Renee Sullivan

It has been a pleasure being part of the Collin County Community College District this fall. As I ventured through Humanities 1301, with a very enthusiastic group of learners, I realized just how much I love learning and teaching students from all walks of life who are varied in ages and ethnicities. My fifteen years of teaching secondary English and English as a Second Language have taken me down many roads in my educational experience that I now feel will benefit my teaching and communication with others. When my tenth grade high school teacher read a poem to our class for the first time, I knew then that I saw the world through a different set of eyes. Metaphorically speaking, all aspects of life and learning can be viewed as a large white box tied with a huge red bow waiting to be opened and explored and filled with surprises. Being a self-motivated learner, I firmly believe and understand what Jean-Paul Sarte meant when he said, “Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself.”

The Humanities 1301 course is an opportune time in a student's life when he or she can learn the aesthetic value of all things created by man over time and therefore develops and grows as an individual. My goal is to enthusiastically learn right along with my students as we unwrap the many surprises that await us as we journey together into the twenty-first century, the Age of Information, Technology, and Globalism. Specifically within my class structure, I include a special focus toward the underlying psychologies of the period, as well as the intricate philosophies that support it, the historical significance of the linguistic development of words over time, and the symbolic details that define each of the periods within the context of art history. To me, each semester is a new experience ready to be explored and revered, especially since the CCCCD provides the highest learning opportunities for both students and the teachers.