Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/reimagining-teacher-development-cultivating-spirit/5020328/
“It is my belief that the thing which we should cultivate in our teachers is more the spirit than the mechanical skill of the scientist.”�" Maria Montessori
This quote by Maria Montessori piques the imagination in today’s educational field where we still struggle to find an answer to the question of quality. What makes a good teacher? How do we teach people to teach? To listen to the wisdom of Maria Montessori, among others, is to suggest the answer doesn’t lie in training requirements. Although well-meaning, some methods of training approach teaching as a one-size-fits-all approach. Yet, there are myriad techniques for teaching and no one method works for all teachers or all students. Indeed, good teachers use a variety of techniques (Intrator & Kunzman, 2006). Unfortunately, our search for objective standards by which to measure quality teaching has overlooked the fact that the root of teaching lies not in simple methodology, but in the messy business of human relationships. Embracing this means recognizing that who we are and how we relate to the world around us makes a difference in our teaching (Palmer, 1998).
Cultivating the Spirit of Teaching
What would it mean to cultivate spirit? To begin ...