Nathan Xavier
April 28, 2017 11:46 AM
[Greenhouse One] Intermediate Herbology by Nathan Xavier
"Hello, Intermediates," Nathan Xavier greeted his final class of this cold Thursday. The greenhouse stayed pretty warm, even in the winter, which he was pretty sure was already here even if the "First Day of Winter" on the calendar wouldn't agree with him on that point for another two weeks. In any case, coming and going to this part of the Labyrinth Gardens was definitely giving the intermediate students plenty of opportunity to practice their warming charms these days."Today we are going to begin our unit on cold weather plants." He gave the class a moment to mutter about the weather they'd just had to walk through, then continued, "Plants adapted to living in subzero temperatures tend to be small, hardy, and sport narrow needle-like leaves. In contrast, we saw in the tropical unit earlier this year that tropical plants go for large broad leaves to soak up all that extra sun they get. They don't need to worry about water conservation though. At high altitudes and latitudes, most water is frozen and inaccessible. Plants loose most of their water through their leaves, hence the small needles on cold weather plants. Smaller surface area, so smaller amounts of water loss. That's why desert plants will likewise have small leaves."
He nodded toward the shelves along one wall where a series of boxes were lined up. Each box had a round hole a few inches wide on its front. A darkness spell prevented anyone from seeing what was inside. "Today we have some blind boxes for our hands-on activity. Each one is labeled with a number, in Braille, too," he added for Nevaeh's benefit. "I want each you to take turns sticking your hand in each one, feel the plant, or the cutting from a larger plant, inside - I promise, none of them have cactuses, prickers, or teeth - and guess what kind of climate the plant is native to. Bonus points if you can identify the plant itself. You have thirty minutes for this, and you don't need to go in order, just make sure you clearly mark the box number that corresponds to your guesses. I'll collect your answers at 4:15. You may optionally discuss your conclusions with your friends, but you must each submit your own paper."
OOC: Feel free to make up whatever plants or fungi are in the boxes, provided they can't cause harm to people's hands. There are, at minimum, a palm leaf, a sprig from a fir tree, a petunia (or similar small potted flower), a poinsettia (it is December after all), some tundra grass, a broad tropical leaf, a maple leaf, and the like.
1
Nathan Xavier
[Greenhouse One] Intermediate Herbology
28
Nathan Xavier
1
5
Nevaeh Reed [Aladren]
May 05, 2017 1:58 AM
Bless this class. by Nevaeh Reed [Aladren]
It was times like these (well, it was times like most, really) that being legally blind was rather inconvenient. Nevaeh raised an eyebrow immediately at the explanation of the “blind box”, and she just sort of wished she could see in any definition the facial expressions of her classmates. A lesson that was non-visual? Oh, dear, what ever would they do? Nevaeh thought most people were smart enough to handle a lesson like this, but just in case there were some people who might audibly express something along the lines of “how can we do this blind?”, the Aladren remained attentive as she began.She felt the Braille labels on the box she came to first, satisfied in its existence. All of her teachers did what they had to do to adapt lessons for her specific abilities, she thought, but Professor Xavier was probably her favorite. He did it so nicely and so seamlessly that if not for the whole everything-is-unbearably-blurry thing, she might have forgotten that she was the one it was meant for. Professor Xavier accommodated her without calling her out on it. She appreciated it.
Her hands slid in the opening of the first box. Nevaeh felt the outline of the contents - in this case, a single leaf - tracing its curves with her index finger. Then she held the leaf between both hands. After feeling it a moment, she pulled out her dominant hand to notate onto her enchanted Braille paper, stabbing dots onto the page, which then rose to form legible bumps. Maple leaf, the dots spelled.
She scooted down to the next box a moment later, and this one took even less effort to identify. The assignment was to figure out their climate and for bonus points to identify them, but she found it easier to work in reverse, at least on these two. Pinecone, she dotted on her paper, still running her other hand over it in the second box. Nevaeh felt someone come up beside her, presumably to experiment with the box she had been at first. “This is so easy,” she smiled to them. Her tone was not particularly aggressive or rude, but admittedly, it was a bit of a brag. Herbology and no visuals? This was kind of her thing.
12
Nevaeh Reed [Aladren]
Bless this class.
325
Nevaeh Reed [Aladren]
0
5