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Parker J. Palmer

Parker J. Palmer Quotes

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Famous Parker J. Palmer Quotes

“Teaching holds a mirror to the soul. If I am willing to look in that mirror and not run from what I see I have a chance to gain self knowledge and knowing myself is as crucial to good teaching as knowing my students and my subject. In fact, knowing my students and my subject depends heavily on self knowledge.”

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Book:The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life
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“First, the subjects we teach are as large and complex as life so our knowledge of them is always flawed and partial. No matter how we devote ourselves to reading and research, teaching requires a command of content that always eludes our grasp. Second, the students we teach are larger than life and even more complex. To see them clearly and see them whole and respond to them wisely in the moment requires a fusion of Freud and Solomon that few of us achieve.”

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Book:The Courage to Teach: A Guide for Reflection and Renewal
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“We continually make decisions in private which affect the commonweal, as the ecologists (to take but one example) have shown us. When I keep my house warmer than it needs to be, I consume fuel which might help someone else keep warm, or keep a job. When the food I eat is high on the protein chain I contribute to a maldistribution of protein around the world. When I teach my children to be primarily concerned with private gain, I diminish the ranks of public leadership in the rising generation.”

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Author:Parker J. Palmer
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“We can teach a good, formal lesson on forgiveness as a Christian virtue and all the doctrines that are attached to it. But to be in a real-life situation, a work camp or a trip or some other activity with young people where real forgiveness needs to happen, that's a different situation altogether. And that is where the deepest learning will occur.”

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Author:Parker J. Palmer
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“In my own life, as winters turn into spring, I find it not only hard to cope with mud but also hard to credit the small harbingers of larger life to come, hard to hope until the outcome is secure. Spring teaches me to look more carefully for the green stems of possibility; for the intuitive hunch that may turn into a larger insight, for the glance or touch that may thaw a frozen relationship, for the stranger's act of kindness that makes the world seem hospitable again.”

WorldLooksMayHardSeemsTurnsMy OwnTeachKindnessPossibilitySpringGreenWinterStrangerInsightCreditSecureOutcomesStemGlancesMudFrozenIntuitiveMy Own LifeActs Of KindnessHunchesHarbinger
Author:Parker J. Palmer
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“Teaching, like any truly human activity, emerges from one's inwardness, for better or worse. As I teach I project the condition of my soul onto my students, my subject, and our way of being together. The entanglements I experience in the classroom are often no more or less than the convolutions of my inner life. Viewed from this angle, teaching holds a mirror to the soul. If I am willing to look in that mirror and not run from what I see, I have a chance to gain self-knowledge-and knowing myself is as crucial to good teaching as knowing my students and my subject.”

IfsWayHumansLooksSoulSelfRunningTogetherChanceTeachKnowingTeachingConditionsSubjectsStudentsWillingActivityProjectsGainsMirrorsEducationalMy SoulCrucialClassroomSelf KnowledgeAngleInner LifeHuman ActivityBeing TogetherGood TeachingEntanglementKnowing Myself
Book:The Courage to Teach Guide for Reflection and Renewal
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