character education | What's not to like?

From the beginning, our parent-led garden club decided to be completely open with the development of the garden. We had no agenda, hidden or otherwise, in what the garden would eventually look like. Our plan was to create the stage (mulch the pathways, amend the soil, build a shade structure, renovate the gazebo) and let it grow from there.

One reason is that we didn’t want teachers to feel any pressure whatsoever; the other reason is that we understand how creativity works. Too many predetermined conclusions equals very little room for interesting things to happen.

The breast cancer awareness garden was one of the first projects to spring up. A parent and teacher were in conversation about cancer diagnoses in the lives of their friends and family. As Marisa writes,

The conversation gave me the idea to create a garden bed that could bring awareness to people, memorialize our loved ones, and also be a character building activity for the students. Then, in a Family Circle magazine, I came across an article about a woman making a difference in Maine. Robin Whitten founded the Pink tulip Project which raises awareness and funds for women’s cancer research. I registered us as a potential garden site for the Pink Tulip Project and then sent out the website to everyone that I knew. The students were encouraged to send out emails to their family members also. After receiving over $250 in donations on behalf of our garden bed, the organization sent us 100 pink tulip bulbs to plant. Mrs. Younces’s and Mrs. Cauzza’s second grade students planted the bulbs after Kathy and I dug out the bed in the shape of a ribbon.

It is one of the most beautiful elements of our garden, and it is starting to come up this week. The ribbon is mulched with red bark and lined with stone. Daffodils are planted in the center of the ribbon.

Photos courtesy of Marisa McFedries

Often, the clear-eyed observation that “gardens are hard work” is an argument given for NOT starting a garden. I believe, however, that this truth is one of the most compelling reasons to (ahem) dig in if you hope to teach character education.

In the spring of 2010, Julian Elementary won a National Schools of Character award from the Character Education Partnership. As such, a team of staff, teachers, and one parent (moi) attended their national conference last year to accept the award. Funding had been made available to produce a 10-minute film highlighting how character education is taught at the winning schools. We hired First and Main Media, and they produced a gem of a video, which is now featured on the CEP’s website.

After attending the conference last year, I noticed that the idea of school gardens as vehicles for character education was absent from the three-day series of workshops. As such, I returned to the conference this year with colleagues to lead a session entitled “Gardens that Grow Character.”

The intersection of gardens and character education is a theme I plan to explore periodically on this blog, and I thought I’d lay down some history, starting with this film. If you’re in a hurry, the garden makes an appearance at minute 6:20.