The road to the end of this semester has had its fair share of bumps and dead ends, but as it comes to a close I am more surprised by students and proud of their work each class period. A successful run with rhetorical media analyses in class, finding out my donations team regularly meets at the bowling alley to hang out and finish their assignment, and seeing my 2020 students make 3 friends out of random strangers when I only required them to meet 1 - these are just a few highlights, and they're only from last week! As I grow prouder of my students and their accomplishments, I can't help but think how much I have grown throughout the semester as well.
Palmer's book, "The Courage to Teach" has been one of my favorite readings for this course, because it allowed me to thoughtfully approach a mindset I've held about teaching for years, and everyday as I went into the classroom. Palmer argues that by questioning one's identities as both a teacher and a student, teachers are not only able to better understand how to interact with and provide learning opportunities for their own students, but they understand how their true selves can be incorporated into their teaching styles in effective and meaningful ways. Palmer encourages teachers to embrace the paradoxes found within the classroom, in this case providing students with the best learning opportunities and teaching as one's true self. More often than not it seems that I place limits on my role based on the different spectrums of these paradoxes. Am I giving each student a personalized education in which they achieve the learning objectives, even if this means incorporating multiple different types of activities in a given 50 minute class period? Am I communicating enough about myself honestly in order to build relationships with students that create a trusting environment? Am I being the student I want in my own classrooms in my graduate classes? And am I also making time for myself, my family and my friends out of my school life?
While not the answer to solve all questions, it seems that Palmer's approach of "re-remembering" one's true identity offers a valuable opportunity for us to not only consider who we want to be in the classroom, but who we want to be as people and how we can express both. Palmer states that “Re-membering” requires teachers to “[put themselves] back together, recovering identity and integrity, reclaiming the wholeness of [their] lives” (p. 21). Not only should we seek to accomplish the learning objectives necessary for students to find success in our courses (our job kinda depends on it), but we should put value in our own expressions of identity, and ultimately seek to just be whole people - teacher, student, friend and everything in between.
As I sit watching my mom prepare for her own class tomorrow - coloring turkeys for thanksgiving, what a gig! - I have a clearer picture of the "heart work" that goes into teaching. While I still don't place my identity solely within the teaching profession, I find it necessary to approach how I think and communicate this role with a new sense of excitement and remembrance of what brought me to be a TA in the first place. Considering all the teachers I've had who encouraged me, taught me important lessons and made a lasting impact, and how I engaged in the classroom as a student are necessary memories to help me understand one of my current identities as a teacher. I think if I can re-remember all that, and continue to position my thoughts, communication and feelings about my role more enthusiastically, I might just start to look like the teacher my students want and need.
#thanksforcomingtomyTEDtalk
