Entrance Slip: Oct 14th

 Dancing teacher into being

"For teachers, the sorting of curriculum, students, resources, timetables and grades into charts and tables tames the potentially overwhelming task of educating dozens or hundreds of young people, year after year."

This quote represents one of the things I am scared of, being too comfortable at where I will be. The first couple of years of my career will be some of my hardest years because I will be new at the job. It will take some time for me to learn how to interact with various students, try out various teaching methods and approaches, and at some point, I will be like I found something. It would be my default setting that I find that works, but once I get too comfortable, I might forget that when students are having a hard time, it might be me that is the problem. I do not want to fall into this false sense that I am doing everything right but its the students who are not putting enough effort into it. Flow like water, because water that does not flow gets tainted. 

My takeaway of metaphors in this article is that many that a lot of structures derived from the western influence which is based on ownership and power. I do have issues with putting students in square rooms and in a square desk, within the school that is shaped like a stack of boxes of room. On the other hand, I wonder if finding that grid system is something that is just natural for us. When we look at nature, hardly anything is perfectly square and in grid format, but when we look closely, all the building blocks are in the grid. Cells and cell walls are nicely organized blocks with their own compartments that have different functions. It is only with the combination of these building blocks that are in grids, that trees can grow into a shape it is now. I think it might be similar for us humans as well. It is true that we follow a particular timetable and live in a square building, but maybe that is okay as long as we can all come together to become a building block for something greater and not so square. I think our problem is not the fact that we live in a square world, but the fact that we often do not let anyone leave that square grid. If someone does not fit into that grid, perhaps we should change our 'grid' to better fit everyone, and perhaps the finished product would not be just a collection of a square box, but a unique shape. (now I feel like it took this more into general philosophy style of approach)