Dr. David J. Teachout

  • Music Education
  • Professor and Department Head, 2014
Dr. David J. Teachout

The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life, 10th Anniversary Edition (2007), Parker J. Palmer

I read the 1998 edition of this book after having taught successfully for 17 years and after exploring many wonderful resources offering terrific techniques for improving one’s teaching effectiveness. Nonetheless, this book spoke to me differently; describing the spiritual journey that I recognized had always been at the core of why I am a teacher. According to Palmer, “The courage to teach is the courage to keep one's heart open in those very moments when the heart is asked to hold more than it is able so that teacher and students and subject can be woven into the fabric of community that learning, and living, require.” I chose this book because it remains the one source that explains why the ‘tough days’ are so terribly excruciating and why the ‘good days’ make any negativity evaporate.