Mackenzie's "Multicultural School Gardens" - Entrance Slip

Reading the article reminded of my school gardening experiences way back to elementary years. School food gardening is never a new trend especially in Asia. Unfortunately, school gardening had a very negative personal impact on me as an elementary pupil. I studied at a primary school in the Philippines, where school gardening is so common due to the wide areas of fertile land and perfect climate. The sound of the school bell after the day’s classes, signifies time to keep our books and prepare our bolos, gloves, and tiny stool as we’re going to head out to the gardens to water the plants, weed, sweep and burn dried fallen leaves and anything the teacher wanted us to do. As a child, I considered it as an impractical endeavor while I see it as child labor and exploitation. We did gardening to maintain the cleanliness of our school and at the same time beautify the school’s vacant spaces. The good thing with our gardening sessions was the opportunity it gave me to socialize and make bond with my classmates and friends. We came from different backgrounds and it was just amazing how we teach each other our own learned-style of weeding or making soil plots or paddies. Our gardens were one of the best assets our school had but how I wish they were used to create a space for learning.

http://www.agricultureph.com/2016/08/php20-million-allotted-by-da-for-school.html

The article of Amy-Cutter Mackenzie about “Multicultural School Gardens” left me with dreams… the ambition to bring back time and change our schooling system (very ambitious).

I really like the idea of creating school gardens as a learning space that supports cultural diversity. As Mackenzie emphasized in her paper, food gardening creates a positive atmosphere for learning especially for newcomer immigrants who are learning to adapt to the new language, culture, and environment. Last class we've tackled about introversion and extroversion, and I think multicultural school gardens can be a good strategy to help newcomers overcome their introversion, the mix feeling of social anxiety and exclusion.  Interestingly, BC has beautiful outdoors, which, I believe, are really great educational resource.

Teaching and learning process usually takes place inside the classroom, lab, or lecture halls, which most of the time makes students bored and sleepy. I am currently reading a very good picture book titled “Asap Science: Answers to World’s Weirdest Questions, Most Persistent Rumors, and Unexplained Phenomena” written by Mitchell Moffit & Greg Brown. In the chapter “What If You Stopped Going Outside?”, the author explained that being in nature can have mental and physical effect on the body and researchers saw that when people looked at scenes in nature, their brains exhibited more activity in the regions associated with stability, empathy, and love. In short, we shouldn't just spend the days of our lives sitting inside our huts, lets go out to smell the air breeze and feel the heat of the sun. I’ve always thought that curriculum and pedagogy are the most vital components of teaching. But there’s a missing link ---- the “place” where learning occurs is of equal importance.