Yesterday, I was walking late afternoon with Izzy, my black lab, processing the day's events, trying to get my heart rate up beyond desk sitting range and enjoying the views from the ridge. In between noticing how green the fields were and how heavy the orchard limbs were with apples I was rehashing my two junior English classes of the day.

Here was my first interpretation. It was 85 degrees, 100% humidity and first 22 students and then 20 filed into my room for a mid level American literature class. Four activities planned for an 80 minute block: group work to engage them in the reading (The Things They Carried), vocabulary practice, discussion board forum to write on for 30 minutes. Many(half?) students seemed to degenerate into restless energy, unfinished entries, and reluctance to even open their books for ideas to answer questions. Digressions in conversation were so numerous as soon as I re-focused one corner of the room another few were off.  By the end of the day, I was slouched back in my chair wondering how two teaching blocks could so drain a body.

On my walk I recalled some Buddhist teachings from a retreat I went to this summer. What if I looked at that afternoon from a different perspective? The Buddhist theory of emptiness means everything basically has no form/shape/meaning of its own but we impart our interpretation to things and then perceive that as reality. So the unfocused energy of the class, lethargic from the heat and unable to focus on the reading is my own projection. Coming from me this might indicate I am scattered and unsure how to help these teenagers relate to the situation of the draft in the Vietnam War. The fact that 4 students in each block had missed the class before and hadn't gotten the makeup work, compiled with one exchange student from Thailand who didn't understand what we were doing all class and a high percentage of students needing extra one on one help might have contributed to my demeanor. But if this is all my projection outward, according to Buddhist philosophy, my actions now will change how this class will appear in the future and I have to remember my interpretation is only one of 22 in that time frame- each telling his/her own story! Let's see how that affects tomorrow's class: )