The book opens with this paragraph:
"I am a teacher at heart, and there are moments in the classroom when I can hardly hold the joy. When my students and I discover uncharted territory to explore, when the pathway out of a thicket opens up before us, when our experience is illuminated by the lightning-life of the mind – then teaching is the finest work I know."
The question I would like to pose to you in this post is this: When have you experienced this kind of joy in your own teaching?
I have a number of these but I will share the most recent. It occurred this week at The Loop in Embry Hills Shopping Center. We were having a meeting of the Officers and Committee Chairs of the Cecil B. Day Campus Chapter of Habitat for Humanity. While waiting for our food and without a prompt from me to the students about how the just completed term had gone for them, a couple offered some comments.
One student told me that what we had done together was her "favorite part of the course." She told me that she saw a number of ways that what we had learned had applications to practice and to patient care. A second student told me that she understands and appreciates why we do the activities that we do in class. She said that they do, in fact, help her to learn. She said that she wanted me to know that even though some students complain about having to do things in class, she believes that the efforts are of great benefit for learning. She said that the class activities help her to see that I care about learning.
I want to hear your stories of the kinds of moments about which Parker Palmer speaks. For me, your sharing of these experiences also brings me joy. For me, hearing these stories helps me to move away from that question that I ask myself sometimes about finding new work and even finding something that I can actually do successfully. I look forward to your sharing.
