"...good teachers share one trait: a strong sense of personal identity infuses their work (Palmer, 2007, p.11).
Insert any profession where Palmer has the word teachers. Good doctors, priests, principals, plumbers, sales people - there is no substitution for a strong sense of who we are as individuals. I had an extraordinary conversation about a month ago with a ticket agent for Jet Blue. You just had a sense the woman new herself, accepted herself and was more open to the world because of it. Even just the desire to develop a strong sense of self is such a sign of health to me and that desire always involves a high degree of knowing that who I am today is not who I will be (or even should be) in five years. If I'm a person of faith today, five years from know I may say the same thing, but it's meaning, it's impact on my identity will be new, fresh, perhaps even resurrecting!
"Good teachers possess a capacity for connectedness (Palmer, 2007, p.11)."
Yes! My reflection here is a bit of a rant. I'm facinated, and very frustrated, with people who are painfully introverted and seem unable or unwilling to adapt to extroverted professions. Teaching is not counseling (in itself) where we have one on one conversations with people all day. Teaching is being at the center of a crowd, being seen as the leader of that crowd, and drawing others into interest and activity centered around the topic of the moment. If you throw up every time you even thing of having to stand in front of a group of people and speak - library science might be more for you! This rant is a reflection, by the way, on teachers and priests who fall into my target category.
Remembering ourselves and our power can lead to revolution but it requires more than a recalling of facts. Re-membering involves putting ourselves back together, recovering identity and integrity...(Palmer 2007, p.21)
There is some truly spectacular imagery and prose in this section of Palmer. He really strikes a chord within me when he speaks about re-membering. I find that the ability to put myself back together is really, literally, to pick up the pieces and put them back together - sometimes in a new or slightly different way than before the event that caused the breakage. If we really see our spiritual lives as a journey, Palmer is striking at one of the most important realities of living well the journey we've been given by God. It's not that we fall or break, but it's about how we get back up again and continue on better for having fallen.
Finally, the matter of personal identity is crucial in our ability to teach and teach well. This can however, in a religious context, be difficult to fully resolve for those who find their personal identity at odds with what the Church teachers or believes. It may seem obvious that those individuals need to, for the sake of their own integrity and the love of the profession, move into an educational setting that is secular, or at least more in line with their own identity. Having accompanied such individuals, this can, however, be a painful process for all involved. Talk about a need for a grounded spirituality for administrators as well as teachers.
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I can totally relate to what you're saying about inserting any profession into that first quote. A couple of the security guards at my school come to mind immediately as well as my dentist (he's pretty awesome).
ReplyDeleteBy that rationale you can also insert many professions into Parker's discussion later in the chapter about teachers who lose touch with their spirit and inner self and become disheartened.
Yes, the applicability of Palmer's words to all professions is remarkable.
ReplyDeleteAs a side note, you might be surprised about today's librarians ~ there are not a whole lot left who are scared of public speaking. (Btw, I am a librarian~)
Personal identity is key because there are people in our profession who frankly should be working at a different type of school or in another profession. Palmer speaks about doing harm to oneself and the community when we aren't doing what we are called to do. Well, in order to fully process what that means, we must all be like the Jet Blue ticket agent and be open to learning who we really are.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your thoughts about substituting other professions for teaching. And yes, your "rant" is on point about introverts in extroverted professions.
ReplyDeleteOn a unrelated note, you focused on Palmer's work on "putting ourselves back together." This reminds me of a possible song to add to your music library: "In the Deep" by Bird York. The extended version was featured in the movie "Crash" and was nominated for an Oscar. It contains similar words:
http://artists.letssingit.com/bird-york-in-the-deep-zk61h42