Place-based curriculum in the eighth grade English language arts classroom

Abstract

In this project, I am investigating the role of place-based education (PBE) in the eighth grade English Language Arts (ELA) classroom and creating a place-based curriculum to use in this class. While PBE has many different definitions and connotations, I define it here as a type of education that takes advantage of the local opportunities to learn in a community and place as a basis for an educational experience. PBE engages student learning by making connections to their community through their work, identifying how their classwork is connected to life, and providing students with an authentic audience for their products beyond the school setting. ELA is an overlooked content within PBE because it is often aligned with courses in science, social studies, or outdoors content. In reality, because ELA is a class of skills and knowledge and not content memorization, it meshes perfectly with PBE. Therefore, the focus of this project is an informational writing curriculum based on PBE methodologies embedded in ELA Alaska Standards at the eighth grade level.