Students are not plants!

I created this video in the same way I created Instructional Coach, via Garage Band, iMovie, and with my own photos and videos. This time I did not rap, and for this we are truly grateful.

This video tells the story of my son’s Geranium adequately. What I did not put into the text was the fact that during the same power outage and furnace failure event all of my Coleus died. Death doesn’t readily mix with inspiration, which was my primary intent in creating the video. This example of different plant stress-response outcomes has made me more displeased than usual with a quote that has been streaming through my eduTwitter feed a lot:

When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower. ― Alexander Den Heijer

Green plants grow where the climate suits their biological needs; permitting them to not only survive, but thrive (read: reproduce). This is why we associate cacti with the desert, lush vines with the tropical rainforest, and conifers with the taiga. These are but three of our major terrestrial biomes, identified by vegetation that has been influenced by thousands of years of climatic stability. The sun’s angle of incidence along with the quantity, frequency, and type(s) of precipitation are the major influencers in the location of a native plant. After seeing this quote a few times I started to think that it might be intended for cultivated plants instead, then I recanted.

A garden next to the north side of your house will never support plants that require full sun. You may plant them there anyway, but unless you are willing to relocate your house, they are unlikely to thrive in the shade. Instead of fixing the environment in which a plant grows, what gardeners actually do is choose a species that will thrive in a given location based on its climate. It is why I chose Impatiens walleriana for my north-facing garden when I lived in Barrie. It is also why I have relocated two Lamprocapnos spectabilis out of full sun to supply them with the partial shade they prefer. Thus, I have my own quote to offer:

When a flower doesn’t bloom, you resign yourself to being satisfied with its beautiful vegetation, or you replace it with something that is more likely to bloom in that location. ― Leslie Farooq

If a student is not thriving in the classroom or school environment we absolutely have a responsibility to make adjustments to support and encourage them. How fortunate it is for everyone that educators have this (super)power. In the era of misinformation, alternative facts, and outright lies, we must be ready to fact-check pithy feel-good quotes before we apply them as representative of best practices in education.