I am very excited to dive into the entirety of The Courage to Teach. I have read many quotes and excerpts from Palmer and have always felt inspired.
To begin I enjoyed reading about Palmer himself to know where he was coming from. I think this is very important. I have read a lot about educating and teaching to discover it wasn't written by a teacher! I also appreciate that he admits his shortcomings, and shares his path to discovering his courage to teach.
There were so many ideas that came to me while reading this section. I feel continually reminded how important it is for me to be self focused so that I can have more to give to my student. The quote that helped me the most was "The self is not infinitely elastic - it has potentials and it has limits." As a young teacher I loved this because it reminds me that I have gifts to share but I cannot be everything to everyone at all time. I think by knowing myself and what I do well and what I need help with is incredibly important. I began the journal to self awareness in the fall when I was teaching full time, was a full time student at St. Mary's and was students teaching during my prep outside of my department and it was my first time teaching boys. I kept pushing myself until I broke. I learned that I cannot do everything and I have limits.
I appreciated the idea that "we rarely know in advance what will give us life and what will sap life away." I have been through times recently where I have discovered this first hand and I have learned to continue to do things that give me life. I know though that we have to TRY. Through trial and error we can continue to spend time in things that are life giving.
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