Cultivating Classroom Community: Personhood and Strategies

Cultivating Classroom Community: Personhood and Strategies Jerry Pattengale Brian Fry Tim Steenbergh Indiana Wesleyan University 27th Annual Conference on the First Year Experience Feb 15-19, 2008 San Francisco, CA

Parker Palmer Quiz

1. Which one is Parker Palmer? A. B. C. D. E.

1. Which one is Parker Palmer? A. B. C.D. E.

Which of the following books did Palmer write? • The Courage to Preach • The Sedentary Life • The Joy of Sex • No More Touchy Feely • A Hidden Wholeness

3. Where does Parker Palmer live? • Madison, WI • Ann Arbor, MI • San Francisco, CA • Austin, TX • Boston, MA

4. When Palmer talks about “Circles of Trust,” he is referring to: • the relationships that naturally develop in work and social settings. • an idea he stole from Meet the Fockers. • the relationship that exists between teacher and students. • the friendship bonds that prevent us from deeper self-understanding. • a small supportive group that creates a safe space for the soul to speak and be heard.

5. Which perspective or source shaped Palmer’s idea of the “inner teacher?” • Satanism • Logical Empiricism • Positivism • Quaker • People Magazine

6. From whom does Palmer derive the term “A hidden wholeness”? • Mister Rogers • William James • Thomas Merton • Thomas Aquinas • Kierkegaard

7. How many years did it take Palmer to write The Courage to Teach? • 2 • 4 • 6 • 8 • 10

8. Every summer Parker Palmer visits… • Kauai • the Boundary Waters • Acadia National Park • the Rhine Valley • Vegas

9. Palmer is fond of the poet who wrote, “I have been dissolved and shaken, Worn other people’s faces” • Emily Dickinson • May Sarton • Rainer Maria Rilke • Eminem • T.S. Eliot

10. What kind of community model for education does Palmer criticize in The Courage to Teach? • Therapeutic model • Civic model • Marketing model • All of the Above • None of the above

DAY ONE

What is teaching? “...to teach is to create a space in which the community of truth is practiced” (Palmer 1998/2007: 92).

The community of truth is NOT practiced in a space like this: The “objectivist myth”: experts deliver facts and propositions to amateurs, making sure subjectivities don’t distort the object and that students remember what the expert said. Object Prof Student Student Student Student Student Adapted from Palmer (1998/2007: 102-104)

The community of truth is PRACTICED in a space more like this: Student Student Prof The “community of truth”: knowers gather around a subject, guided by “shared rules of observation and interpretation.” Subject Student Student Student Adapted from Palmer (1998/2007: 103-106)

What is truth? “Truth is an eternal conversation about things that matter, conducted with passion and discipline.” (Palmer) • Is this relativism? • No: subjects push back; their integrity resists false framings. • No: the community of truth avoids the errors of absolutism and relativism by remembering there’s an “openness to transcendence,” by recognizing there’s a dimension or mystery beyond human limits, greater than our powers of perception (Palmer 1998/2007: 106-109).

So what? • You and I are responsible for the dynamics we create between us. We are the “co-creators” of this classroom. • Humility and charity are indispensable to knowing. • We need to create a space for not only the mind, but also the heart. Love and empathy are ways of knowing. Empiricism and logic aren’t the only way to know things. • We need to practice listening, respect silence, and dialogue about things that matter.

Tim’s way of fostering community on Day One

Use pictures to connect with students on the first day • Pictures of family, involvement in hobbies, important experiences, etc. • Introduces to students teacher as person, rather than teacher as source of information • Models for students the role of self-knowledge in shaping the learning process

“Roundtable” Discussion Small groups are groovy.

1. Community Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously said that he couldn’t formulate a definition of pornography, but that he knew it when he saw it. After one minute of silent contemplation, take turns describing a time when you saw or experienced community on your campus. What did you see? What did you feel?

Common images of community • Narrative • Service for crisis • Food • Caring • Safety, authentic • Structured events • Student-common problems • Sharing personal artifacts • Tradition • Spontaneous discussion • Lively • Authentic self - safe to do exposing

2. Connecting A professor took a class outside her area of expertise to become a better teacher. At the end of the semester, her first insight was this: “beginning college students connect first and foremost to the instructor—not the content.” With this in mind, ask yourself: When students connect with me… Who are they connecting to? What are they connecting to?

To whom and to what are students connecting? • Sister & mother • Sanctuary • Learner • Flawed • Ethnicity • Alumni • Other • Share, care, compassionate • Genuine • Authentic • Real (outside of campus) • Faith • Coach • Translator • Kindness

3. Creating Spaces On Saturday morning Palmer identified emotions as CONNECTIVE TISSUE, as the tissue that connects our inner lives and links us to each other. On Saturday evening, he asked us to invite students’ FULL SELVES into the classroom—not just their minds, but also their hearts and hands. How can we help students draw upon their emotional intelligence and other sources of knowledge?

How do we help students draw on other sources of knowledge? • Performing doctrine • Provide by canons (religious) • Act our characters • Experiential learning exercises • Math: act out forms and curves • Teach a chapter of the book to class • Story talking • Emerson experience

4. Rest Communities evoke images of activity, but they are also places to rest, places to contemplate. To paraphrase May Sarton, they are places where we can “wear our own faces.” What kinds of “rest” do your students need? How can we create pockets of rest in the classroom? In mentoring and advising?

Helping Students Rest • Reflective writing • Camera • Focus on breathing • Movement and breathing • Music • Nothing (requirement) – no noise • Take outside break- watch sunrise • Dancing • Throw paint • Learning 1 out of 10 minutes • Have groups create their own icebreakers

5. Fear Palmer argues that academic culture is fundamentally a fearful culture. Describe your most fearful classroom experience as a student. Looking back, what could the professor have done to alleviate your fear? What do students consider to be the most threatening aspect of your course? What can we do to move our students from “fear to freedom”?

Cultivating Classroom Community: Personhood and Strategies