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John L. Garcia, Ed.D.
 John L. Garcia, Ed.D. Associate Professor Coordinator, Counseling Practicum Clinic | Program: Professional Counseling E-mail: jg12@txstate.edu Phone: (512) 219-5798 ext. 283 (RRHEC) (512) 245-8294 (TX STATE) Mail: 601 University Drive Pecos Building, 200 A-1 San Marcos, TX 78666 |
Ed.D., Counseling, Vanderbilt University
M.Ed., Counseling, Vanderbilt University
BS, Biology, David Lipscomb College
Authored Articles and Books:
Teaching Philosophy:
My personal teaching philosophy is composed of the following elements:
Passion
In all of the creation mythologies, force proceeds form. Teaching is a creative act and thus I am fortunate to have access to a fire deep within me that fuels a forceful dynamism. I did not choose teaching as a career; it chose me and I simply responded to a necessary calling.
Knowledge Base
If I am to teach anyone, I have a responsibility to myself and my students to live a life of learning. This means actively seeking knowledge as reported by others as well as maintaining an on-going personal enterprise of the creation of new knowledge to report to others.
Relationship
In order to teach I must establish and nurture a relationship with my students both individually and collectively. I see the teacher student relationship as sacred and fashioned in many ways after the parent-child relationship in which the elder is charged with the responsibility to inform, empower, and initiate the junior to more complex human functions.
Environment
Quality teaching can only occur in an environment of learning. This means that I must survey all of the pertinent factors at any given moment and maximize the opportunity for a climate of receptivity. In addition, I believe that teaching and learning are processes, not events. Therefore, the classroom is only one place that my responsibility lies. I must carry my teaching into both the university and larger communities.
Association
Even something uninteresting may become so if it is skillfully associated with something the student does find interesting. Therefore, I seek to understand patterns of experience and interest in my student and then match those patterns with the material being presented in the moment.
Creativity
In order to reach my student, I must be novel, stimulating, and provocative. This means bringing together and expressing my passion and knowledge base in unique and extraordinary ways. I seek to provide an experience for my student that can serve to bridge both the right and left brain hemispheres in such a way that both linear and insight learning can occur.
Guiding Metaphor
Quality teaching is like preparing and serving a fine meal. One must select the finest and freshest ingredients. The these ingredients must be put together and served in the most attractive manner possible. As with any dining guests, students come with varying levels of appetite. But for those who want seconds, thirds and even more, I am always prepared to serve them.
Historical Mentor
My teaching career has benefited from many outstanding mentors; some of whom I know only through their writings. One such individual is the quintessential teacher, Professor William James. Long ago, I etched the following passage into my working model and there it remains as my touchstone:
"Just so, in teaching, you must simply work your pupil into such a state of interest in what you are going to teach that every other object of attention is banished from his [her] mind; then reveal it so impressively that he [she] will remember it to his [her] dying day; and finally fill him [her] with the devouring curiosity to know what the next steps in connection with the subject are."
-William James, Talks To Teachers, 1892
Courses Taught:
Graduate
EDP 5689C: Internship Practicum
EDP 5366: Advanced Counseling Methods
EDP 5307: Counseling and Personality: Current Theories
EDP 5316: Counseling Diverse Populations
EDP 5342: Counseling Diverse Populations II
EDP 5350: Introduction to Professional Counseling
EDP 5250: Basic Communication Skills
EDP 5207: Counseling Theories: Pre-practicum
EDP 5340: Loss and Grief Recovery Counseling
EDP 5378C: Loss and Grief Recovery Techniques
EDP 5378C: Advanced Readings in Analytical Psychology
Exceptionalities (Abnormal Psychology, St. Edward's University)
Undergraduate
Honors Class: Intuition
Counseling Skills and Issues
US1100: Freshman Seminar
General Psychology
Human Sexuality
Personal Growth and Development
Small Group Behavior
Private Institutes
Apollo and Dionysus
Beyond Good and Evil (Nietzsche)
Civilization and Its Discontents (Freud)
Courage for a New Day (Grief Recovery)
Finding Your Bliss in the World of Work
Food, Family, and Finance
Genograms
Life-Styles (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator)
Ordinary People: A Counselor's Perspective
Puer and Senex: The Archetypes of Male Psychological Development
Silence and Solitude
The Birth of Tragedy (Nietsche)
The Meaning of Metaphor
The Money Talks
Time
Interests:
Creative Cycle
Psychodrama
Loss & Grief
Intuition