REFLECTION QUESTIONS

• In your work setting, is fear used as a “motivator” for you or for your students? If so, what
are the consequences? If you see the consequences as negative, how might the “fear
strategy” be counteracted to avoid “paralysis of the spirit and mind” for students or
teachers?

• What is the teacher’s role in creating an “alternative reality” to the school system and the
world—a reality that values both teachers’ and students’ hearts and minds and at the same
time allows them to function in the world as it is?

• Have you found it true that teachers often teach with “trembling knees”? How can teachers
deal with their own fear of inadequacy in the face of the challenges of teaching?

• What sources of courage can teachers tap to “stand with integrity” in an educational system
that too often fails to support the hearts of people doing the work?