Dana DeSousa, Education Co-Director
“If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.”
- Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden
This quote has always been a favorite of mine and lately has been replaying in my head each day that I am teaching. At Land to Learn, I share this philosophy with my students while we search for caterpillars on kale leaves or write recipes about pickling. Instilling the idea that a garden is where imagination, confidence, creativity and nurture grows, allows our students to recognize places where they can “tend to their garden” outside of school.
Hearing students share their family traditions of cooking with potatoes or telling a friend they grow cherry tomatoes in their garden with such excitement creates a learning environment that is fun, inclusive, safe and kind. One day when a student was exploring with a hand lens, they exclaimed “I found the coolest bug!” While this is a normal occurrence in our garden, what made this moment special was this student absolutely despised bugs! The whole class looked on in wonderment as I shared with the class that they could touch the praying mantis they had just found with a gentle finger. Would this student touch the bug? We discussed the flying abilities of bugs and how most will fly away when they are touched and it may startle them. We all watched on as our brave, bug despiser reached out a hand to touch the praying mantis. As soon as the hand came near, it took off to a nearby plant. Rather than recoil in fear or disgust the student had a huge smile on their face and chose to follow the bug to its next location. After a few minutes of reaching for and following the movement of our new small friend, garden time was sadly over. All students could talk about while lining up was their witness of bravery in the garden that day. The garden was a space where fear disappeared and curiosity took over. These moments of curiosity, exploration and encouragement among my students inspire me to educate in new ways each week. I am learning to be more brave, inquisitive and compassionate by watching their interactions. I receive more joy from my students each and every day that we share our garden world together.