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.