After a long winter season with continual blankets of snow and ice sleeping on the ground, the warmth of spring is finally waking up the soil. Seas of grass are rising in front yards and eager blooms are curling upward toward the sun.
Like careful, measured areas of hope, fresh garden plots are starting to appear in back yards. These gardens—and the work that goes along with them—mirror what should be happening in our middle schools. Critical and basic actions are needed to make gardens flourish, and if we want to see the same kind of sustainable growth for every student in our classrooms, we also need to plan, till, sew, and constantly nurture our educational gardens.
Like a garden, in order to grow middle schools from fundamental elements, we need to start by developing a plan with students in mind ... and in heart. The educational gardening process begins by figuring out who we are serving and what we need to grow based on who they are.
While we embrace the essential characteristics that make a successful school for young adolescents, we must also understand our young adolescents themselves and the key attributes they share. This is especially important because students ages 10 to 15 years old are trying to achieve in many ways in areas beyond reform-oriented academic standards, data capstones, and content area knowledge benchmarks.
They also are growing and achieving socially, behaviorally, psychologically, morally, physically, ethically, and
4-24-14 The Whole Child Blog — The Power of Community Partnerships — Whole Child Education
The Power of Community Partnerships — Whole Child Education: THE WHOLE CHILD BLOGThe Power of Community PartnershipsApril 24, 2014 by Sharon JacobsI must begin this post by stating one fact; I am so very appreciative and do not take for granted the number of hours spent in Washington Montessori School on a daily basis by our volunteers and community partners. We partner with local businesses, agen