Community Works Jopurnal: Featured Essays

FEATURED ESSAYS

	ESSAY—Of PLACE AND EDUCATION Burning Brush: Playing with Fire By DAVID SOBEL The glad animal play of childhood, the complete immersive quality, is one of the elixirs of life and also one of the indispensable proteins that build a sturdy adult soul. Middle childhood offers a window of opportunity to have these experiences, and if a child misses that opportunity, the quality of immersion is less accessible later in life. When, as adults, we sink into a novel or get lost in creative work or tussle with new ideas or improvise on the job, we’re using the skills that were roughed in during childhood play. read more
	REFLECTION Crossroads in the Heartland By JAMI SPENCER Sometimes, old school is better school. Hands-on, apprenticeship-style learning beats filling in bubbles any day. Passing down wisdom about medicinal herbs and edible weeds will sustain longer than instructions on how to use that new smart phone that is sure to be outdated in a few months. I want to share the importance of sustainability with my students by providing them with place-based service-learning projects that speak for themselves. read more
	The Soul of a Teacher By CYNTHIA HUGHES It’s our job to help kids learn to read and to write, to learn math and spelling conventions, to give them ways to discover their thinking and to find the best home for their unique talents and abilities. Somewhere in all of that lies the soul—the part of each of us that can’t be measured with a rubric, scale or test score. The unique experience of each person’s interactions with each other, each learning opportunity, and each perception. We simply cannot know that by testing it. read more
	REFLECTION Moving Beyond the Walls in Los Angeles By PAULA COHEN At CWI's Summer WEST, I met like minded educators who could see beyond the limitations, who thought outside the box, who were willing to ask big questions and delve deep into the answers. It felt like coming home. When we talk about resiliency in young people, feeling like a part of something important and valuable is a crucial piece. Our school has been going through many of the tumultuous transitions that all public schools are going through. read more
	REFLECTION Vesting Learners, Facilitating Voice By IYAUNNA TOWERY-AJIDUAH, M.Ed. I remember the night before the first day of the Institute I could not sleep. I had gotten this anxious feeling, the feeling that one might get when they knew “something” was about to happen. I really did not know exactly what to expect. Honestly, what could really happen in just a week’s time? Well, I can now say that a lot can happen: inspiration; intensity; purpose; and transformation. read more
	ESSAY—Of PLACE AND EDUCATION Swimming Upstream Against the Current: Changing the School Improvement Paradigm By DAVID SOBEL This story captures one of those ineffable aspects of what makes a good teacher and school leader, and what leads to constructive school change. The leader genuinely respects each child and knows that each parent and family can contribute to enhancing the learning environment of the school. The school leader reaches out to find community partners, connects parents with social services, creates opportunities for parents and teachers to learn together. read more
	FEATURED ESSAY The Precarious Teen Years and the Honor of Becoming a Blessing By MARITA PRANDONI Being invited into my daughter’s middle school was less invasive than actively getting into her mix. But the mornings I was there, she would keenly avoid being seen with me, and would rush past the math classroom on her way to her next class. Without imposing on her, I got to see firsthand how teachers of teens invest hope and compassion in their students, with complete understanding of their tumultuous state. read more
	ESSAY—EDUCATING FOR SUSTAINABILITY Reflections on the What, Why and How of Education for Sustainability By KIM RAKOW BERNIER When I work with educators I often start with a visioning exercise. I ask them to respond to the statement, “What do you think the world will look like in 50 years?” The responses to this question are overwhelmingly negative. Before allowing the audience to wallow for too long in the depressing nature of the dystopia they’ve just imagined, I ask a slightly different question. read more
	ESSAY—OF PLACE AND EDUCATION Childtime By CHRISTIAN McEWEN Adults tend to think of nature in terms of “the great outdoors.” They crave distant, glittering vistas, snow-capped mountains, broad, far-reaching valleys. Children are less particular. A hedge, a ditch, a tiny knoll, will give them all the countryside they need. Audre Lorde spoke in passionate terms about a pocket park in Harlem, close to where she lived as a young girl, “That place, the green, the trees, and the water, formed my forest of Arden.” It was the only green place she ever saw. read more
	ESSAY—Of PLACE AND EDUCATION Everyone Ought to Have a Ditch By DAVID SOBEL I spend a lot of time these days talking with teachers, foundation directors, environmental educators, and evaluators about how to most effectively shape environmental stewardship behavior. The $64,000 question is—what’s the most effective way to educate children who will grow up to behave in environmentally responsible ways? What kinds of learning, or what kinds of experience will most likely shape young adults who want to protect the environment? read more
	ESSAY—PROFESSIONAL LEARNING Gathering For Purpose By JOE BROOKS The experiences of our colleagues in the classroom strongly suggest that we are not living in a world where scatterings of educators in different buildings with shared teaching values can easily survive intact on their own—not to mention thrive. Teachers need experiences that gather and share collective wisdom—evolving models of success. The professional experience that inspires or rekindles the personal must somehow be at the core of what we do. read more
	ESSAY—OF PLACE AND EDUCATION Forts, Land Trusts and Conservation Behavior By CHRISTINA OLIVA and DAVID SOBEL She, like many others, spent countless hours working on, playing in and defending her fort-home. Fort-building was an important part of childhood for many of us growing up in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s if we had access to safe play areas and parents who encouraged independent play in the natural world. It is a form of childhood play that extends back to our hunting and gathering heritage. read more
	ESSAY—COMMUNITY BUILDING A Sisterhood of Solace and Compassion: Community Building In and Out of the Classroom By TERRI GOMEZ, SANDRA POSEY, ESTELA BALLON, CHRISTINA CHAVEZ We left a meeting with a University administrator discouraged. Now standing in the elevator, the doors opened a few floors down and two women on the janitorial crew walked in. Two Latinas, tousled hair pulled up and away from their faces, stood at the front of the elevator, wearing aprons, with mops and trash bags in hand. We stood there behind them with briefcases, laptops and blazers. In the short ride to the ground floor, we contemplated the social space that existed between us. read more
	ESSAY—OF PLACE AND EDUCATION Return of the Redwings By DAVID SOBEL We rambled around campus. It was early March, the snows were slowly receding and, lo and behold, down there on the road from the freshman dorms to the soccer fields there was a small pond, surrounded by a marshy meadow, with a border of eight to ten foot shrubs around it. I’d passed it a hundred times and never given it a second glance. read more
	ESSAY—SERVICE AND SUSTAINABILITY Becoming More Human, Building a Better World By ERIC HARTMAN What is it all about? Why engage in service-learning and place-based education—if not to improve ourselves and to improve the world around us? This question—how do individuals fit within and contribute to broader community?—has been driving liberal education, community education, and philosophy for quite literally hundreds of years. read more
	ESSAY—OF PLACE AND EDUCATION Local Diversity By DAVID SOBEL Whether it’s third grade or middle school science, or teacher education at the graduate level, the tone of the pedagogy is set on the first day of school. The cultural norms are launched, the core values exposed. read more
	ESSAY—EDUCATING FOR SUSTAINABILITY Life-Changing Experiences at Twenty Below By JENNIFER CIRILLO We were hungry for knowledge and became consumed with the task of learning from the land and the people who have inhabited it. We began to form our own opinions as “energy users”—what were the major issues, how might they be addressed and what would the impacts be on the communities? read more