The Courage to Teach (eBook)

PARKER J. PALMER is a highly respected writer who works indepAndently on issues in education, community, spirituality, and social change; he offers lectures, workshops, and retreats across the country. In 1998, The Leadership Project, a survey of 11,000 educators, named Dr. Palmer as one of the thirty most influential senior leaders in higher education and one of ten key 'agAnda-setters' of the past decade: He has inspired a generation of teachers and reformers with evocative visions of community, knowing, and spiritual wholeness. Dr. Palmer is senior associate of the American Association for Higher Education and senior advisor to the Fetzer Institute, for whom he designed the Teacher Formation Program for K-12 teachers. Author of such widely-praised books as The Company of Strangers, The Active Life, and To Know As We Are Known, he holds a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

Introduction: Teaching From Within.

The Heart of a Teacher: Identity and Integrity in Teaching.

A Culture of Fear: Education and the Disconnected Life.

The Hidden Wholeness: Paradox in Teaching and Learning.

Knowing in Community: Joined by the Grace of Great Things.

Teaching in Community: A Subject-Centered Education.

Learning in Community: The Conversation of Colleagues.

Divided No More: Teaching from a Heart of Hope.

"This is the best education book I've read in a long time. Palmer
provides a powerful argument for the need to move from our
over-reliance on technique toward a learning environment that both
honors and truly develops the deepest human capacities in children
and teachers. It's about time we remember that it's the person
within the teacher that matters most in education, and Palmer makes
the case eloquently." (Teacher Magazine)

"If teaching is just a chore, and you are content to just 'do
chores,' this book is not for you. You will be challenged to go
beyond the minimum and pursue excellence. But rather than
approaching teaching as something we just tolerate, Parker Palmer
holds out the promise of it being something we can celebrate."
(Academy of Management Review)

"Reading this book will enrich the life of any teacher who loves
teaching." (Pro Rege)

"Parker Palmer is a teacher's teacher, and it is when he writes
as a teacher that this book is a remarkably inspiring, almost
religious companion for anyone who has taught or might be thinking
of about teaching as a vocational journey for life.... This book
can change your life if you are a teacher." (Religious
Education)

"Through a series of vignettes, Palmer encourages reflection,
and strives to bolster readers' initiative and confidence. The
Courage to Teach is an awakening, and a gentle, directive touch
that reaches out to teachers of all levels and ages." (Childhood
Education)

"To go on this journey with Parker Palmer into the uncharted
territory of 'the self' in teaching is not only to experience the
joy of viewing teaching from a thrilling new perspective. It is
also to be in the presence of a great teacher who, by sharing
himself so openly and honestly, engages us in the very kind of
teaching he so eloquently describes." (Russell Edgerton, director
of educational programs, Pew Charitable Trusts, and past president,
American Association for Higher Education)

"A profoundly moving, utterly passionate, and inspired
articulation of the call to, and the pain and joy of, teaching. It
is must reading for any and every teacher, at any level." (Jon
Kabat-Zinn, author, Wherever You Go, There You Are, and coauthor,
Everyday Blessings)

"This book is good news--not just for classroom teachers
and educators, but for all of us who are committed to the healing
of our world." (Joanna Macy, author, World As Lover, World As
Self)

"Parker Palmer has taught me more about learning and teaching
than anyone else. The Courage to Teach is for all of
us--leaders, public officials, counselors, as well as
teachers. It compassionately and insistently asks us to recognize
that our capacity to do good work springs from our recognition of
who we are." (Margaret J. Wheatley, author, Leadership and the New
Science, and coauthor, A Simpler Way)

"This is a profoundly satisfying feast of a book--written
with a rare mix of elegance and rigor, passion and
precision--a gift to all who love teaching and learning."
(Diana Chapman Walsh, president, Wellesley College)

"Evokes the heart of what teachers really do, and does so in a
vivid, compelling, and soulful way." (Robert Coles, University
Health Services, Harvard University)