Beginner’s Mind
How many times have you made resolutions, started out on a new foot, vowed to do better?
This is your final year in public school. I am expecting great things from you. You will be challenged every day —every day even when you don’t know you’re being challenged. (Sometimes it might seem that you’re not being asked to do anything.) You’ll be learning the importance of procedures and protocols. You’ll learn ways to bring yourself back when you drift off, become disinterested or distracted. You’ll learn to monitor yourself. You’ll begin to discuss/explore, the skills that will assure you success in college, technical school, or in your profession.
Sometimes it will seem like you’re expected to do things on your own, that you’re teacher isn’t answering your questions, or that you have no idea what you’re doing or what you’re being asked to do. You’ll be exploring the slogans: “Confusion is good” and “Of the two, complete the odious first,” and many others. You’ll be discovering independently and in small groups ways to work through your hesitations, feelings of self doubt and reluctance, feelings of wanting to give up, feelings of not wanting to get started at all. You’ll learn how to overcome the challenges of working alone and working in small and large groups.
This year you’ll be discovering and developing independence; as you do this, you’ll be discovering the importance self-reliance.
