As the saying goes, it takes all kinds of different people to make the world go round. Or, at least, it helps.

We make our unique imprints on the earth – footsteps maybe – that only we can make. Without our feet those footsteps would simply never walk the earth.

Ideally, our children, over 14 years of schooling in public education will encounter all kinds of different ways of knowing, and doing, and being in the world. As they do, they weave their own personality into an entity that couldn’t have become without all the other threads encountered in the formation.

This brings me to Adam Cross, from Lyn Public School, in Lyn, Ontario. As you’ll hear, Adam likes to leave the doing and being to the students, offering some insightful knowing in moments where it makes sense. Otherwise, he’d be hard pressed to articulate the powerful learning that he facilitated in his classroom throughout the 2023 school year.

One reason for this is his belief in the capacity of children, the capacity of his students. Adam is hardly surprised that his students managed to navigate the real world with such grace. It has always been the case, and it will continue, as always. Adam walks the earth with calmness in search of meaning.

So, when students at Lyn Public School expressed concern for the environment, and an eagerness to educate the community to preserve and protect the earth, Adam sought out partnerships with the likes of Kelly McGann, The Cataraqui Trail, Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve and the Lyn Valley Conservation Area. His students began developing a story walk trail with their own stories sharing learnings and teachings. The stories morphed into mobile installations that can be moved to create story trails in conservation areas all over the region.

A year later, the projects are continuing and expanding; and students who have since moved on to Secondary schools in the UCDSB are regularly asking what’s happening, where are the stories going next.

Adam wouldn’t put too much attention on all this learning. Fortunately, we have a podcast for that.