It took me 20 years to write a book. I mean technically it’s only been five years from first draft to publication, but in truth a whole career of teaching and learning has been poured into its pages. So it feels like the more honest number is 20.
At 22 I started teaching in the same school where my grandfather had been a caretaker years earlier. I left that school and went on to teach and learn in a youth detention centre, what was at the time Ontario’s central booking facility. My ensuing career — and what I share in this book — was shaped by those early years. I learned about teacher and student care from prison guards and student residents. I learned about collegiality from those who, like my grandfather, kept a building running with little fanfare. I learned about the value of community and caring relations when I was at my loneliest.
I hope that readers find value in the stories shared. And that a love of relational reading, of educational philosophy, will be passed on. The questions that close out each chapter are ones I continue to ask myself even though my educational life looks different these days from how it all started.
Thanks for sharing the book with educators and learners in your own circles of care. I think the message translates beyond the traditional classroom:
Learning happens in community;
Caring relations are fragile so they must be protected;
We need each other to gain perspective and grow;
We need to care for ourselves and one way to do that is to read for our lives!
Thanks for your support Good Enough family!
Xo Natalie
What a ride! Congratulations, my friend! Can't wait to see it print.