dancing during class

Hey, J--

You know how much I love to dance with you.  Even when the music is blazingly fast, we ride in the center of it.  Listening to the music, listening to each other, listening to the dance.

Been thinking lately about how much that mirrors teaching.

My classroom is often like a crowded dance floor: lots of motion, crowded with chatter, liveliness and fun.   Sometimes it can be difficult to listen to the music in the midst of all of that---the music of children's lives, children's thinking patterns, children's minds opening and growing.   For that matter---listening to all of that for the grownups, too.

We're all caught up in the bustle.

Seems to me that there's a lot of joy in  learning to ride in the center of all of that---learning to listen, learning to respond to the people, to the materials, to the music.  Learning the steps of the dance, then letting the steps melt into response.

Dancing.   Teaching.  Life.

It's all about listening, isn't it, J?  All about being in the moment, living in the present moment, responding--right now.

Grant me the ears--the eyes--the heart--to do that each moment.   To do it well.

more, later.