Practice Becoming

Practice Becoming

“. . . Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what's inside you, to make your soul grow”.                      Kurt Vonnegut

We are back at it folks! Excited to be working with teachers and learners! Teachers are amazing. I get the good fortune to meet lots of them in our World of Learning. What I know is that they are practicing all the time. I see them working hard at practicing the art of teaching as they learn new tasks and share professional learning each summer. I have the good fortune to work with amazing teachers at IU8’s World of Learning and as I support school districts through our Open Campus Initiative. I talk to people who care about learners, as people, every day, wanting to help young people learn and meet their potential.

I can’t imagine why communities do not see the value of teachers? This summer, as I worked with a variety of educators preparing for their school year the passion I felt was palpable. Digging in to hard things, as they learned strategies and supports to meet the young people they work with where they are. Ready to model ‘trying new things’. It is awesome to see their mindsets. They persist.

Usually when we work with teachers we don’t start with data. We overwhelm teachers, families and our learners with data. What we have found to be the most impactful way to support teachers (and others) is to provide them with the support to teach (or lead) from their hearts. We are all human too! Each of us comes to work with our own broken hearts and joyful experiences. I am stunned by truth of Parker Palmers words, and the beauty I see when teachers ponder ‘who teaches’.

“The question we most commonly ask is the “what” question – what subjects shall we teach?

When the conversation goes a bit deeper,we ask the “how” question—what methods and techniques are required to teach well?

Occasionally, when it goes deeper still, we ask the “why” question –for what purpose and to what ends do we teach?

But seldom, if ever, do we ask the “who” question –who is the self that teaches? How does the quality of the selfhood form –or deform – the way I relate to my students, my subject, my colleagues, my world? How can educational institutions sustain and deepen the selfhood from which good teaching comes?

Parker Palmer, The Courage to Teach

In our professional development, as we explore the question of who teaches, and the Touchstones of the work of Leading Together, you can visibly see the relief in the eyes of the participants. They are surprised that they are seen, that we understand their humanness. They are moved as they are able to be who they are, and that they can become more whole in teaching. We are all vulnerable and  emotional as teachers realize that they matter, and how they show up each day matters, too.

As we explore the Touchstones together and identify how we can set a common language about how we work with each other, the compassion becomes visible. Like a Phoenix, participants are awakened to new ways to greet each other, and the young people they will meet in their classrooms, their own children and families, and their friends and colleagues. The door of possibility seems to open.

New Ways of Being

Recently, we shared the video of DebbieStanley, a Courage & Renewal Facilitator, who explained how when we have words and language to discuss how we want to be with each other, we are able to build a school community that honors each of us as we arrive in school. She is clear about how using the Touchstones helped her to create and become a caring and supportive learning community. She highlighted how a different way of  being together, at school can begin to emerge as we use a shared language.

I am grateful to have explored this language with teachers this summer. We identified ways we could be together as we saw the value in our own communities. We identified our ‘gold’ as we listened to the poem, When Someone Deeply Listens To You, by JohnFox. We started by learning to listen, as we heard our colleagues speak about what matters. As we saw what was ‘gold’ to them. As we listened to each other we were moved. Some of us shed tears about our own joys or sorrows, some smiled brightly as they told stories of learners who knew that they were cared about and succeeded beyond their own belief. Other stories were more nuanced, yet all deeply touched our hearts.

We are the who; who teaches, who leads, who learns. We are mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, friends and acquaintances, parents and partners, neighbors and nurturers in the work of creating communities that honor the gifts each person brings.

As we continue to explore the concept of teaching and leading who we are we will dive deeper into the Touchstone and Boundary Markers that help us to create spaces worthy of the human spirit, that calls us to work together to become the best human we can be. We look to the words of Parker Palmer as we open spaces in our classrooms. As we ponder ‘we teach who we are”.

Join us in this exploration as we ponder these questions:

1.     How do you know when you are or are not teaching from “who you are”?

2.    What does the proposition “we teach who we are” mean to you?

3.    Does it ring true for you?

Find more resources to explore how the work of the Center for Courage & Renewal can inform your work and your schools HERE.

Contact me: pmulroy@iu08.org if you would like to experience the power of Leading Together in your school setting.