Rider University - Shadow Yearbook (Lawrenceville, NJ)

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'V-kg, .,?fv1Qa4'vj2 'Q . . ,,,g-F'-5,-. If this was supposed to be one of those cliche stories about an unusual or offbeat course, one would expect that it begin As I entered the English office, I saw that none of the lights were on, that a fire with a large black cauldron on it stood in the middle of the room, being stirred by Dr. Scherr's secretary dressed in a black cone-shaped hat and black shroud . . But the occult is just as valid a subject for study as mythology, so said Dr. Paul C. Scherr. It should be said before proceeding that the part about Dr. Scherr's Secretary did not actually happen. During the entire Interim period, however, she was ad- dressed The Witch by the College switchboard operators. The world of the occult was opened to Dr. Scherr about 25 years ago in England, where he was roaming among the ancient Roman ruins with his flute. While playing under a tree, he met some gypsies, with whom he spent some time. A British friend later told him of an author, George Barrow, who had lived with these gyp- sies and discovered that they were practitioners of oc- cult religions. Dr. Scherr studied the occult intensely for two years after that, then forgot completely about it. The idea of an l.S.P. project devoted to the super- natural came to Dr. Scherr when he took up the task of I advisor to a coed who was studying it independently last year. What motivated the group of about 20 to spend Janu- ary studying witches, goblins, the devil, and things that go boomp in the night? Mere curiosity, said Dr. Scherr. For the first two weeks the entire group studied oc- cult religions in a general manner. Then either they want to meet persons involved in particular fields or had workshops with such outside specialists at Flider. Some of the workshops dealt with practitioners of yoga, palmistry, astrology, and tarot card reading, as well as hypnotism, reincarnation, dreams, and meditation. One day the group took a trip into the Pennsylvania hills to visit a real live, honest-to-goodness witch. Hexi is her name, and she is a white witch, or one devoted to acts of goodness, as opposed to black witches such as the Wicked Witch of the West. Hexi, said Dr. Scherr, is part of a particular group that believes in the ability of the individual to create a constructive life. They accept some of the principles of Christianity, but reject the Judeo-Christian myth of a God. When asked how an educated man could believe in the supernatural, Dr. Scherr said that there were defi- nite cases of mind over matter, and also that the Ameri- can Academy of Science had recognized para- psychology fthe science of mind over matterj as a valid science. Dr. Scherr expected the group to gain a broad, but not necessarily a deep understanding of the occult. Above all, he concluded I am not here to convert anyone. W 27

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1' N 4, 'T 1'-f' iii? '1 Uk.5g5 H5-9 :Num The idea of having college students spend one month doing nothing but assembling puppets and a stage and then putting productions on for outside audiences is not as offbeat as it might sound. Puppetry is a very old art form, and is popular in other countries, where adults as well as children watch puppet performances. Attempting to bring this idea to America land this Col- legej were members of Donald Veix's Puppet and Mar- ionette Play Production ISP course. It was initiated to bring puppet performances to deserving groups, and to pass on the art of puppetry design and stagecraft to young people who plan to use such skills in their edu- cation careers. In the second week of the project, with headquarters in Maurer Building, disaster looks like it has already struck. Scatterred about the room in every corner are groups of two and three, busily working on their aspect of puppet play production. On the blackboard is a chart showing the schedule for completion of each stage. Veix has been in puppetry for a long time, so he thought it would be fun to have college students work- ing in this art form, too. He said that the puppet as an art form in this country is regarded as a form of chil- dren's entertainment, i.e., Bill Baird and his Muppets. In Europe, on the other hand, puppetry is an all-encom- passing medium. Keeping with his desire to have puppetry become a universal art form, Veix selected Beckett's classic Waiting for Godot from which to do an excerpt. Since younger school children were among the groups' ea- gerly-awaiting audience, a fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast and a Dr. Seuss story, Horton Hatches the Egg, were two of the other productions. Bay Brad- bury's The Martian Chronicles was also chosen. When Veix was asked why he offered such a project, one coed interjected, Cause he's crazy, that's why! Even in jest, that was the only negative comment heard about either Veix or the project. Almost all of the group had had him before and considered him to be extremely creative. The course description in the catalogue said that the third week would be for rehearsal of the productions and for suicide attempts. The suicides never occurred, 26 f . li 1 ff' A4 ,fxif I ,IPS Q -K Q L: 44. V! ,. n VU ,- V 5 Y I. 4 t 2 ' H i 44 however because of the dedication of the group's mem- bers. They spent every day from nine to three working on their separate tasks and enjoyed doing it. Most were taking the course because they enjoyed being creative and because they felt it would help, them as future educators, especially teaching the elementary grades. The final week was spent actually performing the plays at an orphanage, a high school, an old age home and even at the college. Which audience reacted best to the puppets? lt was hard to discern, but that's not really too important. What matters is that all those in the course got something out of it, whether a broken nail from hammering andfor Chopefullyj a greater appreciation of the art of puppetry. S5

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in Junior Practicum has evolved at Rider College as an attempt to better prepare education majors for future roles as teachers. Only two years ago, the JP ex- perience consisted of a one-week exposure in the pub- lic schools during the fall semester of the junior year. A paper Cprepared by these juniorsj was required to briefly explain various segments of the students' obser- vations. No teaching or para-professional activities were required-the students were merely requested to ob- serve classes and teaching methods that were used- and no credit hours were given. Last year Junior Practicum was added to the Inde- pendent Study Program. Three credits were subse- quently granted, professional activities became a part of the schedule, and a lengthy and detailed term paper plus an independent study were required. The students were also required to observe classes, both in and out of their major fields of study, and to visit other schools in different school systems. Weekly seminars were conducted at Rider for the pur- pose of answering questions and listening to various problems that were encountered by the students. At the end of the month, opinionaires were turned in by the 28 'K students in an effort to obtain feedback as to the effec- tiveness of this new Junior Practicum. This year, many of the improvements suggested as a result of those opinionnaires were incorporated into the JP experience. Dr. Fred Price took over the program from Dr. Albert Nissman Qwho had done an excellent job running ity and considerably lessened the actual course load that had previously been required. A term paper was still asked for, but it was shortened and made more pertinent to the different major fields, and para- professional exposure became a must. ln addition, the seminars featured the different departments having pro- grams related to their particular discipline. Ideally, Junior Practicum should effectively introduce potential teachers to their profession and serve as a bridge between theory and practice. Practically, Junior Practicum is almost completely ac- complishing this objectlve. And it will likely continue doing so-if the School of Education continues to em- phasize its willingness to change. The end result will be that Rider graduates are thoroughly prepared to enter the complex, wacky, wonderful world of teaching. SQ