Dear Teachers

Some schools are done! Some teachers are already jumping into summer work, rest or relaxation. Others have a bit to go. Previously, I said May’s essays were about “wholeness”: our whole selves, surroundings, and need for gifts (opportunities) from others. In Week 38, I reiterate: we are part of a whole. The schools that are still open and the ones that are closed. The teachers who are still winding down and the ones moving to a new challenge. It includes all the parents, other staff, and citizens of our cities and towns. Our wholeness is ALL of us. When I originally wrote Week 38, I wrote from the direct perspective of our need (teacher and student alike) for nature. Symbolically, however, “nature” is that wholeness of this globe. We all need a break from our routines. Why? Because of what Shakespeare says: we need to remember we’re kin. Our routines focus our attention on us . Vacations- breaks of any kind- help us escape our ego’s emphasis on self and return to seeing th...

I can’t believe the time is almost here. Doing these weekly updates will be ending in just a few weeks! Soon, there will be the dead halls and the empty smells and hollow sounds that can only be found in a school after a busy year. This school year will end. This book will come to a close. There will finally be a “wholeness” to it. May’s essays focus on the big, kaleidoscope of “WHOLENESS”. What does that term mean, exactly? Where are we whole or not, both as individuals and as a group? What actions can we take to be both more effective and more satisfied players in that bigger whole?   How can we affect conditions for as broad of a group as possible- to reach a bigger and more overarching WHOLENESS? This week, I suggest that part of the answer is finding a rhythm that fits us. I enjoyed taking a trip to the beach through Marlene’s photo. I could picture the sounds of the waves, the smells on the wind, feel warmed by the sun, and hear the cries of water bird...