Welcome to the educators spa...... Come broken and leave refreshed!
A place where all bad teachers become good
Invite students to have dialogue in the classroom, so we can heal one another (as if we all need to be healed)!I believe Palmer has a dream that one day bad teachers and good teachers will come together to find their happy place deep down inside. In “The courage to teach" Palmer, believes he can restore all teachers who are weary of teaching. In his book he urges teachers to return back to their first love. If a teacher is secure and has good integrity they can be a good teacher. All good teachers rely on service learning. Palmer believes that all bad teachers try to distance themselves from their students. Palmer urges teachers to create an open space in their classrooms. In this space don’t allow students to take over, but simply express their feelings. He talks about inviting students to have a voice in the classroom. He believes a functioning classroom is full of dialogue. The teacher and students should have room to express their feelings in the classroom.
Creating open space is vital in any classroom. This is a concept every new instructor should utilize. I’m a firm believer in creating open space in the classrooms. In my own life I have been in classes that don’t allow students to have a voice. I know for a fact teachers and students learn more when they create a community in the classroom.
Whenever students have freedom in the class they are more engaged and interested in the subject being taught. Palmer urges teacher not to occupy all the space in the classroom. In order to create learning environments teachers have to leave room for students to learn on their own. If a teacher continues to cram information down student’s throats they will never learn!
Do all professors began their teaching careers from a happy place?
Is it bad to teach from a dark place or to not express your feeling in class as Palmer speaks about in his book "courage to teach"?
J.A
#Ethicsofteaching
References
Palmer, P. J. (1998/2007). The courage to teach: Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher’s life. San Francisco: Wiley & Sons.
Hi J.A. - Palmer's idea of teacher's reconnecting with their passion probably only applies to a portion of teachers, which I think you point out well with your first question: "Do all professors begin their teaching careers from a happy place?" Similar to any other profession, new teachers probably have a mixture of feelings. I found several articles that mention how people (in general) end up in the wrong career path, and then they continue to go down that path (for various reasons). When we were studying Palmer, I wondered how many teachers would be better suited for a different profession.
ReplyDeleteHere's one of the articles I found on people making the wrong career choice: https://shareyourcareerstory.wordpress.com/2009/06/15/how-many-people-have-made-the-wrong-career-path-choice/
In the comments, one person mentioned the Myers Briggs test. Maybe we should have future teachers take this type of test to help them understand more about themselves. In doing so, perhaps they could confirm if they are on the right career path.
I enjoyed reading your blog post. - T :)
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DeleteWow Tracy that was an awesome article!!!
DeleteThank you for sharing this with me.
I agree, there are too many people in the wrong career. I wonder how this world would function if everyone worked in a career of their passion.
It's funny that you stated, " I wonder how many teachers would be better suited for a different profession. I have a list in my head of pass teachers that would be excellent police and detention officers! :-)