Sometimes you sign up for something online and you’re just not sure how it’s going to pan out. Other times you sign up thinking you know what you’re going to get and wind up having your expectations exceeded beyond what you could have imagined.
I signed up for Adam Berry’s Ghost Hunter Academy– a four-week online course he is offering and a new venture for him – and Thursday night was Session 1. It was so informational and engaging, my mind couldn’t stop spinning afterwards in order to fall asleep before midnight!
That seems like a glowing review right up front, but let me lay down some background about my history and why this particular course, out of all the other courses I’ve taken the last few years, left me feeling so jazzed that I ran downstairs like it was Christmas morning to share my excitement with my husband. Knowing my background might help you understand how I approach online or in-person courses akin to Adam’s, regardless of the topics being shared.
First of all, and the most dramatic way to explain this, is that I was in school (general and higher education and career) for 35-years. I started early in that exciting world of pre-school in the United States and progressed all the way up through 14-years in higher education. I earned a Bachelor of Arts in Literature from my undergraduate school, with a minor in Philosophy-Metaphysics. I am a Sagittarius and a child of the 80s/90s, so of course I minored in Philosophy. But my undergrad college also happened to be a private religious university, so my education was full of Theology and Apologetics. I spent time at UNC-Chapel Hill gathering an insight into the male-centric world of higher academia and I moved myself to NC State, where I received a Master of Arts in Film Studies and began my work with the representation of nuns in film. I was accepted for my doctoral work on this subject at Edinburgh University and spent three years studying abroad and absorbing as much as possible. I returned to the states after my father, grandfather, and grandmother all passed away in one fell swoop, offering to help my mom move through our grief together. While back home in Milwaukee, my years of higher education came to a close at UW-Milwaukee, this time to earn my education certification so that I could become a teacher.
While I pursued all these various types of degrees and ventured down numerous side streets of learning, I was also working with middle-school-aged young people here and abroad. By the time I left teaching, I had been working with young people for almost 20 years. 10 of those were in a public middle school teaching Literacy and occasionally an additional subject such as Social Studies or Science. I also taught seminars at GenCon, attended Columbia University’s Teachers College for further training and learning, and worked for the Milwaukee Film Festival to develop curriculum for their special Children’s Festival, to name a few items I’ve been proud of work beyond my classroom.
All of this is to say that education has been a huge part of my life for a very long time. I left my teaching job due to the COVID crisis and my mother’s cancer diagnosis returning in force. I was expecting to return, but did not in the end. Sometimes life just wears you down and you can’t be the strong person you need to be for the kids and you don’t have the ability to play the administrative game anymore. But I still have a deep love of teaching, developing curriculum, and cheerleading and supporting those who choose to teach people of all ages.
So there. I have you all up to speed on who this crazy lady is who thinks she has the right to say that Adam Berry’s Ghost Hunter Academy is all that and a bag of chips.
Have you participated in Adam Berry live events before? Maybe on Facebook? Maybe on Patreon? Or maybe you’ve seen his hilarious Reels or Stories from Instagram/Meta/Facebook? Or maybe just in person? He is an absolute entertainer. He has the right mixture of all the things that make him one of the most entertaining, informative, and insightful people I’ve had the opportunity to hear, not just in this field, but anywhere. Where was Adam when we needed presenters for our whole-district-teacher-convocation? It would have been so much fun! So, just Adam’s ability to be a connected entertainer made me want to sign up for his course. I’m not an Adam fanatic, merely an Adam fan. It’s like when you watch something with Carrie Coon and you think, “how interesting!”, and then you start watching all of her movies and TV shows. You can call yourself a Carrie Coon fan, because there’s just something about her that makes you feel happy. Adam is that for me in the paranormal world. He is a man-apart in this field and I just ping on his work like I ping on any Carrie Coon performance I see. Plus he’s always been so nice to me, even when my social anxiety issues bubble up or my weird comes out or I make a misstep. And you know what? Being accepting of people and all of their “wyrd” is what makes a great teacher at heart.
Let me get to the meat of his journey into the field of education. The overall Academy is made up of four courses:
Course 1 — Foundations of Paranormal Investigation: Past, Present, and Evolving Practice
Course 2 — Paranormal Equipment: Tools, Technology, and Tactical Use
Course 3 — Advanced Investigation & Evidence Analysis
Course 4 — The Reality of Investigation: Teams, Trust, and Community
Thursday night was the first course, which dealt with “Foundations of Paranormal Investigation: Past, Present, and Evolving Practice.” Ahead of the class, Adam sent out information on how to get setup on Zoom and some worksheets. One was for notetaking which I thought was a fabulous addition, because it helped keep my own thinking and information organized. I knew where we were going and what to expect without losing the meat of the lecture I was about to participate in. The other was “homework” but intended for reflection on our learning and how we’re thinking differently about the information we would learn in that class. I had fun with that worksheet because I answered the questions before the class and then went back and answered the questions again afterwards, applying what I had learned and changing answers based on new perspectives Adam shared. It reminded me of an “exit ticket.” If you’re a teacher, you might remember the “exit ticket” craze – where students provide you with an understanding of their learning before they can leave the classroom. I was a middle school teacher, so they would leave the class and drop their ticket in the basket on their way out and I would review them for our next class.
Again, I was so impressed with the professionalism and solid teacher fundamentals that were coming from the class and it hadn’t even started yet! Adam, though, was so organized and composed through the whole experience – including whatever Zoom had in store for us. I had flashbacks of 2020+ and teaching in virtual classrooms was not far from my mind, but I knew Adam could handle it. He took attendance, not for showing-up, but so that he could know who was who and help make this class personal. If nothing else, Adam excels at a personal touch to his work.
Those worksheets I mentioned were a great follow along as Adam paced the class perfectly. We did go over on time, but it was also the first night, so we had some preparations that needed to occur as a class. Adam took the time to thoughtfully answer our questions at certain intervals throughout the night, however. He connected learning to reliable sources, as well as personal experiences and made the knowledge accessible no matter what level of paranormal investigator you are.
The information that was shared was truly well-developed and dove deep into the history of the paranormal. Students in the class were also able to share with their cohort additional information in the chat on Zoom. It was a nice sized class that made the chat a great resource. It was not a constantly busy, flashing insanity that chats with too many participants can often be. It allowed for responses while still allowing us to focus on the great information Adam shared. Oh! Did I mention he had a slideshow? Another example of top-notch instructional method, providing different platforms to disseminate his information for people’s various preferred learning styles.
When Adam’s slideshow also included learning objectives, I think I almost melted out of my chair. This was exactly the kind of learning I had been missing. This person was speaking my learning-love-language. The slideshow wasn’t a read-along. It was a pace manager with key items for jotting down.
As I said earlier, Adam excels at personalization and that extends to helping and supporting his students in this Zoom classroom. Having the ability to navigate content delivery and assisting of students in learning was done effortlessly and it left many students feeling fulfilled (you could tell by their reactions on camera and their comments in chat). Having been to in-person events with Adam, I know what it’s like to “work” with him in person. This class barely felt like there was a computer screen between us. Put me in a desk with my notebook, worksheets, and pen and I was right there learning and being able to meaningfully engage with the teacher – who was not at all overwhelmed by the students leaving comments in the chat.
Being a reflective practitioner also sometimes makes you a reflective student. I did not set out to critique the class, but I felt a strong need to speak positively on it in this space. I did not seek to find flaws with this course, but had I, I would have struggled to find any. If Day 1 was this on-point, then I eagerly await the remaining classes. And what I love the most is that Adam wanted to know what he could do to be “better” or how to improve the course for us: the students! This is a fantastic mindset. It is a truly reflective practitioner that says: “Feedback please, so I can make this better for YOU!” I think the only thing that would make class beyond transcendent is if he showed up one day with the elbow-patch jacket and a pipe.
If there are spots remaining, I highly recommend signing up for Adam Berry’s Ghost Hunter Academy. And if you can’t sign up for these sessions, keep watching for when he’s hosting it again. I can’t wait to learn even more as we move forward through all the topics.
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