Teacher Moods and Inner life of a Teacher

Do we remember something from when we met last. The Culture of the School.
The poem, YT Culture, The ground on which I stand… Who recalls the Ground on which you
stand. Was there a feeling you took away?

Invitation to do an exercise.

Threshold by Maggie Smith

You want a door you can be

            on both sides of at once.
                       You want to be
           on both sides of here
and there, now and then,
            together and
            alone. But any open
               space may be
            a threshold, an arch
of entering and leaving.
            Crossing a field, wading
                       through nothing
            but timothy grass,
imagine yourself passing from
            and into. Passing through
                       doorway after
            doorway after doorway.

You stand at the threshold. You are about to enter the door of the classroom in your
journey of being a teacher or at YT.

And it is good to examine your mood as you stand at the threshold.

Our mood often shapes what we do and how we do. And how we experience the events. In
order to understand them and make them instruments in our work, let us express them.

Invitation to do an exercise.

Express your mood about standing at the threshold of becoming a teacher at YT, using
colour. Experiment with colours on a rough sheet. Before you start, concentrate on the
feeling which you have when you imagine the situation.

Do not think too much while carrying out the task. Trust in your hands and the spontaneous
choice of colours. Allow whatever surfaces to come. You are not making a work of art. Avoid
specific images like tree, animal or house or other symbols. Work freely so that you do not
construct an image or work towards a preconceived result. Trust in your feeling.
The person who made the image shows it without explaining it. The others will allow it to
affect them, without commenting on it. Write down what they think it is characteristic of.
The viewers describe the characteristics and the person writes them down. Do not offer
explanations.

Now after listening write down your impression and what you heard from others. A
paragraph on your exercise and the mood.

Example - Autumn.
It is autumn. The seeds of trees are lying on the damp ground. The leaves are starting to fall.
They swirl round and lie still. The seeds rest under this blanket. It is dark. Nature falls quiet
and is cold. Then, when the sun warms up again, the seed comes to life. It swells up, breaks
open and the roots penetrate the earth to the side and downwards. Then a stem rises up,
through the blanket of leaves towards the light. Alternating bursts of growth push the roots
into the earth and the stems into the air. The stem produces side shoots and turns into a
trunk. The tree grows, rests in winter, grows and rests and grows until it is fully grown and
flowers and produces more seeds.

What have you gotten in touch with?

Large circle sharing.

Why did we do this? Our mood impacts us and our work. The more we can be in touch the
more we can influence it. Awareness is key. Fear, doubt, overwhelm, under confidence,
exhaustion. They need to be acknowledged and then we can make steps.

The Inner work belongs to the individual.

Recognition, ownership and striving and working on it.
In other school cultures, this may not be a scope. Here it is very important. Will come in the
reflection and scope of work.

This is a threshold experience. You will be delivered on the other side.

Inner life of the Teacher

Walk around in space. Hear this question from me and walk carrying the question. When
you hear the bell stop and share with a partner.

Have you had an experience of the following

You took something troubled to sleep and woke up finding an answer. When was it. What
was the experience?
Something happened in your life and when you look back you know it to be the work of
destiny. You could see destiny’s hand. What comes to your mind?

A difficult experience or a cross road or a threshold and we feel that we were not alone.
Some force accompanied and saw you through. What is the name and form you give to that
force?

We are not alone in our work as Teachers.

As teachers we work with the night.

We carry questions of human destiny.

Practices
Backward Review – 2 qualities – Objectivity, backward
Taking the children names and images to bed.