Given our glowing new GreenGold Enviroschools status, I thought it appropriate to try to apply some gardening wisdom to teaching practices! Both are about growth and, at core, relationships. Here goes, using permaculture principles nicked from the New Zealand Gardener image used with kind permission of the ODT Observe and interact Getting to know your garden will help you make better decisions. An easy one. Substitute “garden” for ‘students’ (and “self”, “colleagues”, “community”). I like this version too: “The farmer’s footsteps are the best fertiliser.” Catch and store energy: Not just water and sunlight, but also biomass and fertility. Ideas here anyone? Perhaps reuse and recycle resources - colleagues’ and one’s own? Having great morning tea food and conversations? My grandfather’s version was “Don’t bust your boiler”. Obtain a yield. Every plant should have a useful role to play. Hmm. Probably a good approach to scrutinising one’s teaching resources. Or maybe it could be restated with a bit more faith as “Every human does have a useful role to play”. Apply self-regulation and accept feedback. Listen to both positive and negative feedback from nature .. and from people! Enough said! Use and value renewable resources: Make the best use of renewable natural resources. This one seems very close to the advice to catch and store energy. Both come from a deeper respect for the processes and complexity - of natural and human productions, culture, and thought. Produce no waste: Recycle, reuse and compost. In nature, there is no “waste”. Everything is valuable to something. That understanding applies equally to experience: all is learning. Design from patterns to details: Look for and replicate the patterns you see in nature. Our inspiring Curriculum could be seen as the larger pattern, from which our units and lessons flow. The whole and the parts imply each other. Integrate rather than segregate: Create synergy between plants. And departments, all staff, learners…get those chatty girls working on something they’re all passionate about! Use small slow solutions: Good design takes time. Good design also needs imagination and some courage, but develop inquiry cycles based on careful observation and preserve what works well already. Use and value diversity: A more biodiverse garden is a healthier garden. Our core value of “respect” is active, not passive. ![]() Use edges and value the marginal: Nature doesn’t waste space, so plant “edges” of ponds or plants to increase biodiversity. This could be about noticing those quiet or quirky kids and paying them nurturing attention. This and the previous principle are also about allowing the”‘wild” to remain in our gardens/lives, in some areas. Giving ourselves personal time to play and just “be” is creative, energising, required. Creatively use and respond to change: Be flexible! Rigidity does not last long in nature. Flexibility needs grounding. The pace of change in our material and cultural worlds (eg especially climate change, technology replacing humans and deep human interaction) requires us to hold even stronger onto core values of caring for each other and the world to which we all belong. ~Nicky Chapman Words in bold and italics taken directly (p 37) from McCarrol, J. 2016 New Zealand Gardener Fresh from the Garden. The ultimate guide to growing your own organic fruit and vegetables. Auckland: Fairfax Magazines.
Images sourced from Google free to use images.
4 Comments
Nicky Chapman
2/6/2017 02:15:07 pm
Thanks for putting in all the gorgeous images, Rowan!
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Amy-Lee
2/6/2017 02:16:24 pm
Very cool Nicky. I love a good metaphor and these are some lovely ones to encourage me to be reflective on my practice. Thanks!
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Regan Carroll
2/6/2017 02:21:46 pm
This is awesome, Nicky! I agree with Amy-Lee about the metaphors! :)
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Rosie Joyce
2/6/2017 02:39:22 pm
This is awesome Nicky!
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