BSWP Writer's Cabin

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?

Book Club Debut - The Courage to Teach

Hello!  Hopefully you have all had a blessed, wonderful holiday and you are rested and ready to continue this amazing year you've had so far. 

Becky Morgan, our host for this book club has written some thoughts she has had about the first chapter of our book.  Feel free to make comments on her post.   You can do this simply by clicking on "post a comment," and verifying it by typing in the verification code that appears once you click "post."  This is just to ensure that you are not a solicitor.  Please know that when you type in your e-mail address, no one will see it, it's just another way to verify who is posting.  Take a chance!   If you'd like to probe our minds in a different direction and see what happens, write a post for me, and I'll post it.   This is going to be fun! 

The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life, Parker Palmer

Chapter 1: The Heart of a Teacher

Parker Palmer challenges assumptions that drive much of educational reform..."that meaningful change comes not from the human heart but from factors external to ourselves [budgets, methodologies, curricula, institutional restructuring, etc.].”  He powerfully argues that we must look within ourselves in order to best assist our students in becoming all they can be.  “To educate is to guide students on an inner journey toward more truthful ways of seeing and being in the world.”

Think about the mentors that you have had in your life.  How did you decide to teach?  What made your mentor great and what in you allowed the great mentoring to happen?

Reflect on how it is that we, as teachers, can provide our students with the mentors we wish to be.  How do we seek authority within ourselves?