Trees

The oldest tree in Lake County, possibly in the state of Indiana, has been declared dead. How do you declare a tree dead?  Is there some sort of tree coroner who “barks” out instructions to “branches” while getting to the “root” of the issue?  Trees are dead when they fail to produce the possibility of new life – when they no longer produce fruit (nuts/acorns).  The tree is a bur oak and is thought to be between 500 and 800 years old (the same time period that the Browns last won a championship – beat you to it).  The tree is located at 2800 W. 57^th Ave. in Merrillville and really is something else.  I cannot imagine that when the tree was fruitful, how many acorns it produced.  Now it is the ultimate “spooky dead tree” that I am sure will be the center point of many photographs between now and the 31^st. Take a drive and see it – tell your kids that the Keebler Elves live there.

Like trees, we are called to be fruitful in what we do.  No, we won’t drop acorns and no one will have to cut us open and count the rings to determine our age.  I don’t even want to know about core samples…The fruit that we must produce are students who have grown from one year, one semester, one quarter, one unit, one week, one day from the previous.  As I presented on Wednesday, now that is measured with actual growth data.  We have to be fruitful.  We have to produce.  So, continue to use your formative data to plan for changes in instruction.  Glean information from Wednesday morning time.  Use what I am trying to teach you during Lunch and Learns.  Do whatever it takes.  Be fruitful.  This is always good fruit:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  We’re not growing trees here…we’re growing kids!