This summer I have spent a lot of time reading, golfing, and gardening... all the while spending time with my family. I cherish most the time I get to spend with my three year old. Leah has been my shadow all summer. She would read her princess books on the porch as I read John Grisham. I would show her how to swing a club and then tee off myself and we tried our best to keep the flowers out front blooming all summer long.
While out in the huge front flower garden one early morning, I immediately went to work sitting on the strategically placed, large rocks pulling the little trees, weeds and grass. Leah sort-of helped, but was always more interested in finding worms or frogs hiding beneath the Hastas. After awhile, Leah was lost on her side of strategically placed rocks in one part of the garden and I intent on mine, when Leah ran practically at full speed out of the garden and back around to 'my' inlet. "Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom! I have to show you something. I grew a backwards flower!" said my three year old gardener/ apparent genetics engineer.
I laughed a bit and figured it must be a big bud for the blooming Lilies, but I got up and said something like, "Okay, Leah, let's go check it out." Instead of a bud, I found the above Lily. All proud, with her garden-gloved hands on her hips my daughter announced, "Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom... it's colored backwards!"
And, well, she was right. We talked about how the Stargazer Lily plant that Grandma 'Dell bought me must have cross-pollinated with the 20+ white Lilies that I planted behind it years ago.
(Work with me Science-saavy, this was the best I could do to explain without Google-ing... and she asks a lot of questions.)
We went through the "whys" and "how comes" and I explained that the "big word" cross-pollinated meant that all of the good things from the white Lilies (like their height and strong scent) and the good things from the Stargazer Lilies (like the shading of both purple and white and darker leaves) and made a new kind of flower. By no means did we set out to get this sort of genetically modified Lily in my garden, but it really looked cool. I thanked her for being a good investigator (we had a pretty big stint watching Sid the Science Kid this spring).
We ran in the house... grabbed the camera and magnifying class, took a picture (or 20), posted it on Facebook and Leah took all there credit for the amazing backwards Lily. The impromptu science lesson was fabulous. Her curiosity was sparked!
It is pretty amazing to think that these things happen in nature without anybody in a lab making detailed, strategic, genetic alterations to make this 'backwards Lily'. Being from South Dakota, we all know about the amazing genetically modified crops and have you heard of the Non-Browning Apple? Science continues to amaze me. Daily.
But, there is a point to this, I promise... I think about all of the strategies we use as teachers on a daily basis to try to help each student in the classroom reach their fullest potential. Just like scientists in a lab, teaching is a strategic science that takes a long time to master (until you get an entire new class or standards, that is).
When planning, teachers consider multiple intelligences, individual education plans, behavior modifications, curriculum alignment, and content standards... to name a few. When I bring a new idea into the plan with technology in the classroom, I don't want it to be something that requires genetic engineering or a DNA altering of a teacher's planning or classroom strategy. Rather, technology in the classroom should strive to be something that comes and makes the classroom a more effective and interesting learning environment.
I want you to consider: Would my garden have been a loss if Leah hadn't discovered the backwards Lily? No. Not all. I still loved the time I spent with Leah in the garden all summer long. And, we would have surely missed our own "Sid the Science Kid" investigation that came from it!
Can we accomplish teaching students without technology? Yes. Of course. But, will it give students the 'spark' of interest that they get everyday with the technology many students are forced to unplug when they come into the classroom?
So, I ask you to look at your classroom. How can you naturally integrate technology into your current classroom? How can you take the best of your teaching strategies, your tried and true lessons/ units and combine them with the technology you have access to for your classroom? What will that classroom look like? It might be backwards, but with some ingenuity it will be just as beautiful (and effective) as the original.
