I found reading this book to be like drifting down a big beautiful mountain river, not unlike the cover image. The vistas are huge! The hillsides are covered in flowers! If you are looking for a book of quick strategies, this is not it. This book is a wide, open, poetic narrative about teaching and who we are as teachers.

In many ways I found it difficult to connect with this book. Its pace and subject don’t quite match where I feel I am in my life and career at the moment. This is an ode to teaching from a seasoned teacher and I found it really focuses on teaching as a passion and identity. As someone who is quite fresh out of social work practice and brand new into full(er) time teaching I didn’t see myself reflected in the waters of this river.

I look forward to coming back to this book many seasons from now to sit on its banks and see what it can offer me.

One thing that was really helpful for me about reading this book was thinking about how and where and when I can capture notes from my reading on teaching and learning. This will be particularly important for me if I move into SoTL (the scholarship of teaching and learning) and want to research and then present evidence (at conferences, online, in articles) that I’ve gathered. Parker Palmer had some great quotes and insights to share, however I often find myself reading on ferries, at the kitchen table, and in bed, away from my laptop. After a conversation with my supervisor and mentor Liesel Knaack I decided to try to download an annotation and reference management system. After some brief research I chose Zotero and downloaded the app onto my phone. It will take some time for me to get used to using Zotero and integrate it into my practice, but perhaps when I have I will come back to The Courage to Teach and try to capture some of the wisdom that Parker has to share.

Photo by Jyoti Singh from unsplash.com