Zen and the Practice of Teaching English [Paperback]

Robert Tremmel (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 086709480X | ISBN-13: 978-0867094800 | Publication Date: March 19, 1999

This book represents the first serious attempt by an educator to combine the practice of teaching English with fundamental principles of Zen in an effort to help teachers achieve a new perspective on their professional lives. It is a personal book based on personal knowledge, inviting readers to consider the possibility that the foundations of teaching practice are the very foundations of life and that life inside and outside the classroom is more like one life than two.

Zen and the Practice of Teaching English originates in Robert Tremmel's struggles as a teacher and teacher educator. His book reaches out and rests on three important grounding points that define his life as a teacher:

• school, because everything the author has to say is based on his daily work with students, student teachers, and secondary teachers
• professional knowledge, because Tremmel believes no one can live fully as a professional without maintaining contact with and participating in ongoing conversations with other professionals
• spiritual practice, which is connected in this book to teaching practice and all the practices of living.

Preservice teachers will come away from this book with a clearer understanding of their decision to teach, and the disciplines and abilities they must cultivate for a solid beginning. Experienced teachers will gain a deeper appreciation of their own commitment and accomplishments, and a renewed sense of fellowship with their colleagues throughout the profession. As Tremmel writes, "My purpose in writing this book is not to add to what I see as an already more than healthy and growing supply of scholarship about teaching. Instead, I want to focus on what I finally found in my own teaching practice that helped me start making sense of the confusion that was my own, but that I know is felt also by others who have teaching in their blood."

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert Tremmel teaches methods courses, supervises student teachers, and coordinates the teacher education program in the English department at Iowa State University. He is the author of Zen and the Practice of Teaching English (Heinemann, 1999) and a recipient of the James N. Britton and Janet Emig Awards for Scholarship in Education.

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: Boynton/Cook (March 19, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 086709480X
• ISBN-13: 978-0867094800
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,304,850 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars English Teachers: A must for your personal reading list, July 24, 2000

By 

Kimberly Bell (Gainesville, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zen and the Practice of Teaching English (Paperback)

Wow! After reading Bob Tremmel's ZEN AND THE PRACTICE OF TEACHING ENGLISH, an account of several different teachers in different phases and stages of their careers, I felt enlightened and comforted. As an English teacher of 6 years, I have been "all of the people" in this book at one time or another. The candid and honest dialogue in this book will give any first-year teacher information he or she will find very valuable. Veteran teachers will find cathartic company in the thoughts and emotions expressed by English teachers who have been "on the journey" for a few years.

I recommend this book to both novice and experienced teachers. Tremmel's insights as well as his inclusion of "teaching pillars" all educators can benefit from, make this book one educators will read more than once.