On Teaching: "Sowing Seeds"

I had a particularly wonderful class with 8th graders this morning, and, for some reason, the word "seminal" came to mind. It was a seminal English class, I thought -- and I began to wonder exactly what I meant by that. As I usually do, I went to my dictionary and discovered that the word comes from the Latin word for "seed", which was very helpful. In the 8th grade class this morning, I guess I could say that an extra large amount of seeds were planted. Indeed, that, I suppose, is what teaching is all about -- planting mental seeds that will hopefully sprout and grow into something beneficial for my students. As a teacher, I am like a farmer of the olden times, scattering my seed abroad as I work with my young students. I suppose every word I say, every gesture, every motion I make, is a seed cast down into the soil of my students' lives. Though I'm sure some of the seeds I toss out in class will waste away and perish before they have a chance to sprout, many of them will grow and thrive in my students' lives, though in ways I may never have dreamed of. Actually, unlike a good farmer, I have no idea what any of my seeds will grow into. I do plan my classes carefully, but that doesn't mean I know how the ideas and activities will eventually blossom in my students' lives-- or when. For some of my students, a seed tossed out in English class may finally sprout years and years from now, and the student surely won't even realize it. Ten years from now, one of my students may have his or her life quietly and silently change, just a wee bit, because of something that was said during a particularly seminal 8th grade English class. It's an exciting fact for me to ponder -- that I'm a sower of seeds, a farmer and a teacher both.