THE HIDDEN WHOLENESS: PARADOX IN TEACHING AND LEARNING

Palmer writes that we are trained to “think the world apart,” dissecting it into either-ors, but we need to learn to “think the world together,” embracing opposites and appreciating paradoxes.

The principle of paradox can guide us in thinking about classroom dynamics—and in designing a teaching and learning space that can hold the community of truth.

1. In what ways have you experienced “suffering” as a student teacher? Has your suffering had any redemptive quality to it; that is, has it made you heart larger? What would help you deepen the redemptive quality of the suffering your experience in your work?

Based on the book The Courage To Teach by Palmer pag. 72 - 73, as a student teacher I have experienced a lot things; some of them bad, others sad but also good things. I have realized that teaching is not a piece of cake. As a teacher, I must have a lot of patient and interest on it; I have to learn how to treat my students in order to make them feel comfortable in my classes.

But inside of the classroom, many things can happen; as a teacher I have lived bad and good experiences; for example, for these teaching practices; I am in charge of a great group of students. They are very respectful with me; they also work very well, but what I don´t like too much is the fact that they are very talkative. I know that being sociable is a good, but if you are inside of the classroom you must respect the class also the teacher.

Sometimes, I get disappointed because they have some difficulties about learning English and while I am trying to explain the topic, they are talking or joking. I get sad because I am trying to do my best, but with that behavior they make me feel as if I am not doing my job in the correct way.

In those moments, I try to take a deep breath and make them participate in the class in order to catch their attention.

But that behavior makes thing about something: “if they are behaving in that way, it means that I need to improve something in my classes”. So for the next class, I try to catch their attention since the very beginning with a funny and interesting warm up until the end of the class with the wrap up.

That is why before I said that teaching is not a piece of cake; it requires a lot of love for it, a lot passion and patient; as I teacher you never finish learning; you learn from your students every single day.

2. Name some of your key gifts or strengths as a teacher. Now name a struggle or difficulty you commonly have in teaching. How do you understand the relation between your profile of giftedness and the kind of trouble you typically get into in the classroom?

“Becoming aware of our gifts can help us teach more consistently from our identity and integrity” (The Courage to Teach page 69). In my case, I consider that I have the gift of being patient. At teaching, this strength is pretty important because we as teachers always deal with a variety of students inside of the classroom; for example, some of them are responsible but others don´t; that´s why we as teachers must look for a way to make them work.

Another of my strengths is that I love what I do. I consider this as a very important key at teaching. Because if you don’t love what you do, it is a waste of time what you are doing. Students feel what we transmit; they are like a sponge absorbing everything, for that, showing your love for teaching will make them feel part an important of your life.

Being friendly is another gift that helps while teaching. I have learned that we as teachers can be friendly with the students, but always keeping a limit of respect in the relationship students-teachers and teachers-students. In these High Schools teaching practices, I feel very comfortable working with my group because we have a good student - teacher relationship; despite; they are very talkative; but at the end no matter because when I ask for some volunteers; they raise their hands and participate. That is another thing that I like by their side.

The desire that my students learn is another gift I have. As I told you before, some of my students have some difficulties to learn English. So, one of my goals in every class is to help them as much as I can; what I do in order to achieve it is, when I have already given the tasks; I walk around them and ask if they have some doubts. In that way, I can give personal feedback if it is necessary. At the end I make a general feedback; that helps them a lot.

Since they are very talkative; catching my students´ attention is my big struggle or difficulty while teaching.

I must speak louder, and sometimes it´s kind of difficult for me because I don’t have a strong tone of voice and I almost have to shout in order to catch their attention. But this is not an obstacle for me because my love for teaching goes beyond of all the challenges I have to overcome during this wonderful process named teaching.

3. Describe a moment in teaching when things went so well you knew you were “born to teach” and compare it to a moment in which things went so poorly you wished you had never been born! Name the gifts that made this good moment possible—not the techniques you used or the moves you made, but your qualities.

I will never forget the second day; I arrived to the classroom. One of my students was talking to me and he said: “Teacher I really love your classes; they are very interesting and funny. I like the way you teach; I feel very comfortable in your classes, and they make me feel more interested about learning the language. And you know what; I want to be an English teacher. 

I have realized that I love English”, and I said to him: congratulations because if you decide to study this major, you will discover a great world at teaching; it is not a easy one, but believe me that you feel a great satisfaction when you know that you are contributing to others´ education.

In that moment, I felt as if I was born to teach because he made think about my job. For me, it meant that I was doing a great job in the classroom.

Since that day, I have been analyzing my students, and I can say that they really enjoy my classes. They like to learn by playing; they enjoy a lot the warm ups. I really love to see their faces smiling and having fun in those moments. 

Because of that, I try to implement new techniques in every class; that is helping me a lot. Being creative and dynamic also helps to do our job in an interesting way.

But not everything is a bed of roses at teaching; I remember a class in which we were studying the present perfect tense. They were pretty confused because some days ago, the main teacher had given to them an explanation kind of confused about the topic. I was trying to explain it to them in the clearest way I could. But, at the beginning they didn’t understand, but I kept explaining.

In that moment I thought: “My Gosh help me please. I just want them to understand my explanations!” Finally, I reached my goal; they understood everything.

It made me think that I had not been born to teach.

4. Palmer discusses six paradoxes of pedagogical design (pp.73-83). Choose one to focus on. Share examples of teaching environments you have experienced where this paradox is honored. Have you ever been in a classroom where only half of the paradox was honored while the other half was ignored? Describe what that classroom was like.

• The space should be hospitable and charged

In the classroom all the students are important. In every class, I try to carry out activities in which all my students can participate. I have read that if the teacher takes into account every students´ opinion, they adopt the feeling of being important in the classroom. So, I always make my students participate and share their opinions.

I remember once; we were discussing about the things we like doing the most. I asked them to work in pairs and share their ideas. After some minutes, I started to ask what they had said. I noticed that most of the students wanted to participate and share what they had talked about.

It was an interesting class because they were sharing personal tastes that the others didn’t know.

I think it was a hospitable environment because all the students had the opportunity to talk about themselves, and we did it in a respectful environment.

Have you ever been in a classroom where only half of the paradox was honored while the other half was ignored? Describe what that classroom was like.

Yes, I have. I had the opportunity to experiment this. That day, I was very excited because it was Friday, and I had prepared a funny class. But, I got sad when I arrived to the classroom, and I saw the students worried about something else.

 I started the class, but I was angry because another teacher had assigned them a presentation in my hour. Also, the main teacher was very angry because nobody had asked his permission. So, the class was a mess because while I was teaching my class some groups of students were getting out to the classroom.

In that way, I think in that day only half of the paradox was honored because the environment was stressful for the students and teachers. 

5. What questions are you living at this stage of your life—from “How can I get up in the morning? To “How can I become a good teacher? Are the questions you are now living the ones you want to live? If not, what questions would you like to be living? How might you hold these questions at the center of your attention?

I am a person who tends to think about many things in a short period of time. Sometimes, I feel as I won´t be able to reach what I want in life. I will share the question that I always ask myself:

• How can I improve my English?

• What can I do in order to get more vocabulary?

• Am I doing the things in the correct way?

• Am I doing my best?

• Am I helping my students to know a little bit more about this language?

• Am I going to pass all the subjects this semester?

• Am I going to reach my goals in life?

Those are the question that I ask myself every single day. I always try to think in a positive manner because I don’t to get frustrated at this point of my life. I know that I have a big road to travel through in which I will learn little by little.