Green Teacher Webinar: Place-based Education
February 1, 2017
<span style="font-size: 14px;">Green Teacher Webinar: Place-based Education</span>
<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="aBn" tabindex="0" data-term="goog_1384663336"><span class="aQJ">Wednesday, February 1, 2017 at 7:30pm EST</span></span></span>
In contrast to so much of schooling that is presented with little or no context, place-based education offers educators opportunities to build skills, knowledge, and aptitudes with engaging storylines. Places—natural and built, rural, urban and suburban all provide compelling narratives which students can investigate as they build the many points of understanding and proficiencies required in K-12 schooling. The presentation will include examples and discussion about what constitutes excellent place-based curriculum and student work and how these authentic products inspire deep learning.
Teachers are often challenged to incorporate the inspiring examples of place-based education into their daily plans. With a focus on curriculum design, Amy will offer strategies and examples of different ways to build meaningful learning opportunities grounded in the local community. Amy will present the foundational elements of place-based education that educators can use to more intentionally design community-based curriculum. These elements serve as inspiration and multiple entry points for educators--classroom teachers and non-formal educators -- to creatively weave together personal engagement, mastery of subjects, understanding of place and acts of service. These elements are reflected in these four questions:
- How can I better relate school to my students’ life experience?
- How can I help students better understand how this big idea works in the real world?
- How can I help students better understand this place?
- How can I help students better understand themselves and their possible futures?
Amy Demarest is a former middle-school teacher who now works with formal and non-formal educators in a variety of settings. In her work both as an educator and as a writer, she seeks to find ways to help teachers do the things that are most important to them as well attend to the myriad of less rewarding tasks they are required to do. Most of the graduate courses she has taught have been on standards-based curriculum design. Recently she has been able to focus solely on the more inspiring (to her) place-based design work. Her “Reading the World, Not Just the Words” article in Green Teacher 106 (Spring 2015) outlined why it is crucial to take students of all ages out of the classroom and into the community. More recently, she guest-edited Green Teacher #110, which showcased a wide range of innovative place-based education programs and strategies. Her second book is titled Place-based Curriculum Design: Exceeding the Standards Through Local Investigations. Her work is outlined on her website Ourcurriculummatters.com.
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