The Feeling of Teaching

The Feeling of Teaching is part of a larger project, Teaching through Emotions (TTE), developed by the author, Elizabeth Burris. The project is based on these premises: * that teaching and learning depend on relationships; * that teaching is fraught with emotion, often negative; * that working through emotions can help illuminate the nature of classroom relationships, which points to ways teachers can improve their teaching; and * that teachers need support in surviving and understanding the emotions and relationships that necessarily accompany teaching and learning. This book describes the TTE approach to teaching. Through stories from real-life classrooms, the book demonstrates how teachers can turn negative experiences into positive, lasting learning for their students. In the chapter on pushed buttons, teachers learn how to recognize even subtle instances of acting out and the ways students and others defend against anxiety. In the chapter on insults and compliments, teachers learn the value of not taking students personally so students can use them for cognitive and emotional development. In the chapter on crossed boundaries, teachers explore how they and their students sometimes move into each other's "circles" and wreak havoc, including indulging in the urge to take revenge. And in the chapter on power struggles, teachers consider student resistance and several ways to dissolve it. Throughout the book, readers are shown the power of emotion work: practicing self-awareness, describing, looking for good reasons, guessing, self-disclosing, listening, and planning. By doing emotion work, teachers can take full advantage of the emotional and relational data their students are constantly providing to shift their teaching and better attune with the learners in their classrooms. This book shows how such attunement can fundamentally transform teachers and students alike. The TTE approach welcomes emotions, even the most negative ones, and uses them to figure out better ways to relate to students and help them learn what teachers want them to learn. In addition, TTE is a way for teachers to get relief. By acknowledging feelings and working through them to crystal-clear understanding and self-change, TTE allows teachers to connect with students in sometimes shockingly effective and satisfying ways. It can turn misery into joy and amazement. That's what teaching should be about. And it's what this book makes possible.

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