This podcast introduces the big concepts of place-conscious education as used by Nebraska Writing Project teachers. It situates place-conscious work in Nebraska in three stages: the Rural Institute program developed 1995-2007; the online Place-Conscious Institute and the suburban inquiry team 2008-2015; and the current community engagement/literacy programs of Husker Writers and the National Parks Service partnership. Then, four main concepts of place-conscious education are explained:
Active citizens as opposed to migratory education
The 3-legged stool of education, community vitality, and environmental quality
Spiraling out from local community to regional, national, international knowledge
Watershed and commonwealth as the crucial web of interrelationships
The podcast finishes with examples of two exemplar projects:the Henderson/Bradshaw school consolidation project; and the Greater Omaha schools Urban Justice Project.The podcast is framed by two place conscious poems: Don Welch’s “Advice from a Provincial” and Grace Bauer’s “Great Plains Prayer.”
Luma Mufleh, an activist and author of Learning America: One Woman's Fight for Educational Justice for Refugee Children, has a discussion with CWP-Fairfield teacher-leaders Jessica Baldizon and William King.