Book Review: The Courage to Teach

Charles Swift recommended I read The Courage to Teach by Parker J. Palmer. I did and enjoyed the book. I have had it on my "write a review" list for a few days waiting for when I had more time to write about it. I have determined I am not going to have any free time for awhile (hence no "Friday Review," I'll try a "Wednesday Review" after finals) but still wanted to write a short review, or rather share what for me was the key insight from the book. Palmer writes, "This book builds on a simple premise: good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher" (10).

As he develops this point he shared something that will be obvious to many, but surprising to me. He states that there isn't a "right" way to teach, that some "techniques" aren't better than others. He says, "Thought I need to sometimes to lecture, and may even enjoy doing it, lecturing all the time simply bores me: I usually know what i'm going to say and I've heard it all before. But dialogical methods of teaching help keep me alive. Forced to listen, respond, and improvise, I am more likely to hear something unexpected and insightful from myself as well as others.

"That does not mean that lecturing is the wrong way to teachi. It simply means that my identity, unlike my mentor [who lectured brilliantly] is more fulfilled in dialogue...

"Here, I believe, is the proper and powerful role of technique: as we learn more about who we are, we can learn techniques that reveal rather than conceal the personhood from which good teaching comes" (24).

So for some teachers to lecture may truly be the best technique.