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<\/a>The Oxbow<\/em>, c. 1836 <\/p>\n It is spring. Here up north, on the warmer days there is a sense of relief that winter is over and Easter is near. Thanks be to God.<\/span><\/p>\n Going with the grain<\/strong><\/span> Attending to reality<\/strong><\/span> The wise teacher prepares the class and carefully gauges the amount of time students can remain engaged in the activity. As students grow in interest, their stamina increases, and so does their capacity to attend to a thing. Teachers, advertisers, therapists, and lovers all know the value of attention. Spend just a moment considering this question: What if everyone had developed the stamina, the interest, and the discipline to attend to reality and faithfully render it back: in a drawing, in a written account, in a conversation? We would live in a very different society.<\/span><\/p>\n Rendering, justice, and worship<\/strong><\/span> At a time apart from nature journaling, presented as if it were something completely different, the thoughtful teacher can read to students the story of the young men cast into the fiery furnace (Book of Daniel, chapter 3). Despite Nebachudnezzar\u2019s malevolent orders that should have brought about their destruction, the three youths, faithful to the one true God, were discovered to be alive and well, singing a beautiful canticle of praise to Him, completely unharmed by the flames. Their song is a rendering, giving back to God what He has first given us, with the most desirable addition of the love and praise of His children.\u00a0If we pray this canticle with the children, often enough for it to sink into their memories, do not be surprised if one should start singing it during a session of nature journaling. Wait for them. Do not do it for them; leave room for the activity of the soul of the child. It also will go with the grain.<\/span><\/p>\n Begin<\/strong><\/span> Nature Journaling and Rendering It is spring. Here up north, on the warmer days there is a sense of relief that winter is over and Easter is near. Thanks be to God. Going with the grain Always at school, we seek ways to go with the grain, not against it. What are the characteristics […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":52103,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"[caption id=\"attachment_51727\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"750\"]
\u2014Thomas Cole<\/p><\/div><\/p>\nNature Journaling and Rendering<\/h4>\n
\n Always at school, we seek ways to go with the grain, not against it. What are the characteristics of children in my class, and how can I teach them well? And in like manner, what are the features of this season, and how do they lead to a natural unfolding of our topics of study? Spring is the perfect time for nature journaling, especially in those regions with pronounced seasons. Many a classroom teacher has asked students to list the signs of Spring. How much better it is to go outside and engage deeply with the created world: to run, to play, to put hands in the dirt, and also to see.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n One of the purposes of nature journaling is to train us to be attentive to reality. When I first go outside, I choose a simple plant with a few leaves \u2014 perhaps disappointed that I didn\u2019t find something more interesting. But in time, with attention, I begin to see that this plant is a wonder. What do I notice? What do I wonder? What does it remind me of? And then, how much reality of this created object can I capture on paper? Drawings, words, and numbers all contribute to this capturing of reality.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n The word \u201crender\u201d comes from the Latin reddere<\/em> meaning to give back, return, or restore. We take in reality through our senses of seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting (maybe on the tasting). We interact with this wonder of creation, and we give something back. We render, in this case draw, something on the sketch pad, and that is the nature study exercise. But the exercise naturally leads us \u2014 again, going with the grain \u2014 to another type of rendering. It leads us to worship, which is giving God His due.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\n There are nature journalists galore sharing advice for getting started online. One of our favorites is<\/span> John Muir Laws<\/span><\/a>, and there are many others, including <\/span>this enthusiastic naturalist<\/span><\/a>. You, too, gather your materials, re-enter the garden this spring, and render what is due.<\/span>
\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \"We don\u2019t want to be so familiar with Christmas that it becomes foreign. The fulcrum of all of history rests on this singular event when God, who has no beginning or end, began. \"
\u2014Noelle Mering, Theology of Home: Finding the Eternal in the Everyday[\/caption]\r\n\r\nFor centuries, Christians have looked forward to Christ\u2019s promise to come again. This hopeful stance of the Church in anticipation of meeting her bridegroom has its greatest expression during Advent when we not only celebrate the anniversary of Christ\u2019s birth, but prepare our own hearts and minds for His glorious second coming.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nYet, with the annual circus-like display of material goods in storefronts and online, the call to make ready our own hearts and minds becomes ever more challenging and outside the normal routine. As teachers, we have the beautiful opportunity to do things a little differently during Advent. We have the time and space to bring the discipline of Advent into the classroom, punctuating the preparation of our own souls, and those of our students and families. We look to the<\/span> liturgy of Adven<\/span><\/i>t as our guide.<\/span>\r\n\r\nLiturgy calls us to duty, to action, to practice, to prayer. Liturgies are also communal. The Catechism calls us during Advent to participate in this special way,\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nWhen the Church celebrates the<\/span> liturgy of Advent each year, she makes present this ancient expectancy of the Messiah, for by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior's first coming, the faithful renew their ardent desire for his second coming. By celebrating the precursor's birth and martyrdom, the Church unites herself to his desire: \"He must increase, but I must decrease.\" (CCC 524)<\/span>\r\n\r\nDid you catch that? The Church<\/span> makes present<\/span><\/i> this ancient expectancy of the Messiah! Making a truth present in oneself or in the world is an act of humble embodiment. Analogously, this is precisely what we mean when we speak of <\/span>Imitation<\/span><\/i>. And through imitation, we can fully enter into the graces of the Advent season, uniting ourselves with the desire of the whole Church.<\/span>\r\n\r\nA quick recap: Imitation is one of the <\/span>Seven Foundations of Pedagogy,<\/span><\/a> which rests on the fact that truth is knowable; in fact, Truth came to us as a Person, and is coming again!\u00a0 It is in His image and likeness we are made. To be an \u201cimage\u201d of something is to imitate it. We recognize that the first step of knowing and learning is this step of attentive imitation. Imitation, then, is not mere copying, but <\/span>embodying<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nSome classroom practices that encourage imitation and the embodiment of the Advent anticipation of Christ\u2019s birth and second coming are the following:<\/span>\r\n\r\n \t