I would like to ask everyone if our children in the classroom could be seen as the fruit that Nathan grew in Georgia or are they similiar to the "fruits of the spirit" that he attempted to cultivate in the Congo? In other words, as a teacher can we produce great fruit at times and fail miserably at others? Why does this happen?

Stephanie,
Have you ever heard the expression "Fruit doesn't fall from the tree?" I look at the tree the fruit fell from and come up with a lot of answers to many of my questions. As long as I am doing my job to the best of my ability, I am not taking ownership of planting all the fruit that come through my classroom. I try my best to cultivate it and tend it and prune it but sometimes nature just takes its course.

Stephanie,

In answer to your question, I have to borrow from some of the readings in Dr. Considine's class. I think the "fruit" has to ripen before it is harvested. Sometimes we don't get to see this because their fruit hasn't ripened yet. Each mind is wired differently. Some minds won't connect until long after they have left us, therefore, we miss out on seeing the harvest.

Am I on the right track or did I miss your question completely?

I agree with both of you Dawn and Janie. From the research in Considine's article, the brain does take a while to grasp something or fully understand a concept. Also, connecting the reading to what Dawn said, the brain starts to develop within the first of year of life. The article mentioned that an infant's relationship with its primary caretaker often determine whether the child develops learning problems. Can we help this? We do what we can as teachers and that's all we can do. Reading this research on the brain made me feel better about not reaching all of my studnets. It's obvious that alot of damage has taken place to students long before we got them in our room.

Shannon

Hi Stephanie,

When I read your question, I had another thought. When Nathan planted his Georgian seeds in the Congo, they didn't grow. He didn't understand what he was working with, so all the sweat and hard work did not pay off. Similarly, I think we really have to know our students before we can impact them. If we are only using our same old methods without considering who we are working with, we would probably fail just as Nathan did. On the other hand, when we really get to know our students, we can take them so much further.