Next Monday I will start setting up my classroom for a new group of K4's. The physical space in important, but for me setting up some mental space is essential. This is the time of year I break out a few favorite books to help me reflect on who I am and who I want to be as a teacher. I always re-read Journey Toward the Caring Classroom, and The Courage to Teach. This year I am reading a book I won during teacher appreciation week from Responsive Classroom, The Power Of Our Words.
I look forward to this time of year and the chance to get to do the inner work necessary to be the teacher I am constantly striving to be. Parker Palmer's The Courage to Teach offers so much comfort and guidance, I find myself underlining, highlighting and circling passages every time I pick it up. Here are some passages that were particularly meaningful as I read today:
"Power works from the outside in, but authority works from the inside out."
"...we an not see the fear in our students until we see the fear in ourselves."
"Good teaching is an act of hospitality toward the young, and hospitality is always an act that benefits the host even more than the guest."
"Teaching always takes place at the crossroads of the personal and the public, and if I want to teach well I must learn to stand where these opposites intersect."
"We separate head from heart. Result: minds that do not know how to feel and hearts that do not know how to think."
"...the same person who teaches brilliantly one day can be an utter flop the next!"
"...only as we are in communion with ourself can we find community with others. "
Maybe these words will resonate with you. What do you do/read to get ready to go back to school?
