One theme that stood out to me in our class discussion on the movie "Teacher Man" was the emerging theme of sincerity. From my perspective and in my experience, sincerity is the foundation of (healthy) relationship. (Here I mean any relationship between two people, not necessarily in a romantic sense.) When I think back to the many mentors I've had throughout my life, the common thread was that I felt seen as who I was (and in turn felt they were sharing a part of who they were too).
Frank allowed the students to be who they were. As we chatted about in class, he not only allowed them to "hate the book", but was also curious about that response. (In contrast to telling them what they "should" think.) I wonder if they would have felt free to share such a negative perspective on the book if he hadn't first invited them in by sharing his story and being vulnerable?
In the variety of things we do, we wear different skins and choose to show different sides of ourselves. I hope to find that "teacher self" that comes from an authentic place all with the goal of enriching curiosity in math.
A photo I took of one side of Elfin Lakes
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