Week 7

How can you create a relational trust in an educational setting?

     One thing the I've learned is that true, effective, learning happens when there is a level of trust between the students and the teacher. The students have to trust in their teacher that what they are teaching is worth learning and not a waste of time. On the other hand, the teacher needs to be able to trust that their students are listening and learning from them and that they are not wasting their time preparing for the lessons. When there is no trust that goes both ways, then there is less effective learning, the students will not take the class seriously enough to pay attention and the teacher will spend less effort is preparation and presentation.

     But this trust is not something that happens overnight. Like every relationship it takes time and effort as well as earning each other's respect. In the educational level, this relationship starts with the teacher. By tradition and state law, the teacher is given a lot of freedom to operate their classes as they see fit. Some will turn their class into a teacher-centered model in which the learning flows from the teacher to the students, while others will turn them into a cooperative learning environment in which the students share in the responsibility of learning. Whichever model is chosen however, the teacher always have to make sure clear boundaries are set limiting the relationship to the goal of learning the subject at hand. This too is the responsibility of the teacher (as the adult in the room) so that no boundaries are crossed. This may make the relationship between teacher and student never as intimate as those of friends, but that is the point. Students have plenty of opportunities for making friends, but in the classroom, it has to be made clear that the teacher is there to teach, not hang out.

Week 6

Read the article: “Defining the Integration of Faith and Learning” by Robert Harris

How can you develop the capacity for connectedness?

     I was the product of the public school system all the way through college and I learned all there was to learn from there. At the same time I attended church faithfully and learned all there was to learn there as well. However, these two vital spheres of my knowledge base somehow never connected in my head. What I learn in school and what I learned at church were separately important to me, but separate none the less.

     It wasn't until after my college, when I first started teaching, while going to seminary that the two finally clicked. How we understand the world in the secular sense and how we understand it in a faithful sense should not be separated, but rather integrated into the whole of understanding of the world around us. I learned that my students learned best when I used my knowledge of history that I gained from college along with my knowledge of spirituality that I was learning from seminary. When the two worldviews, as Harris puts it, are integrated into our teaching, then our students can fully understand not only the “when” and “what” but the “why” and “for what” as well.

Week 5

     The hardest part of teaching is not the long hours, the lack of respect, nor even the content knowledge. The hardest part is to keep the interest and motivation of students for a 180 days. You can keep them interested for a few days, or even a few weeks if the content is interesting enough, but how to keep them motivated for months and months? This aspect of teaching is what Palmer is speaking to when he talks about the "weaving" of the teacher, student and the subject into one flowing essence of learning.
   
     I don't have personal experience in weaving a cloth, but I can imagine that it is a delicate process which requires patience and flexibility. Teaching is quite similar to this. Working with students well and keeping them motivated requires a lot of patience and flexibility. There will be times when student try your last nerve and give you attitude. There will be times when they will simply not "get it" no matter how well you think you taught them. These are the time when patience is needed where you remind yourself that learning is a long and arduous process.

     Teachers also need flexibility in working with students. There has to be an understanding that each student is different and how to work with them has to adjust to the student. Some students need a firm hand to keep them in line, but some require a gentle touch to do the same. Many times, they will come into class with issues that a teacher will never know, yet their behavior will be affected by it. A successful teachers are ones that can navigate between the various personalities of students and keep them all moving in the same direction.

    Like weaving, teaching is a delicate balance between science and art.

Week 4

We cannot know the great things of the universe until we know ourselves to be great things. – Parker J. Palmer

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. – Romans 12:3

At first glance the two statements above seem at odds with each other. Palmer seem to inflate  ourselves to the great things of the universe, while the bible seems to bring us back down to earth telling us to be sober, or realistic about our place in it.

However, upon further review, the bible isn’t as negative as it seems. Being realistic about our place in the universe cuts both ways, meaning that we can have an over-inflated sense of self-worth, in which case we should come back down to reality, but at the same time we can have a deflated sense of self-worth.

Too many people, especially teenagers, have for whatever reason a low sense of self-esteem. This leads to depression and even suicide for too many. It is the role of the teacher in these cases to teach them to look at things with “sober judgment”. If they can look at themselves realistically then they will see that they are not strange, ugly, fat, dumb, short, nor anything else others have said to them. Instead, they are precious creations of God, who had faith in them to give them the talents and gifts to succeed in life. With this sense of self-worth, they can then discover all the great things in the universe.

Week 3

What connections can you make between identity, integrity, the undivided heart, and the message of the poem “Now I Become Myself”?

     A purpose in life is something that all people search for. Some realize their purpose early in life, while others spend a lifetime looking for it. Too many of us get someone else’s purpose thrust upon us. Maybe it’s the dreams and ambitions of a parent, peers or society. This is something that is mentioned by Sarton in her poem when she talks about wearing ‘other people’s faces’. It’s similar to the concept of the undivided heart as mentioned in the bible. If you are being what you were meant to, doing the job that you were meant for, then you have no regrets. There is no part of your heart that is longing for something that you don’t have. Instead the whole heart is joyful for being exactly where you were supposed to be.

     A teacher can teach the content knowledge just fine without the inner conviction that they were meant to be a teacher. But someone like this usually cannot last long amidst the trial and tribulations of many teaching years. Instead, a person who has answered the called to teach and see it as their purpose in life can become more than a teacher, but an inspiration.

Week 2

Identity and integrity are related concepts. How do you understand their relationships and distinctions? What does each concept mean to you?

Identity is knowing who we truly are. Palmer talks about the “teacher within”, that inner self that calls us to the profession. Without communing with it, or making sure that there is one there in the first place, a teacher will not be able to find spiritual fulfillment in their work.

Integrity is the pride that we have as teachers. This is a sense of knowing the value of being a teacher and striving to be the best at what we do. Teachers who lose touch with their integrity will allow themselves to become mediocre at teaching and reaching their students. They will no longer care about the impact they make but rather be satisfied in getting through yet another school year without getting fired.

 

I know my identity is to be a teacher. A year ago, amidst a summer full of rejection from all the schools I applied jobs for; I was on the brink of calling it quits. My mind started to fill with thought of what I “ought” to do, as Palmer puts it. Why am I busting myself trying to get a job that pays less than most entry level office work? Shouldn’t I just get any job to provide for my family?  But in the middle of this mental struggle, my integrity came bubbling up. It was my teacher within which said in a small, but firm voice “I am a teacher. This is why God placed me in this world.” Immediately, the debate in my head ended and I knew what I had to do. I wasn’t getting a job because I didn’t have a credential, due to working so long in a Christian school that didn’t require it. So I determined to get one. I trusted that God will provide for me and my family and started the program at APU.  

Week 1

"Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.  I will praise you, O LORD my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever.  For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths of the grave." (Psalm 86:11-13)

     An undivided heart is completely focused on just one thing, that every fiber of its being is in-tune with it. The psalmist above is seeking a heart that is focused on God, that every thought and action be of him and for him.
     But what does this mean for a teacher? Palmer in Chapter 1 of The Courage to Teach talks about how some teachers, through many years of teaching fatigue, start developing a wall which separates them from their students. They no longer want to spend the energy required to connect with their students, but rather rely on their content knowledge to let them just get through the material. He uses the image of a cartoon speech bubble as a way of showing how lifeless this method of teaching can be.
     Teaching, at least good and effective teaching, needs to come from an undivided heart. Just as the psalmist sought to have their entire being be focused on God, teachers have to also be focused on their teaching everyday. Students need to get more than the day's content knowledge, but rather they need to be stoked into a burning passion for learning, just as the teacher is passionate for them to learn it. This is not easy be any means, but this is what teacher are called to do. In other professions it is okay to be "off your game" a day or two a week. When I had an office job I remember many days in which I wasn't too productive, but this didn't hurt the company's bottom line too much (I was much too unimportant to have any affect on it either way). But every day that I blow off as a teacher is a day in which my students lose a valuable day of learning. What teachers do in the classroom has a profound affect on their students' lives, therefore they can't simply "phone it in".
     This is what makes teaching the most difficult, yet rewarding profession.