Hi folks, As we and our students return to our classrooms, a hint of enormous possibilities adds to the excitement and energy this time of year brings. Different cultures have determined the starting point of the year differently.
Different hemispheres assign seasons in perfectly symmetrical opposition.
The ancient Chinese noted that darkness begins its return on the first day of summer, and light begins its increase in the dead of winter, the seeds of opposites found within their maximum respective expression. Although year-round school advocates see the summer vacation as an anachronistic vestige of an agrarian life, we educators continue to work in a 40 week growing season whose harvest is determined by the ground we prepare for planting in the first weeks of our new year. Seasoned educators may agree with the following observations. No matter our good intentions, there is a flow to the 40 weeks we in America share with our students. Working backwards, the capacity to introduce new directions to our content is nearly nil as we approach the end of the year.