Teacher Palmer Study Guide

Who would you want to teach your child/ brother/ sister? If you think back to teachers you had as a child there are certain people you would want to teach your children and others you would not like to teach them. This is to do with that person’s personality which is linked to their spirituality. Our job as teachers is to help children grow as human beings. Many people become teachers because they have a passion to teach people and to watch them grow and learn. We can sometimes lose this passion and heart for teaching. Palmer believes this is due to the vulnerable nature of teaching. To lessen our vulnerability we distance ourselves from students and work. We are peripheral participants, meaning our hearts are not in the teaching itself. How

One of the main ideas in Palmer’s book is that teaching is not just about technique and methodology. Good teaching is dependent on the personality and integrity of the teacher. This means that the ability to connect with the lesson and the students does not depend on the methodology used but rather the degree in which one knows oneself. Palmer believes bad teachers distance themselves from the lesson and in turn, their students, whereas good teachers “join self and subject and students” ( Palmer. P). Palmer believes that good teaching comes from people who are themselves

No one has perfect self-esteem. Our self-esteem is under pressure at certain times in our lives, for example when moving to a new job. The general rule is that if our self-worth relies on others’ opinions and situations outside ourselves, then it is more fragile. When William Bausch is discussing self-esteem he refers to self-esteem that does not rely on external circumstances but grasps the reality that we are all loved by God. Low self-esteem can cause people to fall into categories according to Dr. David Burns. People with low self-esteem will see things as black and white. This means that if something is not perfect, then they see it as a failure. They will also filter out the positives and only focus on the negatives. If this person makes a mistake they will then label themselves negatively, e.g. I am a loser. These people hold themselves accountable for things they cannot possibly