Personal Information
Greetings! or as the ancient Romans say Salvete!
My name is Alexander Kimmel, most people call me Kimmel or just Alex. I was raised in a small town in the north-eastern corner of Ohio called Conneaut. The town is about 14,000 people and lots of farmland. I now live in Cleveland Heights, OH and am attending John Carroll for my M.Ed. Hopefully one day I will become a Latin teacher. After graduating from Kenyon College with my BA in Classics, I moved to wild and wonderful West Virginia. It was a fantastic experience but ultimately I wanted to be closer to civilization, so I moved back home and decided to continue my education.
My uniqueness is characterized by the fact that I am fluent in a dead language, Latin and ancient Greek. When I am not translating ancient texts you can usually find me delving into comic books, video games, and other typically "nerd" lore. I am not related to Jimmy Kimmel, but if it helps for you to recognize the name by all means be my guest. Just as long as you don't call me Kimble because I'm not a detective.
Myself as a student
In order for me to take risks in a classroom, above all else I must feel comfortable with my peers and instructor. If I feel like my peers don't know me then I will generally be quiet and keep to myself in the classroom. I feel most comfortable after making a joke and getting a few laughs. Growing up teachers and friends always expected a wisecrack or a light hearted joke from me. Although I have matured I still find that laughter is the best way to break the ice. There is certainly a time to be serious, however if you can't laugh at yourself then you'll never make it out of life alive. I have always taken my education seriously. My grandmother always told me before I would leave home to go back to college, "Work hard, play hard." My work always comes first, and when I'm not working I'm playing. Ever since I was a child I was a self-taught learner, in fact I feel it is how I learn best. If my older brothers didn't know how to do it, I quickly figured it out. Anything from drawing, sports, languages, or even cooking I taught myself. Its not that I wasn't presented opportunities to learn those things from others, I just felt more comfortable and that I did a better job than anyone else could.
Education Past and Present
A memory which stands out most vividly concerning my own experiences as a student is my first trip to Europe as a sophomore in high school. I was blessed with the opportunity of traveling abroad with a group of friends from school. We were able to travel across Spain, France, and Italy. It was such an enlightening experience for me to see how other countries operate and how different they are from what I am used to. When I got to Italy and saw the ruins of the Forum with the Colosseum in the distance I was awe struck. These structures have survived for thousands of years and still remain impressive structures in the Roman skyline. It was at this moment that I became aware of my affinity for the Classical world.
Important issues in education for me right now involve correcting the broken system of education in America. There is an increasingly large gap in the American Education system which needs to be fixed to ensure our success as nation, or yet as a global population. Together as a class we need to do a contextual survey of the history of education, so that we understand what we have done in the past along with sharing our own personal experiences with education. We can use all of this information to draw on the fact that everyone has had a different experience and that's what makes it so unique. We also must study where education is at presently, i.e. current theories and practices. We must study how the education system is currently working and what is being done in the classrooms. We must all feel comfortable sharing our own experiences and beliefs so we can learn exactly who we are as a community of learners. We must avoid our own anxieties and preconceptions. Everyone is a tabula rasa(blank slate) starting with new experiences. It is our job to take what we learn here and ensure the future of education stays positive and insightful.
