As I retire from teaching English, one of my favorite memories is when my high school students grew beans on the classroom windowsill while we were reading Pearl Buck's novel The Good Earth. The simple daily activity of checking everyone's bean plant growth not only reinforced Pearl Buck's theme about the goodness of the earth, but it also created a community in the classroom who developed a newfound respect for food as a life source that originates from the earth, not the supermarket or the fast food restaurant.
On Sep 23, 2013 Jennifer wrote:
As I retire from teaching English, one of my favorite memories is when my high school students grew beans on the classroom windowsill while we were reading Pearl Buck's novel The Good Earth. The simple daily activity of checking everyone's bean plant growth not only reinforced Pearl Buck's theme about the goodness of the earth, but it also created a community in the classroom who developed a newfound respect for food as a life source that originates from the earth, not the supermarket or the fast food restaurant.