How should I work as teacher in this new job? 12.3 -> 33

[Phaboo]

I recently graduated in Music Composition and I had the fortune to be offered a job as a teacher substitute in a music high school for the whole year. I will be teaching Music Theory starting next Monday, while I received the job offer just yesterday.

I just spoke to the teacher for the former year, and apparently the students were without a Music Theory teacher since September, or maybe there was a teacher who quitted shortly after. We don't know that. The former teacher also warned me that the Italian Curriculum Guidelines for this subject have really high standards, compared to the actual preparation of the students. Furthermore, the job is at one hour and a half of travel from my city, and I have quite a lot of working hours, I believe I have all 5 highschool grades to teach, so 5 classes at minimum. It's also a really important subject as it is an important part of the state exam in Italy, for the music major. So I know already it's a little bit of a baptism by fire.

So I firstly asked I Ching how to approach teaching: 12.3 (Stagnation) -> 33 (Retreat). Not really promising. Perhaps there's a reason why there was no teacher? Should I retreat (33) as well? Maybe the key is in that "embrace shame" line: the situation is difficult, for me as well as for the students, and I must get used to the idea of giving bad marks without being ashamed, or not to be ashamed if my first lessons are going to be a little "improvised" because the job offer came out of the blue, and it will be my first experience (apart from having taught private lessons), after all.

I also asked more insights on the school itself (What is the situation in this music highschool?): 37.1 -> 53.

And "what's the potential for this new job?": 48.3.4 -> 47.

 

[Hans_K]

Hi Phaboo,
In H12, there is no communication between Heaven and Earth, no flow.
The lower trigram Earth changes to Mountain due to the moving line at the 3rd position.
Earth with a moving line at the 3rd position is about a passive attitude due to a dependent attitude. No choice is made.
Mountain advises making a clear choice, taking a strong and clear stance. Show who you are and what you stand for.
So you can also read H12.3 <> H33 as moving away from standstill.
Trigram Heaven is about focus, vision, rules, having an overview.
So the combination Heaven and Mountain in H33 shows someone who carries his vision from a strong foundation.

(What is the situation in this music highschool?): 37.1 -> 53.

The text of the 1st line says:

Enclosing and guarding the family.
Regrets vanish.

The combination of H37, H53 and the text of the first line seems to indicate that students develop step by step as a safe environment is created in that school

And "what's the potential for this new job?": 48.3.4 -> 47.

This job has the potential to arrive at your own source (of inspiration) (H48), provided you are willing to work on yourself (lines 3 and 4), if not there is a risk of exhaustion (H47).
The exchange with others (students and colleagues) acts as a motivator here.

This would be my interpretation. As always, take what resonates and leave the rest
Good luck on your first day as a teacher.

 

[Phaboo]

Thank you Hans, this is really insightful. Especially about the trigram Mountain. I was feeling insecure about myself while asking the question, but I need to be confident, even if I have very little experience.

 

[Hans_K]

Especially about the trigram Mountain. I was feeling insecure about myself while asking the question, but I need to be confident, even if I have very little experience.

Even though you may not have much experience yet, Trigram Heaven seems to indicate that you do have a vision of how things should be taught, or how music education should be. The answer encourages you to rely on that.
The text of the image of H33 says:

Thus the superior person keeps petty people/ideas at a distance,
Not with anger but with reserve.

When you replace the word people with ideas in the text above, you can see this as distancing yourself from your ideas of doubt and uncertainty.

In this way, you can also read standstill (H12) as your own blockage due to uncertainty, the advice is to retreat (H33) from those feelings.