{"id":772,"date":"2011-06-23T22:38:57","date_gmt":"2011-06-24T02:38:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beginnersheart\/?p=772"},"modified":"2011-06-23T22:41:25","modified_gmt":"2011-06-24T02:41:25","slug":"do-overs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2011\/06\/do-overs.html","title":{"rendered":"do-overs ~"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Sometimes I want a do-over. You know \u2013 start from scratch: no mistakes, no mess-ups, no baggage. Like the class I taught once, that went awry from the first day. They didn\u2019t gel. They didn\u2019t really talk. They just kind of sat there. I’ve been known to refer to them as my squid class \u2013 kind of free-floating, no internal structure…(I probably shouldn’t admit that :))<\/p>\n

Anyway, I told them we were starting over. Fresh and new, clean slate.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s just pretend this is the first day of class<\/em>, I said. I\u2019ll assume each of you is going to make an A. And you\u2019ll forgive me this weirdly uncomfortable two weeks.<\/em><\/p>\n

It worked. Sort of \u2013 they were never contenders for \u2018best class of all time.\u2019 But they came around. And we managed to create a community of sorts.<\/p>\n

Which contrasts strongly w\/ the class I had last semester. It\u2019s not my smartest class (don\u2019t tell them, please). But it may well be the nicest<\/em> class I\u2019ve ever had. They seem to actively love each other. I’m not kidding — a college class that has movie night outside of class?? Holds a potluck? Sends each other cards? Let me tell you — that is NOT usual! So I tried to learn how it all came about.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a term in teacher research: \u2018teacher inquiry.\u2019 \"\"<\/a>It means that teachers decide what question(s) about their classroom \u2013 a single student, a process, a challenge \u2013 need to be researched. The teacher then looks for research, and\/or designs a way to collect and analyse \u2018data\u2019 to help inform answers to the original question. Well, the class I had\u00a0 this past semester sends me back to a question I\u2019ve had for years: I usually know why a class goes \u2018agley,\u2019 as Bobby Burns would say. But what makes one work<\/em> so well??<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>So here’s my point: too often, we chastise ourselves when things implode (or explode!). How often do we stop to appreciate when things go along swimmingly, and wonder how to help it happen more often\u2026? When’s the last time you congratulated yourself on a job done amazingly well? A project handled w\/ grace and elegance? What’s wrong with loving ourselves at least enough so the Golden Rule actually means something…? What if ‘do-over’ wasn’t a bad <\/em>thing, but a kind of musical reprise…? Like… a song you’d like to hear more than once… What if? Just sayin’ ~<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes I want a do-over. You know \u2013 start from scratch: no mistakes, no mess-ups, no baggage. Like the class I taught once, that went awry from the first day. They didn\u2019t gel. They didn\u2019t really talk. They just kind of sat there. I’ve been known to refer to them as my squid class \u2013…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":398,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,83],"tags":[11,1181,1187,84],"class_list":["post-772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-buddhism","category-golden-rule","tag-beginners-heart","tag-britton-gildersleeve","tag-buddhism","tag-do-overs"],"yoast_head":"\ndo-overs ~ - Beginner's Heart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sometimes I want a do-over. You know \u2013 start from scratch: no mistakes, no mess-ups, no baggage. Like the class I taught once, that went awry from the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2011\/06\/do-overs.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"do-overs ~ - Beginner's Heart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sometimes I want a do-over. You know \u2013 start from scratch: no mistakes, no mess-ups, no baggage. 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Years spent living on the margins - in places with exotic names and food shortages - have left her with a visceral response to folks \u2018without,\u2019 as well as a desire to live her Buddhism in an engaged fashion. She\u2019s a writer and a teacher, the former director of a federal non-profit for teachers who write. She believes that if we talk to each other, we can learn to love each other (but she's still learning how). And she believes in tea. 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