Journal of Daoist Studies | 2019
Zhuangzi in the Classroom: A Teacher Diary Study
Abstract
Teacher diary studies are written first-person interpretations of experiences both inside and outside the classroom, which are examined for recurring patterns of insights that facilitate awareness. Many linguists have recognized the benefits of teacher diary studies through their wideranging uses for the development of insights and self-awareness based on frank and authentic written self-reflection.1 For teachers who embrace Daoism, writing down thoughts in a diary offers a meditative sense of tapping into deeper states of consciousness that tend to be smothered by ever excessive thinking intensified by the hectic pace of day-to-day activities. Such states of consciousness can even be awareness of simple things, such as the smiles on the students’ faces or the little flower on the side of the path to the classroom, that tend to be overlooked in the rush toward academic achievement. Diary studies for teachers thus offer an alternative approach that opens a peaceful and creative space between the relentless push-pull dimensions in modern education. They are also a catalyst of a new awareness that brings a positive change in personal-professional development.