There it is, the first leaf to give into the annual  reduction  of chlorophyll and thus the spotting of the bright red  and orange colours are no longer inhibited by the strong  green colour of the foliage. Each year we know that is  about to happen and yet we still marvel at the  magnificent site as each day our surroundings of lush  green morph into shades of an autumn hue.

For those of us in education, the changing of the leaves also signals a return to a world of teaching, learning and leading ~ a world that I love!

Here is my random thought for today, as I am filled with excitement for the new school year which is just hours away…..

I find it interesting that, although our school year calendar is based on an ancient agricultural cycle whereby children were “freed” from their studies in the summer months in order to contribute to the farm duties, we start the school year in the fall.

  Autumn is a time of harvest ~ a time to reap the benefits  of what we planted in the spring.  Tomatoes hang  precariously from their vines (in more abundance than  we can consume), apples turn from their premature sour  green to a shiny red, pumpkins overtake their fenced in  garden boundaries and decorate the ground in an orange  splendor and those once tiny sprouts of green leaves grow into towering yellow sunflowers (tipping over because of the extreme weight of their ready to be picked seeds).

Shouldn’t we be reaping the harvest of our students’ learning in the fall, instead of beginning to plant those seeds which will need constant love, care and commitment to see them flourish throughout the next 10 months?   Preparing the conditions whereby students will be able to show their magnificent colours.  Ah…the reds, golds, yellows and oranges ~ each meaningful in its own way and none more important than the other.

The anticipation of what this year’s crop of students will be able to produce by next spring is so exciting. It is like the initial planting of the seeds.  They are placed into the ground in one form and with the right conditions they emerge, grow and flourish into something that is more beautiful and more bountiful than we could have ever imagined.

Here’s to my colleagues who tomorrow will be meeting their new “crop” of babies.  They will create the fertile conditions in the form of warm welcomes, smiles, student generated learning initiatives, Makerspaces, community welcoming atmospheres, collaborative opportunities and a host of other tools which will emerge as the year goes on!  Educators will hone the tools that they have and learn new ones in order to ensure that their crop weathers the storms, the extreme heat and every other challenge that our children overcome throughout the year.

I can’t wait to see our Spring Harvest!  It will be the best ever!

What are your hopes for your harvest this year?

Come write with me…..