Dale Salwak

Written in response to the sudden death of one of my students, who died tragically in an automobile accident on her way to my office to talk over her career plans, Teaching Life is an effort to impart lessons to the next generation of teachers: It was the suddenness of her death, I think, along with the utter loss of so much potential, which left me wondering whether anything I had said in class had made a difference in her too-short life or, for that matter, in the lives of any of my students.

Her death was not only a great misfortune but also a defining moment for me. I believe for the first time in my life as a teacher, and I had been at it for only five years, I realized in the weeks that followed that I wasn't in the classroom for myself. I was and remain there for the students, all of whom are giving me three hours a week of their most precious possession -- their time. What I say and do should make a difference in their lives. The worst thief is a bad teacher.

So why do I teach? It's my favorite question.

I teach because I believe I have an innate need to teach.

I teach because I love to learn.

I teach because I want to connect with people's minds and hearts at the deepest levels possible.

I teach because I'm passionate about my subjects.

I teach because I want to make full use of my allotted time.

I teach because since childhood I have felt most comfortable on a campus, in a classroom, with books and pens and paper.

I teach because it gives me a forum and the freedom to confront many of the lies and distortions that threaten to sweep modern civilization under the rug of history.

I teach because I want to think as fast as possible, in as complex a way as possible, and put my thinking into forms that will perhaps benefit my students and anyone else who will listen.

I teach because I need to take risks.

I teach because I know that to stop teaching would be a form of self-destruction.

My father, during his youth in the early 1930s, had a recurring dream. He found himself standing at the edge of a deep ravine. A narrow walkway led to the other side. Although he wanted to cross it, he was afraid to try because far below a body lay, and he felt responsible for it being there, but he didn't know why. We talked about this dream many times.

He told me how, as a high school student, he eventually came to understand that in his dream the body was his own -- and that his fear of it kept him from walking across.

At the deepest and subtlest level of his being, that body stood for some of humanity's basic fears: the fear of failure, the fear of being insignificant, and the feeling of worthlessness that comes with doubt about himself.

Not until he heard and chose to believe the words of a teacher, who said, "Accept any challenge," did my father find the courage to walk across to the other side.

Along with everything else, I believe that the role of a teacher in a student's life is to help him or her to walk across -- to the other wide where lies the potential to do great things and think great thoughts. The alternative -- a life not lived -- is unimaginable.

Though that student from 1978 didn't live to realize her potential as a teacher, my joy of knowing her and thousands of students like her continues to inspire me every day.

By turns analytical, reflective, and exhortatory, Teaching Life unselfconsciously captures the fascination, enlightenment, and sheer joy that literary studies can offer professors and students. It also implicitly speaks to society’s prevailing – and disturbing – prejudice against the profession.

ADVANCE REVIEWS

"I loved all of the incidents from Salwak's own experience as a teacher. They are richly described. There is a lively sense throughout of a working classroom instructor, a passionate man, and a well-educated one, a committed reader who communicates his love of literature to his students. I was applauding as I read these (numerous) passages."—Jay Parini, author, The Art of Teaching

"Dale Salwak has written a profoundly thoughtful and moving meditation on the joys and sorrows of the teaching profession. This book should interest all who teach and all who have had the privilege of learning from a caring teacher."—John Halperin, University of San Diego

“Teaching Life is a fascinating blend of practical advice on teaching, moral inquiry, and personal experience. Its focus moves from the obligation to return exams promptly, to Christianity and Judaism, to Kingsley Amis, to experiencing a parent's death. The unusual range of subjects makes Salwak's book by turns instructive, inspiring, and poignant."—Kenneth Silverman, professor emeritus of English, New York University

"In this remarkable book, Dale Salwak masterfully distills the lessons of thirty-five years of college teaching, weaving them together with illustrative episodes from literature and life. It should be required reading for anyone embarking on a teaching career—and many veterans would surely benefit as well."—John McLaughlin, senior fellow at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, and former deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency

INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR

Conducted by Samantha Bravo

Each letter to Kelly addresses a different aspect of education, literature, and life. How did you decide which topics to address?

The topics suggested themselves to me as I moved ever deeper into the project. I knew I had to write "When a Parent Dies," for example, because the day after my father's funeral I returned to my class to discuss Hamlet and saw my father sitting in the back of the room. The chapter on "Marriage" suggested itself because I was struck by how many of my colleagues across the country wrestle with balancing academics with family life. Many questions emerged over the years from discussions with my parents, both educators, as well as from my students. Overall I answer questions that many teachers (and students) ask of themselves and that I continue to ask of myself.

Why did you choose to format the book as a series of letters?

To avoid the risk of coming across as "preachy" or dogmatic. That's not my style. Writing letters "to" a former student was an indirect way of reaching my potential reader. Also, this format helped me to establish a warm, personal tone that is the voice I try to maintain in the classroom. I am speaking to teachers, yes, but I am also speaking to students as well as to the general public - and I don't want to alienate them.

In the book's summary it says that "Teaching Life is an effort to impart lessons to the next generation of teachers." Would you also agree that these lessons are equally benefiting to students who read this book? What sort of insight should a student expect to gain in contrast to a teacher?

Yes, most definitely. Letters as personal as these permit the student to slip away from present concerns, open the door, and step inside the secret life of a teacher. Happiness is a gift, not a right, and most of us as teachers have been so gifted. Perhaps some students themselves will carry from the book the thought of entering this noble and personally rewarding profession. At the very least I hope they will find here some useful suggestions for getting all they can from their educational experiences.

You say that Kelly has become a metaphor for all your students. Could you explain this in more depth?

Every semester my classrooms are filled with Kelly's - bright, eager-to-learn men and women who are giving me three hours a week of their most precious possession - their time. What I say "to" Kelly in the letters I say to all of my students: make the most of your allotted time, seek the best in everything you do, and keep growing. My challenge is to find a way to connect with them, to encourage them to care about the material, to think about some of the deep issues of life, and to have a good time while doing so. That's part of what keeps me coming back day after day, month after month, semester after semester. Though Kelly didn't live to realize her potential as a teacher, my experience of knowing her and thousands of students like her continues to inspire me every day.

Thirty years after Kelly's death, why did you believe that this was the right time in your career to publish "Teaching Life"

There were many months, even years when I didn't know when (or even if) I would complete the book. Coincidentally I did so while approaching my 35th year of teaching. To borrow from Samuel Johnson, I believe that into every teacher's life there comes a "time to be in earnest." This is such a time for me.