Detroit Publishing Co., Publisher. Romeo and Juliet. [Between 1900 and 1920] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, .

As a Language Arts educator for many years, the spring time always affords ample opportunity for reflection and introspection as another school year comes to a close. With the awakening of the natural world after a long, laboring winter, our surroundings begin to bloom in full technicolor. Along with this explosion comes end-of-the-year fun and festivities and much renewal. In the above text, Friar Lawrence calls for balance; and this is good, simple advice for how we, as educators, can also approach our teaching practice. These past few years have been wrought with a great deal of frustration, new educational and curricular challenges, and unexpected changes that have prompted many of us to reinvent how we think about our teaching and our students. It is by taking a balanced approach that has, seemingly, offered a great deal of solace during these tumultuous times. 

And now, as this 2022 school year comes to a close, it is a good time to reflect on how we, as educators and curriculum developers, can reinvigorate our spirits and minds with summer renewal and regeneration. And as many of us are beginning to close things out, there are also many of us who will begin to explore new and exciting summer teaching and learning opportunities that can afford ample pathways for growth and restoration. 

This summer, the Teaching with Primary Sources program at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia is presenting its course Planting Seeds, Sowing Knowledge: Introduction to Primary Sources through Botanical Illustration (July 11-15, On Campus), which “will look at botanical illustration in the service of many disciplines and subject areas, including medicine, exploration, science, agriculture, and design.” This unique course offering will take participants through the Library of Congress digital collections, field work with local primary source collections, and studio art projects that will challenge participants to consider how the natural world can inform our curricular approaches and be integrated into particular aspects of our lesson plans. 

As a past TPS participant and current instructional coach, I am not only thrilled at the prospects that can be rendered from a course like this but intrigued at how this course can “plant seeds” into my existing curriculum. Serendipitously, while reading Romeo and Juliet with my ninth grade students (and planning for this summer course), the connection between my ELA class and the world of botanicals became more clear. One doesn’t need to be a science or environmental educator to consider how the world of botanicals can serve to inspire and as a gateway for critical thinking and building student inquiry.

Teaching with Primary Sources at UArts has, and continues to offer, courses whose central focus is on making cross-curricular connections through exploring primary sources from a variety of lenses and stimulating student inquiry through “dynamic classroom experiences.” In this current course strand, Planting Seeds, Sowing Knowledge: Introduction to Primary Sources through Botanical Illustration, participants will work with our Philadelphia-based local collections and the many digital offerings in LOC to develop ready-made, student-centered learning experiences with botanicals as the focus point. However, as with all TPS coursework, the point of entry is not always the exit point, as working with primary sources can cross-pollinate many fields of study and be adapted to curricular goals in new and inventive ways to challenge student thinking and approaches to learning.

With that said, these wise words from Friar Lawrence in Romeo and Juliet can offer students in an ELA classroom another engaging opportunity to expand their knowledge about a little known subject for them and provide another avenue of student inquiry and exploration through a formative research project as an extension to our critical reading of the play. With just a few clicks, students can begin to investigate how botanicals have been used throughout history by artists, physicians, and botanists.

Students would be asked to demonstrate their learning through investigative inquiry in a visual and written multimedia project. Students would be assigned the task to explore a particular botanical family and hone in on one species that features either medicinal or poisonous properties and select one particular specimen to feature within their project. Students will use curated websites, such as the one featured below, for worthwhile research and as a point of entry for their building of knowledge. Students will then curate their findings, replicate the specimen in a hand-drawn illustration, and then synthesize their research of what they learned in a brief description with a presentation to the class (which can be done either as a digital or physical “poster.” The compiled works can then  be “published” as a class “field guide” to be used as a springboard for future research (see archival example below). Special bonus: seek out a cross-curricular connection with your in-house science teacher!

Johnston, Frances Benjamin, Lecturer. Reproduction of a Botanical Drawing. [Between 1915 and 1925] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2008675577/>.

Madeley, George Edward, Lithographer, and Artist Spratt G. Narcotic poisons / G.E. Madeley, lithog., Wellington Street, Strand. [London: Published by John Wilson, Princes Street, Soho; and C. Tilt, Fleet Street] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, .

Whiting, Grace Spafford, Artist. Tulip, Tulipa ; Woodruff, Asperula arvensis ; Horned poppy, Roemeria ; Small poppy, Papaver / G.S.W. March. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, .

 Noll, Henry R. The botanical class-book, and flora of Pennsylvania, designed for seminaries of learning and private classes. Lewisburg, Pa., O. N. Worden, printer, 1852. Image. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, .

Much gratitude to Friar Lawrence! In the play Romeo and Juliet, he never reveals the identities of the flowers to which he is referring but leaves it to us to wonder and explore the many possibilities that the natural world offers. 

For lesson on botanical research: Flora of North America: http://floranorthamerica.org/Published_Volumes

Additional Resources:

The Science of Art - Why Botanical Illustration Matters from the National Tropical Botanical Garden

https://ntbg.org/news/the-science-of-art-why-botanical-illustration-matters/

What is Botanical Illustration? Learn About the History of This Scientific Art Form

https://mymodernmet.com/history-of-botanical-illustration/

What is Botanic Art? By Kew Royal Botanic Gardens

https://www.kew.org/read-and-watch/what-is-botanic-art

The Benjamin Rush Medicinal Plant Garden from The College of Physicians of Philadelphia

https://collegeofphysicians.org/our-work/benjamin-rush-medicinal-plant-garden

About Medicinal Botany from the US Forest Service

https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/ethnobotany/medicinal/index.shtml

Botanical Shakespeare

https://www.botanicalshakespeare.com/

  9 - 12    English/Language Arts    Library    Science