Any class-room that employs a holistic model of learning will also be aplace where teachers grow, and are empowered by the process.:=:.;:::.c·:-T]iat empowerment cannot happen ifwe refuse to be vulnera-ble while encouraging students to take risks.
Yes! To truly share power in the classroom, teachers need to embrace the vulnerability of learning.
Mem-ory of that pain returns as I listen to students express the con-cern that they will not succeed in academic professions if theywant to be well, if they eschew dysfunctional behavior or partic-ipation in coercive hierarchies.
I think this still holds true in many corners. In our society, success is often achieved or even marked by overwork, status, and power. We leave little room for the "whole self" in professional settings, including academia.
While I wanted teaching to be my career, I believed that per-sonal success was intimately linked with self-actualization.
I think that true/genuine success must be proceeded with work on self. Without it, success is likely pursued to fill a personal void, rather than in service of others.
More than anything they seemed enthralled bythe exercisc of power and authority within their mini-kingdom,the classroom.
Yowzers!
There was fear that the conditions ofL.hoPlf'w<)Uild interfere with the teaching process.
Conditions of the self will interfere with the teaching process if we are unaware of them and not tending to our own wellbeing.
I learned that farfrom being self-actualized, the university was seen more as ahaveu for those who are smart in book knowledge but whomight be otherwise unfit for social interaction.
LOL
if the he! per is unhappy
Or unaware of their own strengths and areas of growth...
That means that teachers must be actively committed toa process of self-actualization that promotes their own well-beiug if they are to teach in a manner that empowers students.
Yes! Thank you.
Thatnotion of mutual labor was affirmed by Thich Nhat Hanh 's phi-losophy of engaged Buddhism, the focus on practice in con-junction with contemplation. His philosophy was similar toFreire's emphasis on "praxis"-action and reflection upon theworld in order to change it.
This may be a note about parallel process, but I think there is something to be said here about being reflective about our teaching and learning more about how we act and think in classroom settings, and why. We should be encouraging students to be reflective in their learning, while also stepping into that opportunity ourselves.
Education as the practice offreedom was continually undermined by professors who wereactively hostile to the notion of student participation.
And, this practice is undermined by those who resist stepping into the role of learner and who are consumed by being the expert in the room.
even if the situation does not allow the fullemergence of a relationship based on mutual recognition. Yetthe possibility of such recognition is always present.13
I would love to know more about what Hooks means by this. Is this a nod to the power differential between teacher and student?
who believe that o ur work is not merelyto share information but to share in the intellectual and spiri-tual growth of o ur students.
The learning process is sacred. We are there to share in the intellectual and spiritual growth of students. And, we are learning, too!