Sunday, July 13, 2008
Courage to Teach Final Thoughts?
I am missing the discussion in person today, but I thought I would post my comments on our "Divided No More" chapter. This was a challenging chapter! I related to the author's description of the despair that sets in when we think that we are powerless to bring about needed changes. I hear the resignation in the voices of many colleagues. I remain one of the cockeyed-optimists who thinks change is still possible. So is our AWP summer institute giving birth to a "movement" among southeastern Ohio teachers? The author lost me a little with his distinction between organizational resistance and movements. I do think survival for the good teacher, the teacher with integrity does come down to the author's idea of centering. Such a bold thing to do --living basically by your own set of standards, not necessarily defined by your institution, but still functioning within but not buying INTO the organizational system. Matt, Deb, what do you think of his both/and analysis for educational reform?
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Yea! for cockeyed-optimists!
Palmer claims the stakes are high as we must "choose between allowing selfhood to die or claiming identity and integrity" from good living and good teaching (173).
I hope that NWP is and has been a genuine movement and that OUAWP is a part of that counter resistance--a rung in the ladder. At the very least, OUAWP is creating a small space for a few of us to gather and give voice to our experiences. I have truly enjoyed meeting folks this summer and our exchanges have given me LOTS to think about.
I wanted to focus on what Palmer had to say in regards to historic movements such as the Civil Right's, the Velvet, and apartheid: "Everyone of them was animated by people who had been stripped of all external power" (206). Sounds like NCLB may be stripping our teachers today, leaving them to seek power from within to resist. I just hope we can see that we are all in this together.
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