Rider University - Shadow Yearbook (Lawrenceville, NJ)

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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

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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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FADE IN: The bookstore. Close-up shot. As the scene develops, we see a couple of girls in bi- kinis. ln the middle of the winter, no less! What matter of madness is this? According to Sue Flow, one of those girls in bikinis, lt wasn't madness at allg we were just filming our final project for Dr. Mott's ISP course. The course- Televising the Short Story -met vir- tually every day during the month of January. Each meeting varied in time, with an average session lasting several hours, and there was much additional time spent by the 14 students on reading and individual projects. Granted, there was a lot of work, Sue said, but it was well worth it. We all learned at least something about the subject, and even had a good time while doing so. Dr. Bertram Mott, the faculty adviser for the project and a member of the English Department, also felt that the students' endeavors were worthwhile. They ex- pended a great deal of time and effort of both their group and individual projects, he noted. Effort that was in evidence by the high quality of their final productionfsy. The group production was a short story by John Up- dike, A 81 P lt deals with two girls in bathing suits who enter a store and are asked to leave because of their at- tire. A worker stands up for them, then quits his job- only to look around and find, much to his dismay, that assisted by Jon Blausten, who served as chief photo- grapher and technician. Blausten, when asked about the groups's final prod- uct, had this to say: Absolutely fantastic . . . especially the camera work. The students also had to read and present their own critique of over 20 short stories as to their possible adaptive value for television. They then had to take one of these stories and de- velop a full length adaptation for it. In addition, a final course requirement was to write and direct a three-minute segment of a short story to be videotaped. Each student had to do this and, recipro- cally, act in each other's skits. Perhaps Dr. Mott might have even found a budding Dustin Hoffman or Faye Dunaway in the group? Or, even better, a future Reginald Rose? 141 fs 3 Independent Study Program 1971. A success, as judged by the vast majority of students. There was only one major disappointment. Fiay Male's proposed trip to Vietnam just never materialized. ln- stead, his class spent their time here, in the somewhat safer Cthough not nearly as excitingj confines of the classroom. More than offsetting this, however, were such ex- periences as a skiing venture to Europe, a look at mo- tion pictures, past and present, a study of the so-called Executive Jungleg trips to museums, retailing estab- lishments and theatrical procutions in various courses, the girls are not there. etc. and so forth. Q Cory McCabe was the student director, and he was ., lf -- QMQ1 ,fx ,ffggxh i 531.5 if Q 1 fnlg I -- X j l ,'fi' 75 i?2'f4:'Jj-71 'tg' I , 4 X1 ' ' sw W . 14 lr' 1 x li Ai W rl 1 , --Q:-E..il ' 1 if r 1 3,1 X V. x 1 I Alf if Q: Wjillllgliijiji j- f-.MA l 1 ss.. if 'H X s fiairl a-Q-g l44'l'-- Bfllf.umfAuwilm1l QAX Eiil1W!!!l fiffififflij-1e.1f 'ifllli ,1.' ft - B iivhig' -1401, - Auf., ff ffggqa-gf:,,5gv3,v ii , Q,-.j , l fir-, I4-,i If ,K hh 1 K '-M--' ,' -,1j22Z5':E,v ,Wi l1 A . ' 'i'T5ffIf?'?aB'-1' fi f' , tl ill 1 'iggggzgv 1 1, j .,,- - s2?i- I l 11. l 1 Q 1 1 lf ' 1 1 1 1'i Nr- ' j 1 'i ll ff . - 1 1 1 1 1 V 1 A l 1 . 1' ' f li K 1 i. ' i V ' M I ' A A 29