When I look back on my life and consider every decision I made, every path I walked down, every option I weighed, there are two distinct people who represent turning points in my “branching scenario” (that’s a fun little instructional design reference for everyone). These two people, a teacher and a professional mentor, had such a significant impact on me that it’s not an understatement to say that they profoundly changed the trajectory of my life.
Who Are These Magical Unicorn Mentors?
The first of these two spectacular humans is my fifth-grade teacher, Mr. Klaver. Mr. Klaver is the teacher I credit in my About Me page with igniting my love affair with writing. It was during our creative writing times that I was free to let my imagination wander, my writing skills develop, my writer’s voice become strong and proud, and most importantly, my appreciation and love of the written word was solidified.
Our creative writing times were some of my favorite learning activities, because of the way Mr. Klaver organized our learning and the strategies he used to teach us. I played violin in orchestra, so while the band students were practicing with the band teacher twice a week, the orchestra students remained in the classroom (and vice versa). It was during those times, with half the students in another classroom, that Mr. Klaver conducted our creative writing times. While we worked on our writing projects, Mr. Klaver would call us up one by one and hold a brief conference with us to review our progress, investing in us and helping us further our writing skills.
What Would Learning Theorists Have to Say?
The constructivist perspective of human learning focuses on how we construct knowledge, rather than how we acquire it (Schunk, 2020). Lev Vygotsky is a well-known constructivist theorist who articulated the Zone of Proximal Development, which essentially is “the difference between what children can do on their own and what they can do with assistance from others. Interactions with adults and peers in the ZPD promote cognitive development” (Schunk, 2020, p. 332, table 8.5). When Mr. Klaver was guiding us, but not strictly instructing us, he was using a constructivist approach. We were able to build the knowledge for ourselves, but under his tutelage.
He also used a constructivist approach called “inquiry teaching,” which is pretty much what it sounds like. In inquiry teaching, the teacher “repeatedly questions the student” (Schunk, 2020, p. 354). The questions are not arbitrary or random though; the teacher has control and they ask questions that “have students reason, derive general principles, and apply them to new situations” (Schunk, 2020, p. 354).
The Mighty Legacy of Words
Mr. Klaver’s emphasis on guiding us to become better writers, helping us critically examine our work, and better understand English grammar conventions, for me, was all secondary to the freedom I found in writing. Writing became an outlet for me when I was younger. In adulthood, it has become a skill for which I am sought out and that I am able to use professionally. The lessons Mr. Klaver taught me have become inextricably woven into the fabric of my life.
Who’s the Second Unicorn Mentor?
My love of words led me to start working with a woman who would become a mentor to me in the field of instructional design. When I started working for Angela Kaufman, I was focused primarily on writing projects, but she quickly saw the potential in me to do more. She introduced to me eLearning development and the larger field of instructional design.
Angela encouraged me to learn as much as I could about the field that I have grown to love. She referred me to forums, software, books, and other resources; she answered any questions I had. She gave me feedback on my projects and asked me for feedback on hers. The freedom I first felt in Mr. Klaver’s creative writing times was unleashed when, because of Angela, I discovered instructional design, eLearning development, and that I love to learn about how humans learn.
Discovery Learning
Angela’s approach differed from Mr. Klaver’s, as we were not in a formal classroom or teaching environment. But there are several important similarities: Angela’s mentoring of me could be described as using constructivist principles. Additionally, both the way I learned with Angela and the way Mr. Klaver taught were discovery learning (inquiry learning is a form of discovery learning, but it is more structured, as the teacher typically has more control). “Discovery learning refers to obtaining knowledge for oneself (Bruner, 1961). Discovery involves constructing and testing hypotheses rather than simply reading or listening to teacher presentations” (Schunk, 2020, p. 351).
Where I Am and Where I’m Going
Because of Mr. Klaver and Angela, I was able to foster my desire to grow and learn. And that desire is ultimately what led me to graduate school, where I’m pursuing an MSEd in Learning Design and Technology. I meant what I said: they made a profound impact on me.
RDNE Stock Project. (2021, August 4). Women sitting on black chairs facing each other while having a conversation. Pexels. https://www.pexels.com/photo/women-sitting-on-black-chairs-facing-each-other-while-having-a-conversation-9065326/
Schunk, D. H. (2020). Learning theories: An educational perspective (8th ed). Pearson.