Last fall, I wrote about
the Beginner's Mind in relation to new
teachers and their expectations. And it's no accident that one year later, as
the school year renews, as teachers and students return to engage in another
year of learning, as we embark upon the predictable and unpredictable moments
in the cycle of the school, that the Beginner's Mind becomes part of the yearly
ritual I return to.
The concept of the Beginner's
Mind comes from the Zen Buddhist tradition and is known in Japanese as "Shoshin (初心)": an attitude of
openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when entering any task,
familiar or unfamiliar. For educators, this can be an especially important
mindset as we begin with new courses, grade levels, and groups of students,
even ones we have known and taught before. The Beginner’s Mind allows us the
opportunity to meet people again as they change, to allow for us to change as
well. The Beginner’s Mind makes innovation possible, gives chances to those who
may not have succeeded before, allows people to evolve as the world
does—keeping education dynamic.
And while the
Beginner’s Mind opens us up to possibility, the rituals of school keep us
grounded in moments when the feelings of overwhelm, jitters, and opening day
anxiety may get the best of us. Veteran teachers know all too well how
important the first days/weeks of school rituals are. New teachers will eventually
come to know these rituals with more ease as the years pass, and they, too,
will develop their own routines to help students succeed.
We all can take
comfort in the fact that first days of school are the ritualistic pivot point
between one year and the next, and that whatever fears accompany those first
moments with students, they quickly will fade into engaging activities, routines
in the classroom, opportunities for learning and growth—moments where the
safety nets of classroom culture allow students to thrive. (Nothing feels better
than the well-oiled machine of a classroom whose systems are well under way.)
This past August, the CATDC
completed its fifth year of Teaching Foundations—a program that invites
teachers to examine their identities, school cultures, curricula and lessons,
communication styles, and professional relationships in order to deepen their work in schools and classrooms. I look forward to it every year, as it reminds
me what I love most about this profession: passionate, reflective practitioners eager to develop and refine their craft, all in the service of students.
This year was one of our biggest
cohorts, and the Beginner’s Mind was ever present in our daily activities. On
the first day of the program, we invited participants (regardless of years in
the classroom) to start with a Beginner’s Mind so that the week allowed people
to learn from fresh vantage points. And by the end of the program, we offered
participants a range of activities and reflective questions that invited them
to create their own rituals in their classrooms—from culturally responsive
teaching practices to classroom management strategies to approaches to lesson
design. Our hope is that participants will ask their students to enter school
with Beginner’s Minds as well, and as the rituals of the year unfold, students
will approach each new task feeling safe and challenged—the optimal balance for
learning to occur.
My hope for you all as you begin
your school years is that you will find a balance between beginning anew and
re-grounding yourselves in what allows you to feel whole—the rituals that help
you perform at your best. And may that combination between grounding routines
and open-mindedness provide you with an entry point to a stellar year ahead.
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