“When we tug a single string in nature, we find it attached to the rest of the world.”
— John Muir
Writer’s Workshop Model
By Carolyn Lucey When I think about my student’s best writing in the past, whether narrative or analytical, poetry or prose, I’ve noticed one common thread: the writing was almost always produced in relationship or response to a mentor text, though I didn’t have the language for the pedagogical practice at the time. I think…
Culturally Responsive Pedagogy in Practice
By Carolyn Lucey This catalog of mentor texts was initially born out of my desire to explore essential questions that I, myself, am interested in: What is the relationship between humans and the natural world? How can we write about the natural world in ways that are evocative, immerse us in particular places and times,…
Going It Alone
By Rahawa Haile In this essay from Outside Magazine, Rahawa Haile reflects on the experience of hiking the Appalachian trail as a queer black woman. Her essay covers questions of race and politics, as well as evocatively describing her own rich relationship to the natural world. It’s the spring of 2016, and I’m ten miles…
Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil
by W.E.B. DuBois Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil is an autobiography by W.E.B. DuBois which weaves togethers essays, personal anecdotes, and spiritual reflection to consider the question of labor and race in the United States. In the particular passage, DuBois reflects on the beauty of Bar Harbor, ME (a national park that was often…
Living Like Weasels
By Annie Dillard An American author, Dillard writes in the tradition of Thoreau and other early naturalists. Her best known narrative non-fiction work, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, won the Pullitzer Prize. In this piece she performs a true “essay” — that is, a meandering exploration that pulls together disparate ideas, and invites new questions. A…
Wild Geese
By Mary Oliver Her contemplative poetry often focused on the quiet, everyday occurrences of the natural world, from bears to streams to hummingbirds. In this poem, nature takes on an almost chapel-like quality as a place to reflect, feel love, and connect with something larger than ones-self. You do not have to be good.You do…
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