academic history:
Intellectually, I've been productive due to inherited intelligence, developing this potential through education (formal & informal), and hard work.* But professionally, I've followed a "road less traveled" instead of the typical academic
path. What happened? As a chemistry major, I enjoyed learning and did well
(getting the American Chemical Society's "best student" award
for all high schools of Orange County, CA, and then for undergrads at U.C. Irvine)
and
received
a
fellowship
for graduate study from the National
Science Foundation. But for various reasons — mainly academic immaturity
(playing too much and not studying enough) and an
incomplete mental awakening (I had discovered creativity but not discipline
& commitment) and an intellectual preference for generalization (instead
of the specialization expected in grad school and in science) — I decided
to not
pursue
a career in research chemistry.
* This combination has allowed academic awards
& fellowships,
800s
in
GRE for Math & Verbal, and high intellectual productivity.
After leaving school, I traveled
and worked and played, along with lots of reading & thinking, and developed
a passion for expressing ideas through writing. I enrolled
in the History of Science program at the University of Wisconsin, but I never
felt like a historian, even though I enjoy history and liked the historians at UW; during our first semester a fellow grad
student began a sentence, "We historians think that...", and my
internal response was "what an interesting concept, WE historians." But
since high school I had been teaching occasionally, and thinking about the process
of thinking, so when I entered the Science Education program at UW the concept
of “we educators” struck a resonant chord in me; it felt natural, was intellectually stimulating, and has provided the freedom and flexibility
to pursue my continuing generalist interests.
teaching experience: mostly chemistry & physics, but also problem-solving strategies, ESL, tennis, juggling, music improvising
& theory, ballroom dancing; mostly in classes but also in other ways, including summertime "chemistry
camps" and by tutoring (in physics, chemistry, and calculus);
special interests in education: helping students learn thinking skills (generating
& evaluating ideas,...) and the methods used for problem solving in science & design; visual representations of ideas, and teaching scientific
concepts;
favorite movie: It's
a Wonderful
Life, partly for its artistic value (plot, dialogue, acting,...) but mainly
for
the message: Each of us affects
other
people,
and
life
is
better
if
we
affect
others
in ways that are beneficial
for them, that help them become better people who are developing their full potential, living in ways that are beneficial for others, and enjoying life.
spiritual foundation: I'm a Christian,
and my overall goal is to love and trust God more fully so I can “live by faith” in
ways that are beneficial for others, and for me because I'm moving closer to being-and-doing what God wants.
I have mixed feelings about the results of my road less traveled.
Intellectually, I've been highly productive.
Professionally, I haven't followed the standard path. The result of this combination is that, despite
developing lots of great ideas in a wide range of areas, so far these ideas aren't widely known or used, and my life doesn't summarize well on a curriculum vitae.* This is
partly because instead
of
writing for
scholarly journals or in books, during the last decade I've focused on writing for the
web, which I think can be (when all things are considered) a superior way to communicate ideas, but
unfortunately web-writing doesn't get much credit among scholars. A more general explanation is that,
basically, I haven't been a skilled “salesman” for my ideas.
Although the product is strong, the marketing has been weak. My actual intellectual productivity has been high, but the perception of productivity (by others) has been low. This contrast between reality and perception is frustrating, but I think it's temporary, and in the future my work will be more widely used.
* For example, when people see me at UW they sometimes ask “are you a professor” and I answer that “if I had made different decisions earlier in life, I would be, but I didn't so I'm not.” Being a professor would be a good match for my abilities, work ethic, and interests (because I'm intelligent, hard working, and enjoy teaching & scholarship) but this didn't happen due to my decisions and the resulting life path.
On
most days, when I wake in the morning I'm free to think about ideas that are
wonderfully exciting. I'm thankful that, for more than a decade, God was using me to do full-time volunteer work on a productive ministry
project (a website for Whole-Person Education) that was very satisfying. To
make money for food and rent, my paying job — which
I've enjoyed, except when I'm thinking about the valuable time it subtracted from
working on my main vocation — is teaching chemistry. But it's time for a change. During the first 8 months of 2011, and again in 2012, and at the start of 2013, my unpaid main vocation has been working much more than full-time (by reading & listening, discussing, thinking, and writing) to develop ideas for education. This has been a satisfying experience — because I can wake in the morning and continue working on ideas from the previous day (and week, month,...) which allows “mental momentum” that is useful in many ways — and these have been times of high productivity. In the near future I hope to get a full-time paid job working cooperatively with other educators in creative collaborations to help students learn more effectively, to actualize our ideas (mine and theirs) for improving education, by converting these ideas into action.
