Words of Wisdom

Let us hope for a great deal of light and love.

Politics and Teaching

"The End is Near" Time Magazine Cover

We are in an election year like no other.  It is a year when the sides are so polarized that whichever side you are on, you are pretty much sure the other side is crazy (and maybe criminal).  My students asked me who I was voting for the other day and I gave my usual response, "I don't share who I'm voting for."  But this year I realized that if I told them, about half my students would lose total respect for me (or if not my students, surely their parents who might not hear about the math assignment, but would certainly hear about who Mrs. Linstrom was voting for).  In class, we have talked about the importance of voting. Next week, we will talk more about the democratic process. We have discussed the right to our own opinions and the importance of respecting other people's opinions, but this has been a hard year for adults to set that example.  Politics has become something of a mud slinging circus that we don't really want our children to view (and certainly not to emulate).  It is clear that people on either side find it nearly impossible to image the other point of view (and I will admit, this includes myself).  What has happened to us and how do we move forward?  Next week when the elections are over, how will be respond?  Politics and policies are important.  How should we proceed?

Here's what I think . . . On Wednesday, I will still have twenty-eight students who need to learn long division.  I will still have students who will walk into my class bearing the burden of a "less than adequate childhood."  I will still have students who think that they can't learn (or they are not smart enough) and some students who think they know it all.  I need to teach them they are both wrong and they are both right.  I will still have students who read at about the first grade level and some who read at about the sixth grade level and they all need to be challenged.  I will have students who are scared to go home and some who are scared to come to school.  My plate is full.  I can't change the world, but I can keep trying.  

On Wednesday I know that the monarchs I raised late summer, will continue their flight to Mexico. The milkweed in our gardens will invest in their roots and rhizomes, and lay dormant through the winter.  When spring arrives, the milkweed we planted (and the milkweed that no one planted) will grow and feed the great-great-great grandchildren of the monarchs we raised (and the monarchs we didn't raise).  If there is a wall between us and Mexico, they will fly over it.  Life will continue.

  

Mother Teresa was quoted to say, "What takes a lifetime to build could be destroyed in a day . . . build anyway. . ."  I think she is right.  This life is about building.  We build, we plant, we work and all the rest is just . . . all the rest.  We have children to raise and a planet to care for.  On Wednesday, like every day, we have work to do.  Let us keep building.    

Headed to Mexico

Milkweed Planting (saved from the lawn mower)

Outdoor Learning Center Additions

New archways onto our two nature paths!

Weaving into our new butterfly sculpture!

  

Planting native species into our gardens!

Michael Zillins, Eagle Scout helping with our new Butterfly Garden!

Butterfly Release!

On September 17th, we celebrated the new additions to our Outdoor Learning Center here at North Shore Elementary School!  Thanks to a great many generous people, the vision and support for this project continues to grow.  

Thank you to Lisa Rostar, art teacher who received a grant to have sculptor, Kathy Kreager create the amazing butterfly sculpture that now graces our backyard.  Lisa received the grant from the School Foundation and the Garden Club.  It is beautiful!    

Thank you to Tom Small and the good people from Wild Ones, out of Kalamazoo, for the grant they awarded me to develop a butterfly garden.  I purchased plants from Hidden Savanna, a native species nursery out of Kalamazoo.  The garden is well underway and we couldn't have done this without your support!

Thank you to Michael Zillins, Eagle Scout, who will help develop our butterfly garden!  He and his troop will create a border, a sign and enlarge the mulched area of the garden.  Michael is the fourth Eagle Scout who has helped with components of this outdoor project.  The Eagle Scouts of South Haven have invested in this project from the start and we are grateful!

Thank you to Frank Lawson, South Haven artist and friend, who made beautiful archways to the entrances of our two paths into the woods!  Stepping under those arches is a great way to begin a journey into our outdoor classrooms.  Thanks Frank!

This project began six years ago in honor of Dr. Liberty Hyde Bailey Jr., born and raised on a local farm in South Haven.  He left his home to become a scientist, professor, writer and poet.  Bailey was instrumental in starting what was termed, "The Nature-Study Movement."  In his book, The Nature Study Idea, (1904) Bailey writes to the question; What is Nature Study?  

". . . its purpose is to enable every person to live a richer life, whatever his business or profession may be.  Nature-study is a revolt from the teaching of mere science in the elementary grades. . . Nature-study is not science.  It is not knowledge.  It is not facts.  It is spirit.  It is concerned with the child's outlook on the world."

Bailey wanted to share his love for learning and exploring in the natural world with all students.  I hope that we capture some of that spirit and share some of his joy with the students of North Shore Elementary.  Thank you to everyone who supports this endeavor!    

Harold, The Wandering Iguana

Harold, after 7 weeks on the lam

Thanks to the kindness of neighbors and the first responders of South Haven, my green iguana Harold is back home.  Harold disappeared on July 2nd.  He was outside for his morning sunshine in his cage and although closed, it wasn't completely secured.  Harold nuzzled his way out and vanished within a span of five minutes while I was inside making his lunch.  My family and I searched the trees and bushes in our yard, the back ravine and our neighbors yards for hours and then days.  I left the cage open and stocked with food, hoping he would find his way back home.  I called the humane society and reported his loss in the hopes someone might see him.  Over a month went by and still sometimes I would go and gaze into the trees and wonder where Harold had gone. . . I finally put the cage away and faced the reality that he was probably eaten by a racoon or hawk.

Harold enjoys his freedom and when he is in my classroom, he spends a great deal of time hanging in the top of my ficus tree or sitting on my desk, keeping me from the distractions of paperwork.  His cage is more of a safe space for him; a place he goes when he wants to eat or escape the busyness in the classroom.  He appreciates his personal space.  Iguanas are not social creatures.  They prefer to observe the world from a distance and yet, he has a funny way of getting close to me without wanting me to pick him up or hold him.  When I'm in the room alone, he will most often wander over to where I'm working and find a place that's just a bit above me to sit.  He will cock his head and watch me.  He seems as fascinated by me as I am of him, and although neither of us could begin to imagine what the other was thinking, we have a working relationship and a certain fondness for each other.

My students think Harold is pretty cool even though I don't let them hold him or even really pet him.  They understand that he is not your average pet.  He is, in fact, a wild animal.  I'm not sure iguanas should even be called "pets."  I'm not sure pet stores should sell them, to be completely honest.  That being said, Harold lives in our classroom and my students and I hope to give him the space he needs and respect his privacy as much as possible.   Maybe there is a lesson in all of this and maybe not.  Either way, Harold makes our life a little bit better and I'm so glad that he is back.

Harold was spotted on August 23rd, about four blocks from home.  By the time the humane society contracted me and I arrived on the scene, there were two fire trucks, four police cars and lots of neighbors staring into a huge maple tree.  It took the tallest fire truck ladder to reach Harold.  By the time he was captured and riding down the ladder in the hands of a firefighter, he looked absolutely terrified and I was in complete shock.  Harold had survived seven weeks on the streets and in the wilds of South Haven.  He was a bit thinner and had a few scrapes and a missing toe but he looked pretty good, all things considered.  I can't imagine how he spent his days and nights or where he traveled.  That will be a writing assignment for my fourth graders.  I look forward to the stories they write.  As for Harold, he is keeping silent, as is his way.  
   

Harold, back home in his tree

The Gardening of Life and Learning

Zabulon Skipper on Rattlesnake Master

"There are two parts to the common day, --the performance of the day, and the background of the day.  Many of us are so submerged in the work we do and in the pride of life that the real day slips by unnoted and unknown.  But there are some who part the hours now and then and let the background show through.  There are others who keep the sentiments alive as an undertone and who hang all the hours of work on a golden cord, connecting everything and losing none;  theirs is the full life;  their backgrounds are never forgotten;  and the backgrounds are the realities."  --Liberty Hyde Bailey (1928)

The above quote was taken from a book Bailey wrote entitled The Garden Lover.  I first heard this quote when John Stempien (former director of the Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum) shared it during a lecture (Breakfast at the Bailey's) he led several years ago.  I liked the quote so much I wrote about it in a former blog post entitled "The Background of the Day" (July 2011).  John reminded me of it last week when he gave me a copy of the book from which the quote was taken.  What an unexpected and wonderful gift!  Thank you John!   And here I am again; pulled into writing about this amazing sentiment written by Bailey so long ago. . .  

In that former post, I talked about the background of my days when my family spent time on the south shore of Lake Superior in our cabin surrounded by woods and overlooking that amazing and wild lake.  Those background days have colored and enriched my life and I'm forever grateful to my parents for sharing such natural wonders with me.   

It may seem odd that the above quote is taken from a gardening book, but Bailey draws us into a larger picture of the gardener and of gardens in his writing.  His use of these words is much more expansive than simply taking care of flowers in a yard.  He clearly sees the natural world as a garden and essential to our lives.  And when we let that background show through we are enriched (theirs is the full life; their backgrounds are never forgotten; and the backgrounds are the realities).  What I hear in his words is a metaphor for both learning and living.  I hear the deep calling to grow and learn as a gardener and to tend to the lessons learned in the garden of your life.  This is what I think he means when he writes, "There are others who keep the sentiments alive as an undertone and who hang all the hours of work on a golden cord, connecting everything and losing none. . ."  Imagine learning as the tending of a garden and the lessons learned as the plants and flowers and trees of our life.  It seems the perfect metaphor for teacher and student.  We are always growing and learning.  

I have the privilege of teaching elementary school.  I spent several years in kindergarten, first grade and now fourth grade.  Through these many years, I've learned perhaps more from my students than I have taught.  Young students (kindergarteners and first graders especially) learn by play, observation and experimentation.  Learning is as natural as breathing to them.  It is who they are.  They don't categorize and separate the different fields of knowledge; they are simply filled with wonder and that wonder is the basis of their education.  When they are engaged in this way, it is amazing the amount of learning that they are able to acquire.  My job was simply to reveal the joy of learning and present the material.  The children took it from there.  It really was like preparing a garden with rich soil and a few seeds and watching the real miracle of growth take place.  It was always a wonder to participate in this process, like a gardener delighting in the plants that grow.  And every day it was surprising and full.  I was never sure what amazing discovery a child might obtain or what might blossom in the sunlight.  As students mature, they lose some of that natural wonder, but I believe that my job is to remind them of that instinct (we should never lose) and to continue to be a gardener. . . to give them the opportunities to find joy in learning and to remind them that learning is foundationally about joy and discovery.  It is who we are and what we are called to do in this life.  If I can share that, it seems that they too can hang all the hours of work on a golden cord, connecting everything and losing none . . .  Happy learning to those students and teachers out there in the world preparing to head back to school to blossom and grow!    

The following photos are from some of the gardening I've been doing in my life this summer . . . planting native species, looking for butterflies and enjoying the beauty of the day.                

Eastern Swallowtail

Cabbage White

Monarch

Monarch Teacher Network Comes to South Haven!

Lisa releasing a butterfly

"In the end, we will preserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught."  --Baba Dioum

Watching a monarch come out of its chrysalis 

Cindy, hard at work!

Becoming one with the monarch

Tagging a monarch

Last week teachers from Mattawan, Paw Paw, Detroit and South Haven gathered at North Shore Elementary School in South Haven to participate in a two-day workshop devoted to incorporating the monarch butterfly into the educational setting.  It was a hands-on workshop that left teachers with everything they need to raise monarchs and integrate monarch lessons into their classrooms.  Teachers learned how to construct rearing cages and butterfly houses.  They learned how to find, raise and care for monarchs throughout their life stages; they learned about milkweed and the other insects that live in the milkweed patch; they learned the science and story behind the life cycle and the migration routes of this amazing insect and lessons and games that incorporate the monarch into math, science, reading, writing and social studies.  (A guide and DVD with details on both the science of monarchs and monarch activities for students of all ages was also included in the workshop.)   A huge thank you to Brian Hayes, director of the Monarch Teacher Network who makes these workshops happen!  And a huge thank you to Erik Mollenhauer (founder and former director of the MTN) and Cindy and Paul Wackerbarth who were the lead volunteers.  They volunteered both their travel expenses and their time to join us in South Haven and teach us something that they are passionate about --- the care of monarchs and their love of this amazing planet we call home.  Thank you Brian, Erik, Cindy and Paul!  We are richer for this wonderful experience!

"When one tugs at a single thing in nature . . . he finds it attached to the rest of the world."  --John Muir

Reconnecting with Nature in a Digital World

Erik Mollenhauer

On Tuesday, June 28th, at 7:30 P.M., Erik Mollenhauer will be presenting a thought-provoking lecture at Lake Michigan College in South Haven, Michigan.  He is both a scientist and a storyteller.  He will bring his knowledge of science and his love of storytelling together in this powerful lecture, sure to inspire.  Erik is a nationally recognized teacher and has done presentations and led tours around the world on monarch butterflies, birds, trees and other wonders in nature.  This presentation will focus on the challenges we face in a world of technological distractions and environmental crises.  There is an admission fee of $10 which includes a pre-presentation reception with refreshments starting at 6:45.  I hope you can join us!