The Ecological Heart of Teaching is a collection of writings by teachers about their life in classrooms. Reflecting over three years of collective work, it illustrates how teachers, parents, and students can avoid some of the distractions and panic endemic to many schools, allowing them to focus thoughtfully on rigorous, beautiful work. It draws on ecological thinking, Buddhism, and hermeneutics to provide deeper, richer, and more abundant sources for teaching, thinking, and practice, and shows how these three lineages provide keys to decode the current malaise that surrounds schooling. The book will be valuable to beginning and experienced teachers and administrators, as well as to parents and anyone involved in stepping away from the exhausting industrial images and ideas that have turned schooling into an ecological and intellectual disaster. For those interested in interpretive research and life-writing, the book provides a wide array of examples; it is a valuable resource for undergraduate classes in curriculum and teaching, as well as graduate research methods courses interested in new forms of thinking and writing.

Foreword: Not Just as We Please, or by Choice: A Meditation on WhatIt Means to Make a Difference xvDavid Geoffrey SmithChapter One: Introduction 1Jackie Seidel and David W. JardineChapter Two: We Went Once Around the Sun: Some Notes on theOrigins and Organization of This Book 5Jackie Seidel and David W. JardineChapter Three: From What Does Ethical Relationality Flow? An IndianAct in Three Artifacts 10Dwayne DonaldChapter Four: Successful Assimilation 17Lesley TaitChapter Five: A Pedagogy of Panic 19Carli MolnarChapter Six: A Better Place 22Sandra McNeilChapter Seven: All Beings Are Your Ancestors: A Bear Sutra on Ecology,Buddhism and Pedagogy (1997) 28David W. JardineChapter Eight: Relearning Freedom: Advice to a New Teacher 31Margeaux MontgomeryChapter Nine: Matches 33Deirdre BaileyChapter Ten: A Modern Hunting Tradition 37Jodi LatremouilleChapter Eleven: "You Need Accuracy": An Appreciation of a "ModernHunting Tradition" 43David W. JardineChapter Twelve: Advice to New Teachers 45Scott HassettChapter Thirteen: Beckoning 47Jennifer GrayChapter Fourteen: Remembering Mr. Routhier 48Lesley TaitChapter Fifteen: Teaching Everything 51Karen SchweighardtChapter Sixteen: Blossom Everlasting: A Meditation 53David Geoffrey SmithChapter Seventeen: Timed Beings 56Khatleen AlnasChapter Eighteen: In My Timid Voice 57L. A. James (a.k.a. Lisa Menzies)Chapter Nineteen: My Brother 61Scott HassettChapter Twenty: Advice to a New Teacher 65Ian WalshChapter Twenty-One: Meditations on Contemplative Pedagogy as Sanctuary 66Jackie SeidelChapter Twenty-Two: Thoughts and Aspirations for a New Teacher 72Stephanie BartlettChapter Twenty-Three: Dear New Teacher 75Towani DuchscherChapter Twenty-Four: Henry 77Miranda HectorChapter Twenty-Five: A Little Uprising 79Paul Le MarquandChapter Twenty-Six: (Here Is) Where You Are Supposed to Be 82Jessica KellyChapter Twenty-Seven: River Otters and Such 84Judson InnesChapter Twenty-Eight: My Teacher Supply List 87Karen SchweighardtChapter Twenty-Nine: Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome 89Carli MolnarChapter Thirty: Echolocations 100Jackie Seidel, David W. Jardine, Deirdre Bailey, Holly Gray,Miranda Hector, Judson Innes, Carole Jones, Tanya Kowalchuk,Neelam Mal, Jennifer Meredith, Carli Molnar, Peter Rilstone,Trish Savill, Kari Sirup, Lesley Tait, Lisa Taylor, andDarren VaastChapter Thirty-One: Chasing Calmness 119Lori BonannoChapter Thirty-Two: Tortuga 121Deirdre BaileyChapter Thirty-Three: Conversation 122Stephanie BartlettChapter Thirty-Four: Dear New Teacher 124Derek LawsonChapter Thirty-Five: Nani 126Neelam MalChapter Thirty-Six: On Witches and Kites 128Hannah BladesChapter Thirty-Seven: It Is All Love 135Lauren SeleChapter Thirty-Eight: The Typewriter 138Kirsten VarnerChapter Thirty-Nine: Curriculum Artifact: Guided Reading Table 142Jackie SeidelChapter Forty: New Stories and Roles 147Elisa RapisardaChapter Forty-One: Too Young for an Identity Crisis 149Kyria PiresChapter Forty-Two: From Darkness to Light: ObservationsFrom Inside the Linoleum Cavern 151Kate SchutzChapter Forty-Three: Hypocrite 153Jodi LatremouilleChapter Forty-Four: Two Young Fish 155Deirdre BaileyChapter Forty-Five: Whisking Away the Table 157Towani DuchscherChapter Forty-Six: Spontaneous Learning 158Paul Le MarquandChapter Forty-Seven: "I Love the Terror in a Mother's Heart" 161David W. JardineChapter Forty-Eight: Dear Adam's Teacher 163Lisa TaylorChapter Forty-Nine: Remembrances of the Land and Rocks inMy Pocket 166Lesley TaitChapter Fifty: Fish Bones in the Trees 168Erin QuinnChapter Fifty-One: Let's Take a Journey 170Kirsten VarnerChapter Fifty-Two: Old Dog, Same Trick 172David W. JardineChapter Fifty-Three: Thoughts on Being Neither Finished nor Unfinished 175Megan LiddellChapter Fifty-Four: There Is Only This Farm 177Scott HassettChapter Fifty-Five: How to Love Black Snow 180David W. JardineChapter Fifty-Six: Bee & Nothingness 187Michael W. DerbyChapter Fifty-Seven: Turning In/wards 195Jodi LatremouilleChapter Fifty-Eight: Radiant Beings 198Kari SirupChapter Fifty-Nine: Additional Thoughts on the Terror in a Mother'sHeart: An Allegorical/Pedagogical Speculation on the Economiesof Knowledge 199David W. JardineChapter Sixty: Josh 202Scott HassettChapter Sixty-One: Curriculum Theorizing 205Jackie SeidelChapter Sixty-Two: Interview With the Gym Hall Water Fountain 206Ian WalshChapter Sixty-Three: Beyond the Outfield Fence 209Judson InnesChapter Sixty-Four: American Dippers and Alberta Winter Strawberries 212David W. JardineChapter Sixty-Five: Advice to a New Teacher 217Kirsten VarnerChapter Sixty-Six: Girls, Go Close the Doors! 219Neelam MalChapter Sixty-Seven: So Many Voices 221Scott HassettChapter Sixty-Eight: An Ode to Xmas Present 225David W. JardineChapter Sixty-Nine: Dear Cohort 228Ian WalshChapter Seventy: An Address 230Judson InnesChapter Seventy-One: Becoming Uncongealed 233David W. JardineChapter Seventy-Two: Ode to My Rabbit Teacher 240Jackie SeidelChapter Seventy-Three: School Storage Bags: Not as Innocent as They Seem 242Stephanie BartlettChapter Seventy-Four: Teaching, Practice Wisdom: An Invitation to theBanff Centre 244David W. Jardine and Jackie SeidelChapter Seventy-Five: "The Path and the Goal" 247Jackie Seidel and David W. JardineBibliography 251List of Contributors 261