2. -- Launching into the Eight Questions

When it comes to teaching, I believe that there are eight questions each educator must ask. These questions will form the framework for our discussions this semester. And perhaps you'll help me tweak the questions so that we ask them better. But so far this is what they are.

QUESTIONS WE BRING TO AN EDUCATIONAL/FORMATIONAL ENCOUNTER:

1. Who am I as a person in relation to what I teach and in relation to my students?
2. Who are my students in relation to me and my content? That is, what is the relational context?
3. What specifically do I want the student to learn -- content and personal transformation?
4. How deeply do students need to embrace the content?
5. What will I be disrupting and reinforcing when I teach?
6. Given the context, what is the best way to channel the content and foster the transformation? How do these students best receive it all?
7. How do I best receive feedback from my students? How am I learning from them?
8. What mid-course adjustments need to be made to the learning process?

So, we'll start at the beginning and talk about ourselves as teachers and how we grow in that calling. That is, we're going to start reflecting on question #1. 

This assignment involves reading the first two chapters of Parker Palmer's book To Know as We Are Known. (Read the Preface and Introduction, too.) In an email to me summarize in a statement the message of each of those two chapters. Then identify one idea in each chapter that really speaks to you. Tell me why the idea seems important to you. Then let's get together on video and talk through your reflections.