A Culture of Fear

Here is our second post from Becky.  Let's support her and write her some comments!

Chapter 2. A Culture of Fear

“I can have fear, but I need not be fear—if I am willing to stand someplace else in my inner landscape.”  Parker Palmer

What happens when divergent truths meet?  Are we afraid of a challenge to what we believe and have taken to be truth?  Are we afraid of losing our identity or of the fact that when we encounter otherness we may indeed change?

Think about a “student from hell” you have experienced.  In reflecting upon that student and your teaching, do you take any responsibility for how things went? After reading Palmer’s chapter two, do you still view those circumstances in the same way? 

What does it mean to you to listen to a voice before it is spoken?

Has objectivism and “keeping a distance” impacted relationships with your students?  How important is it to develop relationships with your students?

Comments

[Tammy McMorrow]

Some might find it hard to believe that a first grader, and a girl no less, could be a "student from hell." It's an accurate description in light of several on-going manipulative and disrespectful actions and words from her this year. She's one of a kind in the fourteen years I've been teaching. Although
I can't always say this about difficult students,
I don't believe I have added to the problems concerning her character or lack thereof. She's spent seven years of her life establishing ways of thinking, talking, and acting that daily affect the way she lives today. I've drawn a line in the sand and reiterated to her the high expectations that I have for her, as well as all my students. In a warped way she must feel powered by her words and actions that tear others down. My hope is that by the end of the year she'll have a hold of a very different and rewarding kind of power. I'm not sure that I philosophically answered the question, but that's what's on my heart and mind.

[Laurie Roberts]

I have so many thoughts about this chapter. (I'm thinking this book club needs to meet face-to-face at some point--I know, that's not how this is supposed to work).

Palmer's second chapter really got to me. As I was reading last night, I was thinking "I can't believe this guy is admitting to some of these feelings that I have felt for so long, but never articulated." Throughout my twenty-year career I have struggled with fear, with my assumptions about what students think of me, and whether I can reach some of the really tough nuts.

I recently told a class how much I enjoy them. I told them that having students who I enjoy seeing and interacting with every day makes all those stacks of papers worthwhile for me.

I've got more to say about this chapters, but it'll have to wait for now.

[Tammy McMorrow]

I wonder if the kind or amount of fear depends on the grade level one teaches. I don't sense fear in myself when I walk into my first grade classroom. On the other hand, the idea of teaching the high school Sunday school class in January does send fear my way. Teenagers scare me. I'm much more at ease with elementary kids. They have a tendency to adore their teachers no matter the circumstances. They seem to lose that characteristic by the time they reach puberty. I'm not sure how well I'd deal with that if I were a secondary teacher.

[Diana Hooley]

I agree Laurie, maybe we should meet. This chapter 2 is amazing! He really nails fear to the feeling of otherness or being separate. It's interesting to me that we withdraw from what we're afraid of and the solution actually is to engage: students of diverse cultures, students from Hell, each other. And to get over our dependancy on objective authorities, to accept our subjective truths and realize that's all we have.
I like his mention of "spiritual" guidance to get through the fear monsters on page 57.
Palmer comforts me because he presents himself in such a human light. I've walked his walk. And Becky, (I think it was your post), one of the more difficult children I've dealt with (as a GT teacher) was an overindulged 2nd grader. These kids are actually so small and yet them seem so large and foreboding with all their parental and background problems on their shoulders, don't they?

[Becky Morgan]

One of my favorite lines from this chapter is the line at the beginning of my post. "I can have fear, but I need not be fear--if I am willing to stand someplace else in my inner landscape." It reminded me that it is ok to experience fear but it is really about what we do with it. I can think of so many times when, if the fear took over, my potential impact would be so much less. Doubt of self, wondering about what others think, worrying about whether I was doing enough, prepared enough etc. When the reality truly is we always have the choice as to how we show up. And when we show up with all of ourselves, open and willing to explore our own inner landscape, we are so much more impactful.

[Diana Hooley]

Becky, thanks for those comments about acceptance of fear. I read somewhere that courage isn't the absence of fear, but the action taken in spite of it. My daughter who has lost over 100 pounds this year asked me on the phone the other day, what would you do if you weren't afraid. I just don't know. Fear is so sneaky. I'm in the doctoral program in education at BSU and I feel so afraid (or angry???) so much of the time. I still haven't gotten over authority issues I have as a student. I guess I frequently feel misunderstood. Maybe much like the students we teach. I ask myself sometimes, am I as insensitive and numb to my students as some of my instructors are at BSU??? Maybe that's what happens when you teach. All the emotion that's thrown your way, all the expectations by your students and authority figures above you--teacher just get burned out in the middle management positions. Our inner landscapes look like nuclear winter.

[Diana Hooley]

Becky, thanks for those comments about acceptance of fear. I read somewhere that courage isn't the absence of fear, but the action taken in spite of it. My daughter who has lost over 100 pounds this year asked me on the phone the other day, what would you do if you weren't afraid. I just don't know. Fear is so sneaky. I'm in the doctoral program in education at BSU and I feel so afraid (or angry???) so much of the time. I still haven't gotten over authority issues I have as a student. I guess I frequently feel misunderstood. Maybe much like the students we teach. I ask myself sometimes, am I as insensitive and numb to my students as some of my instructors are at BSU??? Maybe that's what happens when you teach. All the emotion that's thrown your way, all the expectations by your students and authority figures above you--teacher just get burned out in the middle management positions. Our inner landscapes look like nuclear winter.