Jacob Needleman said that we’re built to serve something greater than ourselves.
For me, teaching has given me that sense of serving something greater than myself.
Stepping into a new teaching situation, I have no idea what challenges (or gifts) lie before me. But I’m ready for an adventure.
Teaching is the ultimate way to meet life.
In many respects, all we have in this life is our attention. We’re shaped by what we pay attention to. Our lives are the result of what we pay attention to. My current favorite read is Eric Booth’s book, The Everyday Work of Art. Booth writes on page 61: “If our experience of being alive…
Philosophers throughout history have asserted that “the fundamental nature of the world is aesthetic” (Alfred North Whitehead, Gregory Bateson,James Hillman, Martin Foss,Donald Winnicott to name a few.) That said, it’s interesting that the word aesthetics comes from the Greek word “aisthenesthai” which is the ability to perceive. When he was alive, archetypal psychologist James Hillman…
Years ago, when I began teaching, I had a problem with structure. I wanted to have classes that were free and spontaneous, where everyone could express themselves. I experimented with having a class that was a “loose” as possible, but I quickly discovered that completely unstructured classes wouldn’t work. There’s something to be said for…
Last week I was interviewed about Getting Messy by Jefferson Public Radio in Southern Oregon. Here’s my interview: The listeners who called in had all kinds of interesting things to say about teaching and learning. Perhaps the most intriguing was one man who spoke of how “three” or “five” is a magic number in group…
My brother-in-law is a big fan of Goethe (full name: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.) By the way, I just discovered that the proper German pronunciation of his name is “Goo-t’h.” (Don’t feel bad—apparently his name was a challenge for people to pronounce back in his own day, as well.) In any case, every time I’m…
I’ve always loved teaching– I find it to be mysterious, creative, and beautiful. Elliot Eisner (eloquently) puts words to my own experience: “Teaching is an activity whose [best] efforts result in what the fine arts are intended to provide: a heightened consciousness and aesthetic experience. “ “Teaching is an artistically pervaded activity. It provides…