Teaching Hope: Rejuvenation

First, I selected section 118 because of my own experience that it reminded me of. Close to my house, in the adjacent town of Otisfield is the camp called Seeds of Peace. This camp has a significant amount of worldwide recognition for its goal, which is to cultivate relationships between young people who live in countries that have been embroiled in conflict with each other for a number of years. The camp runs for about a month for each part, where Palestinian and Israeli kids and teens will get to know each other and understand each other’s perspectives surrounding their conflicts with each other. This is then followed up by similar activities with young people from Iran and Iraq, Pakistan and India, and other countries that have historically been at odds with each other for some time. I have spent some time at the camp volunteering and helping out, generally making sure everything runs smoothly, but the kids themselves have had a pretty profound impact on me and my own perceptions of the regions they come from, which has been I feel an equally constructive experience for me as it is for them.

Secondly, I picked part 120 because this one represented a significant shift in the tone of the book. In this section the student described mostly takes it upon themselves to make a positive change in their own life, albeit at a small amount of prodding from their teacher. The section was, like the chapter is titled, was rejuvenation, because I felt at time while reading teaching hope that all my students will be extraordinarily difficult to teach, uninterested, or suffering from some tremendous levels of distress. I purely chose this part because it simply reminded me that there are so many joys in teaching.