Learning to Write, One Bird at a Time

This was a birding weekend to be sure. Friday evening was spent at the Conservancy on West Road. Saturday was a Tour de Presque Isle, with hikes on Long Pond Trail, Pine Tree Trail, North Pier, and other locations. Sunday was Conservancy first, followed by Fairview Business Park, and Cussewego Bottoms IBA, and then Pymatuning State Park. Despite seeing a wonderful range of birds, none brought the joy to my heart that came from seeing my daughter Emma write down the name of each species.

Truly the pen, or in this case the pencil, is mightier than the binoculars. From staying up late on Saturday night to chronicle the exploits of daylight gone by, to half mile jaunts in the woods with pencil and book in hand, never was she far from adding the next line with a smile one her face. Please do not misunderstand, it wasn't the birds that made her so excited, it was the writing! Yes, she does derive a considerable amount of pleasure from looking at birds and being outside to observe them. Yet this time it was the power to turn sight and knowledge into form and function that made the difference.

Although a simple listing of bird names may not seem like a highly engaging educational experience, I consider it to be a first step primer to what should become productive discourse. Upon arriving home, Emma was able to read through her list and recall information about what she experienced based on the combination of her own written word and her visual memory. The writing was meaningful to her. It was purposeful to her. She didn't just write an arbitrary list of bird names in a book. No, she went exploring, saw the birds, heard the birds, experienced moments of interest related to the birds, and then wrote down a few simple words that had meaning to her. I'm sure that there are probably better "activities" and more "authentic real-world" writing experiences to be had, but for this weekend, I'm very content with how we spent our time.