“Teaching and research are supposed to be intellectual acts. But it is hard to disagree: love of subjects, love of students, passion for learning, and reverence for life–isn’t this what makes a good teacher and, ultimately, a good human being?” (53)

As I re-read On Austrian Soil, I found myself tracking two related themes. 1) Classroom inquiry and research (educators as researchers). 2) Teachers as humans and learners in their classrooms/risk-taking in the classroom.

When reading about the teachers’ research projects and them beginning to reframe themselves as researchers, I decided that I need to see myself as more of a researcher and writer in my classroom. I resonated with the idea that “classroom research is essentially an inquiry into meaning–into who they are, who their students are, and the ways they all bring themselves to learning” (52). I belief that teachers are highly educated professionals and that to see ourselves as such, and for the public to see us as such, we need to embrace that professionalism. One way to do that is to conduct research and to write about it. Teachers should be publishing what they see, what they observe, what they learn, and what they know. Which leaves me with the question: what will my research question/project be?

I also believe it is imperative that teachers embrace their humanity and should show their humanity in their classrooms. I do not know how to separate who I am and what I believe in from how I work with students. When we enter with our humanity, our students see and respond to this. When I model making mistakes, risk-taking, and learning, my students tend to follow. I love teaching English – watching students grow as readers, writers, and critical thinkers. I love watching them grow as informed human beings. I also love learning with them and growing with them. In a successful classroom, I believe teachers and students push each other to be and do better. In this idea, I connected with Christa’s journey and her lesson of “see[ing] herself both as a teacher and a human being, a woman, an active inquirer into what it means to be alive, to teach, to be responsible for the history she has inherited” (174).