Learning Locally: Place Conscious Education in an Urban Charter School

Abstract

This qualitative study explores how students’ and their teacher implement Place-Conscious Education (PCE) in an English Language Arts (ELA) classroom and their perceptions of PCE and learning. One ELA teacher and twelve 7th grade students participated in this study, which took place at a small, public charter school in a large urban school district. Data were collected from multiple sources including classroom observations, interviews with the teacher and students, and artifacts found both in the classroom and the school. Data were then coded and analyzed which allowed specific patterns or themes to emerge inductively. Using a conceptual framework based upon Gruenewald‘s (2003) critical pedagogy of place supported by the constructs of conscientizacao (Freire, 1970) and the development of narratives (Clandinin & Connelly, 2002), this study focuses on the experiences that lead participants to engage in certain characteristics of place-based education and their perceptions of that engagement. Narrative analysis and discourse analysis provided the methods for a close analysis of the students’ and teacher’s perceptions concerning PCE in their classroom. The teacher made an effort to include PCE and critical themes into her instruction in the hopes to connect to student’s lived experiences and to make learning relevant. The students dialogically connected what they were learning in the class to their own lived experiences. The findings of this study suggest that characteristics of PCE are found in an English Language Arts classroom that focuses on both project-based learning and critical thinking. These characteristics of PCE include a connection to students’ lived experiences, using a critical lens to discuss texts being read in class, and a deliberate connection between the curriculum in the classroom and the local community. The dialogic connection of PCE to learning allows for students to locate their learning in their own lived experiences and to make their learning relevant. Implications of this study suggest that using characteristics of PCE in the classroom benefits students’ learning experiences. Teachers using PCE make learning relevant, connected to student’s lived experiences, and framed locally. In order to use PCE, teachers need to examine the communities in which they teach and utilize the authentic resources that are available to them from the community. The walls of the school should become transparent so that community and school are collaborating in education and students are then able to see their own connections and place.