I guess I should begin by saying Hello. I have been blogging for the last several years on my blog As the Way Opens but felt the need to start a second blog. Why do so? Well, I want to keep the Way as my place to discuss general issues that concern me, (such as art, film, literature and politics) and leave it free from being an education blog. I was finding, however, that the more I commented on other educator’s blogs the more I was finding myself wanting to write posts about education issues.  Hence Conducting the Inner Light.  The title comes from a statement made by one of my favorite poets, William Stafford:

“I’m a priest of the imagination, and when I go to class my job is conducting the inner light of those people to wherever it’s going…”

Whenever I read an interview with Stafford and he talks about what teaching means to him I find myself rejuvenated for my job, as if he has restored my own inner light. To me this is what teaching truly is, this guidance.  This, too, is the reason for my blog name, Lodesterre. It comes from Chaucer and is middle English for the lodestar, the star that all sailors guide themselves by.  This is what teaching is, guidance, conducting, helping others find their way, their voice, their inner vocation.

I may republish a few of my posts from As The Way Opens that talk about education, simply as a way of stating my philosophy.

So, greetings. I hope you enjoy the blog and I certainly hope you will participate.

Lodesterre