Learning Partnerships: Teacher as Student, Student as Teacher

Created by Judy Baker (Foothill College) on August 24, 2005

To learn is to connect with others. No amount of facts is sufficient to produce knowledge and understanding without an emotional and spiritual exchange between students and teachers.

The powerful relationship between student and teacher evokes both connectedness and conflict. In Parker Palmer's words: "As good teachers weave the fabric that joins them with students and subjects, the heart is the loom on which the threads are tied: the tension is held, the shuttle flies, and the fabric is stretched tight. Small wonder, then, that teaching tugs at the heart, opens the heart, even breaks the heart -- and the more one loves teaching, the more heartbreaking it can be...The courage to teach is the courage to keep one's heart open in those very moments when the heart is asked to hold more than it is able, so that teacher and students and subject can be woven into the fabric of community that learning, and living, require."

Students and teachers engage in a delicate dance to create the wonderful performance of learning. Some partners swirl and spin with apparent ease while others stumble awkwardly with mumbled apologies for stepping on feet. In this marathon dance contest we call "lifelong learning," I suggest that we all pause for a deep breath before we lose the enjoyment and delight of it all.

Online learning and teaching offer a new and unfamiliar dance floor. Awed by the unlimited space in which to dance, some invent new steps while others become wallflowers. However, to become authentically educated entails self-understanding, to develop personal meaning for what we seek to learn. Let's break with tradition by owning our awkwardness and discomfort, then treating each other more gently.

At various times in our lives, each of us is a student and a teacher in a mutual exchange of ideas and knowledge. Over time, we realize that everyone has expertise to be cherished and honored. And, eventually we begin to hear the voice of our own inner teacher. Such a process transcends settings. Regardless, the music continues, sometimes pounding, sometimes sweet and slow. Take a moment to listen.

Written in memory of Bob Shafer, Professor

July 2002

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		Learning Partnerships: Teacher as Student, Student as Teacher Created by Judy Baker (Foothill College) on August 24, 2005 To learn is to connect with others. No amount of facts is sufficient to produce knowledge and understanding without an emotional and spiritual exchange between students and teachers. The powerful relationship between student and teacher evokes both connectedness and conflict. In Parker Palmer's words: "As good teachers weave the fabric that joins them with students and subjects, the heart is the loom on which the threads are tied: the tension is held, the shuttle flies, and the fabric is stretched tight. Small wonder, then, that teaching tugs at the heart, opens the heart, even breaks the heart -- and the more one loves teaching, the more heartbreaking it can be...The courage to teach is the courage to keep one's heart open in those very moments when the heart is asked to hold more than it is able, so that teacher and students and subject can be woven into the fabric of community that learning, and living, require." Students and teachers engage in a delicate dance to create the wonderful performance of learning. Some partners swirl and spin with apparent ease while others stumble awkwardly with mumbled apologies for stepping on feet. In this marathon dance contest we call "lifelong learning," I suggest that we all pause for a deep breath before we lose the enjoyment and delight of it all. Online learning and teaching offer a new and unfamiliar dance floor. Awed by the unlimited space in which to dance, some invent new steps while others become wallflowers. However, to become authentically educated entails self-understanding, to develop personal meaning for what we seek to learn. Let's break with tradition by owning our awkwardness and discomfort, then treating each other more gently. At various times in our lives, each of us is a student and a teacher in a mutual exchange of ideas and knowledge. Over time, we realize that everyone has expertise to be cherished and honored. And, eventually we begin to hear the voice of our own inner teacher. Such a process transcends settings. Regardless, the music continues, sometimes pounding, sometimes sweet and slow. Take a moment to listen. Written in memory of Bob Shafer, Professor July 2002 Judy's blog Login or register to post comments 2470 reads
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