Beginnings...

Photo by Peg Hess

Seven hours. Fourteen days. Three weeks. One month. Time. 

New beginnings are so many things. Exciting, exhilarating, exhausting, scary, full of potential, a new start, a clean slate, unpredictable, endless possibilities, unknown, overwhelming. At the start of a new school year, I say to teachers, students, and parents (really anyone who will listen), we will not make any big decisions or changes for at least two weeks. Why? 

New beginnings are so many things. 

We all deserve grace and space. Adults and children alike need space to figure out up from down and how things work in this new environment. (Even if the classroom is familiar, new students, routines, and/or teachers change the previous dynamics.) Everyone needs room to settle - to explore, discern, understand and then bring themselves authentically to the classroom, the school, and the community. 

New beginnings are so many things. 

We all deserve the opportunity to create connections. Beginnings are the time when individuals within a community begin to build new connections and strengthen existing bonds. Only in relationships with others can we see the world through their lenses and begin to understand their perspectives.  

New beginnings are so many things. 

We all deserve time for our physical state to return to its equilibrium. When faced with novel situations, every individual will likely experience a stress response. This response may be minor, or it may be significant. Stress often leads to a fight, flight, or freeze reaction in our bodies. These reactions are distinctly different from those we have when in familiar, predictable, and safe environments. It takes time for a classroom, school, and community to become familiar, predictable, and safe. 

Exemplary teaching requires seeing the perspectives of our students as well as our own. It involves knowing our students - what they love, what they hope for, what is hard for them, and what support they need from the adults around them. Certainly, we have not accomplished all of these things within the first month of school. We still have much to learn and understand about each student. But, in the first weeks, we have created a relational foundation for exciting growth and development ahead.