Ice Breakers- Nature Journaling Week 2

Each of us is a teacher and a learner. We appreciate what we ourselves experience.

This week, I wanted to explore two concepts related to those ideas:

1. How can nature journaling bring people together?
2. What techniques can we use to explain something in a way that others can discover and experience what we discovered and experienced?

Whether schoolyard, backyard, park, or parking lot, it’s possible to find something natural to notice, appreciate, and share. I traveled to a local elementary school, Bethesda Elementary, this week to practice that. I asked my 14-year-old son to participate with me- he was less than excited but came along anyway.


PREP WORK:

Review the basic rules of journaling: words, numbers, and pictures. Define the area participants will explore and make sure everyone knows what the activity will require. This week, we will be finding an interesting plant and describing it using words, pictures, and numbers so that another person can find our plant using our journal entries. (In social distancing, electronic pictures of journal entries can be taken instead of sharing the actual pages.)

For journaling material this week, I decided to try pieces of corrugated cardboard. Fancy journals are not required! This is a great way to use up any white colored pencils you might have. The brown of unfinished cardboard lends itself to using these along with black markers. It also acts as its own hard writing surface.


DIVING IN:

Everyone should explore the area freely for a while before getting down to their journaling. I noticed a bunch of things as I walked around the school.

I found a tree with a fun overall shape, pretty leaves on its branches, and really cool dry leaves on the ground beneath it. Any and all of these could be recorded. 

A plantain caught my eye as a bright spot of green in a field of dry grass. Its flowers and leaves would make great things to examine and record. 

Even a crack in the sidewalk is home to a crabgrass. There are many details of its seeds and stems that could be noted and explored- especially with a magnifying glass or zooming in on a picture. Tech can be a great help when one is outside, just don’t let it replace being outside with the organisms. 

A grey stump in a flower bed with some green sprouts coming out of it caught my eye.


THE PLANT:

I decided on 15-20 minutes to record our plants and whatever else that might help someone find it. Here's a time-lapse of my work.

In my piece, I included a little map and used the door number as one of my journaling numbers. I drew a small overall sketch of the plant as well as a separate one of just one set of leaves. I knew what the plant was so I also knew a nearby chunk of wood was connected to it, so I added a sketch of that. I figured it could help someone confirm the location. I also used adjectives like “shiny”, “green”, and “opposite” to describe the living part of the plant. I forgot to write down that the leaves had serrated edges, but I did draw that. My total time spent was about 15 minutes.

My son was hot and tired from a late night so he didn’t stay on-task for the full time I gave. (Remember Maslow's hierarchy. :-)) My instructions to him weren’t as clear as they should have been and I did not check-in with him after I started my own work. These are all important things to keep in mind when trying to teach someone something new.


What he did do was pretty interesting: he drew a top and side version of that plant part he was picked. That sort of rotation-of-view is an excellent strategy. He named his piece. When he saw my work, his eyes lit up- he saw more things he could do next time: numbers, the overall plant, and reference points. Could I find his pine cone? Not now. But if we’d go back, he could do more.


After we drew, we should have swapped and helped each other find our plants. We could have then talked about what worked or didn’t work, and what thoughts we might have about the other’s plant. We could have even spent more time together adding more details to our entries. We could have also used apps like Seek to help us to identify the plants and learn more about them.


THE CONCLUSION:

When one isn’t comfortable, it’s hard to focus on a task. It was hot, the structure of school has been lacking, and my directions were less than ideal. I was happier with my own journaling efforts today and it was good to get outside with my son. He ran off to the playground while I continued to journal and as we were leaving, he described a moth he saw and two cicada shells he found on a bench. So, in his own way, he discovered and taught me, and that felt really good.


Next week will be the last full week of August and I'd like to do an evening session before daylight slips too far away. 

(If you stop at Bethesda and think you’ve located my secret plant, take a photo and post it!)