Many of you are likely familiar with The Peach Truck. It’s currently here in parts of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana and everyone who knows me, well, they know I’m pretty jazzed about it. I’ve been spending the last two weeks saving delicious recipes that I want to try, and I’ve spent the last two days waiting for my peaches to ripen. Much to my delight, they felt ripe enough this morning for a peach cobbler which I made and brought to the pool to enjoy with my mom. As our lunch. LOL.
I share all of this to say that I wasn’t always this enthusiastic about peaches. I’ve always known I’ve liked peaches and have always been a bit picky about artificially flavored peach foods and drinks but beyond that, my enjoyment of peaches was one of after thought. I wouldn’t seek them out but enjoyed them when they were given to me or when I stumbled onto some good ones at the grocery store.
Many many years ago, the older I get, the more years seem to run together, I remember my friend, Olivia, sharing her love for the The Peach Truck. She talked about how she was buying tons of these peaches, feasting, freezing them, etc. At the time, I pictured her pulling up to a truck on the side of the road and paying for peaches out of the back of a truck bed. I’m not sure if that was the case back then, but it’s a very professional operation now supplied by a well-branded semi-truck and tent they pitch to welcome you and answer questions while handing you a delicious and perfectly packaged cardboard box filled with picture perfect peaches.
After enjoying my peach cobbler today, my mom set out to buy her own box of peaches from The Peach Truck and asked for my cobbler recipe.
I didn’t ask my mom what she wanted for lunch today. We didn’t really talk about lunch. I just asked if she liked peaches. She said yes. I said great, I made some cobbler, and I will bring it!
Why am I droning on and on about peaches?
Because in an age of personalization in our lives and in schools, let’s not minimize the benefit of exposure and the delight that can come from experiencing something for the first time with someone who is excited about it especially when that someone is a teacher.
As I say when speaking to groups of educators, yes personalization can make learning highly engaging. AND let’s not minimize the impact your personal joy can have on your students and their learning. There is room for both. Both have a place and yet in the age of personalization in all facets of life, we’ve forgotten the magic that can come from learning something from someone who is excited about what they are teaching. Your joys as a teacher can completely change the way a lesson goes and how a room feels. When you’re having fun, your students are more likely to have fun.
So, if there is something that gets you excited to come to school, to teach that lesson, do it! The world needs more people who are lit up on the inside. In doing so, your students will either uncover a new found interest or at least if nothing else, a greater appreciation for something they would not have explored on their own. The world could benefit from a little more appreciation. You know?
I discovered a new appreciation for peaches through Olivia. What I created with that new learning and appreciation was up to me. Her joy led to a new interest of mine and newly explored recipes.
Make space for the joy. If we lose this kind of exposure, how will we evolve and grow? How will our kids evolve and grow? But most importantly, what if we don’t know we love something, and we miss an opportunity to find out?
MEGHAN LAWSON 
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