The Flourishing Teacher: Vocational Renewal for a Sacred Profession

by Christina Bieber Lake

Publisher:

IVP Academic

, 2020

Overview

Teaching is a sacred profession to which you have been called. But sometimes you feel burned out: the relentless pace, the overload of classes, the grading, the advising, the additional committee work. Drawing on more than twenty years of teaching experience, Christina Bieber Lake writes to encourage you to rediscover your passion for your profession, to help you move from surviving to thriving, and to remind you why you chose this vocational path. Creatively structured around the typical rhythms of the academic calendar, this book offers refreshing and practiced advice about how to flourish in the midst of the teaching life. Lake also takes on several pressing questions:

• How do I balance work and family time?
• Where do I fit in time for my research and writing?
• What particular challenges do female faculty face, and how should they navigate them?

Remind yourself why you teach. Rediscover your passion for this vocation.

Key Features

• Encourages teachers to rediscover a passion for their profession
• Structured around the typical rhythms of the academic calendar
• Offers refreshing and practiced advice about how to flourish in the midst of the teaching life

Contents

• Introduction: A Long Obedience in the Same Direction
• August: Embrace the Lace
• September: Eager Biebers
• October: Women in the No
• November: Early Onset Winter
• December: Christian Mindfulness
• January: Build a Soul Shelf
• February: Dealing with Deadwood Soul
• March: Dr. Jekyll and Mrs. Hyde
• April: The Cruelest Month
• May: What Momentum?
• June: Get to Work
• July: Bug Bites and Broken Teeth Conclusion

Top Highlights

“Teaching is about creating an invigorating intellectual and spiritual experience for the students” (Page 27)

“Our Christian culture clearly values rest and family; our American work culture values productivity at the expense of everything.” (Page 87)

“inspiring fellow learners to want to think deeply about a subject that you know can transform them” (Page 11)

“don’t read student evaluations if you are trying to get yourself pumped up for the semester” (Page 28)

“We are the ones who always loved to sit in a room with only our books for hours on end” (Page 8)

Product Details

• Title: The Flourishing Teacher: Vocational Renewal for a Sacred Profession
• Author: Christina Bieber Lake
• Publisher: IVP
• Publication Date: 2020
• Pages: 230
• Resource Type: Monongraph
• Topic: Vocation

About Christina Bieber Lake

Christina Bieber Lake (PhD, Emory University) is the Clyde S. Kilby professor of English at Wheaton College, where she teaches contemporary American literature and theory. She is the author of Prophets of the Posthuman: American Fiction, Biotechnology, and the Ethics of Personhood and The Incarnational Art of Flannery O’Connor. She lives in Wheaton, Illinois, with her husband, Stephen, and their son.