I may be outstanding in my field, but I am no gardener. I take no pride in that, in fact, I wish I were good with plants. Alas, it is my wife who is the good gardener, the mulch master, the seed sower, and the water wizard. Indentured servitude most aptly describes my role. I am the hoe hummer, the wheel barrower, and the token tiller. I do as I am directed in hopes that when harvest comes she will share the bounty with me: tomatoes, peppers, okra, peas, and beans. It is spring break in Texas and after a weekend of cold and wet, I roll out the tiller under warm and heavy air to re-break the garden soil, turn it over, stir it deeply and leave it rich, dark brown, earthy, fragrant and waiting.
She plants by hand, somehow knowing how deep the hole should be to receive the seed or the small cube of dirt bearing a young plant. Each patted just so, spaced just so, watered just so. I stand amazed at her artistry and know that for centuries human beings have been tilling soil, planting seed, praying for the right weather, and waiting. At afternoon’s end, I sit and look at the furrowed rows nurturing life. We now await the food to be. The miracle that allows each separate seed to sprout, grow, and produce according to its genetic code.
We will water. We will fertilize. We will prune and cull. We will pull weeds. We will ward off predators. We will do all that we can to nurture the plants to become what we hope they will become and produce what they are programmed to produce. Mostly we wait.
There are similarities to teaching here, but not many. Yes, as educators we attempt to prepare the soil, water, fertilize and wait. But seeds do not have a mind of their own. Kids are not pre-programmed to produce a certain fruit or a certain vegetable. The soil in which each child is metaphorically nurtured is vastly different from every other child even if the gardening techniques are the same. The outcomes will be different too and are less guaranteed than gardening. If I get anything from a bell pepper plant it will be bell peppers. With kids, you never know.
Well, you might think you know. If you do, you will write measurable objectives for every child for each year and each subject then predetermine a time to harvest a predetermined fruit on a pre-printed bubble sheet. The gardener will be held accountable for the soil, the weather, the water, the fertilizer even though the seed has a mind of its own and a genetic code of its own. Even farmers can take out insurance to protect them from a bad crop. Teachers cannot.
Regardless, now is the time to plant a garden. September is the time to plant a classroom. I wish for each of you a great spring vacation. As we return we begin to harvest in our classrooms, mandated by those who believe kids should all bear the same fruit. For me, today, it is simply time to meet the till again.
I loved this! Every legilator should read it.
ReplyDeleteI am very nervous about what I will harvest this year in my classroom when we gather those crops of bubble sheets in the mandated 4 hours. What if someone needs more than 4 hours to grow?
This was very enjoyable. I do know the harvest in my room is often very different that what I expect! I also know the harvest for me is not the answer sheet (in my state it is not just bubble). For some reason the harvest for me seems to happen often in the fall as my children enter high school and come back to tell me how they really feel. Then....it is a harvest of many surprise fruits and even some, I think, veggies!
ReplyDeleteAah, the "predetermined time" - how disappointed we are when our cucumber seeds don't sprout in the first week, or our tomatoes don't fruit on our otherwise beautiful healthy flower covered plants; however, given TIME they flourish and exceed our dwindled expectations. All the extra fertilizer and water we added - well, it may or may not have really added anything but fatigue to our struggling plant life. Hhmmm... I wonder how my garden would rate on the "predetermined time" schedule. I bet my plants would not meet the standard, at least on the first try and my overall garden would miss Annual Garden Progress!
ReplyDeleteAnd sometime we "think" we have planted cucumbers and harvest petunias instead!
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