The Courage to Teach
The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life by Parker J. Palmer (1997, Jossey-Bass)
A book that speaks to many teachers regarding the personal aspects of being a teacher,
The Courage to Teach provides a framework and sets the tone for the "Teaching in Community" program at Northern Essex Community College. The TIC program is an excellent model for creating a community of practice among faculty. I hope the entire cluster has the opportunity to learn more about this approach during our time together.
"This book is for teachers who have good days and bad -- and whose bad days bring the suffering that comes only from something one loves. It is for teachers who refuse to harden their hearts, because they love learners, learning, and the teaching life."
- Parker J. Palmer [from the Introduction]
"To go on this journey with Parker Palmer into the uncharted territory of 'the self' in teaching is not only to experience the joy of viewing teaching from a thrilling new perspective. It is also to be in the presence of a great teacher who, by sharing himself so openly and honestly, engages us in the very kind of teaching he so eloquently describes." (Russell Edgerton, director of educational programs, Pew Charitable Trusts, and past president, American Association for Higher Education)
"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 illumined by the lightning-life of the mind--then teaching is the finest work I know. // But at other moments, the classroom is so lifeless or painful or confused--and I am so powerless to do anything about it--that my claim to be a teacher seems a transparent sham. then the enemy is everywhere: in those students from some alien planet, in that subject I thought I knew, and in the personal pathology that keeps me earning my living this way. What a fool I was to imagine that I had mastered this occult art--harder to divine than tea leaves and impossible for mortals to do even passably well! "
- Parker J. Palmer (from the opening chapter)
The following link contains several excerpts from the book:
http://www.miracosta.cc.ca.us/home/gfloren/palmer.htm#top