Why I Teach: Jennifer Holberg
On the first day of literature class, Jennifer Holberg shows her class a painting by Dutch and Flemish Renaissance听
painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder. She doesn鈥檛 tell them the title, but asks what they see. The first answers are expected: a lake, a man, a boat, a plow.听
鈥淲ait a minute,鈥 one student says, leaning in, 鈥渁re those legs sticking out of the water?鈥听
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It鈥檚 the comment Holberg has been waiting for. The painting, unbeknownst to the students, is called 鈥淟and- scape with the Fall of Icarus.鈥 The student who noted the tiny legs, bare and flailing out of the sea, has uncovered something that Holberg wants them to understand about literature. And it鈥檚 something she wants them to under- stand about the Christian life.听
It鈥檚 important to notice the details, to notice what鈥攁nd who鈥攊s on the margins.听
Right before the scene in this painting, Icarus is falling out of the sky, plunging toward the sea. Yet everyone has their head down or turned away,鈥 she tells the class.听
Holberg pulls up a poem by W.H. Auden about the painting and shares, 鈥淎uden says that for the people in the painting, Icarus falling from the sky was 鈥榥ot an important failure.鈥欌听
She looks out at the future nurses, software engineers, parents, and social workers. 鈥淭his painting is why you鈥檙e taking a literature class at 麻豆区. I鈥檓 asking you to look to the margins and notice the things that are not the most obvious things. Pay attention.鈥听
If you鈥檝e taken a class with Holberg, you might recognize and appreciate her gentle challenges. A student favorite, the 2002 senior class selected her for Professor of the Year.听
Her appeal might be because she鈥檚 been championing 鈥渟tudent-centered learning鈥 long before it was trendy. 鈥淭he whole point of English 101 is teaching students to trust their own instincts. They鈥檝e lost confidence or they never had confidence in their writing. It鈥檚 my job to encourage them.鈥听
That encouragement often comes in the format of one-on- one conversations with students. Instead of marking up students鈥 papers with red ink, Holberg sits across from them and they talk through how to make the work better. It鈥檚 her favorite part of her job.听
鈥淚 actually really like college students,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 like them as an age group, and I love Calvin students in particular because they鈥檙e earnest and want to do good in the world.鈥.听
It鈥檚 no surprise that she鈥檚 one of those professors who stays in contact with students long after they graduate. 鈥淚 love seeing where their lives go,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 get to have this tiny little contribution to what God is going to do in their life, and hopefully give them a tool or a way of thinking听or even just encouragement.鈥听
Holberg is also chair of the English Department and co-director of the .