Latest / The Grammar of Classical Education / Week 134: Containers of Minty Delight | Small Shifts - Lasting Formation #11

Transcript

Week 134: Containers of Minty Delight | Small Shifts - Lasting Formation #11 · The Grammar of Classical Education

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SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Grammar of Classical Education,
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SPEAKER_00: a podcast that examines the philosophical foundations of classical education,
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SPEAKER_00: and then seeks to help classically minded educators bring those ideas to life
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SPEAKER_00: in their classroom, co-op, or homeschool settings.
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SPEAKER_00: I'm your host,
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SPEAKER_00: Dr. Darlene Gomes, from Leading to Wonder, and I am so glad you've joined us today.
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SPEAKER_00: Welcome back, or welcome if you're joining us for the first time.
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SPEAKER_00: This week we are continuing our time in the garden,
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SPEAKER_00: where we have seen small shifts make lasting formations.
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SPEAKER_00: And my goodness, what a delightful collection of plants we have seen.
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SPEAKER_00: From the Boston ivy of wonder that opens our garden to the beautiful climbing roses
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SPEAKER_00: with trellises that must be tended to the bright-faced sunflowers that follow
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SPEAKER_00: the light of our liturgies.
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SPEAKER_00: We've been reminded about the importance of contemplation in our field of lavender
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SPEAKER_00: and have been encouraged that growth isn't always seen,
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SPEAKER_00: especially when we look at our precious peonies that grow and bloom in their good,
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SPEAKER_00: sweet thyme.
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SPEAKER_00: We've appreciated the somewhat gnarled but still fruitful teachers as demonstrated
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SPEAKER_00: by our small grove of olive trees.
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SPEAKER_00: And we were faced with the reality that even the best tended gardens need to deal with weeds.
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SPEAKER_00: Last week,
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SPEAKER_00: we looked at the wonderful fellowship of ferns that spread
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SPEAKER_00: across our little wooded area.
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SPEAKER_00: All with jobs on different layers from the forest floor to the top of the canopy,
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SPEAKER_00: yet all necessary and many interconnected for the good of the whole.
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SPEAKER_00: This week we leave our wooded area behind and travel back
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SPEAKER_00: through our beautiful sprawling garden.
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SPEAKER_00: As we walk,
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SPEAKER_00: you may notice for the first time
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SPEAKER_00: that there are beautiful containers spread out here and there along the path.
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SPEAKER_00: What is it?
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SPEAKER_00: You take a good strong whiff and, oh, it's mint.
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SPEAKER_00: No wonder you could smell it before you actually could see them growing thick
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SPEAKER_00: in their heavily glazed pots.
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SPEAKER_00: They are oddly set apart from the surrounding flowers.
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SPEAKER_00: And as we walk through the garden,
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SPEAKER_00: you begin to realize that these pots actually are spread throughout
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SPEAKER_00: the entire garden.
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SPEAKER_00: Not in the ground like all the other plants, but in these very strong concrete pots.
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SPEAKER_00: You take one more sniff.
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SPEAKER_00: So delightfully minty and refreshing.
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SPEAKER_00: But it's odd that they aren't just planted in the ground like everything else.
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SPEAKER_00: And therein lies our connection to teaching.
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SPEAKER_00: You see, mint is possible.
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SPEAKER_00: Those small things that bring life to our teaching are powerful.
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SPEAKER_00: But because they are so powerful, they must be intentionally cultivated and tended.
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SPEAKER_00: Now, we recognize the value and importance of mint in our everyday lives.
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SPEAKER_00: It's a garnish.
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SPEAKER_00: It's the cup of tea you have when you're feeling under the weather.
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SPEAKER_00: It's a smell that energizes.
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SPEAKER_00: It's never a required thing.
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SPEAKER_00: It's just a nicety that makes life a little better.
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SPEAKER_00: In our teaching, it's the little niceties, like quiet music to start the day.
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SPEAKER_00: Brain breaks where we head outside for just a few minutes in the middle of a busy day.
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SPEAKER_00: It's the short happy emails that we may send home or the special themes that we have
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SPEAKER_00: in our classroom or even the special activities that we do to go along with lessons.
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SPEAKER_00: While adding the delight to our classroom, these things aren't actually required.
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SPEAKER_00: They're that extra little minty add-on that makes our teaching fresh and engaging.
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SPEAKER_00: I know, some of you may be thinking, yes, that is the fun stuff we get to do as teachers.
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SPEAKER_00: Let's add that to our garden.
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SPEAKER_00: In saying that, you would be so much like our professional gardeners.
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SPEAKER_00: How be it?
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SPEAKER_00: They understand something about mint that we as teachers in classrooms
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SPEAKER_00: and kitchen tables, we so often overlook.
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SPEAKER_00: While we may be tempted to plant mint directly into the ground of our garden,
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SPEAKER_00: the wise gardener would say, wait a minute, wait a minute and think this through.
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SPEAKER_00: No, he is not saying that to make us get rid of our minty delight in the classroom
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SPEAKER_00: or co-op or homeschool setting.
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SPEAKER_00: He is saying it because as much as he loves mint,
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SPEAKER_00: he has a better idea of just what that tiny little mint plant can do.
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SPEAKER_00: He doesn't want you to avoid adding those special moments into your classroom.
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SPEAKER_00: He just realizes that if you put mint directly into your classroom,
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SPEAKER_00: little bits in the soil here and there,
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SPEAKER_00: before you know it, you will have mint literally everywhere.
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SPEAKER_00: In other words, Proceed with caution when adding the minty delight to your days.
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SPEAKER_00: Because as the pro-gardener realizes, it isn't just that he doesn't like mint.
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SPEAKER_00: It's that he loves the whole garden more.
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SPEAKER_00: And here's the issue with mint.
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SPEAKER_00: It grows and propagates very, very quickly.
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SPEAKER_00: Our gardener knows those sweet-smelling little mint plants can push their roots one
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SPEAKER_00: to two feet deep and can travel several feet a year
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SPEAKER_00: with new plants popping up everywhere.
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SPEAKER_00: When you try to trim them down after they've started growing,
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SPEAKER_00: if you leave even a tiny fragment of root as small as 2 millimeters,
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SPEAKER_00: the mint plant will be able to grow an entire new plant and it will now continue
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SPEAKER_00: to spread.
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SPEAKER_00: That's just the roots spreading.
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SPEAKER_00: A gardener knows that above ground,
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SPEAKER_00: part of the plant will have trailing stems and
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SPEAKER_00: That can take root anywhere they land.
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SPEAKER_00: Meaning they will easily escape the garden border and will creep over garden paths
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SPEAKER_00: and break into brick.
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SPEAKER_00: Now, with that mindset, let's shift to our educational environment.
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SPEAKER_00: Earlier, we listed a set of minty ideas that we add to our classroom.
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SPEAKER_00: Things like quiet music to start the day,
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SPEAKER_00: brain breaks outside,
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SPEAKER_00: short happy emails that we may send home,
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SPEAKER_00: special themes that we can enjoy,
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SPEAKER_00: and fun activities we can do along with the lessons.
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SPEAKER_00: I'm sure there are hundreds of other things that you can think of that would fit
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SPEAKER_00: into that category.
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SPEAKER_00: Today, I am not here to say you need to get rid of all of your minty niceties.
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SPEAKER_00: What I want to remind you is that our professional gardener reminds us
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SPEAKER_00: of something we need to consider as teachers,
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SPEAKER_00: that those special little touches are Can sometimes grow wildly out of control,
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SPEAKER_00: taking over both our teaching time and our mental processing time.
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SPEAKER_00: Let's take a look at a little minty nicety that can end up being a major invasion.
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SPEAKER_00: Again, these aren't bad things.
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SPEAKER_00: We just have to be very mindful of our minty little plans.
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SPEAKER_00: How about sending home the occasional happy email?
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SPEAKER_00: It's a great idea.
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SPEAKER_00: A sweet little minty freshness that encourages a whole family.
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SPEAKER_00: But we need to have a system, a simple procedure, a heavy cement pot, if you will.
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SPEAKER_00: Without our structured system,
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SPEAKER_00: before you know it,
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SPEAKER_00: that plan for an occasional happy email turns into, I'll send one every day.
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SPEAKER_00: No, wait a minute.
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SPEAKER_00: I'll send two happy emails every day.
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SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
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SPEAKER_00: I'll send one to the whole class every week.
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SPEAKER_00: And then there's the week where you don't.
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SPEAKER_00: Or more often, you can't.
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SPEAKER_00: What happens then?
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SPEAKER_00: The minty nicety has begun to take over your time and your mind and you feel guilty
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SPEAKER_00: and overwhelmed.
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SPEAKER_00: Yep, that sweet little mint has taken over your space.
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SPEAKER_00: That's just one example.
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SPEAKER_00: For both gardeners in classrooms and at kitchen tables,
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SPEAKER_00: a theme for a season becomes a full-blown theme for a month.
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SPEAKER_00: Which means every decoration and activity has to match that theme.
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SPEAKER_00: Which means you have to force everything imaginable to fit into a theme.
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SPEAKER_00: And, well, of course, you can't keep the same theme for the following month.
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SPEAKER_00: So the entire process begins again.
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SPEAKER_00: And the mint wins.
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SPEAKER_00: You see, mint, when allowed free-range...
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SPEAKER_00: Reminds me of a nightmarish experience similar to If You Give a Mouse a Cookie,
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SPEAKER_00: only retitled to If You Give a Teacher a Theme.
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SPEAKER_00: Remember, the professional gardener likes his mint plants, but he loves his garden more.
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SPEAKER_00: My fellow educators,
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SPEAKER_00: we need to remember the principles are the same in our teaching environment.
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SPEAKER_00: What can start out as a sprinkle of well-contained minty ideas,
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SPEAKER_00: if left untended,
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SPEAKER_00: can take over everything,
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SPEAKER_00: our time,
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SPEAKER_00: our energy, our brain space, and those special things lose their specialness.
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SPEAKER_00: Remember, we aren't aiming for impressive.
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SPEAKER_00: We're working toward formation with delightful little mintiness thrown in,
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SPEAKER_00: in beautiful little cement containers,
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SPEAKER_00: as it were, spread throughout our entire garden.
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SPEAKER_00: You see,
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SPEAKER_00: special minty delights can never replace the ivy of wonder,
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SPEAKER_00: the climbing roses of learning,
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SPEAKER_00: the contemplation of lavender,
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SPEAKER_00: the bright sunflower faces moving toward truth, goodness, and beauty.
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SPEAKER_00: Mint can make the whole experience a bit more delightful.
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SPEAKER_00: But like the gardener,
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SPEAKER_00: We must remember that mint is a wonderful addition to our garden but only
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SPEAKER_00: when it is carefully potted and tended.
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SPEAKER_00: So ask yourself, what mint has brought joy to your classroom or homeschool setting?
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SPEAKER_00: What touch of mint has Has quietly become an expectation or burden.
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SPEAKER_00: Are you cultivating it?
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SPEAKER_00: Or is it cultivating you?
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SPEAKER_00: And possibly the most important question,
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SPEAKER_00: does this practice truly serve the formation of your students?
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SPEAKER_00: Or has it become an invasive species taking over the time and energy better devoted
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SPEAKER_00: to the garden and the gardener?
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SPEAKER_00: Remember, minty delights have a special place in any teaching garden.
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SPEAKER_00: They only call for tending by a wise gardener.
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SPEAKER_00: Who likes the mint, but loves the garden more?
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SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for joining us today.
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SPEAKER_00: I trust that whatever your teaching situation,
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SPEAKER_00: whether it's in a classroom or co-op or homeschooling,
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SPEAKER_00: that you have found these ideas not only encouraging, but challenging as well.
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SPEAKER_00: You can listen to all of the episodes of The Grammar of Classical Education
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SPEAKER_00: on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
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SPEAKER_00: I also have available a weekly teacher's newsletter that includes some teacher tips
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SPEAKER_00: and freebies.
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SPEAKER_00: You can sign up for that at the Leading to Wonder newsletter found at darlenegomes.substack.com.
16:22
SPEAKER_00: To learn more about me and Leading to Wonder, please visit the website leading2wonder.com.
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SPEAKER_00: No spaces.
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SPEAKER_00: I encourage you to reach out if you have any questions or if you're interested in
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SPEAKER_00: the virtual or in-person workshops that I offer for schools,
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SPEAKER_00: co-ops, homeschool educators, and parent groups.
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SPEAKER_00: Again, my name is Darlene Gomes, and thank you for joining us.
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SPEAKER_00: Until next week, remember, as E.B.
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SPEAKER_00: White said, always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.