Community Stories
A great showcase of Peaslee's music programs at Venice on Vine.
A Beloved Member of the Peaslee community
Ms. Annabelle Johnson, Peaslee's front desk receptionist, is retiring at the end of May. We will miss her very much. Click here to read a story written about Ms. Annabelle and the legacy she has left in Over-the-Rhine.
Educator Spotlight
Since Peaslee Neighborhood Center’s mission is centered on participatory education, we would like to introduce you to one of our Peaslee educators for a discussion of this educational practice.
This month’s spotlight is on Peaslee’s Schoolyard Garden Coordinator, Sara Reddick.
What does Participatory education look like in the Schoolyard Garden?
The model of participatory education works particularly well in the garden because it provides a space for sharing ideas, experiences and perspectives between teachers, staff, children and parents in the garden. For example, as a teacher, I could begin with a straightforward plan for harvesting lettuce for a salad from the garden with the children, but since the children have a space that’s their own and they are encouraged to ask questions, they can initiate something new and change what the plan, and our salad, looks like. “Ms, Sara, what about putting broccoli in our salad?”
Miss Faith’s preschool class week-by-week have watched as a sweet potato sits in water, no dirt, just water, growing roots and sprouting purple and green leaves. Miss Myaa’s toddlers have put our first potatoes into the ground. Sprouts are already growing from the potatoes, reaching out like arms. Little Raylynn holds her hand out and says “I’m not afraid of that!” I tell her you don’t have to be afraid, that“it’s a potato.” I ask her if she likes potatoes, and she says “yes, but I am not afraid of that,” still staring at the pink potatoes with outstretched arms. She puts her potato in the ground filling it with dirt.
How do you see yourself as an educator?
I see my role as introducing new things to children and providing opportunities for experiences that they may not have had somewhere else. I hope to be an educator that responds to children’s interests in
digging, planting and eating to help them and me, learn more about our World.
What do you hope for your students?
I want the children to feel like they have their own space and freedom to explore. I want this education to be meaningful to them and to extend it into their lives at home. Jada says she wants to plant pineapples. She brings her seeds from home. She saved the seeds from her oranges and then plants them in the garden. Here in our Peaslee Garden we are sowing seeds; seeds in the ground, seeds in a pot.
What do you learn from your students?
Each day, I learn how to teach them through my engagement with them. I’m educating myself as I work with the children. Some of their first time experiences are mine as well. Last summer when we harvested greens and turnips from our garden, I hadn’t cooked these foods myself before, so our Peaslee staff and teachers jumped right in with recipes and cooking demonstrations with the children. Ms. Annabelle brought in a turkey leg for the turnip soup and our children helped her prep the meal with our garden gifts. When we cooked greens, Ms. Kim, a pre-school parent, let us know how we needed to spice up our recipe
What are the challenges of this work?
Some of the challenges of this work are fully engaging people in projects, and balancing outcomes with the importance of process in these projects. Right now in our Peaslee Garden we are caring for “baby plants,” our tiny seedlings in hopes that they will grow up healthy. We water plants carefully, “A little water for a little plant.” The child pours sprinkles of water, trying not to make puddles, because our tiny baby plants “cannot swim.”
What are the benefits of this work?
I believe that we learn and grow more with the creation of conversations about what we are doing and because there is not just one answer or way to do things.
Our repetitive actions become practices of caring for something so small so that it may grow. We give our seeds the time and space and care. We give them soil and water, and sunshine. Through gardening the children connect with creatures in the dirt, like worms and rolly pollies, bees, and caterpillars. We find food outside that we have planted; we find seeds that the wind has blown. We find plants that we cannot eat, like trees. And together with the children we learn the gifts the earth has to give us and we give those gifts back.
By: Sara Reddick & Jenn Summers
