Link to new report Growing Kids who Care HERE
Monday, September 5, 2011
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Training for teachers on Place Based Education
In late May I travelled down to Glen Strae in Argyll to help Sam Harrison, who runs Openground, specialising in Place Based Education, run an educators training weekend. Participants had come from as far afield as Speyside and Mull, and included not only school teachers but outdoor educators. The weekend was thought-provoking but also very practical. Despite some good wet Argyll weather we spent most of the time outside sharing Sam's knowledge and love of Glen Strae, and experimenting with ways of helping school pupils find out about their local Place. Sensory activities, storytelling and creativity around the geology, history and natural history of Glen Strae were combined with discussion about the challenges of creating a sense of Place in today's world. I gave a presentation about my time in the U.S. and the various ways in which learning about Place has been extended to living well as part of one's community and environment. We had some stimulating discussions and it was great to meet and to hear stories from the teachers.
Openground http://www.openground.eu/
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| Sam and participants sharing experiences around the fire |
Thursday, December 9, 2010
It's all about Relationships
It is the end of November when the wheels of our ancient Toyota corolla grind their way 30 miles east of Flagstaff across the deep red of the Arizona desert, into the Navajo Nation to The STAR School not far from the small settlement of Leupp.
Founded in 2001 by principal Mark Sorensen and his wife Kate, the STAR (Service To All Relations) School lies in the south west of the Navajo Nation, which at 26,000 square miles is the largest land area assigned primarily to a Native American jurisdiction in the US. STAR is a K-8 (4-14) charter school, off-the-grid, small, solar-powered charter school. Most of its around 130 students are Navajo.
According to its website, (http://www.starschool.org/) the STAR School's vision is to create a joyful learning community in which members develop the character, skills and attitudes for understanding themselves, living in balance and serving all our relations. Sure enough, as I walk in through the front door, the atmosphere is friendly and relaxed, and the students smile and greet me.
Sorensen has been involved with native teaching for almost 40 years and sees himself as a go-between, with a foot in both cultures. He says, 'I have facility with the western system and so that’s where a lot of resources are, and I have been able to translate the core of what the people here feel is really important into ways that western society would support it, in the form of a school'.
This school was founded as a response to a homogenising State education system which not only lacks the flexibility to address Place or culturally-specific situations, but has not taken the opportunity to incorporate native cultural values. STAR is founded on sustainability, which Sorensen defines as, 'the relationships and resources that provide for the continuity of people and the environment from generation to generation', with humans and human cultures firmly part and product of the natural world (Gruenewald & Smith, 2008, Place Based Education in the Global Age, p.50).
This concept of sustainability reflects the Navajo principle of K'e (kinship and interrelatedness) in which the ethos of the school is firmly grounded. Key to K'e is the recognition that every manifestation of creation is inextricably linked - human, plant, animal, mountain, river and rock - and that all have a respect for and responsibility towards each other. Within the school curriculum this ethos is expressed as the 4 R's (Respect, Relationship, Responsibility and Reasoning). The Sorensens have developed a rubric that allows students to evaluate their own personal and social development against these values as they progress through the school. While Sorensen contrasts this with a 'western' approach to sustainability that is about 'saving the world', with man in control, I sense that there are many out there who would strongly identify with this humbler and more reciprocal approach.
As Sorensen talks to me, a small boy named Ty comes in to check out a soccer ball. As the principal pumps it up for him he tells me that the STAR school's Navajo 4 R's also reflect what have been termed the '40 Developmental Assets'. These are 40 vital building blocks of healthy child development identified by the Search Institute in Minneapolis in 1990 (http://www.search-institute.org/). These well-validated building blocks, which include elements such as 'family support', 'service to others', 'adult role models', are designed to help young children grow up healthy, caring and responsible. In 2009 the Institute published 'The 3-3rd Project: Ensuring Developmental and Educational Success for Young American Indian Children, Vol. 1 Effective Strategies for Educators', which suggests practical ways of building the 40 building blocks into teaching practices. The Assets can also become an important catalyst for community transformation as communities attempt to improve outcomes for young people. Mark Sorensen played a key role in this publication, with contributions from the STAR school and two other local Navajo schools. While the focus of the book is native American Indian children, Sorensen believes the 40 Assets are applicable to children of any ethnic, social or economic background.
I spend time sitting in on a mixed class of 5, 6, 7 and 8 graders taught jointly by teachers Tom Thomas and Vicky. Each student has chosen a species of native animal to research in preparation for the publication of a class booklet 'Honoring our Animal Communities'. This will cover not only the ecology of the animals but their place in native lore, whether they have a medicinal or ceremonial significance and whether they are a 'messenger' for man, for example an indicator of climate change or changing seasons. The emphasis is not on the extractive human 'use' of each animal but on a dynamic relationship between the human and animal species, based on respect, Each student sits down with me in turn and begins their presentation on their chosen animal with their own genealogy and 'place' of belonging, in Navajo, ending their presentation with the ways in which one might 'honour' that species, for example restoring habitat. I open up the Honoring our Plant Community booklet produced last year and read, ‘helping our plant community is taking care of our Sh7m1 (mother earth) and we have heard that the trees, bushes, shrubs and plants are our mother earth’s hair. We have to take care of her just like our own mothers’'
The school teaches both by subject and thematically. The whole school reading programme is structured around six thematic units per year - identity/awareness, perspective taking, conflict resolution, social awareness, love and friendship, freedom and democracy. Sorensen says, 'Right now the theme is conflict resolution. So in every grade they’re reading different books but all those books have to do with conflicts and how to resolve conflicts... And at the beginning of our school year kids spend a lot of time focussing on their own clans and clan identities. That’s an essential part of their identity.'
I challenge Sorensen that focusing heavily on clan identity might make it more difficult to foster a sense of belonging within a wider multi-cultural world. His answer reflects my own personal view as a Scot, that strong cultural identity that leads to cultural self-esteem can be very positive in reducing conflict. Sorensen says, 'my feeling is that if you go very deep into your own Place you will come to these universal values and you do become aware of how to relate to people no matter where they come from... I think that wars are started by people thinking somebody’s going to take something away from them. If you have a firm sense of identity that includes spiritual identity it is clear that no one can take that away from you. If you’re not very sure of who you are that’s when you tend to react violently.'
Navajo peacemaking is an important element within the school community, and is at the interface of the school's role within the wider community. Sorensen has recently initiated the Navajo Peacemaking and Safe Schools Project, aimed at reducing violence and truancy at five local schools through a character building reading programme and healthy activities. It brings students together with professionals from mental health and law enforcement with the support of qualified community peacemakers. The peacemaking process follows rituals of prayer, introductions, discussion of the issue, and agreed actions. Around 20 local Navajo peacemakers act as facilitators in the project.
In the afternoon Keanu, a handsome 14 year old with a long ponytail, shows me some of the film he has scripted about the Navajo peacemaking process. He and other students are shooting it with the help of Place Based media/arts teacher Rachel Tso. I also visit an ambitious ongoing art project to decorate the outdoor amphitheatre with colourful ceramic mosaics depicting each native clan. Students of the same clan are collaborating under the enthusiastic eye of Juanita Hull-Carlson, a visiting art teacher. A girl called Missy shows me her striking mosaic of a figure pacing the edge of a circle - her clan name is 'The Man Who Walked Around'. Another shows a line of blue pottery to depict 'The Edge of the Water'. Another depicts the 'Salt Block' clan. The students are having a great time smashing pottery and carefully adding it to their creations.
The STAR School's Place Based approach is definitely improving State test scores relative to other local schools. Sorensen says, 'We have very interesting test results. 80% of the students who stay here 3 years or more meet the State standards, which is way higher than native kids elsewhere around here. But those students who have been here 2 years or less, 80% of them are in our category ‘falls far below’...Now we’re in a situation where most of our students do stay and those that do do quite well at State tests.' Of course, academic achievement is only one element of what the STAR school gives its students. As Sorensen says, 'what we expect here is that students will develop their character and their values equally with their academics.' My conversations with teachers and students of all ages would suggest that this expectation is being fulfilled.
While there are outward differences between cultures, I am struck by similarities. At many points during the day I am strongly reminded of Gaelic culture in Scotland, of the concept of duthchas (land, place and heritage), of the tree alphabet, of a time not so long ago when many a Gael could recite his or her genealogy going back generations, when every hump and bump around a croft had its name, when ones sense of family and heritage provided a strong framework for good action. It seems no coincidence that many a prominent rock formation in Scotland bears an animate name.
I am also struck by how similar the values of K'e are to those I observed recently at Kennedy High School in Cottage Grove, a school for predominantly white, largely disadvantaged trailer park kids. It is perhaps not surprising that a Place Based approach, which fosters care and responsibility and is founded on a good understanding of what roots people emotionally and spiritually to their 'Place', finds similar solutions , despite the outward differences. I guess the human race is beautifully simple really...
Founded in 2001 by principal Mark Sorensen and his wife Kate, the STAR (Service To All Relations) School lies in the south west of the Navajo Nation, which at 26,000 square miles is the largest land area assigned primarily to a Native American jurisdiction in the US. STAR is a K-8 (4-14) charter school, off-the-grid, small, solar-powered charter school. Most of its around 130 students are Navajo.
 |
| Kate & Mark Sorensen with Navajo elder |
 |
| STAR is largely solar powered |
As Sorensen talks to me, a small boy named Ty comes in to check out a soccer ball. As the principal pumps it up for him he tells me that the STAR school's Navajo 4 R's also reflect what have been termed the '40 Developmental Assets'. These are 40 vital building blocks of healthy child development identified by the Search Institute in Minneapolis in 1990 (http://www.search-institute.org/). These well-validated building blocks, which include elements such as 'family support', 'service to others', 'adult role models', are designed to help young children grow up healthy, caring and responsible. In 2009 the Institute published 'The 3-3rd Project: Ensuring Developmental and Educational Success for Young American Indian Children, Vol. 1 Effective Strategies for Educators', which suggests practical ways of building the 40 building blocks into teaching practices. The Assets can also become an important catalyst for community transformation as communities attempt to improve outcomes for young people. Mark Sorensen played a key role in this publication, with contributions from the STAR school and two other local Navajo schools. While the focus of the book is native American Indian children, Sorensen believes the 40 Assets are applicable to children of any ethnic, social or economic background. |
| drinking Navajo tea |
What Sorensen calls 'Sovereignty through Service' is at the heart of learning about the 4 R's. In 2007 students received the Governor's Volunteer Service Award for the 'STAR School Learn and Serve Elder Help Project' they had designed themselves, which involved providing a range of help to Navajo elders, from home repairs to visiting nursing home residents. Students have planted fruit trees and distributed them around the community. The youngest students do a weekly cleanup around the campus and a monthly trip into a nursing home in Flagstaff where they feed the elders lunch, make gifts for them and play games with them. Each initiatives is designed by the students. As Sorensen says, 'We get them sensitive to the whole area and then they choose how they are going to express that.' Of course, as they work, they are themselves creating and exploring relationships.
The school teaches both by subject and thematically. The whole school reading programme is structured around six thematic units per year - identity/awareness, perspective taking, conflict resolution, social awareness, love and friendship, freedom and democracy. Sorensen says, 'Right now the theme is conflict resolution. So in every grade they’re reading different books but all those books have to do with conflicts and how to resolve conflicts... And at the beginning of our school year kids spend a lot of time focussing on their own clans and clan identities. That’s an essential part of their identity.'
Navajo peacemaking is an important element within the school community, and is at the interface of the school's role within the wider community. Sorensen has recently initiated the Navajo Peacemaking and Safe Schools Project, aimed at reducing violence and truancy at five local schools through a character building reading programme and healthy activities. It brings students together with professionals from mental health and law enforcement with the support of qualified community peacemakers. The peacemaking process follows rituals of prayer, introductions, discussion of the issue, and agreed actions. Around 20 local Navajo peacemakers act as facilitators in the project.
 |
| Missy with her clan mosaic The Man Who Walked Around |
The STAR School's Place Based approach is definitely improving State test scores relative to other local schools. Sorensen says, 'We have very interesting test results. 80% of the students who stay here 3 years or more meet the State standards, which is way higher than native kids elsewhere around here. But those students who have been here 2 years or less, 80% of them are in our category ‘falls far below’...Now we’re in a situation where most of our students do stay and those that do do quite well at State tests.' Of course, academic achievement is only one element of what the STAR school gives its students. As Sorensen says, 'what we expect here is that students will develop their character and their values equally with their academics.' My conversations with teachers and students of all ages would suggest that this expectation is being fulfilled.
While there are outward differences between cultures, I am struck by similarities. At many points during the day I am strongly reminded of Gaelic culture in Scotland, of the concept of duthchas (land, place and heritage), of the tree alphabet, of a time not so long ago when many a Gael could recite his or her genealogy going back generations, when every hump and bump around a croft had its name, when ones sense of family and heritage provided a strong framework for good action. It seems no coincidence that many a prominent rock formation in Scotland bears an animate name.
I am also struck by how similar the values of K'e are to those I observed recently at Kennedy High School in Cottage Grove, a school for predominantly white, largely disadvantaged trailer park kids. It is perhaps not surprising that a Place Based approach, which fosters care and responsibility and is founded on a good understanding of what roots people emotionally and spiritually to their 'Place', finds similar solutions , despite the outward differences. I guess the human race is beautifully simple really...
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Turning stragglers into leaders
A visit to Kennedy High School in Cottage Grove, Oregon on 18 November, turns out to be one of the most uplifting days I have spent in a school, perhaps ever.
Formally known as AL Kennedy Alternative High School, the school was founded in 1998 by a forestry teacher who wanted to help students aged 15 to 18 who were struggling in mainstream education. By 2008, when current principal Tom Horn took over, the school was sinking under an attendance rate sometimes as low as 23%, serious drug problems and alarming drop out rates. Now, little more than two years on, Tom's vision, and the perceptive and caring approach to the students which shines through the principal and his team of committed and talented staff, have completely transformed the culture of the school. Attendance rates are around 90% and the drop out rate has fallen dramatically, while test results show an upward trend. The school serves a maximum of 75 students, but there are 190 further students waiting for a place.
There are a
myriad of small things that contribute to this caring culture. For example, Horn's approach to students who have been referred to his office, 'When a student has been sent to me, maybe there are difficulties with the teacher, they know to grab a cup of tea. Then they read the quote on the Yogi tea, and then they grab their journal and then they write. What that does is it diffuses the anger and the distress they are feeling, and then they relate this to their life and we have a conversation. There are no discipline problems around here.' Classes often begin and end with circle time, first an 'expectations' circle, where students and teachers state their hopes and expectations for their role in the class, and finally an 'appreciations' circle, where students are able to exchange thanks and appreciations for others' role.
An important element for Horn has been caring for his staff and giving them the space and time they need to develop their own practices. He is a hands-on leader who at least once a week will combine two classes and substitute for two teachers to free them up to do preparation. On Fridays, when the primary focus is on projects, community service and conservation, he takes over these activities to give his staff half a day for meeting and preparation.
A second step has been to build a strong school ethos based on sustainability and service, which
builds not only self esteem but also practical skills and wisdom. School activities are structured around five themes of sustainability - Agriculture, Architecture, Energy, Forests and Water. Horn has sought to develop a range of programmes with community partners that address each of these issues. Within each theme there is a focus on practical problem solving, academic skills, and on creating future employment opportunities . According to Horn, 'Kennedy represents a new paradigm or a new way of thinking about education. It’s project based, it’s place-based and it allows students to engage in constructive activities that relate specifically to real-world issues, around sustainability and around environmental issues that are affecting us all'.
The wide range of ambitious projects in which students have been involved include:
- growing fresh organic food for themost in need in the community (over 3 tonnes to date), - partnering with the County to implement mitigation measures at a landfill site,
- gathering water monitoring data at industrial outflow sites as part of an annual canoe trip from Eugene to Portland,
- developing a low-cost energy efficient green housing prototype, which it is hoped could ameliorate housing conditions at the trailer parks on which many of the students live,
- learning how to build a straw bale house at the local energy research and education centre, Approvecho
- carrying out invasive species removal work through the school conservation corps, in partnership with the US Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Coast Fork Watershed Council.
Both teachers and students find this approach stimulating and enjoyable. Kris Olsen again, 'One of the reasons I really love teaching at Kennedy is the focus on sustainability. Its also really important to be teaching material that’s relevant and I really don’t think there’s anything more relevant than issues around sustainability. The reality is that the future that these kids have is going to be really different from what our lives look like right now. They need to be ready to deal with issues around energy and sustaining our forests and a more sustainable food system.'
A student named Morgan talks to me enthusiastically, 'I’ve been to all kinds of schools and this is best school I’ve been to. It’s cool because you get to go out and do lots of great things, like growing stuff in the garden, forestry work, environmental work. It changes the way you see things. There’s a lot more respect here too, between us and the teachers.'
This place and project based approach has been essential for breaking down the barriers between school and community. As Horn says, 'my first thought was that you really need to engage kids in the life of the community, outside of the school. So if it’s that segregation, where they walk in the front door of the school and they don’t go out you really just have this little petri dish where it’s difficult forkids to relate to the real world.' The standing of the school within the community, and the sense of self-respect disadvantaged communities have for themselves, have also grown dramatically as practical projects have begun to make a difference to local environmental and social issues. Now parents wave as Horn cycles past some of the poorest and most challenged trailer parks in the area. One of his next plans is for a community garden and cafe right in the centre of one of these parks.
There is also a philosophy of helping others to learn. Kennedy students teach in local
elementary schools. As Horn says, 'all of our kids have now taught agriculture, bee-keeping, water-testing, aquaculture with hydroponics. They’re teaching third graders and fourth graders these skills. And what’s happening is they have to prepare and they’re nervous and you see these toughest of tough kids, you know their eyes tear up and their voice shakes when they’re infront of a bunch of third graders. It’s beautiful to see actually. And then they come back and go ‘I’m never misbehaving ever again, that’s really hard, that teaching’.
Currently student performance is measured on the basis of State tests. In order to gain a sense of the broader learning that each student is gaining, Horn already ensures that each builds up a portfolio of written work. But he is also planning a more radical move away from narrow subject assessment to a mode of assessment that fits better with the personal and social development that the school offers, 'The one thing we’re looking at doing next year is doing away with the grading system, the ABCDF and moving toward a narrative system. So each student will have a description of what they’re good at and what they need to work on'. This can take account of the 'portfolio of adventurous experiences', from beekeeping to winter camping to community project work to performing at an 'open mike' at the local Axe and Fiddle cafe, which Horn believes can have a transformative impact on a student's life.
Horn is also working on plans for a 'walkabout', which would be a prequisite for graduation. 'Walkabout' would be an experiential learning, self-driven, self-developed project that fosters good citizenship and also involves some sort of transformative experience. Horn says, 'It’s not just ‘go create a project and good luck’. There’s a rubric, a step by step process. It’s been highly successful elsewhere...And kids chronicle their transformation in the process. Where kids are self-driven and it becomes a part of the culture for them to participate in something that is meaningful to them, that has positive experience and has intentional positive effect on the community.'
Finding resources (in addition to the allowance for salaries supplied by the State) to sustain school activities falls largely to Horn, but he is aware that the nature of the school and the kinds of issues it tackles give it a distinct advantage when it comes to finding funds. Partnerships with business and State agencies have proven highly successful. During the 2009-2010 academic year alone, for example, the school brought in approximately $700,000 to support its programmes and provide employment opportunities for its students.
Tom Horn and I spend the last hours of the afternoon at the local Axe an
d Fiddle, owned by the inspirational Hoedads founder Hal Hartzell, watching students perform at the monthly 'open mike'. There is no dedicated music teacher at Kennedy, but many of the staff sing or play instruments and have passed on their skills to the students. It is impressive how hard students have worked to rehearse songs and compose their own lyrics, and it clearly takes a lot of courage for some of them to stand up there in front of their peers. Horn himself is persuaded to take a turn on the guitar with a band of other staff.
The last word goes to Tom Horn, 'As a student teacher, I kept asking these fundamental questions – by raising reading levels are we seeing kids matriculate into college or do great things with their lives? And there wasn’t necessarily a corollary between their academic scores and their potential as human beings.... And seeing five years down the road some of them are incarcerated – these were some risky kids. And at the same time you ask all these questions about the environment, whether its global warming or forest floor ecology and the issues we see in our own back yard here. Those are things I always thought about as an environmentalist. And there was a disconnect between the real world and education. Education was almost a form of segregation.... Now we are in a very interesting time in history educationally in this country. There were 6.9 million drop outs last year. Kids are feeling disaffected by the educational system. But kids [at Kennedy] are accepting responsibility for their role here because they understand that we are significantly different'.
Formally known as AL Kennedy Alternative High School, the school was founded in 1998 by a forestry teacher who wanted to help students aged 15 to 18 who were struggling in mainstream education. By 2008, when current principal Tom Horn took over, the school was sinking under an attendance rate sometimes as low as 23%, serious drug problems and alarming drop out rates. Now, little more than two years on, Tom's vision, and the perceptive and caring approach to the students which shines through the principal and his team of committed and talented staff, have completely transformed the culture of the school. Attendance rates are around 90% and the drop out rate has fallen dramatically, while test results show an upward trend. The school serves a maximum of 75 students, but there are 190 further students waiting for a place.According to its vibrant website, (http://blogs.slane.k12.or.us/kennedy ), the school sets out to help students from all backgrounds to, ‘think, discuss, question and analyze, combine knowledge with goodness, and acquire the intellectual skills that ensure a love of learning and a lifelong commitment to helping others.’ The focus of education at Kennedy is to ‘prepare students to use the skills learned at school to tackle local, national, and global issues that focus primarily on economic vitality, social justice and environmental integrity.’
The way Tom Horn himself expresses it is that he wants kids to leave the
school 'with the creative energy to change the world'. This would be no small aspiration for the most privileged products of private education, but seems to be reaching for the stars when it is applied to some of the most disadvantaged and oftentimes troubled young people of the District. Yet the energy, love and life that emanate as soon as one enters the modest building are proof enough that something very special is happening here. I hear one tough looking lad say with something like awe after Horn has passed him in the corridor, 'they should clone that guy - he could run the world'.
school 'with the creative energy to change the world'. This would be no small aspiration for the most privileged products of private education, but seems to be reaching for the stars when it is applied to some of the most disadvantaged and oftentimes troubled young people of the District. Yet the energy, love and life that emanate as soon as one enters the modest building are proof enough that something very special is happening here. I hear one tough looking lad say with something like awe after Horn has passed him in the corridor, 'they should clone that guy - he could run the world'. The transformation has been the result of good leadership, but also a deep understanding, backed up by research, of what makes people switch on and enjoy learning and living. Building caring relationships between people within and outside the school has been key. One of the first changes was to do away with the seven period day where students moved from class to class and there was little accountability. Now every student is assigned a teacher. Rather than that teacher becoming their advisor, that teacher is their teacher every day for the whole trimester. This has been effective in reducing truancy and in building this culture of care. Kris Olsen, teacher, comments, 'As a teacher it is really important to be able to build relationships with kids, which we’re able to do in the cohorts, having the same kids the whole time.'
There are a
myriad of small things that contribute to this caring culture. For example, Horn's approach to students who have been referred to his office, 'When a student has been sent to me, maybe there are difficulties with the teacher, they know to grab a cup of tea. Then they read the quote on the Yogi tea, and then they grab their journal and then they write. What that does is it diffuses the anger and the distress they are feeling, and then they relate this to their life and we have a conversation. There are no discipline problems around here.' Classes often begin and end with circle time, first an 'expectations' circle, where students and teachers state their hopes and expectations for their role in the class, and finally an 'appreciations' circle, where students are able to exchange thanks and appreciations for others' role. An important element for Horn has been caring for his staff and giving them the space and time they need to develop their own practices. He is a hands-on leader who at least once a week will combine two classes and substitute for two teachers to free them up to do preparation. On Fridays, when the primary focus is on projects, community service and conservation, he takes over these activities to give his staff half a day for meeting and preparation.
A second step has been to build a strong school ethos based on sustainability and service, which
builds not only self esteem but also practical skills and wisdom. School activities are structured around five themes of sustainability - Agriculture, Architecture, Energy, Forests and Water. Horn has sought to develop a range of programmes with community partners that address each of these issues. Within each theme there is a focus on practical problem solving, academic skills, and on creating future employment opportunities . According to Horn, 'Kennedy represents a new paradigm or a new way of thinking about education. It’s project based, it’s place-based and it allows students to engage in constructive activities that relate specifically to real-world issues, around sustainability and around environmental issues that are affecting us all'.The wide range of ambitious projects in which students have been involved include:
- growing fresh organic food for themost in need in the community (over 3 tonnes to date), - partnering with the County to implement mitigation measures at a landfill site,
- gathering water monitoring data at industrial outflow sites as part of an annual canoe trip from Eugene to Portland,
- developing a low-cost energy efficient green housing prototype, which it is hoped could ameliorate housing conditions at the trailer parks on which many of the students live,
- learning how to build a straw bale house at the local energy research and education centre, Approvecho
- carrying out invasive species removal work through the school conservation corps, in partnership with the US Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Coast Fork Watershed Council.
Both teachers and students find this approach stimulating and enjoyable. Kris Olsen again, 'One of the reasons I really love teaching at Kennedy is the focus on sustainability. Its also really important to be teaching material that’s relevant and I really don’t think there’s anything more relevant than issues around sustainability. The reality is that the future that these kids have is going to be really different from what our lives look like right now. They need to be ready to deal with issues around energy and sustaining our forests and a more sustainable food system.'
A student named Morgan talks to me enthusiastically, 'I’ve been to all kinds of schools and this is best school I’ve been to. It’s cool because you get to go out and do lots of great things, like growing stuff in the garden, forestry work, environmental work. It changes the way you see things. There’s a lot more respect here too, between us and the teachers.'
This place and project based approach has been essential for breaking down the barriers between school and community. As Horn says, 'my first thought was that you really need to engage kids in the life of the community, outside of the school. So if it’s that segregation, where they walk in the front door of the school and they don’t go out you really just have this little petri dish where it’s difficult forkids to relate to the real world.' The standing of the school within the community, and the sense of self-respect disadvantaged communities have for themselves, have also grown dramatically as practical projects have begun to make a difference to local environmental and social issues. Now parents wave as Horn cycles past some of the poorest and most challenged trailer parks in the area. One of his next plans is for a community garden and cafe right in the centre of one of these parks.
There is also a philosophy of helping others to learn. Kennedy students teach in local
elementary schools. As Horn says, 'all of our kids have now taught agriculture, bee-keeping, water-testing, aquaculture with hydroponics. They’re teaching third graders and fourth graders these skills. And what’s happening is they have to prepare and they’re nervous and you see these toughest of tough kids, you know their eyes tear up and their voice shakes when they’re infront of a bunch of third graders. It’s beautiful to see actually. And then they come back and go ‘I’m never misbehaving ever again, that’s really hard, that teaching’.Currently student performance is measured on the basis of State tests. In order to gain a sense of the broader learning that each student is gaining, Horn already ensures that each builds up a portfolio of written work. But he is also planning a more radical move away from narrow subject assessment to a mode of assessment that fits better with the personal and social development that the school offers, 'The one thing we’re looking at doing next year is doing away with the grading system, the ABCDF and moving toward a narrative system. So each student will have a description of what they’re good at and what they need to work on'. This can take account of the 'portfolio of adventurous experiences', from beekeeping to winter camping to community project work to performing at an 'open mike' at the local Axe and Fiddle cafe, which Horn believes can have a transformative impact on a student's life.
Horn is also working on plans for a 'walkabout', which would be a prequisite for graduation. 'Walkabout' would be an experiential learning, self-driven, self-developed project that fosters good citizenship and also involves some sort of transformative experience. Horn says, 'It’s not just ‘go create a project and good luck’. There’s a rubric, a step by step process. It’s been highly successful elsewhere...And kids chronicle their transformation in the process. Where kids are self-driven and it becomes a part of the culture for them to participate in something that is meaningful to them, that has positive experience and has intentional positive effect on the community.'
Finding resources (in addition to the allowance for salaries supplied by the State) to sustain school activities falls largely to Horn, but he is aware that the nature of the school and the kinds of issues it tackles give it a distinct advantage when it comes to finding funds. Partnerships with business and State agencies have proven highly successful. During the 2009-2010 academic year alone, for example, the school brought in approximately $700,000 to support its programmes and provide employment opportunities for its students.
Tom Horn and I spend the last hours of the afternoon at the local Axe an
d Fiddle, owned by the inspirational Hoedads founder Hal Hartzell, watching students perform at the monthly 'open mike'. There is no dedicated music teacher at Kennedy, but many of the staff sing or play instruments and have passed on their skills to the students. It is impressive how hard students have worked to rehearse songs and compose their own lyrics, and it clearly takes a lot of courage for some of them to stand up there in front of their peers. Horn himself is persuaded to take a turn on the guitar with a band of other staff.The last word goes to Tom Horn, 'As a student teacher, I kept asking these fundamental questions – by raising reading levels are we seeing kids matriculate into college or do great things with their lives? And there wasn’t necessarily a corollary between their academic scores and their potential as human beings.... And seeing five years down the road some of them are incarcerated – these were some risky kids. And at the same time you ask all these questions about the environment, whether its global warming or forest floor ecology and the issues we see in our own back yard here. Those are things I always thought about as an environmentalist. And there was a disconnect between the real world and education. Education was almost a form of segregation.... Now we are in a very interesting time in history educationally in this country. There were 6.9 million drop outs last year. Kids are feeling disaffected by the educational system. But kids [at Kennedy] are accepting responsibility for their role here because they understand that we are significantly different'.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Growing Place Based 'organisms'
Fresh from another blast of Sunnyside Environmental School, its sparky kids and stimulated teachers, I have a final meeting with Greg Smith at Lewis and Clark College in Portland before the family and I travel south towards Arizona.
It is lovely to talk to this inspiring man again, and our discussions touch on the strong connection between the nurturing of self esteem, love and care within the Place Based schools I have visited and the capacity to relate to and care for the school community, the wider community and, beyond that, the planet. How different from efforts to 'do the right thing' for sustainability out of a sense of duty - although of course that's fine too. Each school has been very different in its outward characteristics, but the most important common element has been this 'culture of care', often emanating from a particularly charismatic school leader. Replicating this intangible but vital quality adds challenge to any aspiration to create a 'blueprint' for a Place Based school.
Yet while the charisma of a particular person is certainly important, developing a vision of how schools could be different is also central to what schools like Sunnyside have accomplished. Greg Smith believes a 'both-and' approach is needed. Sharing this vision with others can infect new generations of educators with the enthusiasm and commitment they need to transform learning and teaching.
Another area of discussion revolves around whether Place Based education should be more 'deeply anchored in a critique of industrial civilisation'. This continues an email conversation between Greg Smith and David Greenwood which can be read in more detail at http://www.clearingmagazine.org/online/archives/2108. Interestingly, the various educators and school leaders whom I have spoken with about this tend to feel that perhaps it is nurturing the culture of love, respect and responsibility for oneself and the wider world and putting it into action locally that is most important. There are certainly risks involved in trying to impose parameters for Place Based Education. Its accessibility and the simplicity of its approach, its flexibility to local circumstances and the way in which it speaks to the hearts of a wide range of very different individuals are perhaps its key strengths.
It is lovely to talk to this inspiring man again, and our discussions touch on the strong connection between the nurturing of self esteem, love and care within the Place Based schools I have visited and the capacity to relate to and care for the school community, the wider community and, beyond that, the planet. How different from efforts to 'do the right thing' for sustainability out of a sense of duty - although of course that's fine too. Each school has been very different in its outward characteristics, but the most important common element has been this 'culture of care', often emanating from a particularly charismatic school leader. Replicating this intangible but vital quality adds challenge to any aspiration to create a 'blueprint' for a Place Based school.
Yet while the charisma of a particular person is certainly important, developing a vision of how schools could be different is also central to what schools like Sunnyside have accomplished. Greg Smith believes a 'both-and' approach is needed. Sharing this vision with others can infect new generations of educators with the enthusiasm and commitment they need to transform learning and teaching.
Another area of discussion revolves around whether Place Based education should be more 'deeply anchored in a critique of industrial civilisation'. This continues an email conversation between Greg Smith and David Greenwood which can be read in more detail at http://www.clearingmagazine.org/online/archives/2108. Interestingly, the various educators and school leaders whom I have spoken with about this tend to feel that perhaps it is nurturing the culture of love, respect and responsibility for oneself and the wider world and putting it into action locally that is most important. There are certainly risks involved in trying to impose parameters for Place Based Education. Its accessibility and the simplicity of its approach, its flexibility to local circumstances and the way in which it speaks to the hearts of a wide range of very different individuals are perhaps its key strengths.
Monday, November 29, 2010
What makes Sunnyside special?
On 16 November I make a return visit to Sunnyside 
Environmental School in Portland, Oregon, the K-8 (kindergarten to age 14) which I first visited back in May. This time my conversations with the principal, Sarah Taylor, and with teachers and pupils, focus on what makes the school special, and on how best to help other schools keen to start along the path of Place Based Education.
My final question to Sarah Taylor during our discussion was to ask what practical first steps she would take if she were encouraging a Place Based approach at a mainstream school. This were the six steps she chose:
1. Choose one State Standard and ask each member of staff to find something outside within walking distance of the school - either in the environment or the community - that they could use to teach that Standard.
2. Run staff meetings in a circle and start to model the sort of inclusive, respectful, listening and caring behaviour you would like to see underpinning the school.
3. Run morning meetings until other staff feel able to play a role, again setting an example through your own approach to staff and students.
4. Create a garden plot and get the whole school involved in it.
5. Find a service learning project in the community that the whole school can participate in and celebrate the positive results from.
6. End each day - whether at class or whole school scale - with compliments
Once again, my time at Sunnyside was a fascinating and a lot of fun!
Environmental School in Portland, Oregon, the K-8 (kindergarten to age 14) which I first visited back in May. This time my conversations with the principal, Sarah Taylor, and with teachers and pupils, focus on what makes the school special, and on how best to help other schools keen to start along the path of Place Based Education. I have an interesting discussion with Sarah Taylor about curriculum plann
ing and assessment. She is about to complete a curriculum framework for the school, a document which promises to be useful for any other school starting out in a similar direction. Its guiding principles emphasise trust, intellectual curiosity, high academic standards, seasonal cycles, the importance of play and time outdoors, mixed age experiences, service learning, gratitude and joy. 'In this framework, schools are seen as satisfying and rich experiences that instill a sense of well being, support and community into its members'. Daily rituals help to bring the school community together. The day at Sunnyside starts with a morning circle, a review of the seasonal calendar, the plan for the day and good news. Breaks for play, fresh air and silence are built into work time. The day ends with a closing circle for compliments and a waste audit. Families and the wider community are included in the life of the school in various ways, from volunteering to family and community events.
ing and assessment. She is about to complete a curriculum framework for the school, a document which promises to be useful for any other school starting out in a similar direction. Its guiding principles emphasise trust, intellectual curiosity, high academic standards, seasonal cycles, the importance of play and time outdoors, mixed age experiences, service learning, gratitude and joy. 'In this framework, schools are seen as satisfying and rich experiences that instill a sense of well being, support and community into its members'. Daily rituals help to bring the school community together. The day at Sunnyside starts with a morning circle, a review of the seasonal calendar, the plan for the day and good news. Breaks for play, fresh air and silence are built into work time. The day ends with a closing circle for compliments and a waste audit. Families and the wider community are included in the life of the school in various ways, from volunteering to family and community events.The assessment of students' performances is broader than in most mainstream schools. While student progress is measured against State developmental benchmarks for the 'essential skills' - maths, reading and 
mathematics, much learning is thematic, project-based and cross-disciplinary. The whole school alternates on an annual basis between the themes of rivers, mountains and forests, so that each student gains a good grasp of related local and global sustainability issues. The range of learning that Sunnyside aims to help students achieve is much broader than simply the subject areas of literacy and numeracy. The assessment process is therefore as interactive as possible, involving both parents and teachers in goal-setting. Student portfolios and student-led conferences to which parents are invited allow for a rounded assessment of student development.
mathematics, much learning is thematic, project-based and cross-disciplinary. The whole school alternates on an annual basis between the themes of rivers, mountains and forests, so that each student gains a good grasp of related local and global sustainability issues. The range of learning that Sunnyside aims to help students achieve is much broader than simply the subject areas of literacy and numeracy. The assessment process is therefore as interactive as possible, involving both parents and teachers in goal-setting. Student portfolios and student-led conferences to which parents are invited allow for a rounded assessment of student development.This school year is a 'river' year and I sit in on a blended middle school class (Grades 6-8, ages 11-14) and interview long-term substitute teacher Dylan McCann. The students have each chosen a river in Oregon and are researching it independently. They are monitoring the water quality and ecology of a local wetland. History, culture and economic changes along their chosen river will be written as a River Memoir, telling the story of each river from the river's perspective. Creative arts will also be part of a student-organised River Festival.
Dylan is able to compare Sunnyside with other schools he regularly teaches in. Most notable is the culture of care and respect within the school, 'Its very different from other schools that I teach in. It just has much more of a community feeling, so when you walk around you 
recognise people and they greet you by your first name and say things like ‘nice to see you again’. People treat each other with respect, between students and students and teachers.' I ask whether a school like Sunnyside requires much more time and effort from its teachers than mainstream schools. Dylan convinces me that, while both require good preparation, there are real advantages to this more cross-disciplinary, student-focused style of teaching. He answers thoughtfully, 'I don’t think so. I think as long as you have the mindset you need to be at the school it’s not more work it’s just different. At other schools it’s a lot about lesson plans and tests, correcting and scoring and just so much more rigid. And here the activities that are planned are much more interactive and student-focused, the students lead on many issues and take a lot of responsibility. I think it’s more interesting for the students, and more stimulating and fun for the teachers, very much so. I mean the great thing is so many of the projects here are cross-disciplinary they incorporate math and science and art and language into the same project, rather than studying just math or just science or just writing. So much work incorporates so many facets. As a teacher it’s great because you can really enter into a project, really get so much more in-depth into projects instead of doing it for a class you can do a theme for a week or a month and really explore it. It makes it much more interesting to teach.'
recognise people and they greet you by your first name and say things like ‘nice to see you again’. People treat each other with respect, between students and students and teachers.' I ask whether a school like Sunnyside requires much more time and effort from its teachers than mainstream schools. Dylan convinces me that, while both require good preparation, there are real advantages to this more cross-disciplinary, student-focused style of teaching. He answers thoughtfully, 'I don’t think so. I think as long as you have the mindset you need to be at the school it’s not more work it’s just different. At other schools it’s a lot about lesson plans and tests, correcting and scoring and just so much more rigid. And here the activities that are planned are much more interactive and student-focused, the students lead on many issues and take a lot of responsibility. I think it’s more interesting for the students, and more stimulating and fun for the teachers, very much so. I mean the great thing is so many of the projects here are cross-disciplinary they incorporate math and science and art and language into the same project, rather than studying just math or just science or just writing. So much work incorporates so many facets. As a teacher it’s great because you can really enter into a project, really get so much more in-depth into projects instead of doing it for a class you can do a theme for a week or a month and really explore it. It makes it much more interesting to teach.' Dylan believes there is a greater breadth of learning for the students too. 'Here they get life skills from this kind of learning, they are learning to be leaders and members of a community. Here they are so much more excited and involved about learning in a school where they are actually doing things, and each lesson is building on the last one and creating. They are interacting with other classes, and they are going out weekly and being members of the community and seeing real things. There is so much more interaction and they get choice in what they do and they are excited about it and they are taking their learning in their own hands, and really dealing with issues.' I ask what qualities he believes Sunnyside brings out in its students by comparision with mainstream schools. He says, 'I think these kids are a lot more interactive with each other and take on more responsibility, having ideas. Creativity is so much better than at other schools because they get a chance to use their imagination.... In other schools it can be just ‘memorise, memorise, memorise’ and that’s all it is. They have no creativity, no originality, no imagination whatsoever. It’s so hard. Whereas here its not memorization it’s learning, it’s getting immersed in it and really understanding what you’re doing and focusing on real issues. So when they’re asked to sit down and write a story about something they can just run with it as opposed to sitting down and saying ‘tell me what to write’. '
The students in the class echo these views when they are asked what they think makes Sunnyside special for them. They identify the sense of community, respect for peers and teachers, mixed-age classes and a family feel as highlights. They also like the themed curriculum and the opportunities for creativity. Emily says, 'The river theme is a lot more fun than learning subjects separately because I love art and when we do themes I get to do more art because we have to illustrate our own river book and if I went to a different school it wouldn’t be so creative' Her classmate chimes in, 'I also think the river and the theme work is cool because at my old school the subjects didn’t link together and I’d get confused about what goes with what.' A girl named Manson, obviously a strong character and very much part of the class community says simply, 'What I really like about this school is that it lets you be unique'.
Later in the day I go outside and help kindergarten kids plant bulbs, under the supervision of Sustainability Co-ordinator Stef Rooney. Her post is funded by the Parent Teachers Student Association and she works 20 hours a week. She tries to get each of the 15 Kindergarten to Grade 6 classes out for at least an hour once a week in the school garden. She has two staff, a farm and school co-ordinator, who co-ordinates school work on Jean's farm
, the local urban farm that grows much of the school's food, and an intern. She values the integration of outdoor learning with learning as a whole, and says her work at Sunnyside is, 'a perfect combination of being outside with kids but in a learning setting where it is a part of the school, not just something that’s completely unrelated to what you’re doing in your classroom. It’s fully integrated here. And that’s exciting because I get to see how that works day to day... It’s all about the garden and what needs to happen, but its learning too – not just science but all sorts of other things. Its easy here because it’s all integrated. At other schools I've worked in there was no link and students didn’t see what they were learning from it.'
, the local urban farm that grows much of the school's food, and an intern. She values the integration of outdoor learning with learning as a whole, and says her work at Sunnyside is, 'a perfect combination of being outside with kids but in a learning setting where it is a part of the school, not just something that’s completely unrelated to what you’re doing in your classroom. It’s fully integrated here. And that’s exciting because I get to see how that works day to day... It’s all about the garden and what needs to happen, but its learning too – not just science but all sorts of other things. Its easy here because it’s all integrated. At other schools I've worked in there was no link and students didn’t see what they were learning from it.' My final question to Sarah Taylor during our discussion was to ask what practical first steps she would take if she were encouraging a Place Based approach at a mainstream school. This were the six steps she chose:
1. Choose one State Standard and ask each member of staff to find something outside within walking distance of the school - either in the environment or the community - that they could use to teach that Standard.
2. Run staff meetings in a circle and start to model the sort of inclusive, respectful, listening and caring behaviour you would like to see underpinning the school.
3. Run morning meetings until other staff feel able to play a role, again setting an example through your own approach to staff and students.
4. Create a garden plot and get the whole school involved in it.
5. Find a service learning project in the community that the whole school can participate in and celebrate the positive results from.
6. End each day - whether at class or whole school scale - with compliments
Once again, my time at Sunnyside was a fascinating and a lot of fun!
Back to the Wallowas
In October, after a summer working on farms in Washington State, the Gulf Islands and British Columbia and giving my own children (now 4 and 6) a myriad of real Place Based learning opportunities (see http://boydwild.blogspot.com/), we head south with the encroaching winter back to the Wallowas in eastern Oregon.
1) To increase science literacy and provide context for learning.
2) To develop understanding of the linkage between human and ecological communities.
3) To promote a sense of place and environmental stewardship.
4) To provide exercise and promote good physical health.
5) To educate our next generation of land stewards, decision makers, and community leaders.
Of the aims Amy said, ' All our work is aiming towards better stewardship and citizenship. Once you get to that upper middle school/high school level and start talking about issues and values and letting the kids come to their own conclusion. That’s what education is about, not telling them one right answer, but presenting all the sides and giving them the skills they need to be active citizens, to deduce ‘what are my values, how do I approach this issue and why do I feel this way, how do I work with others who are different, how do we come to an agreement and work as a community?' This very much reflects the philosophy of Wallowa Resources, which aims to nurture good stewardship and citizenship in the local community by supporting problem solving and conflict resolution in the achievement of local environmental, economic and social sustainability.
The OWL programme for local elementary schools, which involves a weeks of outdoor school in the spring and autumn, will continue as before. Amy says 'The OWL programme is the introductory programme, aimed at elementary schools, giving them the basic knowledge of ecology and land use, and getting them excited about these unique places they live in' .
It is the WREN field science programme 'the flagship programme' for ages 11-14 that Amy is most excited about. This covers 8 all-day Fridays outdoors in the autumn and 8 in the spring term. She says, Those kids, if they go through the whole program multiple years I think really get a more in depth sense of place. Its amazing when I go in the classrooms with the other programs you can tell the kids who have been in WREN because they know the answers a little faster. The students learn about the world around them, local cultural, environmental conservation and sustainability issues, linking the local to the global. 'Every day is about Place. For example last week we did the Nez Perce and we hiked up a local hill and Dave shared a great story from Chief Joseph, read from his actual words. Another time we did a day on air quality and put out petroleum jelly dishes, and looked at particulates, and we counted traffic in town. We counted 89 cars and trucks in 15 minutes. We talked about local car pollution and traffic'.
WREN costs $15 a lesson, but around half of the participants are on WR scholarships. WREN does compete with school sports on Fridays, and WR's capacity means that only 14 students can sign up for any session. Nevertheless, WREN provides an excellent follow-on from OWL for middle-school students.
WET, the watershed monitoring programme, continues for High Schoolers and 6th graders. 'The 10th and 11th graders go out and learn how to do water monitoring and within a week the 6th graders go out and the high schoolers teach the 6th graders what they learned. It’s a good mentoring thing, and the highschoolers take it more seriously because they have to teach.' All the local schools, from Enterprise, Joseph, Imnaha, Troy and Wallowa now take part in water quality monitoring each autumn, and each school has two water monitoring sites.
In 2010 for the first time, data trends could be observed that indicate that water quality is not improving. Amy is excited about the possibilities of using the data from this programme to prompt further scientific analysis and ultimately river restoration activities. She says, 'We try to reinforce the sense of Place. The data is now going to a new website called www.streamwebs.org , run by the Oregon Freshwater Trust, a non-profit based in Portland. It's for kids to put data into. It has google maps and you can see all the data across the State.' There are also real possibilities for interchange and learning between the work of WR's watershed manager, Mark Porter, now involved in a large local catchment monitoring programme in the Joseph creek watershed and the WET participants.
The WR HAWK programme, originally designed to match older students interested in sustainability issues with natural resource mentors and businesses in the community, is being developed to provide real career-building experiences for students keen to work in the environment, giving them alternatives to traditional ranching and farming. The ACE programme, a dual college/school credit course for older advanced science students in partnership with Blue Mountain City College, is set to continue.
I asked Amy about challenges for the future: 'The biggest thing is finding funding to sustain all the programmes, with a focus on WREN and WET. OWL is already well-established. I would like to use Watersheds as our Place Based focus and build the whole education programme around watersheds because it ties all the kids to their place. Long-term I’m working on how to make the Youth Stewardship programme more holistic and make it clear that each programme builds on the next.'
The two key issues for WR appear to be funding in the current economic climate, and also the challenge of building sustainability issues into mainstream school 'from the outside', competing for student time with academic and sports puruits. Nevertheless, the Youth Stewardship programme makes a very positive, and certainly the most significant, contribution to learning about sustainability and Place in local schools.
Old skills for a new world
On 29th July I am lucky to spend a couple of hours interviewing Professor Ray Barnhardt, from the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, on a skype connection. This visionary man has spent much of his career giving a place to indigenous knowledge and skills in the modern Alaskan American education system. As he says, 'The depth of indigenous knowledge rooted in the long inhabitation of a particular place offers lessons that can benefit everyone, from educators to scientists, as we search for a more satisfying and sustainable way to live on this planet’ (Ray Barnhardt in Gruenewald and Smith, Place-Based Education in the Global Age, 2008)
Between 1995 and 2005 the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative (AKRSI), affecting 287 schools and around 38,000 students across Alaska, set up an education system that integrates native knowledge and ways of learning into the mainstream, ‘western’ curriculum. The brainchild of Professor Barnhardt, the Initiative has restored a sense of ‘Place’ and an awareness of environmental sustainability. It has also increased student achievement scores and the number of students going on to further education, particularly to study science, maths and engineering, and has reduced dropout rates.
Native Educator Associations led by Elders but with a broad mix of community members, draw up the core educational values for their region (for example, respect for nature, responsibility, spirituality, compassion, honesty, caring and hard work), and help to oversee education. The Alaska Standards for Culturally Responsive Schools provide guidance for schools, parents and communities, while the Alaska Native Knowledge Network (ANKN) provides a hub for information sharing. Cultural camps and fairs provide practical training in native teaching and learning, and students can contribute their own research to a multi-media ‘Cultural Atlas’. Particularly interesting is a spiral-shaped curriculum framework in which 12 core themes (eg outdoor survival, energy/ecology, health), are underpinned by curriculum resources for each of 12 age groups, rotating in an annual cycle. The resources are available on the ANKN website and have been aligned with State educational standards. There is a strong emphasis on the participation of the community in the education of its children, and on linking the local with the global. National funding for AKRSI ended after 12 years, but the initiatives it spawned have become self-sustaining, largely because of strong grassroots support.
As Professor Barnhardt says during the interview, ‘… We’ve tracked student performance in majors and have consistently demonstrated that students do better in standard academic terms if you start from something that they can relate to within their community and then work out. It’s not creating a parochial outlook but rather a strategy for how you get to where you want to go using the local context to widen the curriculum and give it some meaning for the students.’
Ray Barnhardt has also helped to develop two Charter Schools in Fairbanks with a strong Place and Community-Based focus. The Watershed school, a mixed school for ages 6 to14, aims to take students out into the ‘community’ and ‘outdoor’ classrooms at least 70% of the time. The Effie Kokrine school, for ages 13 to 20, with an early college element, is 95% Alaska native students, and builds a strong connection to the local environment. Both schools are fully subscribed, and have out-performed their counterparts in standard tests.
What has happened in Alaska has been extremely important in redressing a balance between peoples and cultures, allowing the techno-knowledge of the modern age to marry with old wisdoms that are ever more necessary in our over-exploited planet. The lessons from AKRSI are relevant to any strong local cultural identity; in Scotland they could apply equally to gaelic, norse or doric cultures.
Between 1995 and 2005 the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative (AKRSI), affecting 287 schools and around 38,000 students across Alaska, set up an education system that integrates native knowledge and ways of learning into the mainstream, ‘western’ curriculum. The brainchild of Professor Barnhardt, the Initiative has restored a sense of ‘Place’ and an awareness of environmental sustainability. It has also increased student achievement scores and the number of students going on to further education, particularly to study science, maths and engineering, and has reduced dropout rates.
Native Educator Associations led by Elders but with a broad mix of community members, draw up the core educational values for their region (for example, respect for nature, responsibility, spirituality, compassion, honesty, caring and hard work), and help to oversee education. The Alaska Standards for Culturally Responsive Schools provide guidance for schools, parents and communities, while the Alaska Native Knowledge Network (ANKN) provides a hub for information sharing. Cultural camps and fairs provide practical training in native teaching and learning, and students can contribute their own research to a multi-media ‘Cultural Atlas’. Particularly interesting is a spiral-shaped curriculum framework in which 12 core themes (eg outdoor survival, energy/ecology, health), are underpinned by curriculum resources for each of 12 age groups, rotating in an annual cycle. The resources are available on the ANKN website and have been aligned with State educational standards. There is a strong emphasis on the participation of the community in the education of its children, and on linking the local with the global. National funding for AKRSI ended after 12 years, but the initiatives it spawned have become self-sustaining, largely because of strong grassroots support.
As Professor Barnhardt says during the interview, ‘… We’ve tracked student performance in majors and have consistently demonstrated that students do better in standard academic terms if you start from something that they can relate to within their community and then work out. It’s not creating a parochial outlook but rather a strategy for how you get to where you want to go using the local context to widen the curriculum and give it some meaning for the students.’
Ray Barnhardt has also helped to develop two Charter Schools in Fairbanks with a strong Place and Community-Based focus. The Watershed school, a mixed school for ages 6 to14, aims to take students out into the ‘community’ and ‘outdoor’ classrooms at least 70% of the time. The Effie Kokrine school, for ages 13 to 20, with an early college element, is 95% Alaska native students, and builds a strong connection to the local environment. Both schools are fully subscribed, and have out-performed their counterparts in standard tests.
What has happened in Alaska has been extremely important in redressing a balance between peoples and cultures, allowing the techno-knowledge of the modern age to marry with old wisdoms that are ever more necessary in our over-exploited planet. The lessons from AKRSI are relevant to any strong local cultural identity; in Scotland they could apply equally to gaelic, norse or doric cultures.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Washington State University
On 14th June my family and I leave Oregon and head north to Washington where I am to visit with Professor David Greenwood from the Department of Teaching and Learning at Washington State University. We meet at his home in Palouse and talk about his work over a cup of tea in the garden.
David sees Place-Based Education, like the Sustainability movement, as much as a social movement linking social and environmental justice as an educational one. He has described the 'critical pedagogy' or framework underlying it as ' learning to perceive social, political and economic contradictions and to take action against the oppressive elements of reality' (DG, 2003, The best of both worlds: a critical pedagogy of Place. Educational Researcher, 32, 4 p.5). He is currently developing Place-Based teaching practices within WSU, building a network of interested faculty members.
David believes that it is important to view PBE within schools as a process quite distinct from a standardised testing approach, rather than trying to integrate PBE into the achievement of mainstream test results. He sees one of PBE's main goals as expanding the landscape of learning opportunities among and between students, educators and community members, providing real experience of diversity and social and environmental issues not available within most school walls. While he believes strongly that PBE should grow from the grassroots through developing networks and relationships, he sees an important complementary role for top-down policy. In Washington State, as a result of advocacy by David and others, the language of Place has recently become part of the educational policy mainstream. All teacher educator programs have to demonstrate that they have taken account of citizenship and ecological sustainability, and teachers can take an special qualification in environmental sustainability education, including place-based and local enquiry.
Although he has concerns about the strong links between corporate America and mainstream education system, he is optimistic about the continuing growth of Place-based Education. After a delicious supper, plenty of playing between his children and ours, and some great music, I leave feeling equally optimistic.
PS. David is now at Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario
PS. David is now at Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Wallowa Resources and Youth Stewardship
Now it is 23 May and time to head east to Wallowa County, in north-eastern Oregon, where the famous Snake River forms the border with Idaho. I have arranged to spend time at Wallowa Resources, a local non-profit organization formed in 1996 to 'develop, promote, and implement innovative solutions to help the people of Wallowa County and the Intermountain West sustain and improve their communities and their lands'. It brings people together to blend the ecological needs of the land with the economic needs of the community (http://www.wallowaresources.org/).
I meet Penny Arentsen, the education co-ordinator for WR. One of the WR Youth Stewardship Education Program aims is to 'promote a sense of place and environmental stewardship'. It covers all age groups and includes an Outdoor Science School Program (OWL), a Field Science and Backpacking Program (WREN), a local Watershed Monitoring Program (WET), an internship program (HAWK) and college level science courses (ACE).
I meet Penny Arentsen, the education co-ordinator for WR. One of the WR Youth Stewardship Education Program aims is to 'promote a sense of place and environmental stewardship'. It covers all age groups and includes an Outdoor Science School Program (OWL), a Field Science and Backpacking Program (WREN), a local Watershed Monitoring Program (WET), an internship program (HAWK) and college level science courses (ACE). I greatly enjoy taking part in a week-long OWL field program for 4-6th Graders, which includes 
outdoor courses on environmental stewardship, art and sensory exploration, learning wilderness survival skills from animals and how the local Nez Perce tribe used plants. Each student attends for 3 years in a row, building a knowledge of and connection with the local environment. We learned about local predators and their prey, how to build a 'wallowa' or native indian fishtrap, how to weave natural fibres, and how to recycle. The OWL week ends with a fascinating presentation on native american skills and relationship to the environment by Tim Nitts and Joe MacCormack of the Nez Perce tribe, complete with bows and arrows, huge salmon fishing nets and tanned hides.
outdoor courses on environmental stewardship, art and sensory exploration, learning wilderness survival skills from animals and how the local Nez Perce tribe used plants. Each student attends for 3 years in a row, building a knowledge of and connection with the local environment. We learned about local predators and their prey, how to build a 'wallowa' or native indian fishtrap, how to weave natural fibres, and how to recycle. The OWL week ends with a fascinating presentation on native american skills and relationship to the environment by Tim Nitts and Joe MacCormack of the Nez Perce tribe, complete with bows and arrows, huge salmon fishing nets and tanned hides.
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