I liken my work as a gardener. The photos below are my sunflowers (left) and my seedlings in different stages of growth. I have a variety of plants at my corridor and I use them for teaching, as food or just for leisure. Sometimes, I think of how being a teacher is very much similar to growing plants. :D
It's all about providing conditions for children to do their own thing.
When I sow the sunflower seed in the soil, I know I will get a sunflower eventually and not a lettuce, provided I can provide the necessary conditions for it to grow. I can't force the sunflower to grow by attaching yellow petals or thickening its stem. It will grow if the conditions are right.
As the name suggests, sunflower needs a lot of sun, so I elevate the pot just to maximise its chance of catching most of the light. I have to be sensitive to the colour of the soil. When the soil shows a lighter colour, it means that it's dry and time to water. However, I can't overwater the sunflower, otherwise the roots will be submerged perpetually in water and prone to root rot and the plant will not thrive. I have to fertilizer the sunflower when it's closer to blooming period so that it will have more energy to produce seeds. I can't fertilizer too much either because it's contained in a pot and over fertilizing it will burn the roots and the plant will not thrive too.
In the photo on the right, the sunflower seedlings are obviously weaker. They are placed at my corridor too but in a shadier location. They can grow but they struggle to reach the light and since most of their energy are devoted to reaching the light, their stem become tall and lanky and they will probably not grow to their full potential and will be a sunflower that produce small flower without seeds.
As a teacher, the conditions that we can provide for any students would at least be delivering quality lessons to our best capacity. In my school, I'm thankful to have autonomy to do things that I enjoy. According to Sir Ken Robinson, the most basic level in education is to create conditions in which students will want and be able to learn. He also explained on the art of teaching and followed by implications for leadership and school culture and the role of policymakers.
When I purchase planting seeds, it usually comes with a basic set of planting instructions on the packaging. Their life cycle is not too long and they don't take a long time to reach maturity. Babies doesn't come with instruction manuals and it needs 21 years to reach maturity (maybe longer for some people), I guess we humans have a lot of work to do.
