With apologies to Rockpile, not that kind of love today but love of nature and one's fellow students.
One of the underestimated joys of human existence is watching great teachers at work and recently, I saw two of the best: Josie Guiney, a 4th grade teacher at Madison's Lincoln School and Madison Audubon’s very own Carolyn Byers. The occasion was "the-worst-of-COVID-might-be-beyond-us" renewal of the annual field trip for those 4th graders to Dane County's Basco Unit of the Sugar River Wildlife Area. The kids spend a couple of hours learning about prairies and rivers and then accomplished some good conservation deeds.
4th graders work on scattering seeds. Photo by Carolyn Byers / Madison Audubon
Josie, Carolyn, and Dane County's Matt Diebel explained why Dane County, Madison Audubon, the Southern Wisconsin Chapter of Trout Unlimited, and dozens of Lincoln's 4th graders from previous years had worked so hard to establish the prairie. The students asked lots of questions about prairies preventing runoff, taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, and being wonderful homes to cool bugs and birds. They then sowed over 100 pounds of native grass and wildflower seeds across a big chunk of that prairie. That was hot, sweaty and sticky work but the kids stuck to it.
A hand-full of seeds. Photo by Carolyn Byers / Madison Audubon
We had 44 kids with us. In addition to Josie, Carolyn, Matt, and me, several other Lincoln School teachers and aides helped. The students were amazingly diverse, energetic, upbeat, extremely well behaved (sorry to sound like an old guy here), and heaps of fun.
Josie and Carolyn were simply amazing to watch. Lessons, warnings (the river was high, muddy, and not to be trifled with), corrections, encouragement, praise, thanks, questions, and answers were all loud, clear, enthusiastic, and glistening with respect and affection for the kids. So much work—for example in lining up the kids and demonstrating how the seeds should and should not be distributed. And 96% of the kids were great but a couple of kids always insist on demonstrating their running, jumping, and seed throwing abilities.
Art Linkletter (now I'm really dating myself) was right: kids say the darndest things. When Josie pointed out an angler leaving the river, that prompted several of the kids to recount their adventures magnet fishing with their families. As I was encouraging the kids to return to Basco with their families and fish, hike, check out the wildflowers they planted, and pick some apples in the orchard, the little boy next to me said, "I'm hungry; got an apple?"
Two students look for birds. Photo by Carolyn Byers / Madison Audubon
A couple of reflections. I think some folks worry about what is going on in Madison Public Schools. Challenges abound but anyone watching these kids and teachers today would recognize that a lot of good is going on too.
Of course, had the Uvalde school shooting occurred here, half those students and teachers would have been dead. And there is no reason that can't happen here. The problem is not mental health, secularization, unarmed teachers, or inadequately barricaded schools. It's pretty simple: too many guns, too many specifically designed to kill many people quickly, and no real checks on who can buy them. How long will this country aid and abet such carnage?
Josie, Carolyn, and Lincoln School's lovely and loveable 4th graders deserve better.
Topf Wells, Madison Audubon advocacy committee chair
