The heart of pedagogy: on poetic knowing and living

Abstract

In this essay I offer a series of autobiographical ruminations and poems for inviting readers to reflect on poetic possibilities for conceiving and fostering the well‐being of teachers. As an educator, I am confronted daily with challenges. In order to sustain my spirit and energy, I turn to poetry, both reading and writing poetry, and I find in poetry a location of wisdom, sustenance and hope. One of my great concerns about teaching is that the demands are so relentless that even the most dedicated teachers often experience burnout, dissatisfaction, ennui, hopelessness and despair. Therefore, I claim that teachers, both beginning and experienced, should learn to know themselves as poets in order to foster living creatively in the pedagogic contexts of classrooms and the larger pedagogic contexts outside classrooms. I invite both new and experienced teachers to consider the significance of a phrase like ‘living poetically’. I seek to contextualize the more practical and pragmatic considerations of teaching in an understanding of pedagogy as a poetic, emotional, personal, spiritual commitment and experience. My claim is simply that transformative learning can be effectively promoted by giving attention to poetry and poetic knowing and poetic living. I am learning to live poetically, and I am learning that the heart of pedagogy is revitalized and sustained by poetic knowing, being and becoming. Poetry engages us with language, nurtures the inner life, acknowledges the particular and local, encourages us to listen to our hearts, fosters flexibility and trust, and invites creativity and creative living.

Keywords:

• Autobiographical research
• Creativity
• Imagination
• Narrative inquiry
• Poetry
• Poetic living
• Teacher well‐being
• Teacher education and research
• Transformative learning