JoanWink.com

Dear WinkWorld Readers,

This particular blogpost is specifically for teachers, families, and librarians.

Look at these two geraniums.

You can easily see that one plant is thriving, and the other is struggling. I wonder why?

Now, here is the mystery.

These two plants came from the same nursery; I bought them at the same time; and, they have received fertilizer at the same time; they had the same amount of sun and darkness.

Then why in the world aren’t these two plants the same?

My geraniums are like kids at home and kids at school. You can raise them in the same home; put them in the same school, with the same teacher, the same curriculum; you can treat them exactly the same.

Do the kids in your family all turn out the same? Do the kids in your classroom all turn out the same? Nope?

Why?

There are no standardized plants, just as there are no standardized kids.

Each child is unique with individual needs and interests.

Parenting and teaching is very complex. Teaching and parenting kids equally, does not always work, as kids need equity.

Equal and equity: What’s the difference?

This image has been used for years to help us understand the difference between equal and equity. I do not know the originator who created this, but I very much appreciate his/her work. Thank you.

But, sometimes kids and plants grow up in spite of us, just like this little moss rose, which popped up between the cracks in our sidewalk.