First Year Seminar: Place Based Education: November 2016

PLACE BASED EDUCATION FYS: WHAT IS THIS?

Fostering sense of place further explained:

Where will your favorite places in the Salem be when you leave Salem State with degree in hand? What experiences will shape your time here at Salem State University? Who will become your lifelong friends? During this class we will explore what developing a sense of place means and what contributes to feeling a sense of belonging? Through experiencing Salem through this lens, we aim to foster your initial sense of place and belonging in the Salem town and Salem State communities. To this end, we will explore the people, places and processes that shape Salem and Salem State. We will explore the social and ecological issues that the people of Salem face. Research suggests that when people have a greater sense of place in a community, they are more empowered to get involved locally. Through local civic engagement comes an even greater sense of purpose and empowerment, circling back to an even greater sense of belonging. Required assignments will require town of Salem trips. Throughout the semester we will take several field trips into town to various places significant to Salem.

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

place on Thanksgiving-HOME

Home.
We live in Concord, NH
Committed to stay in this town until Ellie graduates, which is 9 years away.
We don't live on a street I would have dreamed of, but we live on a street with friends. My college best friend lives across the street. We have community.
Wednesday night we went to our neighbors' yearly Thanksgiving party- laughed with neighbors and friends.

The morning was filled with cooking and baking as Ellie played with her friend who slept over, they played imaginary office where they wrote letters, and then did a morning long art project.

She has tons of friends and their parents are our friends and it is awesome.
Before that, even, I hiked one of the trails in town.
This is where I want to land when I talk about

one of my favorite places in our hometown.
The place is the town's woods. And more specifically, the town's woods' trails.
There are all these trail systems!
Saint Paul's trails, West farm trails, Winant trail- water tower, The Curtisville road trails, the oak hill trails.
Seriously, you can always go for at least an hour, and upwards of a three hour hike right here in town!

Our dog benefits greatly...she has all these pals who are dogs...and they go for hikes with us. She shines with other dogs.
I shine walking with the dog owners who are my friends. We can talk schoolyard politics, and real politics. We can laugh, complain about the current state of affairs...we can share our kids' accomplishments, and also our fears.
the woods...I read this thing about nature bathing...and hiking with the dog on a daily basis, I am able to nature bath...among trees, the light coming through, the leaves covering the trail, rivers, ponds, just beauty. Nature. Deer, rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels, turkeys, pheasant...and tons of birds and ducks...

Monday, November 14, 2016

the park on the bike path

We walked on the path today from campus to the bike path that heads over to Marblehead.

The thing I noticed was how low the tide was because of the supermoon that day. I watched the moorise from Dimond Hill farm, a place near where I live.

Because the tide was so low, it smelled like the sea, a smell I LOVE.

Some of the movies the students made:

the students had ipads in small groups and put together what sense of place means to them.