Thursday, December 4, 2008

Thought of the Day...

I just have to say, I've discovered how soothing the act of erasing a whiteboard can be.

Really though, it's great.

Today was a meaty day in class, filled with technical stuff like where to put the period at the end of an MLA-format quotation. Between the audible snores and the origami, there were a few moments that I turned to my scribbled board and wiped away my tension before I turned back to regain control of the classroom from the snoozing and the sidebar conversations in Chinese.

And after class? You better believe I spent a length clearing all the clutter from the board and my mind. It's meditative, really. Maybe if I ever write a book it could be called "Zen and the Art of White Board Erasing."

Just a thought for today...

4 comments:

Samantha said...

That sounds unusually comforting. Reading this almost makes me want to go out and purchase the biggest whiteboard I can find to start wiping off my clutter. Who would've thought? Only you, Chase. :)

Don said...

Ahhh... as a teacher I can relate; however, in your book of Zen... I suspect there would be chapters on Zen and House-cleaning, Zen and Walking. Perhaps the Zen is not in the whiteboard but in the Zen student?

Anonymous said...

Now, if only you could teach Martin to do the same thing!

joanna said...

Chase - love your random observations of life in Taiwan. Traveling or living in Asia is on my list of things I'd like to do - for now I'll just have absorb the culture through your eyes.

Ha - every day is a "meaty" day in my chemistry classes (community college night class, 3 hours straight!) - I have about 6 enormous white boards worth of eraser meditation time every Tuesday. Now that you mention it, those are some of my favorite few minutes of the week!