finished my most successful year
teaching fourth grade math and science
but I still got called into the
principal’s office
i sat down what did I do this time he
said are you interested in teaching a
science lab I said can I do it through
the garden he said as long as you teach
science you can do it any way you want
currently every student kindergarten
through fifth grade attends tsiyon Han
sment class once a week we operate with
34 raised beds a semi operational
greenhouse and a freshly plowed up two
thousand eight hundred square foot piece
of the front yard of school did I
mention that South Jackson is a public
school science in the garden at a public
elementary school
sounds pretty radical right or at least
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[Applause]
so now that I have this amazing
opportunity to start a class from
scratch how do I grow something real
grow something real let’s talk in terms
of plant parts roots this class needs a
strong foundation educationally Sian Han
sment is rooted in hands-on inquiry
based experiential learning we will get
our hands dirty
we will ask and answer questions that
come from the students themselves
all the while we’ll do all of this
sometimes a student may know more about
growing food than I do prior to teaching
in the garden
I had no egg recalled role background so
when a student says that’s not how my
Pappy strings up his Tomatoes I listen
very carefully I am a learner alongside
my students it’s a big experiment but
learning goes way beyond science so I
also wanted to bridge the learning in
the garden to life in general a
philosophy of the mind the garden mind
your mind is a garden
how will you tend to it what will you
grow I refer to this as often as I can
with all my students develop positive
habits of the mind and your garden mind
will grow but negative habits they’re
like weeds quick to take over crowding
your mind every action is either helping
your garden mind to grow or is keeping
it from growing the stem the deliverer
so this is where we take the philosophy
and put it into action
so if you all were to come spend a day
with us in Sein Han sment class what
kind of things might you see well
we’re creating plant models labeling the
plant parts and what each part does for
the survival survival of the plant we
take weather devices each and every time
we go out into the garden we record the
weather data and we make decisions based
on that data and weather forecasts do we
need to shade our plants because of heat
do we need to cover them because of
frost do we need a water or not we learn
about minerals and how they’re created
in the earth but also some of those
minerals we need inside our own body
well how do they get there the answer
most often and my kids know this plans
so we study the plants that we can be
eating to get all of those minerals
inside of our body we study seasons not
like a two-week unit about seasons we
study seasons from August to May why do
we have seasons when they happen and
then we match the plants that we can be
planting and harvesting in each of the
seasons we are learning about the
biodiversity of gut microbes and soil
microbes and how to keep them both
healthy and my students are creating
advertisements for people to keep their
soil healthy not to mention we’re
growing our own food we’re cooking it
and we’re eating it we are expanding our
palates and our minds on to the leaves
leaves amazing things they take sunlight
and turn it into energy for the plant
itself well who is that in sign hansman
class students every insightful question
every time a student stops me in the
hall
to tell me that last night they made
spinach quesadillas at home or they made
turnip fries or they made a kale
smoothie every time I get an email from
a parent saying that their student
insisted that they go directly to the
store after school to go buy some
spinach or some turnips or some kale
it’s that energy
it’s that enthusiasm that feeds our
class students are learning and you can
tell the route feeds the stems the stems
feed the leaves which brings us to the
fruit and the flowers of this class
this is chefs farmers advocates
community members coming in to tsiyon
hansman class sharing their knowledge
and expertise piece with these students
how to grow the food how to cook the
food how to be agents for change we
created the taste of South a tasting
event local chefs create a simple recipe
using in season food produce students
family members community members come to
school they try these dishes they take
home the recipe we invite local farmers
into the school so that the parents
communities family members can take
those ingredients straight home and
recreate them this past October we had
the largest Taste of South event ever
350 people packed out in the gymnasium
of our school just a few short weeks ago
we hosted our very first Farmers Market
not with food that we’re growing that’s
going to the kids but from community
members that are growing their own food
making things cottage industry this
class
can help our community to bloom you may
or may not have noticed a pack of seeds
seeds represent potential I see every
one of my students as a seed I might not
see I teach 500 kids a week I may not
see many of them when they’re like 20 30
or 40 it’s that potential what can they
become an investment in the future for
Sian hansman
that’s a fully operational sustainable
farm that educates and gives back to the
community now I know each one of you
have an idea you might be working on it
right now take these seeds plant them
put them in your pocket to represent
that idea believe in it nurture it and
ah
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[Applause]
you guys ready to leaf out with us
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
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they’re the newly
stop dad is okay Oh
it’s not a bunch of collars
hey kid there’s a new leaf in town it’s
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you can put it
leave this town
kids in the new leaf in town
you can eat it
I said leave it leave it leave it leave
it leave it leave it leave it leave it
leave it leave it leave it leave it
leave it leave it leave it spin it if
you wanna be awesome leave it spin
stay strong leave it leave it spin it
the name of this song even spin it
beam us up even spin and
you wanna stay strong leave it spin it
the superheroes demons spinach is the
Oh weather
to lower your profession
it’ll make your vision
we’re gonna grow in
[Music]
hey give that the nuni
full of higher
only
leave it leave it leave it
awesome leave in the bed
stay strong
[Music]
but evoke theme
even spinach
the meet superhero leave into Spanish is
the name of this song
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music] [Applause]