| Teaching from Within |
| I will not have too much to say about this essay as I agree with the opinions expressed in it. Palmer’s description of the three sources of the complexity of teaching is illuminating. He states that both the subjects we teach and the student we teach them to are extremely complex. This is revealing because ones approach to a subject is altered when one recognizes that the subject is impossible to master. The teacher who knows this will be able to pass on a respect for the largeness of the subject to his/her students. It is also comforting to know that a teacher cannot possibly control or predict what a student will get from a lesson. The third source of complexity is the self. Palmer goes into detail about how knowledge of the self informs teaching. Because we see our students through ourselves, we must know our own interiors before we can guide students through theirs. Palmer also shows how knowledge of the self is a key to an understanding of the subject matter: since everything is seen through our own self-knowledge, “when I do not know myself…I know [my subject] only abstractly, from a distance” (2). Palmer indicates that most people who think about education will not agree with an approach to educational reform that is not focused exclusively on learning. He states that, though he of course sees that learning is something that occurs within the student, “teachers possess the power to create conditions that can help students learn a great deal — or keep them from learning much at all” (6). The need for support of teachers’ inner lives is mentioned. Palmer notes how often teachers are blamed for being unable to correct incurable ills and asks “how can schools educate students if they fail to support the teacher’s inner life?” (6). |