There is only do
An elevator pitch for my book about nature-based learning. Feedback invited and welcome!
Dear Reader,
How’s it going? A bit full here – in mostly good ways, some annoying. Generally a bit too full. So it goes.
I promise I’ll return to L’s story (which I wrote about here). I left you with a bit of a cliffhanger since L is waiting for a meeting with her Assistant Principal to discuss why she should stop bringing her students to the park for learning because it’s ‘inequitable to the other 4th grade students.’ The sequel is coming.🤞Fingers crossed for a plot twist.
In the meantime, I’ll share why I started Learning by Nature.
Tl;dr (Too long; didn’t read)
Or…
the cliffiest Cliff notes you ever did see,
not written by Chatbot,
written by me
This letter starts with me sharing how I feel intimidated to write a book (and to confess that’s what I’m doing). Which is why I’ve started this Substack. Baby steps. The “There is only do” section will help you get to know me better and hopefully empathize with me a bit.
If you’re pressed for time, jump straight to the guts in the My Elevator Pitch section where I attempt to clarify my book’s central argument.
Here it is in one sentence: In Learning by Nature: Tackling Nature Deficit Disorder in Schools, I lay out the case and plan for routine nature connection in schools everywhere.
📣 Call-to-action: Drop feedback about my elevator pitch in the comments or via email to me - beccakatz@gmail.com. Thanks!
There is only do.
I haven’t exactly kept this a secret nor have I been characteristically direct about it. Probably because I’m scared to say it out loud (do written words count as sounds when they’re read?).
I want to write a book. But that statement doesn’t quite capture it. I don’t want to write a book just for the sake of writing a book. My goal is to mainstream nature-based learning. A book seems like a tool that can help meet that goal.
With that in mind, I’ve arrived at what feels like a riskier admonition: I am trying to write a book. Which is why I’ve started this Substack.
Even as I type that sentence, Yoda’s words (which I hear in in my husband’s voice) hang over me:
“No, try not. Do or do not. There is no try.” -Yoda
So here:
I DO write a book.
It’s a bit intimidating, though. I find myself addled by weird adages about eating elephants (I refuse!) and how quickly Rome was built (not).
That said, I shouldn’t feign total ignorance here. We’re not talking about inventing the internet or understanding the chemical reaction that creates combustion 🔥 or a million other things I don’t really understand and that my kids ask me about multiple times a day. The recipe for writing a book seems something like:
Have ideas
Stir for awhile
Convey the ideas
Simmer until the ideas come together in written words (and images too, though my natural inclination as a lexiphile will always be toward ❤️ words ❤️). Probably too many (@Ben Katz - I think that’s where an editor comes in…)
Admittedly, the book’s path after it makes it from my brain to written words feels more elusive. How does it get from being “in my computer” to the hands of readers? And, going back to my book’s (hah - “my book” – as if it already exists!) raison d'etre, how does my book help nature-based learning become part of the zeitgeist?
Here, I refer to experts who’ve done this before. My brilliant friend, climate scientist, and author,
actually wrote a blog post about the publishing process that’s helpful (check out her book Under the Sky We Make!). @Jane Friedman has put together this helpful tool to decide which route to take.
Don’t hold me to this, because I’m still in the naive-zygote phase of this book dealio so right now I think I want to go the traditional publishing route because it seems like a more viable path to mainstreaming nature-based learning. But authors (like @Ulcca Joshi Hansen) have made a big splash with indie publishers – so it’s hard to say. Anyhow, whatever route I choose (I’m open to advice), I will need to be able to explain what my book is about.
Elevator Pitches
Today, I’ll start with my elevator pitch, which Kim says is needed to get an agent. Specifically, Kim wrote:
“I think they will be impressed if you can write the sentence, "In MY BOOK TITLE, I argue that X."
From there, she says, a good agent will help me clarify the central argument for my book. For now, I’m leaning on you all as my crowd-sourced agents.
I’m not exactly sure how short an elevator pitch needs to be, as that is highly dependent on the height of the building and the elevator’s functionality. I know the premise is brevity. ChatGPT tells me I should be able to deliver this in 30 seconds to 2 minutes, the length of a typical elevator ride.
I’ve timed my elevator pitch at 1 minute and 38 seconds – but I’m a notoriously fast speaker, so let me know how long it takes you!
My Elevator Pitch
In Learning by Nature: Tackling Nature Deficit Disorder in Schools, I lay out the case and plan for routine nature connection in schools everywhere.
In his 2005 international best-selling book, Last Child in the Woods,
sounded an alarm about our childrens’ alienation from nature, something he coined “Nature Deficit Disorder.” Nature-Deficit Disorder (NDD) is a problem for humans because we evolved over eons in nature - so it’s not good for us to be estranged from it. More concerning are NDD’s derivative consequences for human and planetary wellbeing.The good news? We can gain traction on NDD and its derivative consequences through routine nature connections in school.
Educators and students need routine nature connections to happen in school because they support schools’ central purpose: learning. Communities need routine nature-connection to happen in schools because they support human-to-human connections and a more just world. The planet (and its residents - including US!) need routine nature-connection to happen in schools because emotional ties to nature lead us to care for the earth.
Nature connections can become a routine part of schools through nature-based learning – learning outdoors or bringing elements of nature indoors for learning. Nature-based learning will happen when nature-based learning practices become second-nature (pun intended) to all educators as a core part of how they teach and design their classrooms. Individual educators will adopt nature-based learning practices when we collectively integrate nature-based learning design into our education, planning, and governance systems.
Unlike so many vexing problems for which there are no known solutions, nature-based learning offers the tantalizing combination of a low-cost, apolitical, attainable, known solution to foster nature connection in schools and yield nature’s benefits for educators, students, communities, and the planet.
We can start today. What are we waiting for?
📣 Call-to-Action
Help me hone my elevator pitch. I invite your feedback in the comments or via email - beccakatz@gmail.com.
Be well,
Becca
I like the elevator pitch, Becca -- and FWIW I have never had an agent, so I would say the key thing is just to get to work and have faith that, as Lao Tau said, "way will open . . ."