Why I Teach (A Comic Response)

An inquiry question that is emerging during this cycle of the Connected Courses is “Why I teach” and a bunch of people are writing and sharing media on this particular question. It’s always a good question to ask.

I went the comic route, although I felt a bit constrained by the format of the comic. I had to limit my explanations, I found. Still, I hope I communicated the complexities of teaching young people. It will be interesting to see how my own ideas of teaching intersect with other #Ccourse folks, who are mostly university professors/teachers.

Why I Teach

Why do you teach?

Peace (in the inquiry),
Kevin

4 Comments
  1. You and I may be some of the few who are not in higher-ed. My favorite part of your comic is “I’m glad it’s not the weekend.” School is such a safe, structured place for kids. Plus they know they will get fed there. Love the comic.

  2. I taught in high school/middle school for ten years, subbed regularly in schools for five years before that. I have been almost ten years in higher ed. My motives for teaching at every level have been the same–to help folks become their own learning agents. And have fun and be curious and make stuff. And every day reminded me of my days as a high school wrestler–I left it all on the mat. Drained and exhilirated. That’s what it feels like to live in a connected course.
    And, lastly, the wealth of knowledge and experience in K-12 is almost wholly unacknowledged at the university level from my experience. I had one of the first high school classes in the country using blogs, I have the only university level blog in the country dedicated to and run by and for English major undergrads. Yet…in order to actually be an intern supervisor I have to run that blog essentially for free to the uni. And my so-called colleagues barely know what I could do to help them. Sorry for the rant. My point is that I hope that you don’t think you have nothing to offer. It just might be that your proffered hand might not be acknowledged at first unless it is someone like me who has straddled and continues to straddle learning, but keep putting it out. Please.

    • Never apologize for the rants. Yes, we need more bridges. The National Writing Project is the only place where I have truly seen this work, where what level you teach never made a difference in the conversations around learning and teaching and writing.

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