The Teaching Gardens at St. Mike's

In my Schools and Society course this week the readings focused on a part of the book that describes good schools; schools such as Summerhill in England, the Central Park East Schools in New York, the Met in Rhode Island and the HiPass schools. In Addition to having a focus on the individual student and the establishment


of authentic learning communities the guiding tenets of these schools also include the belief that genuine learning must occur outside the classroom as well as within and that there has to be a connection between the two.




The Teaching Gardens at St. Mike's are a wonderful example of the way the classroom can be taken outdoors. This weekend another feature was added to the Gardens that enhances their value as part of an extended learning community.




A series of signs has been added to the Gardens that help people
from 8 to 80 learn more about the plants through words and symbols.





The signs are the work of Professor Valerie Bang-Jensen and senior SMC elementary education major Courtney Smith.

Courtney, a double elementary education and religious studies major designed the signs during the summer with a VPAA summer research grant. She designed the five signs using visual and verbal text (symbols and words) to help educate visitors

to the gardens about the purpose of each garden. In addition to being visited by SMC students and staff, the gardens are becoming
a destination for classes of students from many local area schools.

In fact, many of the groups of children who visit the gardens are accompanied by SMC education majors who are completing their student teaching experience in public school classrooms.




Many SMC faculty also hold their classes in the Teaching Gardens when the weather permits.





The Teaching Gardens are also a central theme in an integrated First Year seminar co-taught by Professors Valerie Bang-Jensen (Education) and Mark Lubkowitz (Biology).

When we reach out beyond the classroom walls both teaching and learning become more real and relevant to the lives of everyone involved.

Summer Students at St. Mike's

One of the neat things about the summer at St. Mike's is the collaborative research projects that faculty and students engage in. Yesterday, these faculty and students involved had an opportunity at a barbecue lunch to share and discuss their summer research projects in The Teaching Gardens at St. Michael's. In fact, one student is researching and designing interpretive signs for the Gardens to inform visitors of the different types of plants and their literary connections that are included in the gardens. In the spirit of fun, students were challenged to use a word from the Word Garden to help describe their research topic, frustrations, or successes.

The research grants are funded through various sources, including Summer Research Grants from the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs and are designed to employ students during the summer recess as a form of student employment. Students receive a stipend for their living expenses as they learn a great deal about a particular topic and how to conduct research through these projects.

Another of the research projects, under the direction of Dr. Declan McCabe in the SMC Biology Department is the EPSCoR Streams Project. This project involves SMC students, students from Puerto Rico as well as a group of HS students in the exploration of the quality of stream water in Vermont. This project provides students with an opportunity to conduct authentic research in a context where they are making a significant contribution to environmental awareness.

Other summer student/faculty research projects are also taking place in the History, Psychology, Political Science, Geography, Chemistry, Physics, Computer Science, Religious Studies and Media Studies Departments. St. Mike's is a busy place in the summer months.

A Good Ending Means a Good Beginning

Every gardener knows that it's really important to tidy up the garden at the end of the season so that it's all ready for a good beginning in the Spring. Here's a video of the students in FY193 Digging Down to the Roots: The Meaning of Gardens working on the Teaching Gardens at SMC to get them ready for the winter. FY193, a first year seminar, is co-taught by Professors Valerie Bang-Jensen of the Education Department and Mark Lubkowitz of the Biology Department. The course, which is becoming very popular with students, introduces them to the science and pleasures associated with gardening as well gardening related nonfiction, fiction, essays, poetry, memoir, and relevant children's literature.

All the plants in the Garden are related to various pieces of children's literature and so students get to experience the books they read through the actual plants themselves as well as the words on the pages. My particular favorite is the extensive privet hedge which comes from the Harry Potter books.

One of the other tasks the students had to do was take inventory of the words in the Word Garden. Out of the 350 or so words in the Word Garden only four were missing, COW, PEACE, LEPRECHAUN and WOOD; a testimony to the wonderful spirit of the SMC community.

I always encourage my students to make a good ending to the semester so that they are ready for a good beginning to the next one. Good endings always make for good beginnings.