Tag: dependability

The Vocational Power of Appreciation

Parker Palmer emphasizes that educators embody their teachings through appreciation. Jeff Frank discusses how fostering appreciation enhances connections with students, encouraging them to embrace their interests. He argues that this approach can bridge divides, promoting ethical understanding and enabling educators to create a supportive environment for all students, regardless of their backgrounds.

Jeff Frank

Parker Palmer is well-known and respected for his insight that “we teach who we are.” One of the most important dispositions we can cultivate as educators is a stance of appreciation. Teachers who appreciate their students become dependable, showing through their very presence that they want their students to do well. When I enter a classroom and teach who I am, my students experience being in the presence of someone who enjoys expanding the limits of his appreciation. They see me as someone who appreciates being held accountable and actively risks not knowing in the hopes of forging connections to new ideas, new people, and new values. In all these ways, appreciation has become central to how I see my vocation as an educator. 

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Dependability as Calling: Facilitating Freedom in Our Polarized Age

This post explores the challenge of supporting students with diverse callings, especially when we might differ and disagree with them. Educators are urged to foster dependable environments to facilitate students’ freedom , even amidst political and ideological differences. The story of Joseph serves as a powerful example of supporting others’ callings through dependability.

blurred motion of woman against overcast
Photo by Kseniya Kopna on Pexels.com

This past spring, I taught a new course titled “Your Life’s Calling.” One of its main goals was to help students discern what it would mean to feel called in a world that often feels noisy, angry, confusing, and devoid of reasons for hope. As we moved through the course, students—especially those who knew they wanted to become classroom teachers—wondered how an educator could support every student’s calling, especially those callings that might challenge or directly conflict with the teacher’s most firmly held beliefs.

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