Mr. Palmer continues to touch my core as he moves on to write about the culture of fear that can permeate a classroom. His description of fearful students and teachers both strike a chord with me. I returned to school to become a teacher at age 48. Because I chose to become a PE teacher and needed a degree in kinesiology, I had to start practically from scratch, with only a few general education courses from my previous degree counting towards my kinesiology degree. Looking back, I can remember the fear I felt each semester as I started classes with students half my age and younger. Now, reading Palmer’s description of the fearful student, I feel as though I have been blind and unfair to the students I have worked with thus far. Knowing the fear of being a student and not being able to recognize it my own students made me shutter. I need to recognize the fear in my students’ hearts and help them through it, as Palmer suggests on page 47.
As a teacher, I have felt the fear that Palmer describes. To this point I’ve assumed that that fear comes from my insecurity and inexperience as a teacher. But Palmer, an experienced veteran teacher speaks of feeling that fear even after years of teaching. I am going to make a conscious effort to teach not from that fearful place but from a place of curiosity, hope, empathy and honesty of which Palmer writes. (p. 57).
Next, Palmer describes the six paradoxes of a healthy, comprehensive classroom. These include being bounded and open; hospitable and charged; catering to both the individual and the group; supportive of solitude and community and; welcoming in both silence and speech. Allowing these paradoxes to coexist in our classrooms is how we ensure that each and every student is valued and learns according to their individual needs as a person. I would have to agree with Palmer that holding up to this standard would be difficult but worth it. (p. 83). Palmer states on page 85, “By holding the tension of opposites, we hold the gateway to inquiry open, inviting students into a territory in which we all can learn.” To me, this sums up good pedagogy.