual respect of the learning environment is established. |
| How do you individualize your teaching? How do you handle the different ability levels of students in classes? This is one reason I developed CyberEnglish. All scholars need differentiated instruction and CE allows for this. I am able to provide various ways of presenting the material via text and other media forms. |
| What cooperative learning means to you. How have you used it? Cooperative learning is complex. Within the classroom I demand the scholars work together in peer review and in assisting fellow scholars to accomplish a task. Cooperation also happens from without the classroom via telementors. Telementors are people who correspond with my scholars via email and assits them in their education. |
| What do you expect from your supervisor? What qualities would you like to have in your principal? Support. A good administrator is like a good snowplow. Clear the road for me to drive. Support me in my professional development by offering useful resources and allowing me to attend conferences. |
| What issues in education are of greatest concern to you? Equality and access to information. |
| Would it be a good thing if teachers had economic incentives based on student performance? I don't think so, since we really couldn't pinpoint which teacher is most responsible. |
| Besides more financial resources, what do today's schools lack? The imagination to recreate itself. In America, we still work on an antiquated agrarian calendar and the classroom still looks like it did 100 years ago. Ironically, a teacher from 100 years ago could walk into most classrooms and function. This is not the case in any other professions. |
| What are some ways you have incorporated technology into the classroom. Technology is all around me. My classroom has always had 32 computers in it since 1984. I couldn't teach without it. |
| In light of new technologies, do we need to reinvent the school, its methods and objectives? Oh my goodness, yes we do need to reinvent schools. Not because of the technology, but the tech does help beg the question. The delivery of information before the current technology advances has been one way delivery. Now the advancement of learning is more interactive and is not always one way. As I have said before, we are experiencing a much more constructivist educational environment. The scholars are in more control about their own learning. Education is becoming a more cooperative enterprise between all scholars, the teacher scholars and the student scholars.
All scholars should be doing more reflective work on what they are learning instead of what we used to assess when we looked to see what was learned. |
| If you could create the ideal school, what would it be like? I'd like a large space with wireless computers and desks on wheels and capable of adjusting themselves so the worker can either sit or stand. The desks would be adjusted so that scholars can work in groups or alone. Teachers would use webpages to deliver their assignments and they would move around the room either alone or with other teachers to work with the scholars. |
| What do you think schools will be like in 20 years? Unfortunately as they are today. In spite of all the reasons to change schools in the past 100 years, we haven't. As I said earlier, we still operate on an agrarian calendar. Our scholars don't need to help their families on the farm anymore, yet we still maintain this calendar.
I wrote on this topic about 12 years ago: http://www.tnellen.com/ted/tc/cybrarian.html |
| What are your professional goals? Where do you want to be in five years? I'm nearing retirement. I hope to be doing consulting and helping other realize their technological goals in the classroom. |
| What qualities would you need to see in someone before advising him/her to go into teaching? What is the quality of listening. |
| 
935 visits Whohub
Ted Nellen
New York City, USA
|
95745 interviews created
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