Told through the eyes of a ten-year-old, Beginner’s Mind asks the question, “How do we want teachers to teach, inspire, and guide our children?” The answer is provided through a series of fourth grade classroom scenes that take us back to a shipyard town in New England, where a loving teacher opens her students’ eyes to all-but-unimaginable dreams and opportunities. This is a book that reminds us of what teaching can look like: daily lessons where standardized and measurable curriculum goals are less prized than the immeasurable blossoming of our children, and a classroom that puts on display the possibilities before us when a teacher’s love is combined with the beginner’s mind. As the author shares in these classroom stories, a beginner’s mind knows that art is not just for artists and music is not just for musicians.
