Category: Student posts

The essence of a good teacher

We need to open a new frontier in our exploration of good teaching: the inner landscape of a teacher’s life. To chart that landscape fully, three important paths must be taken- intellectual, emotional, and spiritual- and none can be ignored. Reduce teaching to intellect and it becomes a cold abstraction; reduce it to emotions and it becomes narcissistic; reduce it to the spiritual and it loses the anchor to the world. Intellect, emotion, and spirit depend on each other for wholeness. They are interwoven in the human self and in education at its best, and we need to interweave them in our pedagogical discourse as well.( Parker Palmer)

 

Here is a secret hidden in plain sight: good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher. (Parker Palmer)

 

I had several good teachers that come to my mind and that incorporate the qualities that Parker Palmer talks about. My middle school science teacher was there for me in a difficult time. She came out from the “teacher role” and showed me she cared in the most simple way, by giving me a hug, when my mom passed away. My high school science teacher was a sensitive and caring person that manage to create a community within our class. She would tell us stories about her life, and then those stories would be connected by miracle with the unit she was teaching. Who does that? During our chemistry class, she would know to combine a good dose of humor with precise lab techniques that we would follow under her close guidance.

She was a teacher inside and outside the school. We would go on hikes with her and she would share important knowledge with us. As we went on a trail she would spot a plant, tell us the scientific name, what it is used for, and then it was our turn to describe something that caught our eye. She managed to unite her identity, her students, and the subject that she was teaching. She passed on that passion for learning to us, and the inquiry based activities. It was ok to come up with a different answer if you had the evidence to back it up. Her classroom doors were always open for us. I learned from her that asking questions is not a weakness,and that in time can improve your learning, and comprehension.

Loosing Heart…

I read in a biography of Einstein’s that he had trouble learning from the Germanic style of instruction that were(/are?) commonplace throughout Germany where he grew up and that we have in our public schools today. After several years of poor performance he moved to a Montessoriesque school in Switzerland where he flourished.

This is one in a million stories of hardship in this instructor/students relationship. In a species that spent most of its evolution 150,000+ years in roving lifelong clans of 100-200 people I can understand why teachers have a hard time connecting. Trust is earned; that takes time. Nine months is understandably not long enough to make such connections for people who are programmed to know everyone around them for their entire lives. I think it also can create anxiety in the fact that we live in a society where those conditions are rarely found. People strive to connect. David K. agrees we are all staved for love, which is the mother of connection. Furthermore, connection is accomplished much easier if people already have the same cultural background. This amongst all the other variables that act as barriers we have been learning about when working in classrooms of 30+ kids can and do make student/teacher relationships void of the kind of connections humans need to flourish.  So, I can see why so many teachers end up loosing heart or burning out. Perhaps the real solution is more than just a pep talk.

I could go on an restate the reasons I hold Mr. Gates in high regard but I think stop here.

service project

Honestly, it has been a really long time since I have been in school. When I think back to k-12, there aren’t too many teachers that stand out that resonate with this particular passage. I have to dip into my undergrad experience to find a teacher that evoked a passion for learning that went beyond the classroom.
To finish my requirements to minor in Native American Studies, I needed to complete Federal Indian Law and Policy. It was a weighty subject. The professor running the class was Dr. Andra New Holy.  I had taken a few courses from her before and found the classes engaging and insightful.  The Federal Indian Law and Policy course differed in that we were required to undertake a service project while studying the laws and policies that shaped lives of countless indigenous people of all tribes, clans and nations.
I learned of the ward relationship Native Americans have with the US government.  The various tribes status as Domestic Dependent Nations. Studying the law that has made up the policies, greatly affected my psyche and motivated me to complete a service project that gave something back.  It was probably extremely naive, but we made an attempt in the Montana state government to pass legislation to ban the use of pepper spray in youth correctional facilities because of the disproportionate number of incidents involving Native American youth.  We traveled across the state to interview a juvenile parolee. He still bore the scars on his face from the repeated pepper spray incidents when we videotaped his interview which we later played as testimony at a Judiciary committee.  We contacted the media and wrote the editors of papers.
Through all this, Dr. New Holy cheered us on and provided support. The project went far beyond school.  We had been learning of all the injustices that our own government had been doling out since before it was a government.  She brought us to a place where the struggles of over 500 years continued to manifest themselves.  It should have been no surprise when the committee tabled the bill to ban the use of pepper spray in Montana youth correctional facilities. I choose Andra New Holy because she gave me the tools to push myself beyond the sphere of academia and into the harsh realities of a racist system where we made our heartfelt albeit feeble attempt to make a change for the better.  I believe that is powerful teaching.

Bound to Break

As a student, the Parker Palmer post reminds me that there is so much that is connected and intertwined with the class work that we do and the work that the teachers do. This connectedness reaches out past the student and teacher and beyond the school. It flows into the families of the students and teachers and into the community. teaching and learning can be like a weed that runs rampant into the fields and crops. This spreading, however, can be a positive thing because it encourages others that interact with the learning to do the same thing.

There are teachers that I’ve had in the past that remind me of this passage from Palmer. Mrs. Kent from high school put in a lot for her students and it went beyond what was expected of her. She had done so much over the years that I’m sure her heart was pulled and broken many times.

In the future, I hope to tie together the students that I work with and the school and community that they are from. I know that I am bound to break my heart from the work that will be going into the students and the students that will affect me emotionally.

Parker/ Palmer

To me this quote means that a teacher needs to be there for their students when they’re in trouble. Also the more you love teaching the harder it can be.

I had a teacher that asked me if I was alright after my house burned down. She was the choir teacher. She was always a very compassionate teacher. Other than that I can’t think of a teacher that I connected with in this way. I was never comfortable with compassion and that sort of thing when I was young, so I think that’s part of it.

I responded to the quote in Scott’s section, but everybody else seems to be responding to the paper. O.K.

I had a history teacher that reminds me so much of the second mentor the writer had. He would talk loudly and always be walking around while he spoke. When he talked about something he acted it out with his hands. When we were learning about the Romans I remember he would hold his arms like he was carrying a sword and shield whenever he talked about gladiators. I also remember that if you ever arrived early to class you had a better than even chance of sitting through Spanish soup operas until the bell rang. Basically a very good and energetic teacher who was just a little odd.

True to Yourself Teaching

Parker Palmer Response

As we get closer to entering into our teaching careers it is important to recognize our sense of self. As a student this requires a lot of reflection, which we have done quite a bit of in our multicultural class, but we can still delve deeper. This article says great educators teach who they are and they are true to themselves. When you are true to yourself you radiate an energy and passion that is contagious and empowering to others no matter the subject material.

I had one teacher (eg. the Bill Nye-ish one mentioned in class) that was the epitome of true to himself. There was never a dull moment in is organized chaotic classroom. His passion for learning extended to every subject and we were sponges in his presence soaking in everything he had to offer. That single school year we dissected fish, frogs and pigs, cleaned sealion bones for display at the Sealife Center, spent an entire day in virtual space at the Challenger Center, performed the Christmas Story drama, built bridges of tooth picks and glue, hosted the science fair, did a living wax museum, and published a book of short stories on Seward’s history, along with fulfilling all the curriculum and standardized testing requirements. He taught us by being himself and ultimately set the stage for me to become a teacher.

It really saddens me when teachers think they have to put on an act for their students, its easier to burn out when you have to fake a passion or your interest in a subject. Its also easy for students to spot fakes and they are sensitive and don’t respect fake people.

So long post short, my take away from Parker Palmer is be true to yourself in your teaching and you will be much happier and more successful than if you try to be something you’re not.

Ride Together, Thrive Together

The passage selected by Scott from Palmer hits a chord that we have mentioned as a class several times. In my eyes, this passage speaks to the vulnerability that we open ourselves up to as teachers. But vulnerability does not stop there. The moment a student enters into the classroom(whether the student is ours or is ourself), they/we are vulnerable to the activities of the environment. The student is open and exposed to the potential of judgement, prejudice, frustration, embarrassment, anxiety, fear, excitement, eagerness, happiness, joy, and love. The best teachers are the ones that recognize the vast array emotions and experiences that their classroom presents everyone, but they manipulate that space to be of caring and fostering so that a family is formed.

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