The Truth About Teaching...

No one really wants to believe this, and please don't accuse me of not caring or giving up or nit giving my very best to my students.

 Teachers do little more than plant seeds and tend the garden. We're not really supposed to do much more than this, I think.

 Using an agricultural analogy, there is plowing, planting, tending, harvesting, and reaping.

 Parents or caregivers plow during the first few years of a child's life. I have reservations about a child going to school before age five as I see it important for the parent and child to bond and prepare the child for school.

 Some say parents can't do this, so pre-K at very young ages have begun. But we must be cautious of taking over the role of the parent, yet we have seen this shift taking hold.

 Once in school, teachers begin planting. Some "seed" is knowledge; other seeds are motivations, encouragement, and other things that will help the child mature into a responsible, productive person.

 Too often schools (and education enterprises) focus on having a harvest and reaping the results that will not come for years after our students are gone.

 Teachers plant the seeds and tend the garden we hope will lead to a mature harvest for someone else - usually an employer - and students will reap the benefits of the seeds we planted.

 iPhoned
 From R. Murry

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