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Transcript

Garden Check-In (Week 15): The Gardener Must Look Up · The Grammar of Classical Education

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Greetings and salutations, my fellow educators.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: This week on our podcast and newsletter,
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: we talked a lot about the rain,
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: the God-determined interactions that we cannot control or plan.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: We looked at how it benefits our students and in actuality benefits us as well.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: With all of the talking about the weather,
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Got me thinking,
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: how often do we ever even look up in the context of our classroom, our garden?
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: As a gardener would constantly be checking the soil,
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: looking for weeds,
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: examining growth,
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: monitoring the minty delight that seeks to run rampant through the garden.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: It would be easy for the gardener to have his eyes down all the time,
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: never once looking up to see the rain or even to enjoy the sunshine.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Oh,
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: teachers, how similar can we be in our own little educational garden?
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Our eyes are down in the lesson plans,
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: looking at the papers to be grading,
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: looking at the stack of things that needs to be addressed.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: If we look up,
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: it's very often to look at the clock,
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: feeling time either plodding along or the calendar with dates pressing us down
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: under looming deadlines.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: So the question must be asked, When was the last time you looked up?
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: That you enjoyed the weather,
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: the rain,
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: the sunshine,
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: maybe even a beautiful snowstorm,
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: things in your classroom over which you have very little control.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Sure, there's the metaphorical lifting up your eyes and looking around,
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: but How about the real honest to goodness looking around at your delightfully quirky
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: and yet beautiful garden?
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Whether it's just your one precious little flower sitting in front of you or
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: a room full of interesting wildflowers, lift up your eyes.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Whose smile comes a little quicker?
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Whose answer has gotten a little deeper?
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Who has begun to actually be able to sit still for the whole minute and
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: a half explanation before an activity?
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: What child is making progress in their most dreaded subject?
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: What student actually said sorry when they knocked into a neighbor's book?
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: A sorry on accident?
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: That has never happened before.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: But because you were looking up, you noticed it.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: You see, there is amazing beauty happening in and around your classroom every day.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: You just need to look up to see it.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: But sometimes you need to raise your eyes a little higher.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: What has the Lord been doing in the lives of your students?
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: How about in your life?
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: What sunshine has he seen fit to send?
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: What much needed rain?
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you even had a beautiful snow day.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: By the way, when talking about our classrooms, these snow days aren't always full days.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: They could be just that cool,
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: refreshing moment of beauty that drops into your room as suddenly and as magically
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: as an overnight coating of snow.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: This week, oh goodness, this year, make it a point to look up.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Not because there isn't work to be done or because weeds don't matter.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Not because grades will enter themselves.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: But because the garden is more than just things to be tended.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: It is the amazing joining of a diligent gardener and the work of a good and gracious God.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: I look forward to joining you next week as we begin the wrap-up
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: of our garden series, Small Shifts, Lasting Formation.