Grieving as a Teacher’’s Curriculum: Relevant Prose and Postscripts

Teachers are not automatons. An educator’s personal values, concerns, and aspirations cannot be cleaved from one’s professional life without impacting the quality and relevance of the teaching experience. This book examines spaces where the personal and professional intersect, thereby deepening our understanding of the nuances and complexities of a teacher’s work. It draws readers into places of vulnerability--moments of grieving. As a teacher’s curriculum--as a curriculum of life--grief has much to teach about sympathy, compassion, and resilience.

Educational philosophy, literary analysis, and reflective practice are used to explore ways grief can help us better ascertain the scope and depth of the educators we are and have the potential to become. Pieces of literature used include works by Pat Conroy, Charles Dickens, Stephen King, Rabindranath Tagore, Virgil, Franz Wedekind, and Virginia Woolf. Also included are ideas from a diverse set of educational philosophers, social and cultural commentators, poets, and more. Chapters conclude with ＂Topics for Reflection＂ for further individual and/or collective reflection and discourse.

Educators at all stages of their careers will benefit from this study that demonstrates the impact personal grieving can have on remembering, recovering, and reidentifying with one’s mission and vision. As a resource for pre-service or veteran teachers, the text celebrates the power of introspection to transform our work, our lives, and the lives of our students. It is equally relevant for parents, coaches, mentors, and anyone who takes on the kinds of teacher roles that impact, nourish, and inspire the lives of others.

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Edward Podsiadlik III, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Chicago, is Clinical Assistant Professor in the College of Education. His first book, Anecdotes and Afterthoughts: Literature as a Teacher’s Curriculum was published by Sense Publishers in 2014.