Workshop Proposal

1.) The Purpose:

 Looking at children at risk—how do we create a place of belonging, so they have

a place in the educational community?

2.) The Inquiry Question:

 What is belonging:
o Welcoming, warmth, love, compassion, carrying, trust, acceptance,
authentic, companionship, and giving
 Why is it important for people to a sense of belonging?
 Where do we traditional find a place of belonging?
 Who is involved in the construction of a belonging place?
 What does that place look like?
 We know through research that children who have a belonging place and feel
connected to others—are more successfully academically, have a better support
network, socially well adjusted, have better mental as well as physical health,
and are more connected to their communities.
 The key is a combination of a couple of theories that when model into one
framework create a powerful learning tool
o Social Emotional Learning
o Place based theory
o First People Principles of Learning

2.) The Theories

a.) Social Emotional Learning

 What is Social Emotional Learning?

 Why is it important?
 What are the positive aspects?
 Elements of SEL?
o Being self aware
o Being able to self manage
o Being social awareness
o Improving one’s relationship skills
o Making responsible decisions

b.) Place Based Education

  The Place Based Theory promotes the ideas that the learner needs to
establish and maintain a meaningful connection with one’s environment
before moving on to explore the outside world.
 That connection with the local environment should be:
o To understand it.
o To appreciate it.
o To explore it.
o To develop an immediacy with it.
o To develop a relationship with it.
o To listen to it.
o To engage with it.
o To communicate with it.
 When these elements are in place and the learner can participate wit h
them, then the learner can establish their identity. The learner is able to
create their own story of belonging.

c.) First Peoples Principles of learning

 They are other “ways of knowing” that are not based on traditional
Western ideologies. They were developed by the BC Ministry of Education
in partnership with the First Nations Education Steering Committee.
 These principles are constructed around the idea of connecting the unique
learner with the environment that they are in.
o Learning ultimately supports the well being of the self, the family, the
community, the land, the spirit, and the ancestors.
o Leaning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational
(focused on connections, on reciprocal relationships and a sense of
place).
o Leaning involves generational roles and responsibilities.
o Learning recognizes the role of indigenous knowledge.
o Learning is embedded in memory, history, and story.
o Learning involves patience and time.
o Leaning requires exploration of one’s identity.
o Learning involves recognizing that some knowledge is sacred and only
shared with permission and/or in certain situations.

5.) The Framework

 The lens to look through and the connections we need to make

  A multi direction framework that is non-linear and is designed to encourage
the individual to connect with out world and the outer world to connect with
the self.
 An environment that has no meaningful connections the learner would be
considered to be a “non-place” Auge (1995)

6.) Pre Environment

 How do teachers create the space for this to occur?

 Who is involved?
 What does the physical environment look like?
 What is the action plan look like?
 What kind of mindset needs to be developed prior to implementation?

7.) Environment

 How do teacher’s teacher this?

 What kind of resources are needed?
 What kinds of supports need to be in place?

8.) Post environment

 How do we know this is working?

9.) Conclusions

10.) Resources

Articles:
Bertling, J., (2018). Non-place and the Future of Place-Based Education. Environmental
Education Research. Vol 24, No. 11. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2018.1558439

Deringer, S. A., (2017) Mindful Place-Based Education: Mapping the Literature. Journal
of Experiential Education. Vol 40(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/1053825917716694

Gruenewald, D., (2003) Foundations of place: A multidisciplinary Framework for Place-

Conscious Education. American Educational Research Association. Vol 40 No.3

McInerney, Peter., Smyth, J., and Down, Barr., (2011). Coming to a place near you?’
The politics and possibilities of a critical pedagogy of place-based education

Zins, J. E., Zins, J. E., Bloodworth, M. R., Weissberg, R. P., & Walberg, H. J. (2007).
The scientific base linking social and emotional learning to school success Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates Inc. doi:10.1080/10474410701413145

Web pages

CASEL webpage https://casel.org/

SEL BC Webpage http://www.selbc.ca/

First Nations Education Steering Committee http://www.fnesc.ca/

Books

Auge M (1995) Non-places: introduction to an anthropology of super-modernity;

translated by John Howe. London; New York: Verso.

Schonert-Reichl, K., Kitil, M.J., Sauve, J., & Trach, J. (2020) Monitoring and Evaluating
Social and Emotional Learning. In N. Chatterjje and A. Durauappah (Ed.), Rethinking
Learning: A review of Social and Emotional Learning for Education Systems. (pp. 89-
124). New Delhi, India: UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and
Sustainable Development (MGIEP) retrieve from https://mgiep.unesco.org/rethinking-
learning

Video

Chief Dan George Lament for Confederation 1967 https://vimeo.com/216569738