ED Camp Reflection
I am not sure who “Ed” is? Or how he came up with the great idea but I thought this was a very useful approach to group discussions and problem solving. I like the brainstorming of ideas and discussion topics. Even if we don’t get to talk about all of them I think it was important to get the range of what is on everyones mind. It helps open up ideas for personal discussions out of class as well.
I think that making it mandatory for the different groups to share with the rest of the class would have been a great idea. As I was interested in all of the topics that were chosen but obviously can only be in one place at a time. I would like to hear what the other people were talking about and some of the solutions that they came up with for the topics they were involved with.
Our group discussed “how to create a successful gardening program in schools.”
Some of the ideas we had were:
If out door space is not available having each student at the beginning of the class choose their own indoor plant. The teacher would go and buy them and then kids could choose from a selection. Ideally all the plants would be different. The students would then research their plant and create a “how to care for” their plant sheet and a watering guide/nutrition guide. They would be responsible for their own plant. Eventually we would need to transplant them. They would teach the other kids about their plant. Cross curricular would include science, learning about plants and how they grow/survive. Math, add different soils together, measuring. Art would include drawing their paint once a month and monitoring any changes. They would write stories about their plant. Some plants might die so we can discuss that as well.
At the end of the year they would take their plant home with them for their house.
Outdoor garden spaces.
Most garden spaces at school are over run with weeds and not cared for. Or attempts to grow food are in vain and to me this instills in kids that it is difficult to grow food. Many of us grow a bean sprout but then have no where to plant it and it soon dies. What does this teach our children??
Some ideas we came up with were growing mono crops so that kids can really see a lot of one thing grow and then harvest and eat it. Fruit is also a good one as it is easier to grow and kids love it.! They also learn very well how to grow one item and can master it instead of doing an average job at many vegetables and not having enough to do anything with after harvest.
Another idea we had was getting different classes or groups within a class to focus on one item to grow. They would learn about how to grow, come up with a growing plan, write songs and poems, do art work and teach the other classes about their plant.
Some of the challenges we thought of were:
Funding, dealing with administration, dealing with the district, having to write grants, having to get permission to access and use the land, budget for infrastructure, longevity plan.
This is one of my favourite gardening songs for kids! I think the Ed’s would approve.
