The Courage to Teach

1
The Courageto Teach

• Annual Meeting
• Alabama NBCT Network
• January 10, 2009

2
Session Objectives

• Think together about the 4th dimension of
  teaching
• Learn about The Courage to Teach and decide
  whether you are at a time and place to
  participate in study of this book with colleagues
• Connect themes of The Courage to Teach to
  Professional Pathways for Alabama Teachers
• Consider ways in which you might become involved
  in a movement to enhance the teaching profession
  in Alabama

3
First Order of Business. . . .

• How do you assess your way of approaching a task?

4
The Compass An Informal Leadership Style
Inventory
5
South Caring likes to know that everyones
feelings have been taken into consideration and
that their voices have been heard before acting.
6
The Compass

• What are the strengths of your style? (4
  adjectives)
• 2.What are the limitations of your style? (4
  adjectives)
• 3. What style do you find most difficult to work
  with and why?
• 4.Explain what the other directions need to
  know about you so that you can work together
  effectively.

7
Reflecting on The Compass

• What is the value of this activity?
• What did it reveal about yourself in relation to
  others?
• In what settings might you use this activity, and
  for what purposes?

8
What might the results of the compass activity
have to do with your effectiveness as a teacher?
9

• Knowing myself is as crucial to good teaching as
  knowing my students and subjects.Parker Palmer,
  The Courage to Teach, p. 3.
• To what extent do you agree with this statement?

10
The Invitation

• We must enter, not evade, the tangles of
  teaching so we can understand them better and
  negotiate them with more grace, not only to guard
  our own spirits but also to serve our students
  well.Parker Palmer, The Courage to Teach, p. 2

11
Questions About Teaching

• The question we most commonly ask is the what
  questionwhat subjects shall we teach?
• When the conversation goes a bit deeper, we ask
  the how questionwhat methods and techniques
  are required to teach well?
• Occasionally, when it goes deeper still, we ask
  the why questionfor what purpose and to what
  ends do we teach?

12
The Infrequently Asked Question

• But seldom, if ever, do we ask the who question
  who is the self that teaches? How does the
  quality of my selfhood formor deformthe way I
  relate to my students, my subject, my colleagues,
  my world? How can educational institutions
  sustain and deepen the selfhood from which good
  teaching comes? (p4)

13
Find a Partner and Exchange Reponses

• I became a teacher because. . . .
• I wonder why I became a teacher when. . . .
• In spite of moments of doubt about continuing in
  the teaching profession, I continue because. .
• I pursued National Board Certification because. .
  . .

14
Premise of The Courage to Teach

• Good teaching cannot be reduced to technique
  good teaching comes from the identity and
  integrity of the teacher. (p. 10)

15
Palmers Definition of Identity

• Identify lies in the intersection of the diverse
  forces that make up my life, and integrity lies
  in relating to those forces in ways that bring me
  wholeness and life rather than fragmentation and
  death. (p. 14)

16
Palmers Characterization of Good Teachers

• Good teachers share one trait a strong sense of
  personal identify infuses their work. (p. 11)
• Good teachers possess a capacity for
  connectedness. They are able to weave a complex
  web of connections among themselves, their
  subjects, and their students so that students can
  learn to weave a world for themselves.

17
What, then, is the courage to teach?

• The courage to teach is the courage to keep
  ones heart open in those very moments when the
  heart is asked to hold more than it is able so
  that teacher and students and subject can be
  woven into the fabric of community that learning,
  and living, require.

18
About the Book

• In The Courage to Teach, Palmer takes you on an
  exploration of the inner landscape of a
  teachers life.

19
Contents

• The Heart of a Teacher Identity and Integrity in
  Teaching
• A Culture of Fear Education and the Disconnected
  Life
• The Hidden Wholeness Paradox in Teaching and
  Learning
• Knowing in Community Joined by the Grace of
  Great Things
• Teaching in Community A Subject-Centered
  Education
• Learning in Community The Conversation of
  Colleagues
• Divided No More Teaching from a Heart of Hope

20
Closing Questions

• How can Professional Pathways serve to en-COURAGE
  teachers?
• Will you contribute your insights and energy to
  promoting these Professional Pathways?

21
Courage to Teach Blog

• http//alabamanbcts.edublogs.org/
• This will be linked to the Alabama NBCT Website