We Have Come Full Circle...

Dear Students...

To adapt some of Palmer's (2007) concluding words to our concluding class:

"...we [have] come full circle, to the place where this...[class] began: to the power within each of us that, in communion with powers beyond ourselves, co-creates the world—for better or worse. The poet Rumi says, 'If you are here unfaithfully with us,/you're causing terrible damage.'...

"But Rumi would surely agree that the converse is equally true. If you are here faithfully with us, you are bringing abundant blessing. It is a blessing known to generations of students whose lives have been transformed by people who had the courage to teach—the courage to teach from the most truthful places in the landscape of the self and world, the courage to invite students to discover, explore, and inhabit those places in the living of their own lives" (p. 190).

Thank you for being here faithfully each day. You have brought abundant blessing to our sacred space, and have demonstrated the courage to teach from your most truthful places. It has been a privilege to have been among you.

Gratefully,

Gini

Knowing in Community

Good Morning, Students…Once again in your blogs, you’ve written probing reflections and have grappled with concepts that beg for extensive dialogue from Palmer’s Chapter IV, "Knowing in Community, Joined by the Grace of Great Things." The following represent some major themes of this chapter, which were themes that also emerged in your blogs. I look forward to further stimulating discussion with you this afternoon. Gini

• Community is an outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible grace, the flowing of personal identity and integrity into the world of relationships. Only as we are in community with ourselves can we find community with others.

• The hallmark of the “community of truth” is in its claim that reality is a web of communal relationships—and that we know reality only by being in community with it.

• In the “community of truth,” there are no pure objects of knowledge and no ultimate authorities. A subject, not an object, is the centerpoint of this community, and authority is vested in the process of the community itself.

• As the community of truth gathers around a “great thing,” it is “the grace of great things” that evokes the virtues we cherish in education: celebrating diversity, embracing ambiguity, welcoming creative conflict, practicing honesty, and experiencing humility.

• Teaching and learning are ultimately grounded in a sense of “the sacred.”


(From Palmer's The Courage to Teach Guide for Reflection and Renewal, 2007, pp. 51-58)

The Hidden Wholeness

Greetings, Students!

Your blog entries have been extraordinary, in the sense of being insightful and deeply experiential. Collectively, you have managed to create that “learning community” that we discussed on the first day of class, in which Senge et. al (1994) wrote: “During the dialogue process, people learn how to think together—not just in the sense of analyzing a shared problem or creating new pieces of shared knowledge, but in the sense of occupying a collective sensibility, in which the thoughts, emotions, and resulting actions belong not to one individual, but to all of them together.” I am feeling that “collective sensibility” among us, a continuous stream of dialogue (not mere discussion/conversation), which, this week, includes our friends, Bipin and Vinod, at a distance. (Isn’t this technology amazing that allows Vinod and Bipin to continue the journey with us?!)

This afternoon, I particularly look forward to discussing Palmer’s six paradoxical tensions of pedagogical design with you. But, first, I’d like to unpack Palmer’s meaning of the teaching/learning space. On p. 76, he wrote: “By space I mean a complex of factors: the physical arrangement and feeling of the room, the conceptual framework that I build around the topic my students and I are exploring, the emotional ethos I hope to facilitate, and the ground rules that will guide our inquiry.” I'd like us to consider each of these factors in concrete terms and from a perspective of how we may implement each of them as we embark upon a new school year next month.

Chapter III, entitled “The Hidden Wholeness, Paradox in Teaching and Learning,” led me to think about the concept of the whole child/person, which is the trademark of Catholic education. I have often wondered whether we, as educators, have completely understood this concept, which is pivotal to our approach to educating children/adults. Let’s discuss this afternoon how the element of “paradox” may be related, and moreover deeply intrinsic, to educating the “whole” child.

Until this afternoon,

Gini

P.S. Thanks, Vinod, for posting this lovely photograph of our spiritual community.

Fear and the Disconnected Life

False
Evidence
Appearing
Real

Greetings, Students!
Today’s reading assignment on FEAR generated an interesting “conversation” in your blogs. As Steven remarked in closing his blog entry, “Good reflection material as we look toward a new school year….” In class, let’s discuss the implications of this chapter for each of you as you enter a new school year next month.

During class this afternoon, I would like to ask you to share your favorite quote from this chapter and explain what it means to you as an educator. Along these lines, many meaningful quotes from Palmer were evident in your blogs. I’ve highlighted a few (below) with accompanying questions for further discussion.

Thank you to each of you for your openness in sharing your experiences in your blogs (as well as in class). This has definitely enriched our ability to create a spiritual community among us, which makes saying “goodbye” to Bipin and Vinod all the harder this afternoon. Vinod and Bipin, you both will be missed next week…but (and I believe I can speak for the entire class) your presence during these two weeks made a memorable difference in our community!

See you all later,
Gini

Jackie wrote, “We are a culture of fear.” In what ways must we, as educators, be counter-cultural for the sake of our students’ healthy development?

Susana reflected on a quote from Palmer: “‘The way we diagnose our students' condition will determine the kind of remedy we offer’ really gave me an answer to my question, why am I totally unable to help some of my students? Why? Because I give the wrong diagnosis and obviously the wrong remedy to their symptoms. How hard it is to analyze our students' behavior and see what is behind it! How hard it is to listen to their inner cries for help when no word is heard! How hard it is to really know what is paralyzing them to be opened and willing to learn!”

Angie: “I try to remember that fear is also energy and I try to convert that into positive energy. We can look at fear in the classroom the same way. We can see it as energy that just needs to be switched into confidence….” In concrete terms, what does this look like in the classroom? What must be the condition of the teacher to be able to accomplish this? Can this be taught to students?

Vinod wrote, “We may not be able to get rid of our fears but we can learn how to deal with them.” What are some effective ways to deal with our fears?

Eloisa (quoting from Palmer): “I may have fear, but I need not be my fear…that I can speak and act from a place of honesty about being fearful rather than from the fear itself.” In concrete terms, how may we develop the ability to shift from a fearful place within ourselves so that we are not coming out of our fear?

Lindy’s favorite quote from the chapter was “A good teacher is one who can listen to those [students’] voices even before they are spoken—so that someday they can speak with truth and confidence.” In Palmer’s next paragraph, he outlined some ways to “hear people [our students] to speech”:
1. Making space for the other
2. Being aware of the other
3. Paying attention to the other
4. Honoring the other
5. Not rushing to fill our students’ silences with fearful speech of our own
6. Not trying to coerce them into saying the things that we want to hear
7. Entering empathetically into the student’s world so that s/he perceives you as someone who has the promise of being able to hear another person’s truth. (p. 47)
Can you think of other ways to ‘hear your students to speech’?

Maureen shared her inspiring story about the development of her fears as a child in the classroom and mentioned her difficulty in acknowledging her fears. What may be helpful tools to use to become aware/acknowledge our fears?

Bipin wrote, “…we should be careful because we [teachers] may project our own fear on them [students] which can be a hindrance in their growth.” How can our fears hinder our students’ growth?

Palmer and the Mobius Strip

Yesterday, in class, Jackie asked for the quotes I read from Palmer's A Hidden Wholeness, related to the Mobius strip activity. Here they are...

“We arrive in this world undivided, integral, whole. But sooner or later, we erect a wall between our inner and outer lives, trying to protect what is within us or to deceive the people around us. Only when the pain of our dividedness becomes more than we can bear do most of us embark on an inner journey toward living ‘divided no more.’

“When we arrive in this world, there is no separation at all between our inner and outer life. This is why most of us love to be around infants and young children: what we see is what we get. Whatever is inside an infant comes immediately to the outside, both figuratively and literally!...In the presence of a newly minted human being, I am reminded of what wholeness looks like. And I am sometimes moved to wonder, Whatever became of me?

“The mechanics of the Mobius strip are mysterious, but its message is clear: whatever is inside us continually flows outward to help form, or deform, the world—and whatever is outside us continually flows inward to help form, or deform, our lives. The Mobius strip is like life itself: here, ultimately, there is only one reality.” (p. 39)

From: Palmer, P. (2004). A hidden wholeness, The journey toward an undivided life. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc., Publishers.

Identity and Integrity in Teaching

It is a privilege to read your blogs and to benefit from your collective wisdom. There are eight themes that emerge from Chapter One that may help to feed our discussion on Wednesday:

1. If we want to grow as teachers, we must learn to talk to each other about our inner lives, our own identity and integrity.

2. Identity lies in the intersection of the diverse forces that make up a life, while integrity lies in relating to those forces in ways that bring us wholeness and life.

3. Good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher.

4. Bad teachers distance themselves from their students and subjects; while good teachers "join self and subject and students in the fabric of life."

5. If we want to deepen our understanding of our integrity, we must experiment with our lives.

6. The best gift we receive from great mentors is not their knowledge or their approach to teaching but the sense of self they evoke within us.

7. Many of us felt called to teach when we encountered a particular subject or field of study. By recalling how those early encounters evoked a sense of self that was only dormant in us at the time, we may recover the heart to teach.

8. The inner teacher acts as a guard at the gate of our selfhood, warding off what insults our integrity and welcoming whatever affirms it.

(From Palmer's The Courage to Teach Guide for Reflection and Renewal, 2007, pp. 26-33)

Vulnerability, Joy, and Possibility

Good Morning, Students…
I was inspired by your reactions to Durka’s final two chapters on vulnerability and joy/possibility. Your blogs contained “nuggets” of insight that I have recorded below. I look forward to further discussion on these topics with you this afternoon.
Gini

I like the two aspects of the teaching journey—inner journey and outer journey—explained by Gloria Durka. It is the delicate and healthy balance between these two journeys that makes a teacher who he or she is. (Vinod)

Importance of nurturing yourself before you can nurture your students. (Maureen)

This is one of the few professions, which… teachers really learn by doing on their own. (Steve)

Prayer always helps me to go back to the center of my soul and find peace and strength to reaffirm who I am and what is my most important goal in Catholic education. (Susana)

Whenever I had any kind of problem [in my classroom], I always examined myself and tried to see what was wrong. I always found the answer because I was ready to change myself. (Bipin)

I had to smile when I read the sentence that “teaching is unpredictable from hour to hour and minute to minute”. This is where the adventure of our vocation comes in as well as exposing our vulnerability. (Angie)

I also have discovered my vulnerabilities. My kids have let me know those. I remember when a girl left me a note on the top of my desk telling me what she didn’t like about something that I did. I was so moved by this note. (Eloisa)

…in the poem by T.S. Eliot, I had two lines that stuck with me: “You must go by a way which is the way of ignorance, in order to possess what you do not possess”. (Lindy)

Durka says that we are co-creators, and we know that co-creating does not all depend upon us. We share the load with others…But more importantly, we are God’s hands, voice and presence in the world. (Jackie)

Living the questions…

Dear Students,
While reading your thought-provoking blogs, I was reminded of my Curriculum & Instruction course. At the first class, I often remark to my students that they will predictably leave the course with more questions than definitive answers related to leadership in teaching and learning. Our challenge as educators may be to live the questions and to resist the temptation to devise quick, compact answers/solutions to major educational issues that we confront on a daily basis. The following questions emerged from your blogs. Let us consider as a class how to live these questions…
Gini


Durka discussed three aspects of a healthy learning environment: openness, boundaries and hospitality. What is concretely involved in establishing each of these components in a classroom/school?

If values are “caught and not taught,” how are they “caught” by students and not “taught” by faculty?

If technology “will never teach a person to love and care” (Sr. Susana), to what extent and in what ways do we as educators embrace technology in our schools, particularly with the rise of online courses?

Bipin shared the extraordinary diversity of his K-12 school in India, in which approximately one-third of the teachers and 54 out of 2,096 students are Catholic. What does the Jesuit/Catholic school identity mean in such a diverse context and how does the Jesuit/Catholic identity become tangible with a majority of non-Catholics?

Many of you mentioned being inspired by the Arab proverb: “God gave us two ears and one mouth to show us that we should listen twice as much as we speak.” From a behavioral, “lived” perspective, how may one initiate such a practice? How may a teacher integrate such a practice with students? (Lindy shared some wonderful ideas in her blog!)

Welcome to Blogging!

Greetings, Student Bloggers!

Your first blog assignment (due tomorrow) is to write a 1-2 paragraph reflection on your vocation as a Catholic educator.

Happy blogging,

Gini