Recap of nature journaling session with John Muir Laws
On October 19th John “Jack” Muir Laws flew into town for a special nature journaling workshop at the Vancouver Community Library for teachers, environmental educators and community members who wanted to get more curious in nature.
Jack led us through an exercise in thinking as he had the group create a nature journal page focused on a leaf found outside the library. The audience was mixed with some who excelled in art and others, like myself, who feel very unartistic. Jack used the "I notice, I wonder, & It reminds me of" technique to foster attention, curiosity and wonder. We spent several minutes either drawing, writing questions or facts about our leaf. The experience of wondering was powerful. Even as a self described non artistic person, I loved the process of thinking and the end result.
After the nature journaling practice, we broke up into groups and were able to identify each others similar leaves by looking at the drawings and observations. It was a great group activity sparking excitement, group participation and conversation.
If you weren’t able to attend and want a refresher of Jack's techniques, we have a video of Jack from our March Lower Columbia Nature Network meeting that you can watch here.
Also, visit John Muir Laws for additional information, such as he has teaching guides, links to teaching resources (including the Zine that he handed out), and lots of "how to" videos.
Examples of upcoming events:
Jack's weekly Educator's Forum https://johnmuirlaws.com/event/nature-journal-educators-forum-11/2023-11-01/
Learn to draw gourds https://johnmuirlaws.com/learn-to-draw-gourds-with-john-muir-laws/
Hear about Jack's teaching style for Dyslexia - https://johnmuirlaws.com/jack-and-henry-talk-about-dyslexia/
As we mentioned at the event, this workshop was part of a two-year effort of the Lower Columbia Nature Network and the Children & Nature Nature / National League of Cities to create a Southwest Washington Green Schoolyards Action Plan. We encourage to check out the Action Plan and let us know what you think. We are excited to get more students and teachers outside to benefit from nature connections. Let us know if you have any feedback.
