"For everything that lives is holy, life delights in life."
William Blake
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| Handful of grace, picked this morning.... |
About 10 weeks ago I poked a finger into the ground a few dozen times, dropped a pea (and an occasional stray buddy) into each hole, smoothed over the dirt, then let them be, hoping (but not truly believing) today's harvest would come.
Today soft leaves stroked the same finger as it reached in through the mess of pea vines to pick a good part of tonight's dinner, just over two months past my Saint Paddy's Day planting.
Despite my six decades breathing, eating, and drinking the grace found on this patch of the universe, I still plant more out of hope than belief--words and imagination only go so far in this primate.
Yet we tell 8th grade kids they need to memorize the parts of a mitochondria and the year the Magna Carta was signed in order to get a high school diploma half a decade later.
School (mostly) sucks.
***
I am plowing my way through a new science curriculum, this time using the NGSS as the guide, this time hoping (but not truly believing) that school won't (mostly) suck half a decade from now.
One thing won't change, though, should I still be teaching--kids will plant and see, many for the first time, the creation of more life from a seed, some dirt, water, and our collective breath.
Yesterday I found a tiny pea pod erupting from a spindly vine planted by a student back in March. She will see it on Monday.
And for a moment, school won't suck....
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2 comments:
Every single time I plant a seed, I am just amazed that shiny green leaves burst forth from the dirt. I've planted a lot of seeds. Back when I was out of college and had my first balcony, I planted some flower seeds and then dug them up every day to see if the radicle had pushed its way through. (I wasn't very patient back then.)
I teach photosynthesis every year like it's the gospel but every single time I plant that seed and I see the first glimpse of green, I think to myself, "Yay, it worked! Whew!"
And year after year, students walk into class and the first thing they do is check to see if their plant grew. Best Do Now ever.
Dear Susan,
Amazes me still, too, enough to think (some days, anyway) that kids could use a bit more Blake and a lot less Mendel.
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