Week 3 – Day 2

Magali and Lauren here, signing on for our last blog post (*sniff sniff*)! It's time for some reflections...

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Magali: 

What we did during this CFE inspired my teaching a lot. I would love to bring many of the things we worked on into my school and classroom. Overall, the main idea that stays with me is that we need to bring the students outside, and we need to teach differently. I acknowledge that we have a huge problem with engagement in science, and it has a lot to do with the fact that how we teach is not engaging enough. If you ask students in high school, most of them will tell you that science is difficult and stressful, many of them will say that science is boring, and some of them will say that science is great. And all of them would benefit from having more engaging lessons. Gardens are a way to enrich our classes, provoke the students’ amazement and curiosity, and can help us greatly with engagement.

I also see some challenges to the idea of having a garden at school and taking my students out in the garden to teach. The first one is that it is not an easy project to build. Lots of paperwork, lots of obstacles coming from the administration, lots of risks. And of course, a huge time commitment! I really want to build such a project in my school, but I don’t think it would be realistic to do it during the first three years of teaching. I feel we need to feel comfortable with the job and the material before starting such an ambitious project. The second challenge is the weather. I understand that Meghan has super powers and takes the students outdoors all year round, but I don’t think I would enjoy doing that myself. When the weather is nice the experience is so different. But with the cold and the rain… I am a little more cautious. That is why beekeeping makes sense to me: you are out with the bees only if the weather is nice! So I will have to work on that aspect!

One last idea that I take with me is that when you tend a garden in a school, you think you are growing vegetables, but actually, you are growing kids! :)

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Lauren: 

What a wonderful time we’ve had on this CFE! I'm grateful to my fellow TCs, the CFE workshop facilitators, and the entire Orchard Garden team for the wisdom you have sprouted (pun intended!) these past couple of weeks.

Today, as we continued planning our Saturday workshop, it struck me once again how important it is to engage with teachers from different disciplines. We are an eclectic group, composed of English, French, Social Studies, Biology, Physics, and Art teachers... and I'm all the richer for it! Gardens are such naturally interdisciplinary spaces that one can’t help but find unexpected connections: the way bee ecology relates to both dictatorship and democracy, for instance, or how weeding is eerily similar to the trials and tribulations of revising poetry....

Like Magali, I have been thoroughly inspired by the different facets of garden-based learning we’ve explored. I too, however, also have lingering questions and reservations, namely with regard to classroom management. The thought of shepherding thirty 12-year old students outside alone is still a daunting prospect, and I’m sure it would take some time to establish some tried-and-true strategies for redirecting behaviour. This being said, though, I have long thought that many of the behavioural challenges teachers face in the classroom (aggression and antsiness perhaps chief among them) would be positively addressed through more outdoor time–– more time and space for kids to breathe, think, be. The very notion of “classroom management” would then need to be overhauled, depending no longer on the confines of four walls, a few windows, and a door.

While I've been incredibly fortunately to spend a couple of weeks at the UBC Orchard Garden, a great many schools, neighborhoods, and communities continue to fight for their land and food sovereignty. These issues are much vaster than I understand, and I won't be able to do them justice here. But I do believe that gardening is inherently political–– a way of strategizing and offering solutions. 

I remember once reading a quote by the gardener-author Sydney Eddison: “Gardens are a form of autobiography.” We might also say that the health of our soils, our flora and fauna, is the biography of our communities. That’s a noble story to hold, and I look forward to exploring it with my students.

Thank you, Orchard Garden!

Workshop planning - Day 1

 Hello all,

     As Amy noted, today was spent in the brainstorming phase of planning for our Saturday workshop. My post this week will contain 3 different discussions:

1.      A “CFE Dictionary” that I put together along with help from Susan and some others on the CFE team

2.      An update on what my role has been in the planning of our workshop

3.      A brief note about the garden I visited on my break this afternoon.

Firstly, the CFE Dictionary. Over the course of this CFE we have had the chance to learn so much about gardening. I have been collecting a list of terminologies that were new to many of us as an example of learning that takes place in a garden:

CFE Dictionary

 

·        Adventitious Root: A root that forms adventitiously, outside of the typical root base of the plant [Chris wanted us to plant the tomato stems deep in the ground so that adventitious roots would grow in the soil]

 

·        Allium: A genus of flowering plants which includes chives, garlic, onion, and leeks. [With the chives on one side and the garlic on the other, it was tough to label the alliums because they were not in one place]

 

·        Annual: A plant that completes its life cycle within a growing season then dies [Most sunflowers are annual plants]

 

·        Crown: The base of the plant, where the stem meets the roots [We were instructed to prune the bush all the way down to the crown]

 

·        Dye Plant: A plant used for making dyes. [The newest bed in the Orchard garden will contain dye plants]

 

·        Perennial: Plants that regrow each year during a particular season. [The lemon balm in the garden is a perennial]

 

·        Skein: A length of loosely coiled and knotted material [Susan taught us to wrap our blackberry bark into skeins]

 

·        Trowel: A small handheld gardening scoop for lifting plants and dirt. [The trowel was used to add compost to the small hole where the tomato vine would be planted]

 

Secondly, a few words about what I am contributing to the Saturday workshop. I am involved with the team who is making clay guardians to place in the garden and allow to breakdown and deliver nutrients to the soil. Jesse et al. will be dealing with the artistic elements of this, and my skill set makes me well equipped to explain some scientific concepts related to the breakdown of the clay guardians and the reintegration of the clay’s nutrients back into the soil. A summary of the broad areas I have been notetaking on thus far:

v  Breakdown of the clay guardian involves two geological processes:

o   Weathering: the process of wearing or being worn by long exposure to the atmosphere

o   Erosion: the process of eroding or being eroded by wind, water, or other natural agents

v  Potential nutrients contained in clays:

o   Depending on the clay may contain high levels of calcium, iron, copper and magnesium

v  How does soil rich in clay help plants grow?

o   High exchange of Cations (positive ions)

o   Better at holding onto:

§  Nutrients

§  Fertilizer

§  Pesticides

I think these are some interesting discussion prompts/ideas that could help teachers to see the connection between the activity (largely visual arts) and the Science. This is one example of how gardens support STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) integrated classrooms.

Finally, even though I was pleased we decided to have an online workday I do admit that I missed the garden. For this reason, I went on a hunt for some interesting gardens in my community and I stumbled on this exhibit at Central Park near my home in Burnaby, BC. Enjoy the pics!

Signing off for now,

     Gio.

 

Week 3 Day 1

 Alas, this marks the beginning of our last week at this CFE.
Today our groups are busy brainstorming and putting together our plans for our big WORKSHOP this Saturday! We have some really cool activities lined up for you, make sure you make it!

Since today is spent planning our weekend workshop, and since I don't want to share any spoilers, today I thought I would blog about various plants in the UBC garden. Last week I covered some weeds (or, unplanned plants) so today is about the planned ones.

The Empress Tree (paulownia tomentosa) -- aka Princess Tree

- A beautiful tree native to China, where historically it was used for oriental, medicinal, and timber purposes. 

- Used for timber, you say? Oh yes. This tree grows FAST. It can grow up to 15 ft in a single year!

- Not only that, but this tree is often found growing in areas that are normally difficult for other plants, like steep rocky slopes. 

- It is so durable, that it actually thrives in poor soils, and is even "drought and pollution tolerant"

- Because of it's fast growing and hearty nature, it is actually an invasive tree that is "destroying native ecosystems from Maine to Florida and Texas, as well as the Pacific Northwest"! 

Invasive? Destroying?? But it's such a gorgeous, elegant tree!

.... kind of makes you think twice about what you call "weeds" now, doesn't it? ;) 

(link) : more info found here

Bamboo (chimonobambusa tumidissinoda)  aka Chinese Walking Stick

- Another plant native to Asia, and another fast growing timber!
(Today, most of UBC's bamboo originates from China)

- You may already be aware, but bamboo is being looked at as a sustainable solution to the timber industry because of it's speed of growth. 

- Bamboo is almost as strong as steal! This makes it a much more eco-friendly option for building purposes.

- There's only one draw-back: it absorbs a lot of water. This, over time, will cause it to wear down in a way that steal wouldn't. 

- So while you wouldn't want to build the frame of a skyscraper out of it, you could still use it as the "wood" flats of a decorative roof and the like.

- Another use for bamboo is to grow as a "fence" between lots. A friend of mine does that on her property; it gives her privacy, all the while acting as a living organism providing oxygen and nutrients for the garden.

- Much like our Empress Tree, bamboo can also be very tricky to maintain. It can grow to full maturity in only 90 days! And once you have shoots in an area, it's nearly impossible to rid it. So my friend who uses it as a fence will forever be "pruning" her fence to keep in under control. Great for if you're looking to use it for timber purposes, though!

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So how would we use this information in the classroom? It would be my intention to increase students' attitude on what exactly makes something a "weed", and how can we move into a mindset that holistically understands the ecosystem from more than just the human perspective. It's a bit of a colonial mindset to assign certain plants as always "useful" or always "weeds", when in fact there may be more factors at plat (For example, dandelions are great pollinators for the bees!)

Again taking a step back from what we think we know as humans, I would ask the students to try to even consider the large, majestic Empress Tree as a "weed"; I know I would have a very hard time doing so while standing under its greatness. 

I would ask the students to imagine how an untamed bamboo may affect an ecosystem. I am a huge advocate for increasing the use of bamboo as timber, and for ending the reign of deforestation, but I would hope the next generation would be critical thinkers who try to look at all factors, even in a "good idea". 

-Amy

Week 2: Day 5 - UBC Botanical Garden

Hello wonderful people! Jessie and Greg is back for another post this week on our morning stroll at the UBC Botanical Garden. 

Jessie

This week was one of the most inspiring weeks I've had in a while! All of the content and knowledge I've learned and retained has been deeply connected to my teaching pedagogy. I feel very educated and motivated. :) Outdoor education has been something I've sort of (-ish) thought about before, but not seriously until now--the concept of it is just so smart and relevant. It's able to be utilized in just about any subject area, and I find that it's quite centred on relational and multidisciplinary learning (which is what I'm all about!). I really enjoyed the school visits in Steveston yesterday because we saw outdoor education in 2 different ways: elementary and secondary levels. Though they are of all age groups, outdoor education is outdoor education and like any other subject, it continues to grow students and foster a more holistic and centred approach to things year by year. I can definitely see myself utilizing outdoor spaces as much as I can in the future! I think it'd also be pretty cool to have a couple classes outside together at the same time and do an interdisciplinary project; something I'm thinking about is language arts and visual arts, or biology and visual arts. Why not math and visual arts too?! This could open up so many doors and create some interesting opportunities for classes and teachers to collaborate more.

In terms of today, it was also an inspiring journey in the UBC Botanical Garden. It was delightful and it was a pleasure to walk through the landscape. While walking, I wasn’t trying to think a lot because I know that my mind would distract me from the information my eyes and ears were receiving, but I couldn't help but let my mind wander with me. I took trips down memory lane while being educated in the medicinal garden (as explained in a bit). At first when we walked around the garden, I mainly focused on the aesthetics and the looks of the plants--I tried to see if I could recognize any but I really couldn't! I read the plaques and admired the poetic English it was written with, but I resisted from touching the plants as the sign had warned us about the effects of some plants. Though we couldn't touch them, some scents were fragrant and it was difficult not to soak it in. Many of my senses were stimulated and I just let my mind focus on them because I think it’s a great way to feel connected to what's around me and to feel grounded. I think we should all take advantage of any opportunity to do that! Connecting it back to the holistic learning, I feel that outdoor education is able to allow stimulation of more senses as opposed to a classroom, therefore making the education more memorable and impactful. In terms of the relational learning, when we regrouped at the garden and Susan gave us the handouts of the different plants and their medicinal uses, I began to realize that I have existing knowledge of some of these plants already! I didn't realize, but I’ve used many before without knowing. Coming from a Chinese background, my grandparents had an abundance of ancestral knowledge of Chinese herbal medicine and had actually introduced many of these to my life when I was younger… but in Chinese! There are benefits from certain plants that I know of, but am unaware of how the plant looks, or I know the name of the plant in Chinese, but am unable to name it in English. Thinking about it now, that’s actually something that I should work on, but it was at this moment, I was reminded on how important relational learning can be. I felt so much more engaged and connected to the material we were learning about. Now I won't ever forget a lot of the things we talked about in the garden, like the importance of sage thanks to Susan's story! Something also worth mentioning is how we had conversations and discussions, rather than lectures to learn. Conversing is honestly an effective method of sharing knowledge and it's definitely story telling at this point.

Anyways, I could ramble on about these things, but the main takeaway is that through this week, I've reinforced so various methods and concepts within my teaching pedagogy and have even expanded it as well! Yay to interdisciplinary, collaborative, and relational learning! 

 

 Greg

Today, we visited the UBC Botanical Garden. A botanical garden is a collection of plants from around the world brought from their native soils to a new setting. Much like a zoo, it is a colonial idea to bring back exotic species and share them with patrons of a home locality, usually Europeans.

The areas of the Garden that we visited today included the Food, Asian, Alpine and Herbal Medicine Gardens. In the Food Garden, we saw a number of edible plants that would eventually be donated to homeless shelters in Vancouver. It is great to see the space being put to a worthy cause. There was garlic, lettuces, and fruit trees as well and many more varieties to boot.

At the Herbal Medicine Garden, it felt as if we where being transported back in time. The descriptions of the plants written in Early Modern English from old medicinal guides from the 16th and 17th centuries spoke of forgotten names for diseases modern medicine has made largely obsolete.  

Birthwort.
“Not only provoketh vomiting but purgeth downward. Profitable for the dropsy and jaundice.”  

Although the use of many of these herbs for ailments have long since been replaced, there are still many household herbs that we still use today for common ailments. Garlic and oregano for the common cold, ginger for stomach aches, or chamomile for falling asleep are all common herbal remedies alive and well today. What other cures and treatments await us in the natural world?

Photos

 

Our ecopoems

 

On the second day of our CFE, Dr. Jo Price led us in a wonderful ecopoetry workshop. Here are some of the beautiful poems that members of our group wrote, individually and collaboratively, in that short workshop, along with photos of some of the garden beings that inspired them!

Week 2 - Thursday May 26th

 Hello! It is Lexie and Caelan here again. Today the Orchard Garden CFE took a trip to Richmond to visit two different school gardens. 

Our first stop was at McMath Secondary, where Ms. Philpots and the CFE students at McMath showed us around their awesome garden and learning spaces. On the property, they have a settler veggie garden, an Indigenous garden, lots of outdoor learning spaces, and more plans in the works. It was very inspiring to see how much they have done to create a variety of functional outdoor learning spaces. 

The school Indigenous garden is an educational space dedicated to supporting plants that want to be in the ecosystem. There are placards with the plants’ names in English and French, and they are in the process of consultation to record the hǝn̓q̓ǝmin̓ǝm̓ names as well. We were impressed with the amount of place-based decisions going into the learning and outdoor spaces at the school. Ms. Philpots showed us activities that integrated the histories of the specific land the school is placed on. 

The Indigenous Garden at McMath 

Ms. Philpots explained the value of having different types of learning spaces for students and teachers outside. Some spaces may lend themselves well to group work, while others are more suited to lecture-style instruction, or independent reflection. McMath has a tremendous instructional area in front of one of their gardens with seats made out of logs and even a whiteboard! This space is similar to one inside the classroom, so it helps to break down potential perceived barriers to learning outside. 

One of the outdoor learning spaces at McMath Secondary. 

After our trip to McMath, our group visited Tomekichi Homma Elementary where Ms. Regan gave us a tour of their garden and outdoor learning space. We also got to observe her teach a class outdoors on healthy eating! 

One thing that we really noticed was how structured the chaos of learning outside was. The students clearly knew their routines and expectations. They listened respectfully when it was time to listen and enthusiastically explored their outdoor classroom when it was time to explore!

Before it was playtime, each student got a pak choi seed that they could plant in the garden. This small and simple act made them co-gardners and it was so cute to see them get excited about planting something themselves. It was exciting to see that even though the students don’t yet know about the more complex aspects of gardening, they are still learning the basics that can develop into a practiced skill as they get older. As Secondary teachers we hear the word “scaffolding” a lot, however, in our age demographic the beginning step usually requires some degree of background knowledge which is then developed upon (such as reading or writing). It was eye-opening to see scaffolding happen at this age when the building block is as simple as putting some seeds in the dirt. But knowing how deep to plant a seed, the difference between plant and weed, and that weeds need to be pulled up for the root at an elementary age is more than I knew, and is such a great and simple foundation they can take with them into the future. 

A chalkboard that teachers can use when teaching outside at Homma Elementary. 

Ms. Regan had set up many choices for students as a part of their class. She had tables set up for journaling, drawing, reading, and playing with toy food. She also gave students the option to weed, and we were pleasantly surprised to see that weeding was the most popular choice! As teachers, we know that choice is an important aspect of giving students autonomy in their learning. It was great to see how choice can be structured in an outdoor learning environment. 

One of the Garden boxes at Homma Elementary. 

Stations that were set up for the students in Sarah’s class to explore healthy eating. 

Loose parts that students can play with in the outdoor classroom. Students seemed to particularly love the rubber tires. 

At the end of our visit with the students at Homma Elementary, they had the opportunity to tell us about what they do outside in their class. The students were excited to tell us about how they play, learn how to garden, and eat lots of great produce. It was apparent how much the students enjoyed their time outside. 

One question that came up several times throughout the day was what do you do when the weather is not cooperating? The overall response we got from Ms. Philpots and Ms. Regan was to set the expectation for the students that they will be outside rain or shine, and have extra weather-appropriate gear available. Homma has a lending library where students can take and leave outdoor gear to share. Ms. Philpots said that she keeps rain ponchos available in her classroom for students. This is a great suggestion for teachers who are trying to get their classroom outside even when it is wet or cold!

Week 2- Day 3 - Wednesday May 25

To begin our day today, we tried our hand at coding - though without any of the matrix-like technology one might expect. As someone who still feels lucky to have scraped by in highschool math, I have to admit the idea of doing anything even closely related had sweat beading down my forehead on what was already a very humid day. Shockingly, I made it through Erica’s exercise unscathed and actually came out with some new knowledge of my own! However, this elation only lasted so long as I dragged Leo and Evelyn down with me during our human robot exercise where I became our own Dr. Frankenstein of a very advanced robotic version of Loving Leo on his quest to find my water bottle. 

Although we’re all adults, and Erica was surely right to trust in taking this exercise upon ourselves, my own silliness (and clear misunderstanding of the task at hand!) reminded me of the importance of scaffolding. Throughout practicum, I would think that I had everything totally thought out. I knew which exercise connected to which was coming next and why. I knew how they called back to competencies and how they slotted into my assessment. However, despite my desire to plan everything to the very last detail, there were still moments where students would misunderstand, have gaps in their knowledge, or find entirely new and brilliant ways of interpreting the task at hand. Even as an adult and a would-be teacher, I watched myself take a relatively straight-forward task and completely miss the mark. Today challenged not only my historical self (absolutely fearful of math) but also my current one. 

Post-eco-coding, we were treated to an unbeelievably insightful presentation by one of our fellow Orchard Garden teacher candidates, Magali, about bees and beekeeping. Magali was our guide into the wild and beeautiful sociopolitics of our much-needed and much-maltreated apian friends: much was learned about the particular difficulties of maintaining hives in rainy Vancouver, the capitalistic horrors of global industrial apiculture, the complexities of bee swarms, and the structures of beehives. 

Magali’s’ passion was clear from the get-go and she commanded our attention ‘till we broke for lunch. That bee populaces, in swarms, employed a rudimentary form of dance-based direct democracy to determine the best location for their new hive was almost beeyond beelief. Similarly fascinating to learn about was the phenomenon wherein a hive’s queen, failing to uphold her end of the bargain in providing for the community, would be ousted by her fellow breethren in a violent coup d’etat known as a supersedure. I truly could not beelieve how intricate these communities were! 

And then Magali talked about the tragic struggles currently beefalling the earth’s bee populations - how industrial beekeeping is failing to protect these wonderful critters, manipulating nature and natural selection to suit humanity’s needs. We do not let the bees die, as they are sometimes meant to, and this prevents the natural flow of living things - we turn capital-N Nature inside-out and upside-down to serve our needs without caring of the consequences. I will consider this if I ever come to tender a school garden: am I manipulating Nature? What are the consequences of my gardening? What am I doing to the soil, the trees, the flowers, the crops, the worms and beetles and bees, all beeings big and small in every nook and cranny of this world? What does it look like to strike a balance beetween wildness and agriculture? How do we honour the natural world as we take from it? 

After Magali’s presentation, we were Scarfe-bound to cut, de-branch, de-thorn, and de-bark the stems of blackberry bushes. It was prickly business, but the hard work was worth it to gather the bark to bee used as a natural weaving material. So - consider how we were taking from nature here: did we strike a balance? 

Day 2 of Week 2!

Hello again everyone! It's Magali and Lauren here. We're happy to be here!

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Magali:

Common sense: the ability to think and behave in a reasonable way (Britannica dictionary).  Our life should always include a large amount of common sense, because it’s comforting, empowering, reassuring. But today, we did something fascinating: we defied common sense. Today, we took the elevator to go garden outdoors :)

“Roots on the Roof” is a UBC club in charge of taking care of a beautiful garden located on the roof of the Student Nest. Carly, a young and determined freshman at UBC, introduced us to the beauties of this elevated garden where buttercups and dandelions grow together with garlic and kale, unaware that their roots are located 6 floors above the surface of the earth. In this garden, we also discovered purple lupins, milk thistle, spearmint, radishes, Swiss chard and grass. It is hard to tell who’s the weed… it depends on the perspective. The bees definitely enjoyed the thistle more than the Swiss chard! Bringing soil to roof gardens can be challenging, especially when the budget for the garden is very limited. But Carly showed us how the club produces soil right there, on the roof, composting weeds in large bins. I was surprised to learn that it takes only 12 months to make soil from weeds and branches; what a cool way to teach sustainability to our students! Next to the classic “soil garden”, we found an experimental hydroponic garden, where a few plants didn’t just grow on the 6th floor of the building, but also grew in tubes without soil…. Gardens are magic!

While weeding the garden beds, we talked about universities, immigration, English tests and philosophy. We discovered that the philosopher Simone Weil was one letter close to becoming another great woman (the one who legalized abortion in France). This might have been considered an old historical issue, if only some recent sad events with our Southern neighbours had not turned it into a contemporary question that exists at the very center of freedom and equality for 50% of the human race. Gardening is growing, for the plant… and for the gardeners!

The weeded bed at Roots on the Roof.

The rutabaga harvest!

Gio giving his favourite rutabaga some love.

Lauren: 

In the afternoon we also engaged in lots of hands-on work: watering the garden, preparing and planting the dye bed, transplanting raspberry bushes, and planting spinach and bok choy (which, as we learned, can also be called pak choi). The time seemed to fly by! 

Something I have really appreciated about being in the garden is that it works over both the body and mind. Many of the tasks are physical, certainly, but also require great creativity and imagination: the alchemy between seed, soil, elements, and environment is a delicate one, and is best led with an open mind, keen eye, and gentle hand. 

Strangely enough, I have a special affinity for weeding; it keeps the hands busy, but leaves the mind free to wander and daydream. As Magali mentioned, while weeding one bed at Roots on the Roof, Magali, Chris, and I had a wonderful conversation about poetry, as well as the French philosopher Simone Weil, whose work we both love. (Curiously, one of her most famous works is entitled L’enracinement, or The Need for Roots!)

I asked Chris whether he thought that poetry was more external––a visual and acoustic event proffered by the writer––or rather more internal, something that takes place in the mind upon reading or hearing a text. It occurs to me now that a garden is also a phenomenon experienced in two directions: how we interpret a plot of land depends as much on what is already there (whether it is heavily overgrown with “weeds” or carefully planted with rare species, for instance) as on our own attitudes or orientations to that land.

As someone who has taught creative writing in a wide variety of contexts, I am wont to believe that literature is an orientation––that even a cereal box might be considered poetically, in the right hands. The same is true of our approach to flora and fauna: I am much more likely to see the possibility in a heavily overgrown patch in my own backyard, than in a heavily overgrown patch along a highway. 

In that sense, plants respond to the attention we pay them. Watering, weeding, planting, transplanting––all of these activities are a form of conversation, of attending to. In fact, Simone Weil famously wrote that “Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity,” almost akin to prayer.

The gang preparing the bed for spinach and bok choy.

The spinach and bok choy all tucked in!