A CULTURE OF FEAR: EDUCATION AND THE DISCONNECTED LIFE

I.               What are some of your fears in the classroom? How have you dealt with them? What have you learned about yourself and about fear as a result?

Fear may occur in response to a specific stimulus happening in the present, or to a future situation, which  is perceived as risk to health or life, status, power, security, or in the case of humans wealth or anything held valuable.

In humans and animals, fear is modulated by the process of cognition and learning. 

Like all emotions, fear can be mild, medium or intense, depending on the situation and the person. A feeling of fear can be brief or it can last longer.

In my personal experience, I have had many fears trough my teaching practices. Since the Kindergarten practice until High School practices. But, I know that I as a teacher have to face a lot of problems every single day of teaching.

Sometimes I feel afraid of saying something in the wrong way. I know that I am learning still, and also I know that everybody makes mistakes. Because of that, for every class; I try to study a lot. This is very important: the fact of being prepared for everything. While you are teaching, many things can happen, for example, the students finish quickly the assignment or the time is not enough, etc. As you can see many things are able to happen inside the classroom.

Another fair is about the fact that the students are very demanding. They like dynamic classes; for instance, I must prepare an interesting and funny class since the Warm- up until the last activity. Something, that is really difficult for me is the fact of transmitting energy and feeling to my students. It means that if I have problems or maybe I´m sick, I have to forget that and enjoy my class in order that my students enjoy it, too. 

Something, that scares me a lot, is the possibility that my students don´t understand my explanation. In every course, there always are students, which learning English becomes a little bit difficult; in this situation what I have to do is being patient. Why? It is because I must find the most suitable ways for them to learn.

At teaching, you will find a big diversity of students. Some of them are very responsible and others not. Sometimes you are going to be in charge of groups in which  pupils are bored and passive in situations calling for actions, and belligerent and destructive in contexts requiring reflection.

In order to deal with those fears I have; I have been very disciplined, also I have tried to apply all the knowledge that my teachers have provided me along these semesters. 

In that way; I have overcome many problems, and I think I am doing a great job!!!

Being a good teacher is not a piece of cake; it´s having passion and love for the students´ learning. It goes beyond to arrive to the classroom, and greeting your students; it´s the fact of knowing how to sow the knowledge and the interest for learning into your students.

II.       Palmer writes, “Good teaching is an act of hospitality toward the young, and hospitality is always an act that benefits the host even more than the guest” (p. 50). In what specific ways do you think a teacher has to be hospitable to students? In what ways do they treat them as unwelcome guests? How do teachers benefit from practicing hospitality toward students?

As Palmer says on his book Courage to teach p. 50, the concept of hospitality arose 

in ancient times when the reciprocity was easier to see. 

He says that, the gift of sustenance for the guest becomes a gift of hope for the host.

It is that way at teaching as well: the teacher´s hospitality to the students results in a 

world more hospitable to the teacher.

In Parker Palmer’s book The Courage to Teach, he develops a very simple but beautiful insight of the teacher’s role in the classroom. He sees the significance of the interrelationship between teachers and their students. The teachers’ daily involvement with their students manifests the teaching profession’s sense of self-fulfillment.  Palmer sanctifies the profession of teaching; he states, “One of the blessings of teaching is the chance it gives us for continuing encounters with the young.”   Palmer sees these continued encounters not as a chore, or the need for a “generative relationship,” but one that builds on the rooted belief of service to the young.

Well, a teacher has to be hospitable to his or her students when students need and ask for help. A good teacher must be available to help their students. For example, when a student does not understand a lesson; it would be polite for the teacher´s side if he or she offers help. In that case the teacher is practicing hospitality.

 Another situation in which a teacher is hospitable is by giving the opportunity to participate in classes. Letting the students share their points of view and ideas about something, and take them into account, but always keeping respect.

Sometimes teachers treat students as unwelcome guests. It happens when the teachers instead of working as facilitators; they work as obstacles, and they don´t let them to participate or contributing to the class development.

Moreover it happens when the teacher feels that he or she is better than the students. For instance, the teacher is not able to learn from the students. And that is a big mistake because a teacher always learns something new from their students every single day at teaching.

Teachers benefit in a big way for being hospitable; if they show that they are responsible; consequently at least some of their students are going to start being in that way.

Also, a great environment of self-confidence is going to grow up because the students are going to feel like in their own house. It means that a good relationship between teacher and students is going to prevail inside of the classroom.

III.       Write about a fear, not necessarily related to teaching that once controlled you, but no longer does.  What caused you to confront that fear? What helped you get loose from it? What were the results? What did you learn?

Shyness is usually associated with being quiet, insecure, and/or socially anxious. Being shy is not necessarily bad. We can all feel shy from time to time, so it’s alright to feel a little uncomfortable in new situations and with new people.

Building self-esteem and confidence can often help reduce shyness in some situations. Low self-esteem can influence the way you behave. Sometimes shyness can hold you back from new experiences because you become overly concerned with the possibility of failure or looking clumsy.

There are ways of building your self-esteem like becoming friends with yourself and challenging your self-talk. Focusing on your good qualities helps to build your confidence and self-esteem, learning not to compare yourself to others and realizing that no one is perfect.

Definitely speaking in front of the people is my biggest fear. Whenever I do it; I feel very uncomfortable. My friends have told me that I have to learn how to control my nerves because they make me make mistakes while speaking.

What makes me feel more uncomfortable is when the others realize than I am nervous; consequently forget everything that I learned. I think this problem takes place in my life because I am so shy. That is a big obstacle in my life.

Now, I know that is really necessary to overcome this problem because in a future I´ll be a teacher, and I want to be a good one. So, I need to find the ways to improve this because I don´t want my students complain about my job as a teacher.

But there is something curious in this problem; for example, while I am developing my classes, I don´t feel too much nervous, and I think it is because I already started to work in that aspect. I really enjoy every single class with my students; they make me feel comfortable. 

On page 56-60 Palmer says: “Be not afraid”. Fear is everywhere in our culture, in our institutions, in our students, in ourselves and it cuts us off from everything.  Fear is so fundamental to the human condition that all the great spiritual traditions originate in an effort to overcome its effects on our lives.  With different words, they all proclaim the same core message: “be not afraid”.

It is important to note with care what that core teaching does and does not say. Be not afraid does not say that we should not have fears.

IV.       Evelyn Fox Keller says of Nobel Prize—winner Barbara McClintock that her knowing came from “the highest form of love, love that allows for intimacy without the annihilation of difference” (pp. 55).  Does this kind of love have a place in education? If not, why not? If so, how might it be taught? How might it make a difference if we could teach students to love the world in this way?

On page 55-56, Palmer states that if we dare to move through our fear, to practice 

knowing as a form of love, we might to abandon our illusions of control and enter a 

partnership with the otherness of the world.

By finding our place in the ecosystem of reality, we might see more clearly which actions are 

life-giving and which are not, and in the process participate more fully in our own destinies, and 

the destiny of the world, than we do in our drive for control.  This relational way of knowing in 

which love takes away fear and co-creation replaces control is a way of knowing that can help 

us reclaim the capacity for connectedness on which good teaching depends. 

Of course, love takes place in education. It happens since you decide to become a teacher. If 

you decide that, you feel like a little spark in your heart to share your knowledge with others.

Being a teacher is inspiring students not only academically but also personally. It´s being able to interact with kids who are mostly good.

Teaching touches lives: The words we speak, and actions we display, can influence  children to make informed and responsible choices in their life.