Growing Learning Communities

Impact of GLC On Teachers Over the four years of the project, GLC worked with 171 teachers and 7schools. The program had a dramatically positive impact on the teachers involved. The GLC staff did an excellent job of establishing relationships with participating teachers, teaching them to use Lesson Study techniques and how to use the school garden as a resource for learning and creativity. As a result, teachers' overall attitudes towards teaching improved. Lessons became more flexible and useful across the curriculum. The teachers involved were seen by GLC staff to have made observable transformations into leaders at their schools. Teachers maintained that the GLC program allowed them to feel good about teaching, to connect to other teachers, and to become more creative. In addition, the teachers became familiar and even enthusiastic about the idea of mentoring and being mentored. They found that having a garden coordinator, a resident expert mentor inspired them and was extremely helpful. Mentoring helped to create a community of practice so that teachers could support one another (Experienced Garden Teachers Focus Group and Interviews with Principals, October 2007). On Students The positive impact of GLC on the teachers filtered down to the students. Teachers were taught the dynamics of student learning. Seeing the spark in children's eyes when a concept clicked with them became a goal in the classroom. The focus was shifted so that it was on the students. Teachers began to listen to them attentively, and to ask engaging questions. Evaluation showed that students were actually grasping the material more readily than previously. (Experienced Garden Teachers Focus Group, October 2007). Teachers perceived that their own excitement about the GLC program was transferred to the students. They reported seeing increases in their students' involvement and interest in science and math. (Experienced Garden Teachers Focus Group, October 2007). On Parents and the Community It was primarily the garden component that brought parents and the community into the school. Parents and friends participated in school garden work days and helped to obtain in-kind contributions to the garden program. Teachers and staff alike saw much room for growth in the area. We need funds to support additional parent education efforts at partner schools. Our work has shown that parents are a critical component supporting school gardens and that they benefit from parent education programs offered at their children's schools.(GLC Staff Reflections Report, September 2007). As one staff member put it: The success of this effort was largely the result of dedicated staff with a clear vision of what needed to happen and who were willing to hold onto a long range vision and set of goals for the participants and students (GLC Staff Reflections Report, September 2007). School gardens provide an important access point for parents who want to actively participate in their children's learning. A Final Thought In his influential and prescient book Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv offers the following observation: If educators are to help heal the broken bond between the young and the natural world, they and the rest of us must confront the unintended educational consequences of an overly abstract science education Equally important, the wave of test-based education reform that became dominant in the late 1990s leaves little room for hands-on experience in nature some pioneering educators are sailing against the wind, participating in an international effort to stimulate the growth of nature education in and outside classrooms The Growing Learning Communities program was a successful part of this effort.

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