Dare To Hope

As I prepare distance opportunities to make sense of a narrative pedagogy of hope (LeMay, 2014), I am reminded of the following statements that were made by teachers and teacher assistants who attended a series of five professional development 'Dare to Hope' sessions over a period of seven months in 2008. Simultaneously, I look forward to the next iteration of 'Dare to Hope' sessions.

I used to be burnt out and detached, but now I am refreshed/hopeful.
I used to be overwhelmed, but now I can see each students' unique qualities.
I used to just care for, but now I know how to care with as well.

I used to have less of an idea of how to effectively build hope. Now I have community, caring, coping, creating, committing and celebrating as ways to think about building the courage to take hopeful actions.

I used to think only some people needed hope.
I now think everybody needs hope, needs to be a part of hope and to keep hope at the front of everything.

I used to think that hopefulness was an indefinable term.
Now I have started to use hopeful language and hopeful thoughts in a very discrete manner.

I used to teach to, hope for, see children as needing.
Now I learn with, do see children as giving.