I met with David Hansen after taking a philosophy and education course at the end of my masters in teaching. The meeting ended with Hansen advising me to go teach and then come back to continue my studies and I did.

In the classroom, I turned to philosophy when I was stuck. For example, when a student wouldn’t write, I found my way, coupling Michel Foucault’s writing on confession with insights from my literacy professor, Stephanie Jones. You can read the whole story in Teaching from an Ethical Center: Practical Wisdom for Daily Instruction but the punchline is that I needed philosophy and methods to act well. Once at a conference, Megan Laverty shared an anecdote from the Symposium about Socrates shocking everyone by “thinking in the midst” of a battle. The phrase and image leaped out at me. In this line (one I’d missed when reading the text  during graduate school), I heard the best description of what was needed in teaching – the capacity to think in the midst, to move from action to reflection and back again, all when the stakes are high. I understood the classroom better through Socrates and I understood Socrates better through the classroom. I believe strongly that others too gain from thinking and acting in this intersection. But the way is not always clear and the community is not always accessible. 

To welcome more widely, Derek Gottlieb and I developed the podcast Thinking in the Midst. We sought to bring together the busyness and even chaos of the field with the sense of being gathered in the forum or around a table philosophizing one’s way through. Starting in the wake of the pandemic, we had an inkling that people craved conversation, that they didn’t want to be talked at, that they wanted to talk with others about ideas that mattered. We missed being doctoral students gathered around a table engaging in big ideas and we suspected others missed it too. So began our conversational podcast where we brought together guests to explore topics philosophically that relate to education. The podcast is now in its third season with 100s of regular listeners.

Yet, teachers also need spaces to talk and be heard, to philosophize and share methods. As I analyzed interviews from the qualitative study that went into Teaching from an Ethical Center I was moved by the audio recordings – the power of hearing teachers tell their own story. And so, I created another podcast Teaching from An Ethical Center: an Inquiry among Friends with Jennifer McCord. The podcast is conversational – teachers, like graduate students, need spaces to talk seriously about daily work.

Twenty years ago, I took a course in philosophy of education and had a great conversation with David Hansen. I found a community where I was welcomed and seen and supported. I hope my projects offer a similar welcome that brings philosophical-teachers and teacher-philosophers to the table so that we can all act better. In gratitude.