Worksheet 1

The Heart of a Teacher

Name: Mia Dreina A. P. St. Number: 2112420005

A. Required reading:
Palmer, P. J. (2003), pp. 9-33.

B. Instruction:
 Please use the questions below as a guide for your reading. You need to clarify and exemplify
the statements using your own ideas (concepts) and examples.
 You are also suggested to use 1-2 links in this Worksheet from external sources if relevant, e.g.,
YouTube, to clarify and make meanings of those ideas. Video link does not have to talk about
theories, but can be any video (motivational or experiential ones).
 If you provide the video link, please explain it in the “Responses” section how you make
meaning of the video related to the topic.

No Question
1. Why and in what context does
Palmer say “The students in my
first section were silent as monks”?
2. State your reasons why you agree
or disagree with this statement:
“But here is one way to put it: in
every class I teach, my ability to
connect with my students, and to
connect them with the subject,
depends less on the methods I use
than on the degree to which I know
and trust my selfhood - …”
3. (Continued from the previous
context/ sentence) What does this
sentence imply: “… - and (I) am
willing to make it available and
vulnerable in the service of
learning.”
4. To what extent do you dis/agree
with this sentence: “good teaching
comes from good people”
5. Please use your own words to
Response
The students are described that way because they did not give
any response to the teacher when the teacher try his best to
elaborate things and stimulate the student’s opinion.
I agree with the statements. It is because I have experienced
the difficulty of employing a particular method in the class.
The scientific method that I had to use in my teaching training
was not suitable with the way I enjoyed learning English. I had
to make sure that the students learn in a certain order/steps.
Discovering things themselves, having more group works, and
all of the other steps should be done in one meeting. I prefer
learning in the slower pace for meaningful learning
experience. By that, I want to teach my students in the way
that I prefer. Understanding my way of learning shows that I
care about the subject that I am teaching, and that I care
about how the students would learn the subject that I care
about.
The sentence means that the teacher is willing to share parts of
his selfhood even the ones that are considered as weaknesses
for him to learn to be a better teacher.
I disagree with the sentence due to the ambiguity of the word
“good teaching”. If it is about good moral values in a teaching,
then good people might be the best kind of people to teach
that. However, if it is about the good teaching that attract the
students’ curiosity, interest, and boost their engagement in
learning, then the teacher doesn’t have to be specified into
“good people”. It could be just “people” who are good at
teaching.
According to Palmer, Identity is one’s true self based on their

Teacher Identity Construction (TIEDU203) Page 1

 define “identity” and “integrity” by
Palmer.
6. Please comment on this idea: “Bad
teachers distance themselves from
the subject they are teaching-and
in the process, from their students.
Good teachers join self and subject
and students in the fabric of life.”
7. Please comment on this idea: “If
teaching cannot be reduced to
technique, it is both good news
and bad. The good news is that we
no longer need suffer the boredom
many of us feel when teaching is
approached as a question of "how
to do it." We rarely talk with each
other about teaching at any depth-
and why should we when we have
nothing more than "tips, tricks, and
techniques" to discuss? That kind
of talk fails to touch the heart of a
teacher's experience.”
8. Please comment on this idea: “If
identity and integrity are more
fundamental to good teaching than
technique-and if we want to grow
as teachers-we must do something
alien to academic culture: we must
talk to each other about our inner
lives-risky stuff in a profession that
fears the personal and seeks safety
in the technical, the distant, the
abstract.”
9. Can you re-explain the story about
Alan and Eric? What can we learn
from them?
Teacher Identity Construction (TIEDU203)
background. It is about from where one comes, what shapes
the person both internally and externally, and the way one
makes connections of those things that makes one understand
his/her true self.
According to Palmer, Integrity is fully understanding the
strengths and weaknesses one has to be employed well.
This is something that I experienced but had not realized after
reading this statement. I could enjoy the learning activity when
the teachers are compassioned about what they are teaching
and willing to help the students internalize the materials. On
the other hand, the teacher who doesn’t care about the
subject, just read the sentences in the power point from where
he is sitting that makes the students do not pay attention to
him.
This statement then makes more sense in the next part of the
reading. Finding selfhood, having identity and integrity to teach
is not easy. Thus, teachers apply techniques and methodology
in their class, until they could grow to understand the
wholeness of their selfhood. Therefore, they then know how to
use or not use the techniques and methodology in their class.
I think nowadays educational environment has been more open
to the inner lives of educators. Colleagues are friends, therefore
they share their opinions and problems both about the school
and the personal lives.
Alan and Eric had the same background that enable them to
decide to be an educator. However, the experience that Eric
had in his college life was different from Alan’s. The insecurity
that Eric got from humiliation from his friends made him
separate his attitude in teaching and at home. His bad
experience and his inability to reflect on that led to him
projecting what he had experienced in the education
environment. He sought for flaws and criticize people.
However, he went back to be nice when he was home. It’s a
form of self defense that Eric had built for himself.
On the other hand, Alan’s college life helped him grow as a
learner and as an educator. Therefore, he taught in the way he
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10. Please copy paste at least five
interesting notions/ideas from the
text and clarify why they are
essential for you.
Teacher Identity Construction (TIEDU203)
learned. He cared about what he taught and the students saw
that. Thus, he could teach very well.
We could learned that our identity that shape who we are
should be reflected so we could find our integrity.
"Their words float somewhere in front of their faces, like the
balloon speech in cartoons."
- Students could tell when the teachers are serious and
passionate about the thing they are teaching.
“But when I walk into a new class, it is as if I am starting over.”
- It is not a new class for me. Every time teach, I still
always get anxiety.
Many of us became teachers for reasons of the heart, animated
by a passion for some subject and for helping people learn. But
many of us lose heart as the years of teaching go by.
- I did think about that. I thought whether being a
teacher is suitable for me or not. It was because I
struggled with managing a big noisy class.
“Mentoring is a mutuality that requires more than meeting the
right teacher: the teacher must meet the right student.”
- Some teachers are very motivational for my friends, but
not for me.
“I began the long process of trying to understand my own
nature as a teacher and to learn the techniques that might help
it along.”
- Imitating my favorite teachers did not always work. I
then realized that I have my own traits that helped me
teach the way I love.
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