Those who know we well know that although I love gardens, I am horrible at maintaining them. I have failed epically for literally decades, but I continue to try. The stories are legendary in my house. But I am determined, keep thinking that this is the spring/summer that I will pull this off. And my husband, bless his heart, tolerates it. He has relegated me to only a few small pots now, the rest of the yard is his. The cost and damage are minimal, and it still allows me to experiment with new plants, new combinations, and to continue to work at it.
Being a reflective summer, I have been thinking of why I keep at it? What lies beneath the surface? I have the desire to create something beautiful, useful, and honestly, I think it is the desire to slow down. Gardening, even in small spaces, takes consistent, even if only minimal care. It is also rewarding, to watch something grow, to know that you have created a space where beauty exists that didn’t before. So this week again I will go get some new dirt for those familiar pots, and plant yet another small herb garden because it dawned on me that I could grow what I buy every week at our local market. And I will grow lavender and rosemary because the local shop said they are practically indestructible, and that my friends is somewhat encouraging to this wannabe gardener.
I have been in education for over three decades. Building schools and classrooms is a lot like tending a garden. You have to make decisions, what to plant, what to weed out. You need to tend it carefully, and many times you have to re-evaluate what you are planting. Is it what you like or is it what the garden needs? Students are like that, you have a basic outline of what they need, but you must tailor it to the individuals in the room, or you will never see them thrive. My garden this year again is changing.
Again this year I will be teaching and managing our independent scholars program. I have students of a variety of grade levels, instructional and attendance needs, and courses they must complete to graduate. My courses must stand-alone, with entry points for students to come into our instruction at any time, in real-time, their time. The focus is personalized learning, in all that encompasses. Catlin Tucker is my digital mentor, I have been devouring her work for the past few months trying to come up with best practices to make these courses relevant, rigorous, and inviting. I was recently reading another of her articles and this quote jumped from the page
“Personalized learning is a hot topic in education. Educators agree that each learner is different with unique interests, needs, strengths, and weaknesses. Of course, it would be ideal if teachers could work with individual learners to identify learning goals, co-create learning experiences, and track progress. I honestly don’t know how realistic the idea of personalized learning is in the context of public education as it exists today.”
Catlin Tucker
So many independent study programs highlight the independent component. My vision for our program is different, I am determined to find a way to co-create learning experiences with my students. Personalization should not mean isolation. It should not be a “face in a screen, completing a packet, a weekly checklist”. It should be a community, both face to face and digital that brings students together, not further isolating them from the educational system. They come to our independent program for a variety of reasons, but every student needs that connection, that mentor that doesn’t just get them through their courses but instead connects them to learning in a way that a traditional system hasn’t.
What does that look like? I have been charged with creating a curriculum that meets the needs of students who struggle to be successful in traditional school parameters. I am determined to build a connection even when students won’t be in our classroom space daily at the same time completing the same coursework. I am grateful that I work at a site that doesn’t function as “public education as it exists today”, but instead envisions and creates a public education that serves the students we have in front of us, and those we could potentially lose in the traditional setting. I will be documenting this journey here on this site, working along with colleagues from the National Writing Project. Our garden will not be rows and rows of the same plant, but rather the type of garden that invites you in to sit and enjoy the beauty and variety that can exist when plant things unexpected.