I rambled on about cell communication to my AP Biology class--they're bright, they're young, but they're not clamoring to know about G-protein-linked receptors, despite my cartwheels (good for kinesthetic learners, no?)
Even the College Board recognizes that the course is, well, receptive to the rush of air particles from a surrounding area of high pressure.
I walked home on a gorgeous November dusk, and then I saw it.
Across the street from the school is a tree with a streetlight buried in its nether-lands. The tree is bare, except for a patch of leaves around the lamp.
A block away, a barren tree broken by our freak storm two weeks ago has three large boughs still hanging from it--classic widow makers. On each bough, and only on these broken boughs, cling clusters of leaves, days after the leaves of the still living branches fell away.
How can I teach of G-protein-linked receptors to children who do not see the leaves still grasping onto the dead limbs that no longer talk to them?
And why would I want to?
Next dry day I'm taking my lambs out for a walk. Not sure they'll be any fonder of G-protein-linked receptors, but they might be a little fonder of trees.
Hey, we're not so different from trees and bacteria after all....
Snowstorm photo by Ed Murray, NJ Star-Ledger
Snowstorm photo by Ed Murray, NJ Star-Ledger
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3 comments:
Value of walking about: to make overt the connections that are hard to discern, especially w/out a guide. I am more and more convinced that we don't need & shouldn't be subjected to national/state standards. They steal our breath. We need occasions to notice: the leaves clinging to the broken boughs; the ones still scattered beneath the living tree. That is plenty.
I blogged.
Love, Kerry
Dear Mary Ann,
Indeed--your words on jst that subject have inspired me to take the lambs out more often. You canot observe the world through a screen.
Dear Kerry!
Yay!!!!!!!
Love,
Dad
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