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Thread: I am still an optimist about the opportunity of online school in the fall as a way to do all of the cool things that we have always wanted to do but couldn't and I encourage school administrators to embrace it. Here's three reasons why...
I need to tell a story first. When it became clear in spring that we were going on lockdown, I made the decision to put myself in my students' shoes and learn something at home, using the resources that I had. Here is the story of my learning. I hope you enjoy getting nerdy...
OK, so this is borage. It is one of the many plants that I decided to plant in containers in my yard. It looks like a weed, but people actually eat it. Most of those people live in the north of Spain and ate it out of necessity during the Spanish Civil War.
After a short historical side quest I learned that the plant is quite beneficial to it's neighbors, because it attracts bees and helps discourage Tomato Horn Worms from eating your tomato plants. I've never seen so many honey bees. They love it.
Here you can see the tomatoes and some of the other plants that the borage is chilling with. The two plants in front are perennial kale and spinach, which I planted because I became intrigued by the idea of eating perennial vegetables...
...because of their taste, but also because of the benefits to the environment and as a reliable food source that could help improve "traditional" agriculture. I went down a rabbit hole for weeks reading and learning more. Oh, and all of the plants are from seed.
I had seed trays in my office and around the house and I even grew asparagus from seed, which if I am lucky I will be eating three years from now. But for now, let's stay with the borage, and why I am pumped about online school...
Borage is filled with nitrogen and micro-nutrients that other plants need, and so much like comfrey (another plant) It is often used to mulch other plants or it is soaked in water to extract the nutrients and then the liquid is used as a fertilizer.
This is my borage "tea." The process can be really STINKY, so it is as far from the house as I can get it, but I also learned a lot about aerobic and anaerobic bacteria and because the aerobic bacteria tend to stink less...
...I installed a fish tank air pump and ran a tiny hose out to the tea so i get make sure that the bacteria can breathe. It is still stinky, but not nearly as bad. This of course sent me to learn more about bacteria and as an example how they make sourdough bread taste sour.
Here is one of the loaves that was the result of that side quest. The yeast that I gathered naturally from the environment made the bread rise, but I kept the dough in the fridge overnight to give the bacteria a chance to do their work.
So I let the borage tea sit for a couple of weeks, but I was skeptical. I wasn't sure it was going to work, so in cases where I had more than one plant of a species, I only gave it to one plant to see if it had the desired effect.
What you see in this picture are two identical leaves from two different loofah plants that are right next to each other. Incidentally, Before I started this I though that loofah sponges came from the sea, (like lots of other people.) Nope, it's a squash that you let dry out.
Anyway...the plant on the left got the borage tea. The one on the right did not. You can see the difference clearly in the color of the leaves. It has been a hard summer for both - insanely hot and dry, but the one on the left is also much bigger.
I also grow zucchini. the results are similar... here is the plant that did not get any tea...
And here is the other plant that did... I have not altered the color in these photos at all.
The second plant is also producing more zucchini, which I'm not sure is actually a good thing at this point.. (zucchini overload)
So what does this have to do with going online in the fall? Everything. I have learned a ton in the last few months and probably more science than in a year of school and I am learning more and more every day. Here are the three reasons why:
1. I have voice and choice. I get to choose what I am learning and how I demonstrate my learning.
2. I am learning by doing. I get my hands dirty. I make a ton of mistakes. (the bread took me ten tries) My learning is as experiential as I can make it.
3. I rely on information that I can find myself and experts that I can contact and ask questions. I also followed experts on social media and mimicked what others were doing...
...and I am convinced that I would have never been able to do anything like this in a "traditional" classroom. No chance.
So if you are a school administrator who is discouraged about going online in the fall I encourage you to embrace it, but not by trying to recreate what students normally do, but by doing something new. Think of that project you always wanted to dive into and go for it...
...and also ask your faculty for help. Trust me when I say that they have great ideas that they are waiting to do. Ask people to collaborate. Work together. Think big. Get help form organizations who do online education well...
And then sit back and watch how cool it can be when students get to learn in a way that they aren't use to. It will be awesome. End of thread. Thanks for letting me tell a story. So you online in the fall.
