place, story and identity

Choosing to Live. . .

in a Garden

The Montana Heritage ProjectThe Montana Heritage Project

Place, Story and IdentityPlace, Story and Identity

All materials related to this presentation are here:All materials related to this presentation are here:

http://place-based.wikispaces.com/http://place-based.wikispaces.com/

Michael L. UmphreyMichael L. Umphrey

http://place-based.wikispaces.com/

““The Heritage Project isn’t a The Heritage Project isn’t a program. It’s the program. It’s the wayway

I live my lifeI live my life.”.”Phil LeonardiPhil Leonardi

Corvallis teacherCorvallis teacher

FlatheadReservation,circa 1910

St. Ignatius Jesuit Mission

View of the

Mission Mountainstaken frommy yard

View of the

Mission Mountainstaken frommy yard

Celebrating 10 YearsCelebrating 10 Years

A good place. . .dawn at the Houghton Fire site, Libby

Essential Question:Essential Question:

How are we shaped by How are we shaped by place?place?

Are there aspects of your psyche that Are there aspects of your psyche that you think were influenced by the place you think were influenced by the place you grew up?you grew up?

A landscape of vistas or a A landscape of vistas or a cityscape of enclosed views?cityscape of enclosed views?Family gatherings at the ocean Family gatherings at the ocean or indoors?or indoors?Occupational culture: Occupational culture: surrounded by loggers or surrounded by loggers or lawyers?lawyers?Religion & Ethnicity: Norwegian Religion & Ethnicity: Norwegian Lutherans or Irish Catholics?Lutherans or Irish Catholics?

Unit Question:Unit Question:

How are your students being How are your students being shaped by the place shaped by the place theythey live? live?

Using Oral History as the main research Using Oral History as the main research strategy, how could students begin to strategy, how could students begin to form answers to that question?form answers to that question?

What could they read as preliminary What could they read as preliminary research that brings the issues into research that brings the issues into clearer view?clearer view?

Who could they interview?Who could they interview?

What could they ask?What could they ask?

The Chester Students’ StrategyThe Chester Students’ Strategy

Who would we need Who would we need to interview?to interview?People who have People who have

stayed here.stayed here.

People who have left People who have left and come back.and come back.

People who have People who have arrived recently.arrived recently.

Philip Aaberg

Philip AabergPhilip Aaberg

Problem – Symptom Fix

Unintended Consequences

Fixes that Fail

Youth Heritage FestivalYouth Heritage Festival

Writing AssessmentWriting AssessmentWriting TraitsWriting Traits Possible PointsPossible Points ScoreScore

Ideas and Content:Ideas and Content: Depth and complexity of ideas supported by Depth and complexity of ideas supported by rich, engaging, and/or pertinent details; evidence of analysis, rich, engaging, and/or pertinent details; evidence of analysis, reflection, and insight reflection, and insight

Voice:Voice: Establishes and maintains clear focus; evidence of voice Establishes and maintains clear focus; evidence of voice and/or appropriate tone and/or appropriate tone

Use of Research:Use of Research: Use of references indicate substantial Use of references indicate substantial research research

Organization:Organization: Careful and/or suitable organization Careful and/or suitable organization

Sentence Fluency:Sentence Fluency: Variety of sentence structure and length; Variety of sentence structure and length; precise and/or rich language precise and/or rich language

Conventions:Conventions: No or few grammar, spelling, or usage errors No or few grammar, spelling, or usage errors

TotalTotal

Rachel ReckinRachel Reckin

Libby High SchoolLibby High School

Old Libby MillOld Libby Mill

Making field notesMaking field notes

The A.L.E.R.T. ProcessesThe A.L.E.R.T. Processes

Ask: have a purposeListen: check the libraryExplore: find new knowledgeReflect: think / discussTell: share / give back to the library

Learning as Story

Montana Heritage ProjectMontana Heritage Project

Place, Story and IdentityPlace, Story and Identity

Placemaking Placemaking You never do just one thing You never do just one thing

Identity and the narrative environment Identity and the narrative environment The ALERT Processes: learning as story The ALERT Processes: learning as story

Three levels of questions Three levels of questions Misusing essential questions Misusing essential questions

What is a story? What is a story? A story-form outline A story-form outline Writing for story Writing for story Fabulous realities Fabulous realities Cliches and universal truths Cliches and universal truths The profundity of happy endings The profundity of happy endings

Essential Questions

Adapted from Understanding by Design

By Grant WigginsAnd

Jay McTighe

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Design

Copyright © 1998

Essential Questions

1. Represents a big idea

2. Resides at the heart of the discipline

3. Requires uncoverage

4. Potentially engaging for students

If the textbook is the answer. . .

What was the question?

Essential Questions

The characteristic danger of project-based instruction is that it easily degenerates into an incoherent sequence of activities.

Essential Questions

Questions that “pose dilemmas, subvert obvious or canonical ‘truths’ or force incongruities upon our attention.”

Jerome Bruner

• From whose viewpoint are we seeing this?• How do we know when we know? What’s the evidence?• How are things, events, or people connected? What is cause and what is effect?• What’s new and what’s old. Have we encountered this idea before?• So what? Why does it matter?

Deborah Meier

A big idea of enduring value

An idea that is essential for understanding a topic

• The Rule of Law• The Meaning of Loyalty• The Definition of Success

At the heart of the discipline

Involves students in “doing” the discipline, using the same processes as experts

Is history always biased? Does Montana literature reflect our culture, or does it shape it?

Requires uncoverage

Uncover non-obvious meanings

• Question it• Prove it• Generalize it• Connect it• Picture it• Extend it

Requires uncoverage

“Washington had the daring to put [his Patriots] to good use, too, as he broke the rules of war by ordering a surprise attack on the enemy in its winter quarters”

Potential for engaging students

What are the issues adolescents are dealing with?

FriendshipRomantic LoveIndependenceNeed for IdentityNeed for Power

Some topics are too abstract and global

Unit Questions

More topic specific than essential questions:

Essential Question: Who is a friend?

Unit Questions: In A Separate Peace, is Gene a friend to Phineas? Is Phineas a friend to Gene?

Unit Questions

• What were the differences in television news between 1962 and 1968?• How was the 1968 Democratic Convention affected by the Vietnam War? How did this Convention affect America?• How were local veterans personally affected by the Vietnam War?• How did local people on the homefront respond to the turbulence of the 1960s?

Research Questions

Narrow focus appropriate for student research project:

Essential Question: How was America changed by the sixties?

Unit Question: How did people on the homefront experience the 1960s.

Research Question: What does a local veteran say about his experience?

3 ways to misuse3 ways to misuse

Essential QuestionsEssential Questions

Careless language is inseparable

from careless thought.

Call every question Call every question “essential”“essential”

Ask big questions then leave Ask big questions then leave kids on their ownkids on their own

Suggest that having an Suggest that having an opinion is what’s importantopinion is what’s important

Writing for Story

MONTANA HERITAGE

PROJECT

A story consists of. . .

. . .a sequence of events that occur when a sympathetic character encounters a complicating situation that he confronts and solves. . .

Jon FranklinWriting for Story

Narrative and Story

Narrative: recounting

causally linked events that unfold

in time

Story: narrative with a

clear ending

Essay and Story

Essays have main points

Stories have main actions

The Hollywood Story

Stage One: the Set-up

State Two: the New Situation

State Three: Change of Plans

Stage Four: Higher Stakes and Worse

ComplicationsState Five: Do or Die

State Six: the Aftermath

The genius of Hollywood• Characters are

known by actions• Action leads to

conflict• Conflict creates

emotion• Negative endings

have little value

• Characters are known by actions

• Action leads to conflict

• Conflict creates emotion

• Negative endings have little value

Montana Heritage ProjectPlace, Story and Identity

Placemaking You never do just one thing

Identity and the narrative environment The ALERT Processes: learning as story

Three levels of questions Misusing essential questions

What is a story?

A story-form outline Writing for story Fabulous realities Cliches and universal truths The profundity of happy endings

A nonfiction story outline

1.Complication

2.Developments (at least 3)

3.Resolution

1.Complication2.Developments3.Resolution

Focus statements

a. Focus statements have a subject, a strong, active verb, and (usually) a direct object.

b. The main character must be in the statements.

c. The event must be one you can describe in writing.

d. Does the resolution resolve the complication?





What is a story? A story-form outline

Writing for story Fabulous realities Cliches and universal truths The profundity of happy endings

Songs of Hope

Complication:

Development 1:

Development 2:

Development 3:

Resolution:

Living during the Great Depression

Life in Libby

The power of music

Keeping the mill open

Buying an organ for the church

Songs of Hope

Complication:

Development 1:

Development 2:

Development 3:

Resolution:

George accepts work

George buys piano

George operates mill

George buys organ

George transcends work





What is a story? A story-form outline Writing for story

Fabulous realities Cliches and universal truths The profundity of happy endings

Finding Stories: Look for fabulous realities

"Shams and delusions are esteemed for the soundest truth, while reality is fabulous. We . . . live this mean life . . .because our vision does not penetrate the surface of things. Thoreau

There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before; like the larks in this country, that have been singing the same five notes over for thousands of years.

Willa Cather

Eternity in an hour. . .

The resolution is an action by the character

He lays the sandwich, the banana and the fig newtons on the table before him, neatly, the way the scrub nurse laid out the instruments. "It was triple jeopardy," he says finally, staring at his peanut butter sandwich the same way he stared at the x-rays. "It was triple jeopardy." It is 1:43, and it's over. Dr. Ducker bites, grimly, into the sandwich. The monster won.

The resolution is an action by the character

Many years later, when doctors told him that his shoulder would have to be pinned into a single position for the rest of his days, George Neils sat down at the doctor’s table and positioned his arm as if he were playing the organ. “That’s the way he wanted it,” said Kenneth, “for the rest of his life.”Rachel ReckinLibby High School





What is a story? A story-form outline Writing for story Fabulous realities

Cliches and universal truths The profundity of happy endings

The nature of complexity

• Things are complex that have more than one level

• You shift levels when you shift concepts and analytical tools

• Different levels have different rules

Three levels of writing

• Concept (the outline of main ideas or main actions—the blueprint, the abstract structure)

• Content (The story, the development, the facts, anecdotes, examples, etc.)

• Copy Edit (the grammar and style, the conventions)

Britney Maddox: “My Oma’s Story”(the importance of family and local literature)

The great stories enact universal truths (cliches)

The critical thinking comes in developing truthful local examples

This is important work and kids can do it

Britney Maddox





What is a story? A story-form outline Writing for story Fabulous realities Cliches and universal truths

The profundity of happy endings

Children learn what they most need to know from happy stories of the birth of kings, and grown-ups learn again and again what they most need to remember from sad stories of the death of kings. The birth of the king is the coming into the world of Justice, and the death of the

king is its passing.

In the birth of the king, children recognize the Right, and in his death, grown-ups recognize the Wrong, and, having been children, know where to look for the return of the Right.

Richard MitchellThe Gift of Fire

The importance of happy stories

Finding Stories: Look for an ending

• See the resolution• What problem

was solved?• What actions

were taken?

When you can’t find the information

• Make your quest the story

• Put background info in the foreground

Chennell Brewer

Complication: Mystery intrigues Chennell

Development 1: Chennell researches sourcesDevelopment 2: Community helps ChennellDevelopment 3: Chennell stymied

Resolution: Chennell continues search

Use background for foreground

Ann Wroe’s biography of Pontius Pilate

What do we know about Roman prefects from the time?

What do we know about the Pontii family?

What reasonable speculations can we offer?

Michael L Umphrey

http://www.montanaheritageproject.org

place, story and identity

Business

preliminary research

main research strategy

norwegian lutherans

religion ethnicity

irish catholics

cityscape of enclosed

landscape of vistas

occupational culture