Sophia Group paper, May 2015
How delightful for me that this entire section was on the development of a school. I have done my best to chant about my school and to write to PI for the wisdom to implement Soka Education. In so many ways I have seen it come to fruition. Ultimately my goal has been to put the happiness of everyone involved at the school first
Shortly after I learned that I would have the job, I attended
FNCC for a Woman’s Division conference. There I saw President Ikeda’s poem: “A Path At Windsor” which
says:
There are
those who build a path, and those who tear it down.
There are
those who continue to walk a path, and those who stray from it.
I wish to be
a person who forges a path, a person who persists in walking a path.
No matter
what, until the end, I will keep walking, keep running even if I should fall along the way and return to the dust
of the land.
Because I believe in youth
who will succeed me along this path, I will not have a single regret.
I decided to make this poem the motto of my principal-ship: that above all, I would believe in youth and
surround myself with people who put students first and foremost. I too,
would forge a path.
I framed the poem and hung it on the wall of my office; I
also decided to write Sensei each month.
I decided that he and I would be the principal of this school together
and hat I would do everything I could to make the happiness of the people there
my priority: all the people, not only
the students: the teachers, the clerical
staff, and the custodians. I would make
Soka Education my internal compass.
My first year as principal was the most joyful, exciting,
challenging and utterly rewarding experience I ever had. I loved every minute of being there. I was so happy that I did not get sick once
and never missed a day the entire school year. My students became so joyful;
besides strong academics, we did so many fun and things, silly things that 12
and 13 year olds need to do. This was quite contrary to the public image of my
students as being troublemakers. I was able to re-institute elective courses
that had been lost in prior years and creativity was again cultivated in our
kids. Many veteran administrators came
on campus to help me over the year in ways that are truly mystical. In the end, a private donor in the community
gave us a promise of $50,000 each year to run a summer camp focusing on
innovative and creative approaches to science and technology. This began our new identify and we have subsequently
won two major California awards for program innovation.
The buzz in the community about our school started to change
and our enrollment started to increase.
Over the 4 years I have been principal, we have increased by 100
students; our test scores have risen as well.
I have chanted daily for
everyone’s happiness and we have developed into a cohesive happy team. I have worked closely with the staff to transform
our environment. People who did not want
to work collaboratively and in unity chose to leave. I have
been able to hire over 50% of my current staff and can truly say that every
teacher at the school loves kids. One English teacher is now an SGI USA women’s
district leader and two other teachers are chanting. Another teacher, who was initially an opponent
to change has now told me that this is the happiest she has ever been in her
career. She used to be so hard on
kids. Now she says she agrees that we
need to put “love and happiness” (her words) first to motivate our student’s
love of learning.
In addition, our new school
superintendent and her team have begun to institute the community school
concept in our district. We now have
full time staff to support student’s socio-emotional needs as well as reach out
to our mostly poor families who have not previously been engaged in the school
environment. We have the highest number
of English learner parents coming to our meetings each month: somewhere between 40-80 parents attend, which
is astonishing. We are working with our
parents so that they do not feel intimidated to tell us what they want to see
happen at the school. Much of what we
are building is with their input.
My new team of teachers has
created and used many innovative programs to reach our students and
community: online learning
opportunities, Google Apps, digital websites, socio-emotional toolkits, garden
projects, Odyssey of the Mind and more.
Because of the budget cuts that hit this school hard, we did not have a
band nor did we have a foreign language course.
The Santa Rosa community rose up to help. Our local foundation raised $20,000 to
re-start the band at the school. We will
be marching in the city’s annual Rose Parade in May for the first time in 10
years. In addition, when I first got to
the school, our sports teams were always the losers. But this year we are champs in both 8th
grade girl’s volleyball and 8th grade boy’s basketball. We are raising pennants in our gym for the
first time in a decade.
After 35 years of practice and over 30 years as a leader, I
am finally fulfilling my life’s mission: not only as a human being on the
planet and an educator, but also as a disciple of Sensei’s. All my training as a leader in the SGI has
given me the patience, wisdom and heart to work with people and move a
community. The sense of joy and
satisfaction is incredible. Years of
strong practice have enabled me to begin to affect change in my environment, to
begin to, even a little bit, create a Buddha land in a muddy swamp. I am excited to see the students and my
families benefit from the work we are doing.
We are looking into the lives of our students and encouraging them to
find out their strengths and capabilities.
We do everything we can to keep students at the school: to provide resources for them to be
successful and to help them find restitution should they make a mistake. We
tell every student that they are wanted at our school. We ask every student to look inside and find
their worth and their unique and special qualities. We embrace all of them as a member of our
school family.
In the book, “Living as Learning”, President Ikeda says the
following on page 40: “ As a diamond can be polished only by
another diamond, so human beings can be refined only by other human
beings. The creation of new values and
human progress itself depend on fostering our successors to surpass us, all of
us sharing in the quest for universal truth and working together to improve and
elevate ourselves. This is also the
quintessence of education”.
I am now ending my 4th year as principal. I have accomplished more than I could dream of and have spent the past few months chanting to revive and refresh my spirit to take the next steps at the school. Many quotes in this section have inspired me. I will chant to implement these in the coming years:
May, 2015 LB, pg 41
"You are all like young bamboo shoots, with a lot of growing to do. I hope you will have big, open hearts; build strong bodies and spirits; and learn to be flexible and tenacious like bamboo."
The French philosopher Rene Descartes observed, "To read good books is like holding a conversation with the most eminent minds of past centuries".
One important purpose of elementary education is to help children acquire good habits that will serve as a foundation for the rest of their lives.
Be young people with big generous hearts who are always considerate of others.
To have a smile for and talk with each person individually is the way to open the door to their heart. The first step in education starts with opening children's hearts. If their hearts are closed, seedlings cannot be planted there.
Naming things gives them new meaning. It can inspire fresh hope and inspiration.
(The principal) he personally endeavored to put into practice value-creating education and come up with educational methods that would aid students in building lasting happiness throughout their lives. He also devoted a great deal of time and effort to studying parent-child interactions, enabling him to give pertinent and much appreciated advice to parents.
...a program in which students of different grades ate lunch together, along with the principal and teachers.
Gratitude gives rise to joy. Joy is the wellspring of enthusiasm, energy and creativity. As such, victory in life, too, starts from gratitude.
Education means engaging with real, living human beings. Actual classroom situations don't always match what's written in manuals. Teaching is, in fact, a continuous series of unforeseen events. One of the important qualities a teacher must have is the ability to deal with the unexpected.
Education should not start by making students tense and uncomfrotable, but rather by making them feel relaxed and at ease.
The first class is very important. If you can make students excited about learning in that first class, they'll be keen to study. On the other hand, if your first class is boring, they'll dislike studying. Beginnings are important in everything.
The educator and champion of Philippine independence Jose Rizal (1861-96) once observed, "A child who was once praised in the presence of his peers, the next day was learning twice as much".
... the key to revitalizing education ultimately started with fostering a spirit of caring, kindness and generosity.
No great achievement can be accomplished in a single generation. It requires the presence of disciples who embrace the original mentor's vision as their own and wholeheartedly strive to achieve it over successive generations. That is how great things are accomplished.
Comments
I'm glad that you liked the hat and color combination. Thank you for the comment. I appreciate it. Happy crocheting!