Rural Voices: Place-Conscious Education and the Teaching of Writing

Featuring lively essays from rural elementary and secondary school teachers, this volume describes the theory and practice of place-conscious education-using one's local place to build real, lasting connections to learning. The teachers describe the development and implementation of rich classroom writing programs that link learners with their rural communities and can serve as models for both public engagement and pedagogy. The outgrowth of research led by the National Writing Project and funded in part by the Annenberg Rural Challenge, this book:

• Applies place-conscious ideas to rural and regional contexts, rather than to urban communities in crisis.
• Shows how to integrate place-conscious teaching into student-centered workshop teaching.
• Describes a community writing project that attempted to save a school in the face of economic worries.
• Details a Rural Institute program that guides teachers in implementing place-conscious education in their setting.