"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
~Lao-tzu
~Lao-tzu
Districts hire teachers into schools in communities with pre-existing circumstances regarding socioeconomics. It is therefore the teacher's task to do the best job possible with the resources available in the situation at hand. No matter how dwindling these resources might be or how affluent the community, all students require the guidance of good teachers. At the onset of any teaching assignment begins the formation of relationships between students and teacher: the basis of all learning.
Lao-tzu, the ancient Chinese philosopher, taught that “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”. (Eaton, 2007, p. 234) Lao-tzu's teaching helps break down overwhelming situations into more manageable pieces. Life itself is a journey of learning from birth to death. Interpretations of this great, eastern thinker's idea apply to the lives of teachers and students alike. Great teachers are, after all, eternal students at the core. One of my main goals as a future educator is to continue to learn alongside my students, about the subject matter of English; about effective modes of pedagogy and the ways students learn; about interpersonal relationships; and about the human condition. As an educator, I intend to facilitate skill-building activities, provide instruction that develops higher levels of cognition, and guide decision-making processes where values are concerned, enabling students to take significant steps each day in their own ongoing journeys.
Concurrently, as a teacher of secondary English, I have learned that one purpose of reading literature is to gain a better understanding of ourselves and the world around us. Reading literature, therefore, constitutes inward journeys that may at times supplement unaffordable field trips that might otherwise provide students with more direct experiences from which to gain knowledge. Journeys are composed of time and the experiences that occur within its framework. The classroom is a place that facilitates student experiences, creating substance for the many journeys that converge there each day. Students at Hartford's Simpson-Waverly Elementary School, for example can still experience vicarious journeys facilitated by a caring teacher through explorations in literature that help them imagine sailing across the ocean. Another, more tactile and immediate journey takes place in the classroom each day: journeys that evolve from students building relationships with their peers and with their teacher.
In Eaton's book, Ms. Luddy, a third grade teacher in a struggling community, shares a book with her students about “an unsure boy who sailed a long way by ship”. The book is based upon Lao-tzu's teaching. (2007, ¶ 6, p. 234) Ms. Luddy begins, in this section of the book, to relate her own travels in Africa and Japan, sparking a discussion on the differences between a journey and a trip. “I don't have any journeys,” one of the students interrupts. “I know, honey,” Ms. Luddy answer[s] softly. “But you don't need to have traveled the world in order to get this idea. You'll get it. You'll all get this. I'm sure of it.” (Eaton, 2007, p. 236) What the students in Ms. Luddy's classroom do not yet understand, evident in their comments in this passage, is that they are in the process of journeying as they discuss literature and the notion of the journey itself. But this concept is fairly abstract and introducing it at a young age provides an initial experience to which, in later years, they may refer and solidify understanding. Sharing with their teacher the reading of a book and ensuing discussion about the boy who sailed across the ocean for the students at Simpson-Waverly is a journey in itself. While their urban upbringings in poverty and the fear of dangers that lie just outside the front doors of their own homes has limited their outward journeys, Ms. Luddy has provided her students, in this instance, with a more inward journey of understanding and vicarious experience that is arguably no less significant.
References:
Eaton, S. (2007). The children in room E4: American education on trial. New York, New York : Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
Lao-tzu, the ancient Chinese philosopher, taught that “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”. (Eaton, 2007, p. 234) Lao-tzu's teaching helps break down overwhelming situations into more manageable pieces. Life itself is a journey of learning from birth to death. Interpretations of this great, eastern thinker's idea apply to the lives of teachers and students alike. Great teachers are, after all, eternal students at the core. One of my main goals as a future educator is to continue to learn alongside my students, about the subject matter of English; about effective modes of pedagogy and the ways students learn; about interpersonal relationships; and about the human condition. As an educator, I intend to facilitate skill-building activities, provide instruction that develops higher levels of cognition, and guide decision-making processes where values are concerned, enabling students to take significant steps each day in their own ongoing journeys.
Concurrently, as a teacher of secondary English, I have learned that one purpose of reading literature is to gain a better understanding of ourselves and the world around us. Reading literature, therefore, constitutes inward journeys that may at times supplement unaffordable field trips that might otherwise provide students with more direct experiences from which to gain knowledge. Journeys are composed of time and the experiences that occur within its framework. The classroom is a place that facilitates student experiences, creating substance for the many journeys that converge there each day. Students at Hartford's Simpson-Waverly Elementary School, for example can still experience vicarious journeys facilitated by a caring teacher through explorations in literature that help them imagine sailing across the ocean. Another, more tactile and immediate journey takes place in the classroom each day: journeys that evolve from students building relationships with their peers and with their teacher.
In Eaton's book, Ms. Luddy, a third grade teacher in a struggling community, shares a book with her students about “an unsure boy who sailed a long way by ship”. The book is based upon Lao-tzu's teaching. (2007, ¶ 6, p. 234) Ms. Luddy begins, in this section of the book, to relate her own travels in Africa and Japan, sparking a discussion on the differences between a journey and a trip. “I don't have any journeys,” one of the students interrupts. “I know, honey,” Ms. Luddy answer[s] softly. “But you don't need to have traveled the world in order to get this idea. You'll get it. You'll all get this. I'm sure of it.” (Eaton, 2007, p. 236) What the students in Ms. Luddy's classroom do not yet understand, evident in their comments in this passage, is that they are in the process of journeying as they discuss literature and the notion of the journey itself. But this concept is fairly abstract and introducing it at a young age provides an initial experience to which, in later years, they may refer and solidify understanding. Sharing with their teacher the reading of a book and ensuing discussion about the boy who sailed across the ocean for the students at Simpson-Waverly is a journey in itself. While their urban upbringings in poverty and the fear of dangers that lie just outside the front doors of their own homes has limited their outward journeys, Ms. Luddy has provided her students, in this instance, with a more inward journey of understanding and vicarious experience that is arguably no less significant.
References:
Eaton, S. (2007). The children in room E4: American education on trial. New York, New York : Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
Vicarious Journeys Through Literature
