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Rudiments of Ecology Through Literature and the Environment

Jason Sanchez

In October and November of 2000, I implemented the bulk of Rudiments of Ecology Through Literature and the Environment. Initially, I began with somewhat high expectations. However, I do not feel that students made quite the level of connections that I had anticipated. My belief in the philosophies and methodologies that I espoused in my unit are still intact. However, some "fine-tuning" is absolutely essential to the effectiveness of the unit. One way of making this unit more effective would be to replace some of the readings. I included some of the seminar reading materials that, frankly, were on too high of a level for my students. The high school and college level reader may delight in the intellectual nuances of Emerson, Abbey, Anderson and Austin, but my seventh grade Harrison Middle School students, who come to me with a fourth grade level, and, often, an even lower mentality, miss the picture, don't care to see it, or find it boring.

How It Began

On that golden morning, I placed my copy of Rudiments of Ecology Through Literature and the Environment on the large lab bench in my classroom. Preliminaries had been taken care of and

my students were all in their places. I explained to them that I would be reading a great piece of literature to them by a man who had left society, for a season, in order to learn the meaning of nature. I began to read. After reading the lines of poetry that Emerson begins with, it occurred to me that I was being stared at with blank faces.

"What do you guys think Emerson was trying to say in those few lines? Staring faces.

 'Dolores?"

"What? Oh, Mr. Sanchez? I don't know. What was it? It doesn't make any sense." I then fumble through my rendition of an explanation...

"Oh, is it a poem? How boring."

…I continued to read the Introduction. I reflected later that I may as well have chanted the literary piece in the language of the water buffalo. We then had a very "teacher facilitated" class discussion. I think they understood in the end that the guy, who wrote the stuff, wanted everyone to see nature for themselves, but the type of nature they were interested in interacting with was of the pre-adolescent humanoid type.

How It Progressed

Looking back, I am pleased that I implemented, or at least attempted to, implement most of the things that I had planned.

We did the black bear activity. The students loved it. We did it again. We did it a third time. The students "got the point" and were able to relate to the black bear readings also. However, now they only know what a limiting factor is if they hear the words "black bears." Future teachers must therefore use the words "black bears" if they expect my students to give a half decent explanation of limiting factors. I fear I have ruined them.

My students thought that Mary Austin's writing were are dry as the weather she describes Their minds and attention seemed to shrivel with each line I read to them. The "younger" minded of the lot enjoyed the portions of Jurassic Park that were read, they enjoyed talking about the movie even more. Most of the girls seemed to think a that dinosaur stuff an immature geek thing. The girls, however, balked less at journal writing than the boys. To the boys it was sadistic. Some of them did well.

The "nature walks" were not satisfactory to me, We merely went out and sat by the "pond" (a cattle trough with fish and lily pads that was recently placed under a mulberry tree). Some students kept the log and others kept annoying me. If there was anything natural nearby it was scared away by their banter, disgusted with my "shh-ing," or ignored out of existence by continuous social whispering. It was a good thing too that moveable life forms should be scared away by my Neanderthals. They would have suffocated later or been crushed by the amount of leaves that dropped from the mulberry tree. The fish in the tank paid a great price for being limited to the pond. Those waters were badly situated under that old mulberry tree and every living thing in them, in whose gills breathed the breath of life, died in the deluge of leaves that rained from above. (Why do trees persist in clinging to the ancient habit of taking all their clothing off when it gets cold?) We went out again to record these changes in nature. It was impossible to see the pond for the leaves. AU of the students duly noted in their logs that 'leaves dropped." We went back in because middle school students get bored easily and find ways of entertaining themselves outside of the curriculum. Such is their nature.

How It Has Not Ended Yet

The school year is not over yet. We will yet go outside again and my students will get another opportunity to connect with the rudiments of ecology via reading and writing. Already, I have sent home permission slips for our spring jaunts into the woods and to the public library. The bosque has yet to be invaded by my classes. My students were kept indoors for the winter while other scientific subjects were addressed.