Isn't that a beautiful flower? I hope that no one was traumatized by the bee in the middle of the flower, but the bee is relevant to what I want to share today. My daughter is allergic, but we are pretty calm about seeing bees. I hope you are too.
This afternoon I was visiting the local orchard which is 5 minutes from my home. This orchard has been, and is being, run by 4 successive generation.
I have always enjoyed this orchard, and now I enjoy it even more as I have taught two of the children from the family. Today as I was leaving with my purchases I stopped to take a few photos to share with all of you, and I noticed the bees everywhere.
Then I smiled.
You see bees are essential to an orchard, and bees are dying off at alarming rates. These farmers have already been hit by a cold snap that killed all, yes all, the soft fruits for this season (peaches apricots, nectarines), and hail. Those soft fruits won't be back for harvesting for 4-5 years, and hail, well that happens all too often. And did I mention the drought?
So what does this have to do with teaching?
Well, you see, just like teachers, farmers have to love the work they do enough to survive the challenges with which they are presented, and to create systems and structures to protect them through the hard times.
So, these farmers:
planted flowers everywhere to attract the pollinators.
bought more land to diversify their crops.
built a store and other attractions to draw visitors to their orchard.
give tours of their farm to teach us about where our food comes from.
used their own produce to create the jams, jellies and sauces to sell in their stores.
This didn't happen overnight, and it was definitely a LOT of work, but they are able to support multiple generations and others in the community.
Teaching is like this too.
everyone expects you to do a good job and roll with the punches.
you will need to build resources and learn strategies over time to meet the needs of all of your students.
you will need help from others to see you through the tough times.
helping the parent community to understand what you do will likely make your job less stressful
finding evidence-based tools and resources that do more with less will help you to sleep at night.
Today's blog post and video are about those kinds of resources. Color-by-code worksheets do so much more than just practice the skill they are focused on, and today I want to share with you exactly what they achieve.
Today's blog post and video are about the many ways color-by-code worksheets support your students with so much more than just the skill they are practicing.
Thank you for sharing your time with me today! If there are any questions you have, please let me know.