Ginger Calhoun- Creating 'Strong Root systems"- 30 years and counting

"After more than thirty years as a school psychologist, some days I feel as if I have more questions than  answers.  While many, many things have changed in schools, some things are still the same.  We aim for success and, like a gardener, we tend our plants, providing all the nutrients that our young kindergarten seedlings need to develop a strong root system.  Sometimes our plants are drowning because of too much water. Some of our plants don't get enough sunlight because they are shaded by the faster growing varieties.  Some plants grow better in bright light, some in sandy soil.  It's a simple analogy.  It could be enlarged to describe the innumerable types of plants, each with their own function and worth: in that way a school  is a  garden with vegetables, flowers, trees, bushes, all valuable in their own way.  When a garden is left to chance, when it is left untended, then its future is doomed.  A plant may be a climber that needs a lattice.  Branches may need pruning to make a tree stronger.   The gardener provides what each plant needs.

The thing that all gardens need to flourish is a resolved gardener.  One that isn't daunted by seven days of rain, or a late frost.  One that will hoe and weed and water, again and again, and yet again.  A gardener that doesn't tire or give-up.  One that will  search for  remedies for a blight, and will eradicate pests.  One that doesn't just dig up the plant when a few leaves turn brown.    

Master gardener equals master teacher. 

Having a teacher that communicates individually to a student  that she or he can achieve a skill, and helps it become "do-able" by making just the right modification or teaching strategy needed, is providing the fertilizer that the child needs to grow.   Teachers are great gardeners, but any adult that conveys care and regard for a child and affirms their confidence in the child's ability to learn, is a gardener.  In my thirty plus years I have learned that all plants have value, all do best in conditions that are good fits for their individual growing needs, and that each one does best with close attention and confidence in its ability to flourish. It's the same for school children."
Ginger Calhoun

We are all so fortunate to have you on our staff Ginger! You offer a great deal of wisdom and insight to us all! Thank you for all the small things you do to help our WFSCS students grow!