Proverbs 4:23, Part VII

I told you, didn’t I, that this reflection on this passage in Proverbs for teaching so grabbed me that it became a long inner journey. Like all my reflections, I lived in it. It was a deliberate vagabonding that was so deep and extensive that I had to cut it up into a bunch of parts. Here goes Part VII.

“Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flows the springs of life.”

When we walk into the classroom, I wonder how many of us silently and unconsciously say to ourselves “ecce homo, behold humanity.” When we walk into a classroom do we exude the values of unconditional–uncondtional–open-heartedness, goodness, gentleness, caring, optimism, and kindness? I wonder how many of us consciously are what Rolf Potts calls “students of daily life” of each student. I wonder how many of us find, as Potts said, adventure in normal life and normal life in adventure. I wonder if how many of us see each student someone’s son or daughter, brother or sister, father or mother. I wonder how many of us see each student as a vital piece of the future, too valuable to lose. I wonder how many of us realize teaching is a personal attitude; it is not what we do, but who we are. I wonder how many of us accept that teaching is service, and that service is to each student, each student unconditionally; that service to each student means to save each of them from abstraction by opening your eyes and heart, by being curious about each of them, by making each real; and, that openness comes from learning who is really is.

So, I wonder how many of us marvel at the marvelous and mysterious human complexity that is each student. I wonder how many of us unconditionally are prepared to welcome and embrace surprise, and ready to be spontaneous. I wonder, still paraphrasing Potts, how many of us have discovered that the simple act of walking to class is itself an exercise in possibility. I wonder how many of us recognize the naturalness of imperfection. I wonder how many of us refuse to be imprisoned by the false images, the false answers to questions, in two dimensional stereotype, generality, and label.

“Ecco Homo”: That exclamation should be as a wave washing over us, so washing our spirit and attitude that it creates a whole new classroom culture.

Louis

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About Louis Schmier

LOUIS SCHMIER “Every student should have a person who wants to help him or her help himself or herself become the person he or she is capable of becoming, and I’ll be damned if I am ever going to let one human being fall through the cracks in my classes without a fight.” How about a snapshot of myself. But, what shall I tell you about me? Something personal? Something philosophical? Something pedagogical? Something scholarly? Nah, I'll dispense with that resume stuff. Since I believe everything we do starts from who we are inside, what we believe, what we perceive, and what we do is an extension of ourselves, how about if I first say some things about myself. Then, maybe, I can ease into other things. My name is Louis Schmier. The first name rhymes with phooey, the last with beer. I am a 76 year old - in body, but not in mind or spirit - born and bred New Yorker who came south in 1963. I met by angelic bride, Susie, on a reluctant blind date at Chapel Hill. We've been married now going on 51 years. We have two marvelous sons. One is a VP at Samsung in San Francisco. The other is an artist with food and is an executive chef at a restaurant in Nashville, Tn. And, they have given us three grandmunchkins upon whom we dote a bit. I power walk 7 miles every other early morning. That’s my essential meditative “Just to …” time. On the other days, I exercise with weights to keep my upper body in shape. I am an avid gardener. I love to cook on my wok. Loving to work with my hands as well as with my heart and mind, I built a three room master complex addition to the house. And, I am a “fixer-upper” who allows very few repairmen to step across the threshold. Oh, by the way, I received my A.B. from then Adelphi College, my M.A. from St. John's University, and my Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I have been teaching at Valdosta State University in Georgia since 1967. Having retired reluctantly in December, 2012, I currently hold the rank of Professor of History, Emeritus. I prefer the title, “Teacher”. Twenty-five years ago, I had what I consider an “epiphany”. It changed my understanding of myself. I stopped professoring and gave up scholarly research and publication to devote all my time and energy to student. My teaching has taken on the character of a mission. It is a journey that has taken me from seeing only myself to a commitment to vision larger than myself and my self-interest. I now believe that being an educator means I am in the “people business”. I now believe that the most essential element in education is caring about people. Education without caring, without a real human connection, is as viable as a person with a brain but without a heart. So, when I am asked what I teach, I answer unhesitatingly, “I teach students”. I am now more concerned with the students’ learning than my teaching, more concerned with the students as human beings than with the subject. I am more concerned with reaching for students than reaching the height of professional reputation. I believe the heart of education is to educate the heart. The purpose of teaching is to instill in all students genuine, loving, lifelong eagerness to learn and foster a life of continual growth and development. It should encourage and assist students in developing the basic values needed for learning and living: self-discipline, self-confidence, self-worth, integrity, honesty, commitment, perseverance, responsibility, pursuit of excellence, emotional courage, creativity, imagination, humility, and compassion for others. In April, 1993, I began to share ME on the internet: my personal and professional rites of passage, my beliefs about the nature and purpose of an education, a commemoration of student learning and achievement, my successful and not so successful experiences, a proclamation of faith in students, and a celebration of teaching. These electronic sharings are called “Random Thoughts”. There are now over 1000 of them floating out there in cyberspace. The first 185, which chronicles the beginnings of my journey, have been published as collections in three volumes, RANDOM THOUGHTS: THE HUMANITY OF TEACHING, RANDOM THOUGHTS, II: TEACHING FROM THE HEART, RANDOM THOUGHTS, III: TEACHING WITH LOVE, and RANDOM THOUGHTS, IV: THE PASSION OF TEACHING. The chronicle of my continued journey is available in an Ebook on Amazon's Kindle in a volume I call FAITH, HOPE, LOVE: THE SPIRIT OF TEACHING. There a few more untitled volumes in the works..

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