Basics of Place-Conscious Education: The Nebraska Experience

This podcast is the first of a seven-part series that introduces the big concepts of place-conscious education as used by Nebraska Writing Project teachers. Special guest Dr. Robert Brooke, director of the Nebraska Writing Project, situates listeners to 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

We finish with examples of two exemplar projects: the Henderson/Bradshaw school consolidation project; and the Greater Omaha schools Urban Justice Project.