Greetings to all who happen to view my e-Portfolio.
My name is Monserrat Washburn. I have been teaching at St. John's University since 2005. I myself graduated from St. John's University in May, 2004 with a degree of Masters of Arts in Theology. I was also a teacher in my old life in the old country. Because I have a Masters degree in Anatomy from the University of the Philippines, I briefly taught Anatomy to Nursing students in a Nursing college before teaching Biology at Colegio San Agustin, a Catholic school from nursery to high school.
We came to the United States in 1984. I took care of my three children and went back to work only when they were all in school. I had worked at an accountant's office, a bank, doctor's office, two mental health agencies, a nursing rehabilitation center, in 2 dioceses, and a Jewish synagogue. I am a member, former secretary and former editor, of the Catholic-Jewish Relations Council of NE Queens. I am also involved with the Turkish Cultural Center and Muslim affairs. I have taught Theology courses at St. John's University since the Fall of 2005. On Sundays, you can find me at work in a church rectory in East Meadow from 9 AM-6 PM.
I am glad to say that I am a mother of three -John, Sarah and Margaret, and a grandmother of 3 -Jordan, 10, Seraphin, 6, and Janna, 5 (Jordan's sister). John is Data Manager at Montefiore Hospital. Sarah is Project Architect at Montroy Andersen DeMarco after her first job at Skidmore, Owings, Merrill LLP where she was part of the design team for the Freedom Tower. Meg graduated in July, 2012 with a M.A. in Literacy Specialist (Birth-6) from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her first teaching assignment was 3rd grade at Baychester Academy in the Bronx two years ago, and since 2014 has been teaching 4th grade at a public school in Upper East Side. Meg got married in January, 2014 to her long time, ever faithful friend and schoolmate from St. Francis Prep, Ben Scheck.
I am very actively involved in social justice issues, devoting much of my time and energy to writing, blogging, posting, researching, signing petitions, calling attention to issues that need to be publicized. I cannot help but inject social justice issues in all my courses. I play an Internet game, almost daily, geared at feeding the hungry by raising grains of rice. For every correct answer you click from a category of your choice, player is rewarded 10 grains of rice which are donated to the world's hungry. This is a project of World Food Programme at www.freerice.org.
As a teacher, I am very passionate about what I teach. I am also innovative, always trying to find ways to make teaching and learning an enjoyable endeavor. "What is learned with pleasure is learned full measure." Hence, I have an array of different kinds of classwork lined up each semester -crossword puzzles, pop quizzes, journaling, group work, writing, research, dramatizations, and lately, playing games. I encourage students to be proficient in Blackboard 9, ePortfolios, navigating the library website for its varied resources such as Campus Guides, films on demand, databases. I require submissions of all written work including the Midterms and Finals to Turnitin. I encourage students to engage in Academic Service Learning, and attend events through Learning Communities. I also like to engage my students in discussion, critical thinking, analysis, research, reflective reasoning, and tons of writing. In my every course, laptops are mandatory and the use of technology and social networks is encouraged.
In the Spring of 2013, in my "Jesus in Christian Faith" course, my students worked in groups doing research and presentations on their research. Each group was assigned a Gospel for the first part, a letter or two of Paul for the second part, and for the third part, chose a noteworthy organization that highlights the values and lessons learned from their endeavors. Each group became experts at their assigned tasks and shared their expertise to all in class presentations. As much as possible, I aim for student-centered classes. In Fall 2012 and subsequent Christian Marriage classes, my students created short movies or video clips based on the life of real married couples demonstrating the values and dispositions that make for a successful union. The students used electronic equipment that they already had such as their cameras, cell phones, camcorder. I highlight one of the best of these creative endeavors below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o49-u-xLqn4
In the Fall 2013 semester, in my two "Christian Perspectives" classes, I again used RTTP pedagogy which engaged the students in critical thinking, public speaking, research, writing, and learning together. We did for the first time the RTTP game -Constantine and the Council of Nicaea – 325 C.E.: Defining Orthodoxy and Heresy in Christianity by Henderson and Kirkpatrick, as well as the RTTP game that I had been using for the last few years, "The Trial of Anne Hutchinson: Liberty, Law and Intolerance in Puritan New England" by Carnes and Winship. In RTTP, students take on assigned roles and reenact history from an array of games offered at the Reacting to the Past (RTTP) website at https://reacting.barnard.edu/reacting-home.
For the past two years, I have been teaching online courses on Christian Marriage and Perspectives on Christianity. I thoroughly enjoy doing online courses. It's very challenging to find ways to keep your students interested and to be able to relate to them in a personal way digitally.
As a teacher, I am available 24/7 within reason. I am a good listener, patient, fair, considerate and understanding. My purpose is to help every student achieve his or her potential, and not to further complicate students' minds and lives. There is no reason for any student to fail in my courses unless it is the student himself or herself who does not take the initiative. I am here to help everyone, not to burden anyone.
Please, always feel welcome in my class.
Prof. Monserrat Washburn
Writing Assignment 4 Option 1 for MODPO in coursera.org