Basics of Place-Conscious Education: Part 1 of The Nebraska Experience

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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.”