3-D IN THE CLASSROOM

This afternoon, as I was walking in the park, I was struck by the three-dimensional beauty of one particularly massive oak tree and the vista behind it. I stopped and stared for several minutes, appreciating the fact that my vision could see the depth of the scene – the limbs closest to me, then the limbs further and further back, and finally, in the distance, the immaculate meadow and the many distant trees. I was rather dumbstruck by this great gift I had been given – this ability to see our striking world in its depth and solidness. I heard somewhere that a new 3-D movie will be released soon, but I have no interest, for my 3-D movies are all around me -- even in my 9th grade classroom. Unfortunately, I almost never recognize the full beauty of what’s happening before my eyes as I’m teaching. I rarely stop and recall the fact that there is a kind of dazzling depth not only in the physical presence of the students and the classroom, but more importantly, in the lives of the students. If the tree and the park seemed vast to me this afternoon, how might my students’ lives appear to me if I could see them in their unbounded immensity and involvedness? I might feel like I should pay admission to see the astonishing 3-D movies each day in my classroom.