magazine - De La Salle Institute

Feature Story
educating
Our Future
As a Lasallian school, De La Salle Institute is rooted in the tradition of Saint John
Baptist de La Salle and our dedicated faculty and staff are inspired by his legacy
and continue his mission of educating students and preparing young women and
men for success in their future endeavors. Our teachers are brilliant examples of
the exemplary caliber of education that students receive during their four years as
a Meteor. Teachers help shape the high school experience. They are the foundation
of the classroom and the innovative lessons taught in them. And they help create
a school where all students are given the opportunity to excel, the opportunity
to participate and cultivate their passions, and the opportunity to go beyond
oneself and serve the greater community. Often, teachers are unsung heroes of our
students’ accomplishments. They work day in and day out to prepare our youth
for their future in college and beyond. D Magazine wanted to take a step back and
ask several members of our distinguished faculty to share their points of view on
different educational motivations. Please read on…
diane brown
Principal, Lourdes Hall Campus
In your more than 20 years of
service, how has the vocation
of teaching evolved
Over the past thirty-four years, I have witnessed a paradigmatic shift in the academic environment from a teachercentered
classroom to a student-centered classroom. When I began my teaching career in 1977, the classroom was a
teacher-centered environment. The teacher delivered information through lectures, films, recordings, modeling
exercises, and other techniques. Course notes were written on a blackboard, and tests were typed on Spirit Masters
(typing paper with carbon attached) and duplicated on mimeograph machines since copy machines were scarce, and
computers nonexistent. Students were expected to sit quietly and listen to the teacher, take notes, read, or follow
whatever other directions they may have been given. Failure to do so could result in harsh punishment and dreaded
phone calls home to parents. Teachers were expected to maintain complete control of the classroom environment, and
students were more passive learners.
Today’s classroom, however, is a student-centered environment. Although the expectations for educators to demonstrate
academic expertise and effective classroom management strategies have not changed, teachers are now more challenged
to engage students in active learning. This involves planning educational activities that teach to the whole child by
taking into account the rich and diverse cultures, backgrounds, needs, and beliefs that students bring to the classrooms
each day. In addition, educational tools for teaching have now been placed into the hands of students as tools for
learning. Today, our students utilize state-of-the-art computer equipment for a variety of educational activities,
including, but not limited to, studying electronic textbooks, taking notes, collaborating with classmates, communicating
with teachers, creating presentations, and writing papers. More importantly, teachers and students are able to transcend
the boundaries of the physical classroom by connecting to Internet sites that provide enriched learning opportunities
never thought possible in 1977. Recently, I visited a social studies classroom in which students were viewing artifacts
housed at the New York Museum of Fine Arts. Other classes have connected to university libraries to conduct research,
have traveled across the globe to learn about foreign lands, have graphed and analyzed data from science experiments
in class, and have sketched three-dimensional structures to better visualize complex structures. Students can engage in
these and other educational activities via the Internet without ever leaving their classrooms. The possibilities for
engaged learning opportunities are endless.
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