Tales from the Loft - Place-based writing

Dear Readers,

I wanted to take just a minute to share one aspect of our learning experience in middle school that may often get overlooked in its routine, and yet honestly may be one of the most important exercises we practice weekly.

Journaling.

This year, we are taking journaling outside - consistently - to connect with our school home using a technique called "place-based learning."

The instructions are simple. Every week students must go visit their chosen spot and write at least one paragraph.

It is due on Fridays.

I will read it.

Weather does not count as an excuse.

Sometimes, I may provide a writing prompt, but there are going to be plenty of weeks students should write freely. Initially students typically start by describing their surroundings. In fact, the first week I had them write themselves directions back to their spot, and the second week I had them tell me what their senses experienced. But eventually, the goal is for this random spot to become a place of comfort and familiarity and curiosity. As our seasons change, our spots will too. As we experience daily life both at home and school, our mind will focus differently from one week to the next. Relationships may ebb and flow. And every week, we should be going to our spot to write.

At DGS we work with students on grounding - and in this place-based writing effort we are grounding specifically to our woods at school.

When we become attached to our homes or our towns or our little spots of peaceful reprieve, we care for those spaces with extra grace and awareness. We water the plants and we talk to the critters and we notice their growth or their struggles or their change.

The same goes for community. By grounding to our place - one specific nook in the woods - we are practicing the art of attachment. We are practicing what it takes to notice our surroundings and our world that embraces us, and then to respond. Place-based writing allows students both an outlet and a lesson in connection. And so we practice.

And we journal.

Peace,

Patricia