Taking learning out of the classroom

On a recent visit to Gattis Middle School, I stopped off in the library for an errand. While there I saw a young man working and talking with students in the back of the library. The back of the Gattis library is, in fact, a wall of glass, overlooking the enclosed, grassy courtyard used daily by students moving between classes or during their lunch break.

Curious, I wandered over to listen in. The young man is Joseph Williams, the student success coach at Gattis Middle School. Williams is one of several of our coaches of the Federal Programs Department of the Clovis Schools, through a grant from the NM Public Education Department. Student success coaches are attached to each of our three middle schools. They work together with caseloads of students and families, focusing on prevention issues, such as truancy, student support, and a range of creative activities, which often tie in with community members and local businesses.

Asking Williams what they were working on, he promptly offered, “The Semilla Freedom Garden. Students from the food nutrition and life skills classes wanted to make a positive impact on the community, so we planted seedlings of various types to transplant to the Clovis Community Garden, located next to the hospital.”

The large glass wall at the back of the library provides a perfect spot to nurture seedlings. Students have been enthusiastic about this project and are sprouting strawberries, watermelon, green beans, chilies, carrots, as well as flowers.

Williams has worked for a number of years now, directly with students and families in various types of prevention programming within the district. He continued, “In our garden project students are working to help provide seedlings for the Community Garden, which is a project directly related to the “Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities” program run by Mitch Gray of Three7 Project. The garden has been in existence for roughly six years and provides a variety of opportunities for students and the communities to learn about gardening and living a healthy life style.”

Williams continued, “As a reward for their dedication in tending the seedlings, each student is given their own pot in which to grow a plant they can take home with them at the end of the school year. There’s also an event at the Civic Center on May 7 — Envisioning Your Future — that students will attend.”

Wow; turns out learning doesn’t take place only in the classroom.

Cindy Kleyn-Kennedy is the Instructional Technology Coordinator for the Clovis Municipal Schools and can be reached at [email protected]