Weekend sketches in my nature journal. I am once again requiring my students to keep nature journals, and so I am doing the same myself. In fact, I require much more of myself than I do of them, but so far their journals have been wonderful. Each one is drawn and written by hand. I let them use whatever research tools they wish, but they have to begin with observation and sketching. I don’t grade the quality of their art but rather the quantity, believing that practice is more important than worrying about perfection. If they keep sketching, they’ll become better observers of the world around them.

A hand-drawn and colored journal page dated September 4, 2026, features illustrations of a Monarch butterfly on a sunflower and a Ruby-throated hummingbird, accompanied by handwritten notes about their sightings and behaviors.