Place-based Education and Poetics of Place

Place-based education is learning in and from where you are. Learning from the outer place - nature, culture and the community; learning from the inner place - body, mind and spirit; and learning from the places "in between," those edges where outer and inner meet and rub: borders, relationships, interactions, and so many other "arisings." Place-based education uses as classroom and curriculum what is here, what is gathered, and what is unfolding. Place-based education is not for children only. Learning in and from "here" is very helpful for adults, groups, organizations, communities, and the planet.

The poetics of place are the subtle and infinite ways that places speak their truth, tell stories, sing their songs. Each place is a unique gathering of piecesa which nest in patterns. See the pieces, discover the patterns, and they will reveal the processes of what has, is and will happen here. The poetics of place is a practice of inhabitation: entering into a place, breathing it in, experiencing it deeply. The poetics of place is also dialogical: breathing out into that place gifts of experience, energy, clarity and creativity.