Seeds of growth

I teach at an alternative high school geared towards students designated as "At-Risk". I hate that label. The connotations carry many meanings, most far from the reality of the young people who walk in my classroom doors. You are asking yourself, "Why is a hobby farm blogger talking about teaching?"  and my response, "It's another kind of farming."

I spend many countless hours with these young minds and rebellious souls. And I plant seeds. Lots of seeds. Seeds from my harvest of hard won wisdom, experience, research, strength and hope. Seeds of a better life. Mostly, I sow heavily seeds of hope and belief. I am not a "touchy-feely" kind of teacher. I don't spend a lot of time in deep discussion with them learning the depths of their problems, which is why I got an interesting surprise and affirmation Thursday evening. But this story really started 6 months ago, like most farm stories-they take time to take root.

Our school's Spanish teacher retired last May, and we had lunch one day during the summer. At school, she held the position of surrogate grandmother, and as such she heard a lot of the stories, problems and realities of our kids. She was revered and honored and very well-liked. She was a strong advocate for the student, but always from a balanced, non-enabling, position. At our lunch, she expressed concern that our students would have no one to go to with her gone. I basically shrugged it off and replied that we were going to miss her-no one could fill her shoes. We enjoyed our lunch and talked about our summers and her upcoming plans. I forgot how much she's in tune with the universe, god, goddess, spirit, buddah...however you name your higher power. Thinking back, I know she went home and said some prayers....

Returning back to this semester, I continued to do what I do. Teach kids, listen to them, support them, cheer them on, talk to them, and love them.

My school celebrates graduation twice a year. We graduated a crop of 27 students Thursday night. From the speeches from the stage, I had several students articulate how important I was to their success, how much I meant to them, how I was a role model, what kind of difference I made to them and so on. I cried.  Then, I dried my eyes and finished my graduation evening duties.

The retired Spanish teacher was in the audience. She smiled and told me, that it appeared that I had taken her place after all. I laughed it off. On the way home, I cried some more. We all plant seeds. We all grow seeds. It would seem that her seeds and mine both found fertile soil. And never, ever,  underestimate the power of a little bit of prayer-who ever says them.