Hansen,+David+T.+The+Call+to+Teach

The Call to Teach by David T. Hansen

Book Summary:

Hansen's __The Call To Teach__ begins with an overview that defines his main points, vocation, teaching, and the gist of what his research was about. The book covers four different teachers: Ms. Payton, who teaches physical science to public school high-achieveing 7th graders, and public school low-achieving high schoolers; Mr. Peters, who teaches Introduction to Religion to 9th graders and Comparative Religion and New Testament to upperclassmanworks in a catholic high school that serves 300 African American boys. The third teacher, Mr. James, works in the same public school as Ms. Payton and is a special education teacher, working with small groups of students. The last teacher is Ms. Smith, who teaches 6th grade social studies at an independent school that serves students from preschool to 12th grade. Hansen begins the discussion of the teachers with Ms. Payton. He had observed her for two years and sat in on 46 classes prior to his writing of his book. Through this experience he evaluated her and described the way she taught and her behavior towards the students. From Hansen's point of view it seems that Ms. Payton has a very unique way of teaching. She feels that the school should be separate from the problems that the students, and herself, face everyday. They should be strictly focused on their academic work and nothing else while they are under the schools roof. She doesn't just give away answers to the students, but instead encourages them to figure out the answers by themselves. She comes off as being very strict but her students have a great academic record and everyone knows a student that is in Ms. Payton's class when they see them, because they are so well-behaved. When she raises her voice at students, it is not to reprimand them, but to set them on the right track. She never has to tell her students to do something more than once. Hansen proceeds to get into the way Ms. Payton teaches her upper-grade students, which seems to be less harsh compared to her seventh graders. Both classes use the same book, even though they are years apart, and the upper-graders do not do as many experiments, if any experiments at all. He explains how she gets frustrated very easily with her upperclassmen because of the fact that none of them really want to be there nor do they have any desire to learn. Hansen also talks about how Ms. Payton repeatedly says how she does not want to get into her students personal problems. She doesn't want to have that close bond with them and be friends with them; she wants to keep a respectable distance between her and her students. Throughout the rest of chapter 2, Hansen continues to compare the upperclassmen to the seventh graders, and goes into greater depth on Ms. Payton's difference in teaching styles for the two groups of students. The willingness to learn displayed by the seventh graders is a key factor Ms. Payton strives for in her students. she feels that "school can provdie students with genuine opportunites to grow ... a place where you can leave your problems behind" (pg 22). Since she feels that teaching the children not only the academic material, but also moral material, is important, it is hard for her to express her vocation of teaching with the higschool students, who do not care about the subject matter presented to them. The start of chapter 3 begins with an introduction to Mr. Peters, a white, middle class, religious studies teacher at St. Timothy’s Catholic high school for boys (all of whom are black, and most of whom are from low income families). When Hansen’s observation of Mr. Peters began, he was in his second year of teaching, and, according to him, he “was undergoing the cost of not having had any formal teacher education before he accepted his position” (pg 44). During Mr. Peter’s second year a teacher, he discovered all of the near impossible qualities of the job. It was hard for him to get the children to respect him, and to interest them in the material he taught. However, as Hansen stresses, Mr. Peters did not give up, instead, his third year of teaching was dramatically different. He was more prepared, ready, and confident, all of which he credit to from his religious faith. Mr. Peters did not look upon his job as needing to create a perfect Christian in every student, but instead as needing to make the child realize what he or she believes in, and to think about their stance in religion. Mr. Peters stated himself that he “[doesn’t] make people into Christians” (pg 57). During his second year of teaching he had also yearned to have the students reason for themselves, but his lack of follow-up questions and illustrations halted the process. While he was not being the best teacher he could be, “he did not lack the will or the desire to teach” (pg 53). During the summer going into this third year teaching, he read and researched more in depth black culture, so that he could relate better to his students, and it worked. He began to persuade them to develop their own opinions. He became more self-controlled and developed a better approach towards disciplinary actions, and understanding the problems of the children. He began to have individual conferences frequently, inside and outside of class, to keep up with this students and make sure he knew what was going on with them at school and at home. When children are learning a certain subject matter, many times there is the question of why it must be learned, why it has an effect on later life. Mr. Peters likes this question, because it gives him a change to explain what he feels so strongly about. He finds it important for religion to be taught, so that they can expose students to questions about self and human purpose, as well as promote independent thinking, and lead to own self-realizations. After Mr. Peters' section, a summary of the occupational life of Mr. James, a special education teacher in a public high school, is presented. Mr. James speaks of the difficulties he faces teaching special education, one of them being a conflict in morals and values between himself and the students. The children he teaches often come from broken homes or families that do not nurture and teach them the way they should. Because of this, these children bring into the classroom their fear, anger and aggression, which Mr. James constantly has to handle and control. Mr. James stressed the importance of having a positive influence on students by being their role model and someone to look up to and trust, because it was very likely that they may not have had such a figure at home; most of the time they even feelt hat the school faculty members are against them. Mr. James sometimes acts as a counselor or babysitter rather than a teacher, which at times is frustrating for him because that is not his true profession. His main goal, however, is to allow these children to work and succeed in a formal classroom setting, not in a place where they are made to seem less smart or inferior to others, which is sometimes how special education classes are made to be. Despite his setbacks, Mr. James always shows support and interest in his students academic success, making his job worthwhile, ultimately, when they, even if few, succeed. The key to doing so, according to Mr. James, is forming relationships with his students. Once a personal relationship if formed, the more he wants to see his students succeed. Another important point is brought up in Chapter 4: what if you do not like one of your students? Mr. James discusses that it is important to find something you like in each student and use that to get through to them and to never make a decision when at your “emotional limit”, or under extreme pressure or stress. The last of the four teachers that Hansen observed was Ms. Smith, a sixth grade social studies teacher in an independent school whose outlook on education and life had been broadened by her fourteen years of teaching. Ms. Smith talks about the importance of knowing all types of student in your classroom, such as those who are and are not engaged and those who are misbehaving, or even to shy to participate in classroom lessons. By doing so, Ms. Smith’s goal is to build the curiosity of her students so that they are interested in history as well as enjoy learning it. Similar to Mr. James, Ms. Smith also forms personal relationships with her students and allows them to trust her. She states that a teacher’s imagination and energy towards the students has far more importance then the setting which they are in, as she speaks about having lack of resources needed for teaching. Ms. Smith also discussed the importance of having good judgment in the classroom because how a teacher reacts to classroom issues serves as precedent for how students may handle their situations. Like Mr. James, Ms. Smith also faces setbacks when teaching, such as the pressure to cover all material in the curriculum. She believes that it is more important to allow the children to grasp what they are learning, even if it is at a slower pace then required. Within __The Call to Teach__, Hansen uses these four teachers as a model to explain the idea of teaching as a vocation and the many challenges faced within such a demanding profession. He states that there is no need to “romanticize” or “sentimentalize” the act of teaching but to keep in mind that there are necessary behaviors that come with the job such as paying attention to the students and constantly being prepared and contentious. Hansen explains that many teach to grow. They seek professional development and keep up the idea of learning by conversing with other colleagues and continuing to take classes themselves. He then differentiates the difference between the caller and the called to teach showing that the real question for these people isn’t whether or not to teach but when and under what circumstances. Some may feel they are not ready yet and need more personal growth before they can begin to help in the molding of the young people of the future. Some teachers see their work as a service to their community or to themselves. Teachers must have inner motivation to serve in order to fight the temptation of just covering material and sticking textbooks in students’ faces. If a teacher is ill prepared, or if he doesn’t care, he risks losing the interest of his students. Hansen illuminates the inner battles that teachers must go through, including constant doubt and uncertainty. At times teachers may feel they aren’t reaching the students, or might second guess the effectiveness of their lessons, however, Hansen reassures the reader that this is normal. He then makes references to each teacher in examples and illustrations, showing how it is usual for a student to be so out of control that a teacher might take it personal and feel they didn’t do enough to help. Other challenges include the length of time given to teach each class, while some have 90 minutes, others only have 45, and they want to avoid busy work, which will take up valuble time; they also do not want to rush through a lesson because of a time restraint. He also talks about class size and the challenge that arises with many students: being able to get to know each student well enough to appreciate his or her learning styles and capabilities. Hansen states that teachers need to remember that it takes time and experience to know when a student has grown, one must also be aware that a student will not grow all at once. The concept of "American Machines" is also touched upon by Hansen; he believes that the goal for teachers should not be to produce a textbook child, but a profound thinker and doer. He doesn’t want students to just think, but to think well, which and involves self discipline, imagination and effort. Hansen then distinguishes the vocation of teaching and the institutions. He feels that schools always constrain what teachers can do and the challenge for the teachers is to balance their personal aims and judgment with the obligations to the institution.

Key Passages:


 * Pg 6.**- "A person could hardly develop the desire to engage the world and to serve others without having been exposed, for a substantial period of time, to that world itself. Many are drawn to teaching because of teachers they have had, because of subjects they have studied and enjoyed, and because of young people they have known or with whom they have worked. In other words, the call to teach comes from what they have seen and experienced in the world, not solely from what they may have 'heard' in their inner heart and mind. The sense of being impelled to act from within is coterminous with a sense of being called by something without."


 * Pg 21 -** "[Some educational critics] contend that schools are inherently artificial, bureaucratized institutions that dampen rather than kindle curiosity and genuine learning. Such critics argue that schools should be radically restructured: for example, to become more diversified from one another in what they offer and also open to parental choice; or to become sites for curricular experimentation including through regular input from students; or to become insitutions where moral considerations are paramount, for instance through identifying the uniqueness of each learner and what he or she should be taught."


 * Pg 22** - "School should be a place where you can leave your problems behind, where you can find good, regular activity, a structured place ... I would like them to really become interested in their grade, in their work, what they can do...They shouldn't have to dwell on their problems all the time. I like to give them a place where they can work. Kids need rules and structure or else they jump all over me and each other."


 * Pg 24** - "[Ms. Payton] also reinforces that sense that the classroom is a community in which students should develop a cooperative and educational relationship with one another, rather than soley with her."


 * Pg 53** - “One lesson Mr. Peters was learning the hard way, as he pointed out, was not to take his students’ actions at immediate face value. Students who appear to joke and horse around may not in fact be ignoring the proceedings. They may be affecting adolescent pride and disdain for “school” in order to disguise interest in the material. …. The point is that first impressions of student conduct may be misleading, to teacher and outsiders alike”


 * Pg 55** - “My problem is that the kids already come to the school kind of indoctrinated with Baptist Christian and even Catholic Christian doctrine. I mean, it’s amazing: at the end of my final exam this quarter I said, ‘Just write one concise statement on what you think you’ve learned’… And I had a kid saying, ‘We learned that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and he died for our sins and for the sins of all.’ We never talked about that! … I’m trying to undoctrinate them in a sense so that they can start thinking about who they are.”


 * Pg 66** - “[Mr. Peter’s] experience suggests that the sense of vocation in teaching leads not to a cloistered classroom world, but rather to an adventure beyond the walls of the familiar. … [He thinks that] students know by the way you teach, and the way you are, that ‘this person believe this, but he’s not forcing me to believe in it, he’s giving me the opportunity He’s asking me to take the risk’”


 * Pg 67** - "Teachers and students work together on a battleground of values. While delivering subject matter and striving to inspire thought, teacers promote equally imporant notions of behavior and attitude, right and wrong. Qualities such as strength, honesty, compassion, and tolerance are advanced by the teacher's example, or a ceaseless scrutiny will observe them to be lacking"


 * Pg 67** - "It is a teacher's duty to bring order to chaos, to answer violence with peace, to replace confusion with clarity. These adverse conditions are not defeated by swift strokes, but students focus on the teacher's handling of a crisis."


 * Pg 79-80** - "...Learn to accept the good, find the good in all all the student...There's more of a personal relationship in Special Education, because it's part of your position to form a personal relationship with the student....I think the first thing you have to do is try to give that person some support, and in order to do that you have to like them and find something to like in them".


 * Pg 81** - "The posture of assuming the best in one's students, of assuming a hopeful future, is central to the idea of vocation..."


 * Pg 82** - "Beware of assuming that your students will like your subject just as much as you do. To dram them into an interest in it, or, even more, into a passion for it, you may want to make sure your paying enough individualized attention so that they sense you like teaching them as much as you like teaching your subject."


 * Pg 94**- "Teaching depends far more on what a person brings to it rather tha on what it affords her or him by way of resources...Teaching remains a challenge and its outcomes remain uncertain regardless of where it occurs."


 * Pg 112** - "...In the presence of their students, the buden is on teachers to bracket their own needs, moods, and anxieties. Their obligation is to teach, that is to serve. They owe students a good deal more than students owe them. These moral obligations render teaching a permanently demanding task, and it comes as no surprise that every teacher will periodically fall short of his or her expectations, as well as those of society. The wonder is how often some teachers are able to meet them."


 * Pg 117** - “The teachers‘cognizance of how much the do not see attests to their awareness of the uncertainty that accompanies teaching”.


 * Pg 118** - “It takes considerable time to become familiar enough with students to recognize their reactions to the subject matter…it takes time and experience to realize that change and growth in students emerge unevenly, unpredictably, often haltingly. It takes courage and faith to appreciate that those developments may not manifest themselves until after a student has moved on to another grade”.


 * Pg 123** - “Teaching is always and at once both an intellectual and a moral endeavor. The two aspects are thoroughly intertwined. One can argue, in the abstract, that the cardinal purpose of formal education is to teach the mind, but in the concrete circumstances of learning and living in schools, the mind becomes much more than a cognitive entity. It becomes an evolving constellation of attitudes, dispositions, and capacities that take shape through the process of education”.


 * Pg 136** - “The web that teacher began to spin the first day he or she walked into the school produced strands that continue to find extension. Webs can entrap and entangle, of course, rather than buoy and support. Consequently, it behooves teachers to take whatever steps they can to ensure that what radiates from the center of their work is something enabling rather than damaging”.


 * Pg 140** - “Through teaching as a practice evolves with social change, it remains a public act that bears directly on the shaping of society. Consequently, the constitutes of that society have a right to offer input into what is taught and into how teaching is judged”.


 * Pg 151** - “The analysis undertaken in this book implies that without an inner motivation to serve, it will be that much more difficult for teachers to avoid the temptations all practitioners confront: to just cover the material in a mechanical fashion, to accept low expectations of ones students; to abandon public expectations and do what one pleases. To fall prey to such temptations is to jettison ones obligations to the practice of teaching”.

Key Terminology:


 * Teaching/Teacher** - the Old English root, taecan, means to show, to instruct, or, in more literal terms, to procvide signs or outward expresions of something one knows. Leading others to know what they did not know before. A vocational teacher would think of his or her job as more than just a choice among many jobs available. one's desire to contribute to and engage with the world, giving something one has to offer. Teachers are not prophets, but are not interchangeable. If they only give information from a text, with no straying from the curriculum, they are not meant to teach. Doubt and commitment can go hand in hand, while one may have the inclination to heach, he or she may also have a lot of questions about it.


 * Vocation** - the latin word, vocare, means "to call." It denotes a summons or bidding to be of service. it describes work that is of service to others, and that at the same time provides the person with a sense of identity and meaning. The activity considered vocational must lead to personal satisfaction, but must also have more than a purely personal significance by providing social value to others; it is not a selfless devotion.


 * “Experience crucifixion”** – Mr. Peter’s metaphoric language, a symbol to capture the feelings of teachers everywhere (loss, hurt, anguish, frustration, joy, success).


 * Assumption of Worthwhileness** - Jackson and colleagues describe worthwhileness as an underlying assumption necessary for the educational process which has important moral implications for teaching and learning. If either teacher or students questioned the very worthwhileness of their shared undertaking, it would be very difficult if not impossible for any teaching or learning to occur. But these authors note that what makes this assumption of worthwhileness moral is that it rests upon a deeper, tacit understanding about schools as institutions and their purposes.


 * teacher burnout** - term used to describe practitioners who have either lost, or never developed, the ability to interact productively with adolescents and who, in some cases, have come to dislike them.


 * moral commentary** - Tactic used by Mr. James to make children think through their concerns rather than simply attacking those they dislike.