Producing a Crop

I have a fascination with farm fields; especially those with a full grown crop.  The straight rows of corn seeds planted that one could walk through in April becomes a forest of growth in late summer .  I admire farmers.  They work hard at cultivating the soil, planting, ongoing field maintenance, and of course, harvesting. That latter task is beginning throughout the Midwest at this time and will continue until the last rows of field corn are brought to the elevator. Producing a crop takes more than just an acknowledgement that a field exists.  That vision will leave you hungry.  Producing a crop takes cooperation – the cooperation of the farmer, hard work, and a great deal of time.  The soil has to be worked, seeds need to planted and much care provided along the way.  A good yield does not happen automatically.  Farmers have to work at it every single day.

It’s the same in teaching.  Producing positive results, whatever that looks like, takes more than just acknowledging that there is a class in front of you.  That acknowledgement alone will not produce anything. Like crop farming, teaching that produces positive results takes cultivating, ongoing maintenance, and cooperation.  “Cultivating the soil” in a classroom may involve establishing positive relationships with your students – that is excellent “fertilizer”.  It can also involve engaging your students from the first second they stroll into your classroom. Engaged students produce positive results.  “Ongoing field maintenance” can include using informal and formative data to inform your instruction…that’s the academic side.  Continuing to build and maintain positive relationships is also included as well as making sure that your own ”field” (classroom) has the proper goals, decorations, and information centers.  Finally, “cooperation” in teaching is like a three-legged stool – one leg representing the teacher, a second representing the student and the third representing the parents. Lose one of those legs and that stool wobbles or falls.  Work hard at making the kids see the correlation between daily and long-term goals.  Work hard at talking with parents and making them part of the total team.  All of these things together will yield a tremendous crop that shows outstanding growth prior to the harvest.  Teachers have to work at it every single day.

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The Browns host the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.  After the butt-whipping put on us last week, I am ready for a victory.