The Heart of Learning

As a young teacher working in an urban Cleveland neighborhood in the early 70s, I quickly learned that all my creative ideas for teaching rigorous academic subjects were not enough. I needed to also have the capacity to connect with my students and create a sense of community in the classroom.

A curriculum on relationships had been absent from my graduate work in urban education. Over those first years, through trial and error, I learned how to create the kind of space in the classroom that allows students to respect and come to care about each other. I learned the importance of teaching students the skills that allow them to respectfully bring their voices and perspectives into our community and to hear the voices and perspectives of their peers. I learned that these skills and democratic practices are foundational to all learning. My passion for this "hidden curriculum" eventually led me to develop a social-emotional learning program implemented in elementary schools, called Open Circle.

When I read the work of author, activist and educator Parker J. Palmer, I found that it expressed something about teaching that resonated deeply for me. His groundbreaking book, The Courage to Teach, speaks to the heart of a teacher with a truth hidden in plain sight: "we teach who we are." Working with Parker and the Center for Courage & Renewal (CCR) over the last twelve years, my colleagues and I have offered Courage to Teach© and Courage to Lead© programs that give educators opportunities to explore the inner dimensions of teaching and leading. At a time when I sometimes despair at the lack of genuine dialogue in Congress and our society as a whole, I find courage in these educators who are exploring and practicing the habits of the heart necessary for effective participation in our democracy, and who are bringing this learning back to their students, colleagues, and institutions.

Parker's new book, Healing the Heart of Democracy: The Courage to Create a Politics Worthy of the Human Spirit talks about these habits of the heart that we need to develop as citizens in order to respond to the conditions of this century. He will be speaking about them again in a live webcast talk on October 11 called Democracy From The Inside Out. The webcast will include an array of topics and focused questions to help participants explore their own civic values, share their concerns about our current political climate, and imagine human-scale things they can do to help reweave the civic fabric in their own communities. Courage and Renewal Northeast, CCR’s east-coast branch housed at Wellesley College, will be hosting a gathering on Wellesley's campus to view and participate in the webcast conversation. 

As the principles to be explored in this webcast are consonant with the work of Essential Partners, it seems fitting to announce here that Courage and Renewal Northeast and EP will soon be working together on a program to bring dialogue skills and reflective practices to civic dialogue.

Early in 2012, we will be jointly conducting a workshop called Civic Conversations: Building Capacity for Respectful Dialogue in a Democracy in which we will bring together individuals of diverse perspectives, who share a commitment to strengthening our democratic institutions and their own communities. Participants will expand their capacity to engage in and promote the respectful dialogue required to address complex and difficult challenges.

Pamela Seigle, M.S.
Executive Director
Courage and Renewal Northeast