Tea with Students

I have now had tea with most of the third and fourth graders and a few first and second grade students as well so far.  It is simply wonderful.  

We sit together in silence for a moment or two, bow in, serve tea, chat and end with a bow.  Fifteen minutes or so altogether.

The beauty, intelligence, willingness to share, appreciation and deep heart of each student has been a complete inspiration.  I feel so lucky.

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Allow others to learn.

I lead a morning first-second grade circle, and this morning I presented this week's student slogan: Allow others to learn.  This is also our second school agreement, and today we role-modeled how following this agreement might feel, both to the person learning and to those allowing the learning to occur.  The simple exercise was to have one student read a book to herself, while the other students sat silently, though in attendance  of the reading and the atmosphere being created for the reader.  After doing this for a minute, I first asked the students how it felt to allow the student to learn.  One student said it was boring and another student replied that she like being quiet and that it reminded her of independent reading time (also done silently).  I then asked the student who was reading, and she said it felt good.    There was no right or wrong responses to the exercise, just an opportunity to connect to the school agreement from the inside-out.

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Social Plasticity

I've recently been reading The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret & Science of Happiness by Mingyur Rinpoche.  This is a great read- a New York Times bestseller- about how Tibetan Buddhism and Western Science have uncovered the same truths of the phenomenal world and basic human existence.  In one part he talks about neuronal plasticity, that we can create new patterns of cellular connection influencing how we respond to our experience.  And similarly, by stepping from a fear-based reaction (through actually experiencing our fear without so much aversion) into a more open space, we can start unlocking the door to creativity, inspiration, and joy.

I saw three different students today play with different groups of peers that I hadn't seen them play with before.  I wondered if there was any connection between the three, since it seemed like such a coincidence!  This felt like social plasticity, where students feel good enough about themselves as well as good enough about others and the container holding them, that they can connect with an expanded group of friends.  Are these the first inner and outer steps to what Albert Einstein called "the widening circle of compassion embracing all living beings and all of nature"?

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My Blog is Back

Dear Friends,

My blog is back, after taking an extended vacation.  I heard from quite a few of you that you appreciated the daily connections with ESA, and so I'm starting up again.  

I've decided that the focus of my blogs will largely be how the vision of ESA is manifesting itself in the particulars of our school.  I have asked the faculty and staff to share what they are experiencing in this way, and these I will also include here.

Some of you have told me that you hadn't received the daily link to the blog, even though you are a subscriber.  If you find that this is the case, please let me know and we'll see what we can do.

Yesterday I started having tea with each and every student at ESA.  They are signing up to meet with me, either by themselves or in groups of 2, 3, 4, or 5.  It's up to them and even that process is interesting!  The purpose of this time is for us to be together, enjoy a cup of tea, and to speak and listen to each other. As one of our school agreement says, "Listen deeply and speak your truth."

Steven

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