The Official Recommended Reading for Banned Bird Week 2023 is Wisdom Sits in Place by Keith Basso, a classic ethnography of Western Apache geography which demonstrated how culture is transmitted through topographical names, and how when the names are lost, so much is lost with them. Pick up your copy today!
Classroom activities will be developed by Banned Bird Week 2024.
Ideas are in the incipient stage as we brainstorm, gather feedback, develop curriculum, and identify existing resources. Below are a few ideas, not deeply developed, in order to provide a sense of the scope and tenor:
The Collection of George Lawrence: Discussing the Ethics of Specimens Before Photography
Cultural Topography: What Place Name Meanings Do You Know?
Comparing Wilson’s, Audubon’s, and Your Bird Art
The Birds of Lewis, Clark, and Sacagawea’s Journey: Time to Take Your Own Hike
If You Were Ellen Scripps, What Research Institute Would You Found?
Mapping Bird Migration Routes and Naturalist Expedition Routes: Then Make Some Abstract Art
What’s In Your Name? Partner Sharing Name Meaning Ice Breaker
Cutting Bird Silhouettes: Naming the Avian Rorschach Blots
Anna’s Hummingbird Sonnets: Who would you name a hummingbird after?
Cooper’s Hawk Songwriting Activity
So Many Wilson’s!: Who Are Shorebirds and What Do They Eat
If I Were William Bartram’s Interior Decorator, I Would…
Make art that celebrates your favorite canceled bird.
Through this exercise using a variety of media, students and all participants can express their interest in a bird species and the history of that bird species’s scientific naming. Students may opt for more realist or more expressive routes-—sometimes the most interesting color pattern is the one that comes from your own mind.
