Turning soil, pulling weeds, and harvesting cabbage sound like tough work for middle and high school kids. And at first it is, says Abby Jaramillo, who with another teacher started Urban Sprouts, a school garden program at four low-income schools. The program aims to help students develop science skills, environmental awareness, and healthy lifestyles.
Jaramillo's students live in neighborhoods where fresh food and green space are not easy to find and fast food restaurants outnumber grocery stores. "The kids literally come to school with bags of snacks and large bottles of soft drinks," she says. "They come to us thinking vegetables are awful, dirt is awful, insects are awful." Though some are initially scared of the insects and turned off by the dirt, most are eager to try something new.
Urban Sprouts' classes, at two middle schools and two high schools, include hands-on experiments such as soil testing, flower-and-seed dissection, tastings of fresh or dried produce, and work in the garden. Several times a year, students cook the vegetables they grow, and they occasionally make salads for their entire schools.
Program evaluations show that kids eat more vegetables as a result of the classes. "We have students who say they went home and talked to their parents and now they're eating differently," Jaramillo says.
She adds that the program's benefits go beyond nutrition. Some students get so interested in gardening that they bring home seeds to start their own vegetable gardens. Besides, working in the garden seems to have a calming effect on Jaramillo's special education students, many of whom have emotional control issues. "They get outside," she says, "and they feel successful."
I was about 13 when an uncle gave me a copy of Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World. It was full of ideas that were new to me, so I spent the summer with my head in and out of that book. It spoke to me and brought me into a world of philosophy(哲学).
That love for philosophy lasted until I got to college. Nothing kills the love for philososphy faster than people who think they understand Foucault, Baudrillard, or Confucius better than you—and then try to explain them.
Eric weiner's The Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers reawakened my love for philosophy. It is not an explanation, but an invitation to think and experience philosophy.
Weiner starts each chapter with a scene on a train ride between cities and then frames each philosopher's work in the centext(背景) of one thing they can help us do better. The end result is a read in which we learn to wonder like Socrates, see like Thoreau, listen like Schopenhauer, and have no regrets like Nietzsche. This, more than a book about understanding philosophy, is a book abour learning touse philosophy to improve a life.
He makes philosophical thought an appealing exercise that improves the quality of our experiences, and he does so with plenty of humor. Weiner enters into conversation with some of the most important philosophers in history, and he becomes part of that crowd in the process by decoding(解读) their massages and adding his own interpretation.
The Socrates Express is a fun, sharp book that draws readers in with its apparent simplicity and gradually pulls them in deeper thoughts on desire, loneliness, and aging. The invitation is clear: Weiner wants you to pick up a coffee or tea and sit down with this book. I encourage you to take his offer. It's worth your time, even if time is something we don't have a lot of.
My family and I never talked about school as the ticket to a future. I was in the classrooms, but I wasn't there to learn to write, read or even speak. When it was my turn to read, I wanted to hide. I was 13 years old, but I already hated being who I was.
I had an English teacher, Mr. Creech, who knew I couldn't read. In one of my first lessons the teacher said that anyone who had a reading age below six had to stand up. I felt so embarrassed. But at the same time, it made me realize that I needed to change the situation. I was determined that it wouldn't happen again. Later that day, Mr. Creech encouraged me and promised he would try his best to help me learn to read. From then on, I never gave up practicing reading.
Now I was 41 years old. One day, I planned to fly back to Texas to visit my friends and family. On my way from the airport, I saw Mr. Creech buying himself a drink. I rushed over and reached into my pocket to pay for him. "Do I know you? "he asked. "Yes, sir, you do know me, "I answered excitedly. "My name is Anthony Hamilton. You taught me English. "The look on his face told me that he remembered the boy he'd once encouraged.
"I'm so glad I had a chance to see you, "I said. "And Mr. Creech, I have great news to share, "I told him I had learned to read. But that wasn't all. I had become a published author and an active speaker. "The next time you get another Anthony Hamilton in your classroom, please encourage him to read as well, "I added.
The experts say what once worried me has a name: dyslexia. But I can tell you it was a lack of desire for education.
Growing up, Steph Clemence didn't live in any one place for long because her mother was always on the move. By the time she was a senior in high school, Steph had lived in 25 places. Still, she had good grades and thought she would be going to college. But when her father died in a car accident, leaving her mother to support three daughters, paying for college was out of the question.
Steph found a job and tried to work out what to do with a life that had deviated(偏离) from the plan she'd carefully laid out.
The answer came one afternoon when she was cleaning her drawer (抽屉) and found a handout titled "Mrs. Clark's Book List." It was from the English teacher she'd had in her junior year at McKenzie High School in Vida, Oregon. One afternoon, Mrs. Clark walked into the classroom carrying a pile (摞) of handouts. She asked each student to take one. It could be a road map, she said. "Some of you mightn't go on to higher education," Mrs. Clark said, "but you can continue to learn." She'd spent months creating a list of 153 books from the United States and abroad.
Steph studied the list. And so it began. "I was hopeful and decided to improve myself," Steph says. "I would read every book in the order they appeared."
Over the years, the reading list was a constant (不变的事物) in her life, traveling with her even on vacations. When the original (原先的) list wore out, she typed up a new copy. And then another.
Now Steph is 70, and she never did get to college. But she has only four books left to read from the list. She expects to finish them sometime in 2023. "Each of the books has added something to who I am and how I see the world," she says. "They've opened so many doors for me about the environment, history, etc. I'm no expert, but I now have the background to see why things happened and what they might mean."
When I was in the fifth grade, my teachers first discovered that I could not even read the first grade books. They didn't think this kind of problem could happen to me since my father was a famous scientist. My parents sent me to experts, trying to find out what the problem was. My IQ was high, but I had severe problems in learning. They discovered that I was dyslexic (诵读困难的). I was lucky that my parents cared enough to find a way out for me.
When my parents went to Ford Country Day School and sat down with Brent, a teacher in the school, he agreed to help without thinking twice. My family was not rich and I was allowed to go to school free of charge because my mother drove some students to school in the morning in her car. I do know, however, without Brent reaching out to my family, my life would have taken a turn for the worst. Brent and my parents decided to have me retake the fifth grade in the next school year.
I was afraid of going to school with my difficulties in learning, but Brent's kind and loving support helped me slowly learn to grow andovercome my learning disability. Ford Country Day School has become the most important turning point in my life. The foundation that Brent gave me has in many ways set my direction in life.
I went to Japan to live with my brother for one year right out of Ford Country Day School. I was in an international school in Tokyo. If I had not had the experience in Ford Country Day School, I would not have been able to survive in Japan. I count myself as one of the truly lucky people having been touched by Brent's caring and love.
It starts with pencils, Clayton Nylund would like his students to bring them to school. But it's all right if they don't. Nor do they have to worry about notebooks or rulers, Nylund says, "My students are only expected to provide two things for my class: themselves and a focused mind," He finds donors to help with the supplies, and also he pays for some himself.
Nylund, who was recognized Thursday as Hillsborough County Teacher of the Year for his work at Blake High School, is all about helping young peopleexcel in science and technology, regardless of their learning style or background. He noted that "achievement gaps are complicated (复杂的), and so are their solutions."
From the Pinewood Derby cars that students design and build in class to the science and engineering competitions that Blake has entered and won. Nylund stresses technology-rich, hands-on projects that allow students to feel included.
"I have found that if students are offered non-traditional opportunities to achieve, greatness will grow within them, they will begin achieving in new ways, and there will be no limit to what they can realize," Nylund said. What's more, he has found that their scores improve on standardized tests.
Nylund, 39 and a teacher since 2011, was one of three educators who took top honors at Thursday's ceremony (仪式) at the David A. Straz Center for Performing Arts. "I did not see this coming," Nylund said twice, accepting his award, Nylund's award was announced last in the program. He thanked the four principals he has worked for in Hillsborough, his parents, his wife and coworkers. "Teaching is hard, but it's meaningful," he told the audience. "I never go into Blake thinking my day is going to be easy."
Sometimes one plus one does equal three, as was the case when McNee, a basketball coach, met Mandekic. When Mandekic, a math teacher, told McNee how hard it was to get students excited about math at a gathering, he suggested, "Why not throw in something they enjoy, like sports?" "You are kidding!" Mandekic dismissed his idea at the moment.
The idea of mixing basketball and mathematics got its first shot two years later, when Mandekic and McNee, the now colleagues - who had launched a tutoring non-profit - were invited to run a summer-school program for kids who'd failed Grade 9 math at Vanier School.
When the students showed up for their first day, they weren't exactly thrilled. Over the next few hours, Mandekic and McNee gave the kids techniques to improve their shooting while also helping them calculate their field-goal percentage - which, in turn, taught them math knowledge. At the end of the game, the winning team was determined based on which group had the highest total percentage and had done the most efficient math. "When the bell rang, they were so focused on collecting their data and figuring out which team won that they didn't leave," says Mandekic. The classes, later named BallMatics, soon spread to other schools.
Later, McNee and Mandekic established a private school called Uchenna. At the school, kids with excellent basketball skills study all subjects, train at their sport and work part-time helping out with the BallMatics after-school programs. For the school's first graduates, the value of BallMatics is clear: all of the 16 boys landed university scholarships for their performance in the classroom, not on the court. "The school's commitment to academics is the key reason for our success. The coaches would bench students who didn't keep up in class." Abbott, one of them, says, "At Uchenna, we were student athletes, after all, not athlete students."
