There are two kinds of teachers: the kind that fills you with so much quail shot you can’t move, and the kind that just gives you a little prod and you jump to the skies.” Robert Frost

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What makes a good teacher? A passion for learning? Love for children?

Sadly, we were recently reminded how teachers risk their lives simply showing up for work.

Everyone has likely had at least one amazing teacher who truly made a difference. The teacher who inspired a love for mystery novels or American history. The teacher who made a young girl realize there was a big world beyond the farm. The teacher who opens the eyes of city children to understand where food comes from…

At William Lipscomb Elementary, Christoper Tamez will likely be that teacher for many students. Tamez, fifth grade science teacher and school coordinator of the Lipscomb Learning Garden, brings nature into his classroom. Innovative and inspirational, he knows how to make learning exciting and creative.

The garden is now in its second year. Giant butterflies flit through the late blooming lantana. Bees buzz in a tangle of purple salvia, unaware of children playing nearby. Ruby-red radishes as large as apples push through the soil. The students prepare for the year’s final vegetable harvest.

Lipscomb Learning Garden. Radishes

Lipscomb Learning Garden. Radishes

The gifts of the garden extend well beyond the obvious bounty of sweet peaches and bouquets of cut perennials. Under Tamez’s coordination, the school has successfully integrated the garden into its curriculum, fully utilizing it to teach each subject included in the STAAR Test (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness).

Each class adopts a raised bed, planting seeds in the spring, nurturing and monitoring the plants throughout the year, and harvesting in the fall. Students gather in the open-air pavilion to write nature-inspired poetry. Kindergarteners learn about nutrition while enjoying a healthy salad prepared with lettuce they tended. Math classes measure growth and rainfall. Tamez’s science students dissect, study root vegetables and plant chemical energy. These teachers are creating memories, and they will be remembered.

The Lipscomb Learning Garden was originally the dream of master gardener Glenn Farmer (now retired). Farmer (perfect gardener name…) along with DISD head groundskeeper Coy Frazier and tireless parent/teacher volunteers led by PTA president Mandy Allen saw this dream become reality in January 2011. REAL School Gardens provided a $25,000 grant and Lowe’s awarded a $5,000 Toolbox for Education grant. Neighbor Redenta’s Garden provides plants at a 20% discount.

The school now benefits from the expertise of master gardener Michelle Baus, who encourages neighborhood volunteers, especially during peak weed-growing season. As the garden continues to evolve, additions are underway including installation of rain barrels, a hand-painted barnyard mural and a soon-to-be-built chicken coop. Volunteer chicken coop cleaning anyone?

In the heart of Old East Dallas, the Lipscomb Learning garden is a study in teamwork. Providing interactive, hands-on education, students from diverse backgrounds work together while improving grades, improving the community, improving lives. They become part of something bigger.