| This investigation explored the experience of creating and implementing an experimental educational program and its subsequent effects on the creator/facilitator as an educator.; Utilizing heuristic inquiry methodology, the researcher tells the story of her personal transformation. In this intimate form of research methodology, the research embarks on a journey through the six phases of heuristic inquiry: engagement, immersion, incubation, illumination, explication, and creative synthesis. In the initial phase, engagement, she identified problems she deemed necessary to study, (1) How can a teacher help develop personal and social responsibility in inner-city youth? (2) How can a teacher help develop cultural sensitivity in pre-service university students? During the engagement phase, she created the Urban Youth and Mentor Development Project (UYMDP), which she implemented in the immersion phase. The goals of the UYMDP were twofold: (1) To help inner-city, middle-school students increase their personal and social responsibility. (2) To build a bridge between pre-service university students and middle-school students, in the hope of increasing cultural sensitivity through personal interaction.; After a four-year period of incubation, illumination occurred: she realized that although the initial goals of the UYMDP were not as successful as she had hoped, the experience transformed her into a teacher who could help more students. Following this illumination, she began the explication phase, where she analyzed her journals notes and diary entries to glean important themes. Using these themes, she wrote a creative synthesis.; Initially, the researcher believed she was exploring the experiences of the students, but ultimately realized the greater benefit was the positive impact on her as a teacher. The project, described in the subsequent chapters, has transformed the researcher as an educator and a student, but most importantly, as a person ready to make a difference in society. |
