Task 2

A CULTURE OF FEAR: EDUCATION AND THE 

DISCONNECTED LIFE

FEAR IS A POWERFUL FEATURE OF BOTH ACADEMIC CULTURE AND OUR INNER LANSCAPE—THE FEAR OF HAVING A LIVE ENCOUNTER WITH “OTHERNESS” IN A STUDENT, A COLLEAGUE, A SUBJECT, OR THE VOICE OF THE INNER TEACHER.

FEAR IS FUNDAMENTAL TO THE HUMAN CONDITION AND TO THE ACADEMIC CULTURE.  WE WILL ALWAYS HAVE OUR FEARS—BUT WE NEED NOT BE OUR FEARS.

I.       What are some of your fears in the classroom? How have you dealt with them? What have you learned about yourself and about fear as a result?

It is normal to feel fears while delivering a class; in my case, one of my biggest fears is when the students ask me for knowing something new, and I do not have the answer for them. It is uncomfortable not to give a clear response to their doubts. When they are talking between them that I do not the answer, it is very hard trying to catch their attention again to continue the class. All the students are really different, and another fear that I have to face in the classroom is the fact of having to interact with many different moods, personalities, and learning styles of the students. Some of the students have a bad attitude towards the subject because they do not like it. For that reason, another fear to face is making the subject attractive for them to like it. When they do not like the subject, they do not participate in class, and so on. And we as teachers have to deal with those fears in the classroom.

For traying to deal with my fears, I make use of different learning activities in which I can know my students for having a better idea about their personalities in the classroom, their attitude towards the subject, and what their learning styles are, to improve my own teaching style when those fears appear from nowhere disrupting my class.

II.     Palmer writes, “Good teaching is an act of hospitality toward the young, and hospitality is always an act that benefits the host even more than the guest” (p. 50). In what specific ways do you think a teacher has to be hospitable to students? In what ways do they treat them as unwelcome guests? How do teachers benefit from practicing hospitality toward students?

According to Palmer, the teacher is a "host" who invites the students "the guests" to the classroom "his house" for for taking an English class "for having a party" in which they are going to learn "to have fun" while they acquire knowledge "while they enjoy the show".

Since the teacher enters the classroom, he has to make the students feel comfortable and welcome to his class, so  that their feelings at the moment of starting a class are taken into account for getting rapport as chemistry between them and the teacher. Another way for being hospitable to students is showing interest on their progress by motivating them when they have improved a lot. (p. 50)

When teachers do not know the students' names, the students feel as unwelcome guests in the classroom because the teacher does not know them. When a teacher takes a student as the point of attention  or the center of the class, the other students feel like they are not important for him, they think that the teacher has preferences.

Teachers benefit from practicing hospitality towards students because we as teachers have good rapport during all the class, we can see that students like our classes, we realize that the learning teaching process takes place in the classroom, we can see our students' progress towards the subject, and we realize that they like our party "English class".

III.    Write about a fear, not necessarily related to teaching that once controlled you, but no longer does.  What caused you to confront that fear? What helped you get loose from it? What were the results? What did you learn?

When I was a child, I can remember I could not ride a bike because I was afraid of falling to the ground and not to learn bycling. I fell down, and it was too embarrassed. I did not want to try it again, and I did not try it for one year. Then I realized that I wanted to learn bycling, but I had the fear of falling down. Once I began traying bycling, and the thing was that I fell down like ten time, but I did not care because I learned bycling, and now I can ride a bike wherever I want to go. Through this experience, I could learn that the wish of learning something new is bigger than the fear of trying it no matter if we fell down many times before because the results will be wonderful.

  Evelyn Fox Keller says of Nobel Prize—winner Barbara McClintock that her knowing came from “the highest form of love, love that allows for intimacy without the annihilation of difference” (pp. 55).  Does this kind of love have a place in education? If not, why not? If so, how might it be taught? How might it make a difference if we could teach students to love the world in this way?

I consider that the highest form of love is the one that allows for intimacy without the annihilation of difference, as Evelyn Fox says. I agree with her because in my opinion, all of us are different, that is why we have to comprehend to each other. The reason is that our differences make us be unique that only being united, we can feel love for others. And we as teachers need to appreciate all our students' differences to make them feel unique so that they are capable to do whatever they want, and they can learn no matter if they feel something difficult.