How I used Plants to Build Sense of Responsibility in My Students?
I have always loved plants. While I was at my home, we had lot of plants around. Being around plants gave me positive vibrations and I loved it. Plants gave me medium to think and to reflect. I would spend time just looking at the plants. Plants require a lot of care. For a plant to grow properly, we need to pay attention. We require correct amount of water and other nutrients for plants to grow. This built a sense of responsibility in me as a human being. I was responsible for that plant and its growth. Later this sense of responsibility helped me to join Teach for Nepal as a fellow to end education inequity in our country.
When I joined fellowship and started teaching in a rural public school, I found students not paying attention to studies despite coming to school. They were taking everything as a granted. Dirty classes, torn notebooks and disrespect were the main problems. We decided to experiment by assigning our students some tasks that involved doing something, that they could see it. They could feel it growing and a sense of achievement obtained. Here are the few techniques that I used to build sense of responsibility in my students.
One Tree My Responsibility
Our school garden was huge but empty. There were not even a single flower or trees. On one occasion we planted 100 Asoka trees. We all of the teachers, including guests and students planted all the trees. The event was finished and all of us went home. From the very next day, the plants started dying not only because of the natural reasons but also being picked and broken by students and children. They did not seem to care about the plants.
One day we team of teachers decided to give each plant to students. We called our students outside in a row and gave them chance to choose one tree that they would like to nurture. They were also required to make a name plate that included the name of the plant and the person who was handling it. After some days, it was seen that students would compete against each other by bringing manure from their home for their plants. The result of this act was that at least for a plant, students had beginning to pay attention. This was the start.
Birthday Plant
Birthdays are fun. It seems that birthdays get children excited. Each day someone had a birthday in our school. They used to bring chocolates and distribute among their friends and teachers. Their friends would gift copies, pencils and teachers would wish them. It was a kind of culture. Every student did the same thing. We wanted to make their birthday memorable.
What we did was, we gifted a plant to the student whose birthday was on that day. The student would plant the tree themselves and care for that. This trick not only made their birthdays memorable but also, helped to make the school green along with a plant for them to look upon. They would at least once visit their plant and spend some time with it. It was fun, when some of them even started talking with the plants.
Care the Garden
Rigorous study routines made the students bore and uninterested towards study. As we had a lot of plants in our school, the green surroundings made the mood light. We used to give free time to our students everyday for a certain time. In those times, they would care for their plants along with work for some time in the garden. Some students described it very amusing and enjoyed it. Caring for the garden also helped them to know about the soil, plants and flowers. They could see how insects survive, how plants grow and how soil change.
Grow your own Food
All of the students came from agricultural family. They were mostly involved in tobacco farming. No any other vegetables were grown. Everyone was dependent on vegetables grown in adjacent Indian villages. Tobacco farming was also harming their health. We introduced growing food in our school. Each class would choose a vegetable and grow it. That class would work for full cycle of the crop. From planting seeds to harvesting it, they would look after everything. We started it as a pilot project with a single class of senior students and with later plans for lower level students. The main advantage with this piloting is that students got curious about the vegetables that could be grown and the possibilities it presented to them.
Gamala Girls
After our garden was full of trees and flowers, our corridors were left. We brought flower pots to plant flowers and decorate our corridors. We also handed this responsibility to our students. Most of the girl students were interested in planting flower in flower pots. School used to provide a pot and students would bring flower from their home. The flower would be of their choice. They would even write their name on the flower pots. The interesting part of it was that, each plant that was included in our course of study was found in the garden of our school. It also became easy for me as a science teacher to give perfect examples about lessons on plants and soil.
Plants integrated Curriculum
Having a garden in school was the most beautiful thing. It was an open laboratory for science lessons. Most of the times, I would take students outdoor and would give them some assignments that were related to plants. In the above picture, students are studying the parts of the plants. Studying the plants gave them idea about how the plants functioned. Often they would relate the plants with human beings. They would analyze the similarities between the plants and human beings. It built the skills such as observation and analytical skills.
