Cultivating the Spirit of Teaching

05/03/2012

Cultivating the Spirit of Teaching

What a child doesn't receive, he can seldom later give.
PD James

"The quality we long for in teachers is not only for them to have the right technique, but for them to have the soul of a teacher. In this context, we might spend less time telling teachers what to do, and more time showing them how to be."

This is the observation of Amelia Dress in her Exchange article (January/February 2012), "Reimagining Teacher Development: Cultivating Spirit." Dress further observes...

"To help teachers remain vital, we must recapture the deeper meaning of vocation:

To be aware of one’s vocation is to recognize that there is some mysterious combination of personal skill and passion that draws us into a particular line of work.
Most teachers begin their careers with such a vision. They are drawn to early childhood education because they love children and teaching and believe they have the capacity to do this work.
The challenge is keeping this sense of purpose alive as the day-to-day reality of the profession’s demands take their toll.

"Maintaining this vision means helping teachers discover — and rediscover — why they teach. It’s simply not enough to recognize the work of teachers once or twice a year, nor is it enough to merely tell them what a difference they make. For real vitality, we have to help teachers explore their own sense of vocational identity, so that the meaning invigorates their work during good times and sustains them during the difficult days. Put simply, successful teachers know why they teach."

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