“One day I found out that the only way to make a difference is to get into the classroom and share what I have learned and hopefully open the eyes of the adult learner,” said Dr. John Mago, professor at Anoka-Ramsey Community College (ARCC).
Dr. Mago made the decision to teach higher education ten years ago because it came naturally to him. He taught for six years at a number of for-profit institutions before he decided to move his teaching career to ARCC. Dr. Mago said, “I wanted to get into a more traditional institution and the opportunity arose and here I am.” However, his first career choice wasn’t teaching it was business because you need a master’s degree to teach at a community college. Even though it wasn’t his first choice, he has never looked back since making his decision to teach.
Dr. Mago feels his teaching style combines an original mixture of real life experience with some theory. “In other words I create a teaching style that is engaging to all students,” said Dr. Mago. His number one influence on the way he teaches comes from watching other instructors around him that do not understand their intended audience. Dr. Mago said, “In other words, I utilize my past sales experience to understand each adult learner and apply teaching methods that hopefully engage them.” He also watched a variety of his past professors who had utilized nonproductive learning environments and decided that he was not going to be a professor that did that. He wants the students to become interactive with the class instead of turning away the opportunity to learn something.
Dr. Mago’s favorite thing about teaching is when he gets to enjoy the rush he gets when students actually learn something. Dr. Mago said, “It is true that when the light bulb turns on the instructor becomes engaged too!” On the other hand, he doesn’t like the laziness of some students and how they do not want to open their books to learn anything. “The lack of caring by students can be discouraging,” said Dr. Mago.
Dr. Mago has earned a lot of varies degrees to contribute to his ability to teach higher education. He not only attended Saint Mary’s University to achieve his Doctorate of Education in Leadership, but he also attended Cardinal Stritch University and received his Master’s of Science in Management. He will not stop there because he is a lifelong learner and is currently attending the Minnesota School of Business to finish his Master’s of Business Administration, which he will be done with in March of 2010. He will then pursue another Doctorate in Business Administration at Metro State.
Dr. Mago is a full-time professor at ARCC and teaches five courses each semester. The classes that he is currently teaching during the fall semester are Intro to Business, Supervision, Entrepreneurship, Business Ethics and Personal Finance. He will soon be teaching the Leadership course as well.
Dr. Mago finished with, “Teaching is a journey that only the lucky few are called to do!!!”
Session 20: Blog
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