I Teach Rose McClanahan

Paulo Friere (1998) asserts: “No one can be in the world, with the world, and with others and maintain a posture of neutrality” (p. 73). Since the purpose of teaching is to shape others through ideas, an attitude of neutrality is the antithesis of teaching. As teachers, we not only enter the classroom with definite beliefs, we pass these beliefs on to the next generation through our pedagogy and teaching. We do not just teach a subject: we teach ourselves. We teach our belief systems, our opinions, our desires, our hopes and fears for the future. If we put our hearts into our teaching, if our teaching is what it should be-genuine-we will end up imparting what is most dear to us to our students.

All of the decisions I make as a teacher are grounded in what I think the purpose of education is. The end of education is to form human beings who think critically, are well-rounded and moral. This end is reflected in the core values I foster in my classroom: wonder, honesty, respect, and compassion. Wonder is at the heart of learning; we are naturally curious and easily awed as children, and often that light of wonder goes out of our eyes as we become disillusioned adults. I want my students to continue to wonder at the world around them, despite the harsh realities which accompany the beautiful things in life. I want them to remain curious and eager and questioning as teenagers and adults; I want them to leave my classroom with a habit of wonder. The second most important element at the center of learning is honesty. We must be honest with ourselves and with each other, and this includes intellectual honesty. We have to be willing to see and say the truth, no matter how unpleasant it is. Additionally, we must respect each other, regardless of our differences, and have a compassion for others that leads us to help those weaker than us. I don’t teach my students these values overtly, but they come across in the way I lead my class, in the way I treat others, and in the subject material I present to them. These values come across quietly, but strongly, in everything we do as a class, guiding my students towards the end of education.

Since we teach who we are, it is very important that we cultivate ourselves just as much as we nurture our students. We must first be what we want them to be. We must be good, well-rounded, curious, compassionate, critical, respectful, moral, before we can teach them how to be any of those things. Most importantly, we must always seek the truth, and be sure that what we are teaching is, indeed, true. If we cannot but teach ourselves, we must be sure we are people worth learning about.

Citation: Freire, P. (1998). Pedagogy of freedom: Ethics, democracy and civic courage. Rowman & Littlefield.