{"id":175,"date":"2013-01-17T11:36:04","date_gmt":"2013-01-17T17:36:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/instructionadventures.wordpress.com\/?p=175"},"modified":"2013-01-17T11:36:04","modified_gmt":"2013-01-17T17:36:04","slug":"reading-2-heart-of-a-teacher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/instructionadventures\/2013\/01\/17\/reading-2-heart-of-a-teacher\/","title":{"rendered":"Reading #2 Heart of a Teacher"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reflections upon reading #2, \u201cHeart of a Teacher\u201d, Chapter One, from The Courage to Teach<\/span>, by Parker J. Palmer<\/p>\n

Not a boring reading, I am glad to report.\u00a0 Beginning with a bad day of teaching (students \u201csilent as monks\u201d) and referring to 30 years of learning the craft of teaching, Palmer finds that the \u201ctechniques I have mastered do not disappear, but neither do they suffice.\u201d\u00a0 Terrific turn of phrase and analysis, and further \u201cgood teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher.\u201d (p. 10)<\/p>\n

Infusing one\u2019s teaching with one\u2019s personal identity and \u201cbeing there\u201d with and for students in the service of learning, teaching is not reducible to technique, but comes from the heart (\u201cgood teaching comes from good people.\u201d p.13).\u00a0 Further, student have had objectivity drummed into them, leading to their being out of touch with themselves, stilted in their speech and writing, deluded \u201cinto thinking that bad prose can turn opinions into facts\u201d p. 18.\u00a0 This is one of the most adept descriptions of stiff scholarship I have ever read.<\/p>\n

Saddest, and perhaps truest of all, Palmer gives us \u201cwe train doctors to repair the body but hot to honor the spirit; clergy to be CEOs but not spiritual guides; teachers to master techniques but not to engage their students\u2019 souls.\u201d p.19\u00a0 In the name of objectivity, we have lost heart and denied the value of subjective thought.\u00a0 Palmer goes on to advocate for not only mentors, but explores the qualities of mentees that will\/did allow them to absorb what the mentors had to offer.<\/p>\n

This is a very person and subjective journey that Palmer guides us on, exploring the joy and pain of teaching.\u00a0 Working for money and not meaning (p.30) is a common plight these days where holding the job or honoring your soul (p.30) is the real question.\u00a0 Listening to your inner voice, your inner teacher is the path to identity and integrity as a teacher—and one must author their own authority as a teacher. (p.33)\u00a0 The truth within your students will respond to you, and respond in kind (p.33).<\/p>\n

This is so personal and so deep that while I appreciate Palmer\u2019s sharing the inner workings of the inner teacher, I wonder how many readers will or can attain this depth of understanding.\u00a0 Great benchmark, but quite a distant or demanding target.\u00a0 Inspiring to read, perhaps impossible to reach, but there is nothing wrong with aiming high.\u00a0 I think perhaps Palmer was writing for teachers in similar situations: 30 years of experience, bouts of depression, wondering if it is worth it all, sounds like burnout to me.\u00a0 At the same time, Palmer rejects pursuing other vocations—the inner teacher loves the inner students.\u00a0 I think THAT is what has distinguished the exceptional teachers I have known.\u00a0 Not only \u201cbeing there\u201d but with love and caring for the students, and also for the disciplines they taught so well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reflections upon reading #2, \u201cHeart of a Teacher\u201d, Chapter One, from The Courage to Teach, by Parker J. Palmer Not a boring reading, I am glad to report.\u00a0 Beginning with a bad day of teaching (students \u201csilent as monks\u201d) and referring to 30 years of learning the craft of teaching, Palmer finds that the \u201ctechniques … Continue reading Reading #2 Heart of a Teacher<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":462,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/instructionadventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/instructionadventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/instructionadventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/instructionadventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/462"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/instructionadventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/instructionadventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/instructionadventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/instructionadventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/instructionadventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}