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Bleeding for the Discussion: Academic Platypus

Socratic Discussion, and teaching in general, require that we do a lot of bleeding. It's a form of transfusion really: our life blood sustaining our students even as they give theirs to sustain each other. We're not talking about self-harming or histrionic display: those waste life and kill good discussion by turning the focus on the giver and away from the goal of the gift which is power for LIFE.

 The life is in the blood.

Being a good teacher, or a good discussion participant, means knowing when to bleed and when to staunch the bleeding. If we give all that we have, we bleed out, in clinical terms, we experience Depression. Good teachers don't overshare. When they are vulnerable with their students, when they open a vein, it should fill a purpose in the lesson. As soon as the needed transfusion is delivered, self care becomes a imperative. You get a cookie after giving blood and told to avoid strenuous activity for the rest of the day.

What does "bleeding" look like? Perhaps it's sharing a trauma or disappointment to help the students develop empathy. It might mean confessing ignorance to encourage them that we are all fellow learners. It might mean letting go of the lesson plan to deal with an important issue that's been raised or to allow the class or an individual student grieve a loss. "Bleeding" is any gift of the self for the sake of the Other. In a word, "Bleeding" is Vulnerability.
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