The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life [Hardcover]

Parker J. Palmer (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0787910589 | ISBN-13: 978-0787910587 | Publication Date: November 21, 1997 | Edition: 1st

"This book is for teachers who have good days and bad --and whose bad days bring the suffering that comes only fromsomething one loves. It is for teachers who refuse to hardentheir hearts, because they love learners, learning, and theteaching life."
- Parker J. Palmer [from the Introduction]

Teachers choose their vocation for reasons of the heart, because they care deeply about their students and abouttheir subject. But the demands of teaching cause too manyeducators to lose heart. Is it possible to take heart in teaching once more so that we can continue to do what good teachers always do -- give heart to our students?

In The Courage to Teach, Parker Palmer takes teachers on an inner journey toward reconnecting with their vocation and their students -- and recovering their passion for one of the most difficult and important of human endeavors.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

As a spiritually inspirational book for teachers, The Courage to Teach is one of the best. The premise is concise and unarguable: good teaching comes from the identity and the integrity of the teacher. Teachers are encouraged to turn their inquiring minds inward--developing a deeper understanding of what it means to fulfill the spiritual calling of teaching. Good teachers share one trait, says author Parker Palmer, they are able to weave a complex web of connections among themselves, their subjects, and their students, so that students can learn to weave a world for themselves. The connections made by good teachers are held not in their methods but in their hearts--the place where intellect and emotion and spirit and will converge in the human self. --Gail Hudson

From Library Journal

Palmer (To Know as We Are Known, HarperCollins, 1993) is a senior adviser at the Fetzer Institute and has taught at Beloit College and Georgetown University. He discusses the inner life of the dedicated teacher and how that life shapes teaching and learning. According to Palmer, "Teaching, like any truly human activity, emerges from one's inwardness, for better or worse." In this book, he explores the inner landscape of the teaching self, and to understand that landscape more fully, he discusses three important paths that must be taken?intellectual, emotional, and spiritual. Recommended for all teachers, this book would be a valuable addition to professional and teacher education collections.?Barbara S. Meagher, Central Connecticut State Univ., New Britain
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1st edition (November 21, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787910589
• ISBN-13: 978-0787910587
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,388 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #59 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Education

More About the Author

PARKER J. PALMER is a writer, teacher and activist whose work speaks deeply to people in many walks of life. He is founder and senior partner of the Center for Courage & Renewal. His books include "A Hidden Wholeness," "Let Your Life Speak," "The Courage to Teach," "The Active Life," "To Know as We Are Known," "The Company of Strangers," "The Promise of Paradox," "The Heart of Higher Education," and "Healing the Heart of Democracy." He holds a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California at Berkeley, as well as ten honorary doctorates, two Distinguished Achievement Awards from the National Educational Press Association, and an Award of Excellence from the Associated Church Press. In 1998, the Leadership Project, a national survey of 10,000 educators, named him one of the thirty most influential senior leaders in higher education and one of the ten key agenda-setters of the past decade. In 2010, he was given the William Rainey Harper Award (previously won by Margaret Mead, Marshall McLuhan, Paulo Freire, and Elie Wiesel). "Living the Questions: Essays Inspired by the Work and Life of Parker J. Palmer," was published in 2005. In 2011, the Utne Reader named him as one of "25 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World"--people who "don't just think out loud but who walk their talk on a daily basis." (See the Oct-Nov 2011 print or online edition.) He lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

132 of 134 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So, Why Do You Teach?, November 20, 2000

By 

Mark Valentine (Port Angeles, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life (Hardcover)

In many ways, it is itself an act of courage to read this book. Mr. Palmer has taken the rare, difficult task of probing to the heart of the learning experience and seeks to reveal its essence for any teacher willing to explore with him. In this task--like a good teacher--he asks more questions than he answers and he is concerned in discovering the process and the means of learning and teaching.

For me, what lingers after finishing the short book are two key concepts his identifies: identity and integrity. For each individual teacher, the need to have some balanced perspective of self-identity becomes paramount. Do I teach to peddle my agenda? Do I teach in order to be the 'big fish in a little pond'? Do I teach because I like the stage? Or, Do I teach in order to fulfill an inner yearning, even sadness?. Next, the balance of integrity must center a good teacher. Do I seek fairness among my students? Do I build good habits of discipline? Do I live justly? Eschew competition? Seek first of all to teach meaning, itself a subject-centered approach?

See? These are the kinds of questions that echo in my mind after reading The Courage To Teach. I particularly like what Mr. Palmer had to say regarding fear, teaching from fear, and hiding among our fears while facing them. Beauty lies in the paradox.

Now, I look for those critical moments in teaching for what they are. I strive to find my identity in my students' faces; I am challenged to live with integrity in my heart AND in my mind.

No student of educational reform should be without this book.

One more thing: if nothing else, read this book for the research and precious quotes that Mr. Palmer uses. His endnotes are worth the price alone.

54 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book that makes the teacher look inward, July 6, 1998

By 

Bob Welsh [e-mail] (Black Mountain, North Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life (Hardcover)

What made us teachers in the first place? Palmer asks. We fell in love with a subject that spoke to us deeply and personally. Why does that intial inspiration so often leave us, and the daily grind of the job take its place? Palmer tries to restore that depth, that bright inspiration that got us going as teachers in the first place. It will take courage, he points out, for us teachers to speak and act from that deep place where our subject inspires us; but for our students' sake, and for the sake of our own souls, we must take that courage. His story on page 59 of the shop teacher who finally grasped the courage to be honest with his principal is one of the most heartening stories I've ever read. The entire book speaks powerfully to both the mind and heart of those of us who teach. And it also gives news of a national movement forming to bring teachers into dialogue with each other about the spiritual dimensions of their teaching. This is a much-needed book, one that inspires teachers to hope and to dare to be fully human in their living and their teaching.

53 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking, July 14, 1999

By 

A. C. Hughes (Pulaski, TN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life (Hardcover)

Though not an easy book to read, as a teacher of some thirty years I find this book to be challenging, inspiring and definitely thought-provoking. Too often we as teachers rely on the tried and true and as a result become somewhat stale. Mr. Palmer is challenging us to reexamine not only our teaching styles but ourselves as teachers. I shall read it through time and again and would definitely recommend it to anyone who has the heart and soul of a teacher.