A CULTURE OF FEAR: EDUCATION AND THE DISCONNECTED LIFE

I. What are some of your fears in the classroom? How have you dealt with them? What have you learned about yourself and about fear as a result?

The Cambridge Dictionary defines fear as an unpleasant emotion or thought that you have when you are frightened or worried by something dangerous, painful or bad is happening or might happen.

I think that to feel fear while teaching is something natural as we, teachers interact with different kinds of people in a classroom at the same time. One of my biggest fears is the fact that I look too young. And I am afraid of my students not taking me seriously because of that. I have had some bad experiences because of that. The students think that because I look almost the same age as them; they can disrespect me. Besides, I want to be liked by my students. I mean who doesn’t? I think that if they like me, they will feel more comfortable in my classes. They will feel confident while participating and developing the tasks. Also, I am afraid of not making myself clear while delivering the contents. I feel frustrated when I see the faces of my students, and they seem not to understand what I am explaining to them. Besides, I am afraid of not being capable to get my students’ attention, but I think this is natural. As I am a pre-service teacher, I do not have too much experience while teaching. Sometimes, it is difficult to me to deal with the variety of behaviors that typically fill a classroom. I get very frightened when the class goes out of control.

I think that there is always a way to deal with fears. Definitely, I cannot change the fact that I look too young, but I have learned that if I show what I am capable of and treat my students with respect; they will learn to respect me as well. Also, I have learned that not everybody is going to like me in the classroom. I just have to manage to treat my students fairly; no matter if they do not like me. I have learned that if I am always worried about what my students think about me, I won’t deliver the lessons effectively because I would be thinking of something else. Sometimes, I am afraid of not making myself clear but as I have gone through my teaching experience I have learned that there is more than one way to explain and deliver the lessons. I may choose the most suitable method for the students so that they can grasp the content. To catch students’ attention is a very difficult task, and sometimes, it is hard to me to do so. What I have learned is that I can use different techniques that can be adapted to my students needs so that they will be interested in what is happening in the classroom.

I have learned that if I, as a teacher let my fears to take the control, I won’t be able to teach effectively. The students are able to perceive when a teacher is afraid of something, and sometimes, this can lead to unpleasant situations in the classroom. This may hinder the learning process.

II. Palmer writes, “Good teaching is an act of hospitality toward the young, and hospitality is always an act that benefits the host even more than the guest”

(p. 50). 

Hospitality is the friendly, generous reception and entertainment of guest, visitors, or strangers. To be hospitable is to offer a home away from home to meet needs and offer rest to those in need (Sunday School Teacher's Manual)

 I consider that this is a very accurate insight about teaching because in this case, Palmer sees teachers as “hosts”. The teacher is the one who makes the invitation to the students the “guests”. Teachers invite students to a meal where the principal banquet is knowledge. Palmer suggests teachers to see the classroom as their home. When we invite someone to our home, we want that person to feel comfortable, welcomed and cared for. It is the same in the art of teaching. Teachers’ invitation towards students has to be warm, kind and respectful. As a result, the gift sustenance for the guests  becomes a gift of hope for the host ( The Courage To Teach, Chapter II page 50).

In what specific ways do you think a teacher has to be hospitable to students?

 I consider that the best way to be hospitable towards students is creating a safe environment in which students feel comfortable and accepted. When we, teachers create this atmosphere in the classroom, our students feel at ease to develop the different activities and they are more willing to be engaged in the classroom. Also, when we listen and take into account our students’ opinion we make them feel that they are an important part in the learning community. As a result, the students’ needs will be accomplished. If teachers treat students as welcomed guests, students will overcome their fears. The learning process won’t be perceived as a mechanical interchange of knowledge. The learning process will take place in an environment in which each of the participants is equally important. I think that there are many more things that a teacher can do in order to be hospitable towards his students such as arriving on time and greeting his students guests at the door, beginning and ending the class on time, learning students’ names since the beginning of the course and calling them by their names when asking questions. By doing this, students will feel comfortable in the classroom, and they will see that teachers take them seriously.

In what ways do they treat them as unwelcome guests?

A teacher treats his students as unwelcomed guests when he doesn’t establish a good rapport with them. Students won’t feel comfortable because this will create a tense environment, and teachers won’t have the opportunity to know their students and their needs. Also, teachers are bad hosts when they have any kind of preferences with a certain group of students. The rest of the students won’t feel important, and as a result, the classroom won’t have a sense of community. Moreover, when teachers do not care about what students feel or think. It is important to bear in mind that students are not recipients that we have to fill with knowledge. They are persons who bring their problems and feelings to the classroom. When teachers do not make students feel that they are interested in what happen to them, students feel that teachers do not care about them. When teachers do not establish a good relationship with students, the learning process is not effective.

How do teachers benefit from practicing hospitality towards students?

Teachers obtain great benefits by being hospitable towards students. One of those benefits is the satisfaction that teacher experience when his students feel at ease to be engaged in the different activities that are developed in the lessons. Students will be no longer anxious or fearful of expressing their ideas in the classroom. This will permit teachers to have a more interactional and active class which is good because learning is reciprocal. Hospitality gives the opportunity to teachers and students to learn from each other. Students will be glad to be in a classroom in which they feel accepted and safe. Being hospitable will help the teacher to create a sense of community in the classroom that will help to enhance the learning process.

III. Write about a fear, not necessarily related to teaching that once controlled

you, but no longer does. What caused you to confront that fear? What helped you get loose from it? What were the results? What did you learn?

I remember that when I was a child I was such as a shy girl that I was afraid of talking in public. I couldn’t help shaking when I was in front of a large audience. I remember that when I was in junior high school, I had to give a speech on moral values. I thought that I was prepared because I had read a lot. However, when I was in front of everybody, I felt that everybody was staring at me. As a result, I began shaking and my voice turned into a trembling voice until I got speechless. It was so embarrassing that I ran backstage to hide me from everybody. I discovered that I suffer from glossophobia which is the term used to the fear of public speaking. As years went by, I decided that I no longer had be controlled by this fear because if I continued in that situation I was not going to be able to succeed in the major I wanted to study. I had already decided to study something related to teaching. I knew that it was the time for taking action in other to overcome my fear. I began to make use of different techniques such as getting well prepared, practicing in front of a mirror and practicing in front of my family. They served as my audience. As a result, I began to be more active in the scholar activities. Although, I hadn’t completely overcome my fear of talking in public, I learned how to control it. I was no longer the shy girl that I used to be. I learned that if one has the determination to overcome fears, one can achieve it.

IV. Evelyn Fox Keller says of Nobel Prize—winner Barbara McClintock that her knowing came from “the highest form of love, love that allows for intimacy without the annihilation of difference” (pp. 55). Does this kind of love have a place in education? If not, why not? If so, how might it be taught? How might it make a difference if we could teach students to love the world in this way?

I think that this kind of love does have a place in education. I consider that it should be taught in a way that allows students to see beyond the differences among individuals and to appreciate those differences. By doing so, the relationship among teacher-student and student-student becomes highly gratifying because they share certain intimacy in the educational environment in which they interact. Certainly, it would make a big difference in the educational environment if teachers could teach students to love the world in this way. If we could teach students to profess this kind of love that respects everybody’s differences, students wouldn’t be afraid of each other. They wouldn’t be afraid to show others who they really are because difference is what constitute uniqueness in human beings. People are used to thinking that students are the only ones who experience fear in the classroom, but the teacher also goes through this. Teachers as well as students are afraid of not being accepted for who they are. McClintok gained valuable knowledge by empathizing with her corn plants, submerging herself in their world  and dissolving the boundary between object and observe (The Courage to teach, chapter II, page 55). This can be perfectly applied in the classroom because teachers must defeat the barrier between teacher-astudent in order to provide meaningful education to them. A teacher must get invoveld in the sudents' world so that he  understand the needs that they have. In this way the learning process will be reciprocal among teachers and students. Knowing is how we make community with the unavailable of others, with realities that would elude without the connective tissue of knowledge. Knowing is a human way to seek relationship, and in the process, to have encounters and exchanges that will inevitably alter us. As it deepest reaches, knowing is always communal (The Courage to teach, Chapter II, page 54). This shows us that teaching goes beyond delivering lessons. If students were taught this kind of love, their relationships would become authentic.

“Fear is fundamental to the human condition and to the academic culture. we will always have our fears—but we need not be our fears.”