Mulch

My newly planted vegetable garden is thriving under its bed of mulch. For several years I have only put mulch on this garden. I use old rotted hay, sawdust, compost, vegetable parings, grass clippings, spanish moss, dried cow pies, leaves and whatever else comes to hand. When the time comes for planting, I make rows or holes and plant the seeds or seedlings. This way, I have very few weeds, and I get wonderful crops. Mulch!

A wonderful teacher in my school a number of years ago described her teaching as "mulch". This teacher, Ann, said that she introduced such a number of things to her kids, took them on field trips, had so many wonderful projects going in her classroom because she looked at it as mulch. "They won't remember everything, but they'll have it as mulch for their brains."

Intellectual mulch is having had many many experiences, opportunities to ask and wonder and get competent. Mulch is being read to on a daily basis, going out to look at the natural world, listening to experts, feeling free to ask any question, going on field trips, dropping everything to go and see something wonderful happening such as a pod of manatees in the bay or interesting birds in the trees.

When I went in to visit my old school I could see the tracks of mulch. Last week we had an earthquake in Florida, an amazing event! Immediately, the teachers perceived this as a teachable moment, not to be dismissed. They got in some experts, put up maps of plate techtonics, got a unit going about this and volcanoes! Kids were doing projects on volcanoes and the movement of plates. The kids were excited and wanted to tell me about this.

At the public school where I volunteer, my day was wonderful too. There was some breakthrough on reading (I think.) But in this place of no windows to the outside in any way, no one brought up the topic of the earthquake or anything else that was happening in the outside world. The theme of the week was "teeth", not to be trifled with. The mulch was so thin! (In the teachers' lounge there is no newspaper, no periodical, nothing!)

In the beginning of the day these kids look at the t.v. monitor, pledge allegiance to the flag, sing an off-tune rendition of "My Country 'Tis of thee", and get down to business. And the business is FCAT, nevermind that they are developmentally really too young to be readers.

These kids need to be mulched! They need to play, to paint, sing, dance, play with blocks, to create their own games. They need to get outside and exercise their bodies. They need to look at the natural world, wonder at ant lions and butterflies.

But there isn't time. Jeb and his bro say that no child should be left behind.