Teachers teaching teachers
You remember your teachers, some more than others. You probably had a teacher for the day in elementary school and later teachers for each subject in separate periods throughout the day. Most of them seemed to belong to their classrooms. Some took to rearranging desks tome their rooms more conducive to their students. One teacher I knew replaced desks with soft chairs, couches, small tables with lots of plants. However teachers set up their rooms, in nearly all instances, they worked alone throughout the day.
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Nancy Barnes recognized this and offered a solution. Her plea reminds us that no matter what we do we need to be in relationship with others. Writers, artists, teachers while they work alone, need support, feedback, and critiques.
Barnes’s two words, “serious conversation,” offers the gift of reciprocity, of people talking and listening. Conversations are breeding grounds for discovery and learning. They initiate “the process of investigation and critical discussion” where you find meaning and understanding with others.
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forward.” (Kierkegaard)
I write to bring ideas and methods from my life as a teacher in the latter half of the 20th century to help teachers and the public to “live forward” in this century. My latest book, Teacher in the Rye: Doing It My Way is available on Amazon. And I welcome comments here on my Substack or by email at frankthoms3@gmail.com.
