A New Year’s Resolution
A freshly sharpened pencil. A song I haven’t heard before. The stillness of daybreak. A baby’s first cry. I am a sucker for anything new. The unspoiled potential of it all.
That may be why I believe so deeply in the power of the New Year’s Resolution. January 1 brings with it an iterative opportunity for reinvention, growth, and learning. For those that don’t know, the Roman god, Janus, whose name serves as the root of the month, January, is the god of gateways, transitions, beginnings and endings, passages and doorways. He is a two-faced godnot in deceit, but to look on the past and the future all at once. I imagine he might have been a great teacher as wellin a state of constant reflection and action, learning and teaching all at once. So, the opportunity to resolve to try something new, reinvent something about ourselves, or renew our commitment to somethingall as a byproduct of reflecting on the pastis an incredibly appealing notion to me, and it has driven my primary resolution for the New Year: Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing.
I realize that such a resolution may sound quite familiar. It has been our theme at BDS this year. In the face of considerable transition (a new head, a building project, a capital campaign,) let’s keep our focus on our practice, our curriculum and our students. That, after all, is why we’re here. But for me, personally, this resolution takes on a more individualized meaning. I am taking January 1 as an invitation to be more deliberate in my effort to get into classrooms, to observe the magic of this school first hand, to get to know our students better as learners and citizens and to see our world-class faculty at work. When all is said and done, the magic and wonder of this school lives in its classrooms and with its teachers and students. I cannot imagine a more fitting way to simultaneously look back and forward at once. A sharper pencil. A more beautiful new song. Of course, At a pre-k to eighth grade institution I know better than to ever compare BDS to the stillness of daybreak. But it is just as beautiful. Just as full of promise. Happy New Year, everyone. It’s going to be a great one.
Have a great weekend.
