Greenhouses

It’s that time of the year – people start to get wound up about flowers, grass, and new plantings.  After a long winter, you just can’t help yourself.  It’s okay – no 12 step program is necessary.  You’ll notice more ads about trees, seeds, and plants.  You may also notice greenhouses more.  The greenhouses that you saw operating throughout the winter are really “Hothouses” because they have sufficient heat for the plants to grow. Greenhouses have been around since the 13^th century and were called botanical gardens.  You see that term being used today, but not typically with a greenhouse.  Greenhouses are structures with both the walls and roof made of a transparent material.  There is a huge size variance.  These are placed with full sun exposure. Solar radiation passes through and is absorbed by whatever is on the inside.  You know, that photosynthesis thing.  The purpose of greenhouses is plant growth. 

Schools should be greenhouses of learning growth.  But, what is it that we want our student to grow in?  The obvious answer is that we want them to grow academically.  Okay, fine.  What the heck does that mean?  Does that mean higher grades? Higher test scores?  Higher levels of understanding? Mastering the standards?  All of these are good except for the grade part because I can tell you that after 37 years in education, I have no clue what a grade actually means as there is much variance among classes and teachers.  How about student growth in these ways: (1) Growing in their  competence in the world – that is why real-life examples are so vital in the classroom. (2)  Growing in managing emotions – do we really want the middle school “drama” to be present when these kids are older?  (3)  Growing in learning to think for themselves – eventually, you have to tie your own shoes.  (4) Growing in working with others – unless they want to pull the Hermit’s card, working with others is inescapable.  (5)  Growing in their relationships – those awkward “tweener” years need to go away sometime, right? (6) Growing in a purpose – getting them ready for their careers. (7)  Growing in integrity – that “Do what is right…avoid what is wrong” theme provides a good moral compass.   And you thought we were just growing academics.