Growing Together: Open Forum

 View Only

  • 1.  Time Breakdown for Garden Instruction

    Posted 08-18-2022 04:20:00 PM
    Hello, I'm doing an informal survey about the breakdown of time involved with teaching garden classes. 

    Do you know your or your organization's breakdown of time for:

    -Instructional Time
    -Prep time and Cleanup
    -Maintenance?

    Also, do you factor in professional development to your calendar?

    I look forward to hear about your experiences.

    Thanks!




    ------------------------------
    Christina Abuelo
    Garden Coordinator
    Barrio Botany
    San Diego, CA

    m: 858-210-2628
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Time Breakdown for Garden Instruction

    Posted 08-19-2022 01:21:00 PM
    - Instructional time = 1 hour per lesson
    - Prep time = 1/2 hours with shopping/sourcing included
    - Maintenance - 1 hour per day with work days as needed

    Our group allows for 80 hours per fiscal year for professional development.  (Which is beyond amazing and I am so grateful)

    ------------------------------
    Heather Mullens
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Time Breakdown for Garden Instruction

    Posted 08-19-2022 05:56:00 PM
    Hi Heather,

    Thanks so much for your information.

    A couple of questions:

    -In a day/week, how many lessons do you teach?
    -Prep time is per lesson, right?

    Thanks,

    ------------------------------
    Christina Abuelo
    Garden Coordinator
    Barrio Botany
    San Diego, CA

    m: 858-210-2628
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Time Breakdown for Garden Instruction

    Posted 08-20-2022 12:04:00 PM
    I'm also curious, What curriculum do you use for the garden?

    ------------------------------
    Norma Rich
    Joseph Zito Elementary
    Phoenix AZ
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Time Breakdown for Garden Instruction

    Posted 08-31-2022 11:32:00 AM
    I would also like to know what curriculum you are using.

    ------------------------------
    Elizabeth Brunscheen-Cartagena
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Time Breakdown for Garden Instruction

    Posted 08-30-2022 02:20:00 PM
    Hi Christina,

    When I was working in the classroom as a garden educator, this is generally what it looked like:

    -Instructional Time:
    45 min - 1 hour. I would usually schedule multiple garden lessons on the same day, typically 3 or 4, but sometimes up to 5 lessons.

    -Prep time and Cleanup
    I think about 30 minutes for prep and 30 minutes for clean-up for most lessons. However, if I was creating a new lesson plan then the prep would be longer since I would need to factor in the research, adaptations, and first-time prep.

    -Maintenance
    For me, it really depended on the season since the school was located in the south. We struggled with lots of Bermuda grass and had to tackle that when school was back in session, so I would say close to 20 hours. Then during the fall maybe 10 hours weekly, in the winter 5 hours weekly, and then in the spring, 10-15 hours. We were expanding our garden when I worked there so I think that if your garden is mainly an educational garden, the number of hours would be lower once it is established.

    Also, do you factor in professional development to your calendar?
    We didn't factor in specific garden-based professional development into our calendar, but I think that is a great idea.

    Hope this helps!

    ------------------------------
    Sarah Lane
    KidsGardening
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Time Breakdown for Garden Instruction

    Posted 08-31-2022 11:16:00 AM
    Lots of us forget to account for all of the behind the scenes work we do before we ever set foot in the garden!

    The formula that we have used for not only budgeting our own time, but also as a way to project costs in grants, etc. is to calculate about 12 hours of work (curricular development, planning, emails and phone calls, materials acquisition, set-up, etc.) for every 1 hour of face-to-face instructional time.  
    Sounds like a lot, but it usually worked out to be pretty accurate (if not an underestimate!)

    Hope this helps  :)

    ------------------------------
    Tracy Calla
    NC
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


Related Content