I rediscovered a great article on TeachThought that I had read several years ago, The Two Minds of a Teacher. I had an idea of what I was going to write about this week, and then remembering this article made the picture in my mind more clear. We talk a lot about teaching the whole child. Well the author of this article was focusing on how we can become a "whole teacher by joining the two minds of educators." The author had read an essay by Wendell Berry called "Two Minds" which discussed the idea of everyone having both a Rational Mind and a Sympathetic Mind. Both of these minds are constantly struggling to control what we say and do. So how do these two minds translate in the brain of a teacher? As teachers, we are told to be data-driven. We have standards that we are supposed to adhere to and figure out the best instructional strategy to utilize. We have to develop assessments that will guide our instruction and help us understand what our students know and still need to know. We design lesson plans and entire units and pacing guides that will make sure we have covered all of the standards that we need to cover. All of these actions are the work of our Rational Minds. Even though the task presented to all of us...educate every child...is a seemingly daunting and by all views, rather impossible one, our Rational Mind says that if we respond with logic, if we analyze and strategize, we will accomplish this task. Or we will at least have a plan of how to accomplish the slightly overwhelming, stress-inducing, wake you up in the middle of the night kind of of task that teachers are charged with completing. Thanks to our Rational Mind, we plan, we teach, we assess, we reteach, re-evaluate, we change our plans, and then we start the process all over again. But then, thank goodness, there is the Sympathetic Mind. The part of our mind that allows for curiosity, love, affection and joy. As teachers we have to find a balance between a mind ruled by logic and a mind ruled by affection. While the teacher's Rational Mind tends to take over, as Terry Heick says: "You’re keenly aware, though, of the tearing that has taken place by acting with logic. You’ve separated a learner from their very human circumstances—their interests, past experience, insecurities, and affections. Academic content from their native schema. Proficiency from curiosity. Scientific concepts from the application of science. Reading level from love of reading." For good or bad, we live in an education world that is driven by all things measurable, our career is guided by science and research, which means we have "ridden our profession of superstitions like 'patience', 'self-knowledge' and 'community'." We certainly need the Rational Mind, but we also need to balance it with the Sympathetic Mind. The challenge that has been presented to us is to awaken our whole mind; when we do that we will elevate our teaching to a whole new level. And as Terry Heick so perfectly puts it: "Always insisting, no matter what, that we don't resort to Rationality or even Sympathy, but rather act as 'whole teachers' in every single one of our interactions with and analyses of students, and in doing so model for them the significant practice of being human." Here is our challenge: "to elevate teaching beyond singularities through a kind of marriage–joining our Rational and Sympathetic mind into something inclusive and awake and whole." What will you do this week to become a "whole teacher"? How will you reconnect the learner to his or her human characteristics, striving for proficiency without compromising curiosity? On the flight to DC I started a new book and am already half way done with it. It's called A Soft Place to Land. I have read another book by Janae Marks called From the Desk of Zoe Washington which I loved so I am sure I will enjoy this one. A young girl is struggling with having to move out of their house and into an apartment because her dad lost his job. Plus, her parents are arguing a lot and she is worried that the family stress will mean her parents will get divorced. She makes some great friends who live in the apartment complex and learns about a secret hideout spot just for the kids her age in the apartment. I also started listening to the book I'm Glad My Mom Died, about the child star who was on the show iCarly. And I brought the book Hummingbird with me so hopefully I will find some time to read that one this week.
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