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Purpose:
You
will learn to examine and identify the natural world around
you, express what you see and experience through both scientific
and creative writing, and enhance your artistic abilities.
Directions:
1.
Journals have been kept by countless people throughout history.
A journal is a tool for capturing thoughts, ideas, reflections,
images, and feelings. This week you will be working on discovering
one new thing about the natural environment around you.
You will need a notebook or scrapbook of some kind.
2.
Now that you have had some time to think about keeping a
journal respond to the following questions: What do you
think about the idea of keeping a journal? Have you already
begun to take note of things around you? Did just knowing
that you needed to discover something new about the environment
make you look more closely? You may want to read Walt Whitman's
"Song of Myself." Focus in on his careful observations of
the world around him from the smallest blade of grass to
the soaring eagle. As a lead in to your nature journal try
and follow Whitman's style and create I am poems. Be boastful
and to focus on your personal connection to the natural
world around you.
If
you aren't enthusiastic about keeping a journal try and
pick something you really enjoy knowing a lot about. For
example: music, sports, a hobby, the intricacies of the
lives of the characters of your favorite soap opera, a favorite
video game, a favorite pet. Start with your journal with
approach number one.
3. A few suggestions on ways to begin your journal:
- The
Favorite Thing Approach. Start with the thing you
really enjoy knowing a lot about and write about it -
use the "hot pen" or "freewrite" technique: write about
anything that comes into your head, in any order, with
no concern about spelling, sentences etc. for three minutes.
After three minutes compare what you have written to any
natural "wild" thing, a river, a mountain, a leaf, a coyote
chasing its tail. Then draw an abstract little sketch,
or find a photo, or add some color. Pull the most descriptive,
vivid words from your writing to focus your thoughts.
- The
Five Senses Approach. Find a place where something
catches your eye. Sit and observe, use your five senses,
touch, feel, hear, see, and taste. Record your observations
and ideas, what did you notice, how did you feel about
this place? Try taking a piece of fruit - first feel the
fruit (is it rough, smooth, hard, soft?), describe it
(color, shape, size),smell it, then cut it open - describe
the texture and appearance of the inside, finally taste
it (is it sweet, sour, salty?) - be sure to write down
vivid descriptions for each sense. Now look at what you
have written about the fruit - try and create a poem utilizing
your description. Imagist poets like William Carlos Williams
and Amy Lowell have written great sensory poems you can
check out
- The
I Just Don't feel Creative Approach. Become the scientist
naturalist. Find a piece of anything; a rock, a plant,
an animal, a brick, a piece of litter. Describe the item
in detail, color texture, weight, shape, measurements,
enough detail that another person could identify, draw,
or recreate the item you selected without knowing what
it is. After you've finished your descriptions, try to
determine the purposes of the characteristics you've recorded;
why is it that color, what purpose does the texture serve?
If ideas and reflections begin to flow . . . go for it,
record them too. If they don't, it's okay, study and learning
give insights into many other things. Recording the observations
is the important part. Try personifying the object you
observed (give your object human actions and feelings).
How would you feel as a leaf stomped on by human feet?
Imagine an ant's perspective on the world. Try creating
a poem or short story from that object's point of view.
One web site that contains lots of objects from the natural
world is at London's
Natural History Museum web site.
- The
Imitate a Mushy - Flowery - Philosophical Poet Approach.
Journals are great places to get a little silly and be
creative. Do your version of Shakespeare's "description
of a tree." Imagine your self to be a minimalist; find
five words that describe an object, but don't relate at
all to each other, add an illustration. Outline a bunch
of things that strike your fancy (hand, leaf, rock, caterpillar)
and write a haiku inside it. Write a verse for the "ballad
of the bull thistle" or anything else that would make
a good country song (or Arthurian ballad for that matter.)
- Write
a response/reaction to the wilderness quote(s) your teacher
puts on the board to get your journal started.
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3.
You should have the first few pages of your journal filled
in one sitting - filled with anything. Use the first fifteen
minutes in class for recalling notes, expanding on ideas,
deciding where you might go to observe next, and after a
few days, for voluntary sharing in small groups. You can
use paints, adhesive plastic, a mortar and pestle for grinding
leaves and other sources of natural pigments, and other
artistic media to illustrate your journal.
Vocabulary:
Journal, Haiku, Personification, Onomatopoeia, Imagery,
Freewrite
List
of On-line materials:
Career
explorations:
Outdoor Writer, Teacher, Wilderness Ranger, Park Ranger,
Interpreter/Naturalist, Outdoor Recreation Planner, Environmental
Activist
Evaluation/Outcome:
By
the end of this exercise you should have formulated some
ideas about natural places and learned to record those feelings
in a journal. You will have developed at least one value
you see in preserving wild places and expressed that value
in your journal. In addition you should be cognizant of
several different modes of poetic form and developed your
ability to express your ideas in a variety of creative methods.
Activity
Two: Journalling - Layers of the Landscape
Directions:
1.
Find a spot to sit for the duration of the exercise. You
should be in a small area visible to your teacher and be
alone, working independently.
2.
Use the natural history guide your teacher has provided
to find information. It is best to view a landscape that
has "layers," so you can see elevation changes or landscape
changes. The layers can be something like this:
- where
you are sitting
- your immediate environment, ten feet around you
- foreground
- 20 feet to 100 feet around you
- background
- the farthest distance you can see
3.
First take a general overview of the landscape, describe
the ecological and geological phenomenon in the landscape.
Imagination is crucial here! Slope, sun moisture, temperature
can be imagined for the landscape. If you are using GLOBE
protocols this can be a good place to record actual data
including cloud cover, etc. One suggestion is to record
your scientific data on the left side of your journal and
your impressions, thoughts, creative interpretations on
the right side. Your creative interpretations can include
art, poetry, short stories, feelings, wherever your imagination
can take you!
4.
Using the natural history guide, describe or at least or
two plants, two animals, two birds, and two species of trees
for each of the layers of the landscape. Be sure to consider
shape, size, texture, smell, color, sound, etc.
5.
Sketch at least one tree, plant or the landscape you see.
6.
Conclude by joining your peers and share a part or all of
your experience, including how it felt to be alone and quiet,
thinking about the landscape.
Vocabulary:
Scientific
terms as presented in your Natural history guide, foreground,
background, landscape
List
of on-line materials:
Career
Explorations:
Wilderness
ranger, Restorationist, Archaeologist, Wildlife Biologist,
Hydrologist, Landscape Architect, Researcher, Interpreter/Naturalist,
Resource Manager, Outdoor Writer
Evaluation/Outcome:
At
the end of this exercise your journal should contain a vivid
description in both writing and pictorial of your chosen
landscape. You should be comfortable utilizing a Natural
history guide to interpret and identify what you see.
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