Promoting the Arts and Cultural Heritage (Strategies for Practice)

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Photo Project Documents Pacific Coast Communities
On May 4, 1999, 76 students from six coastal Oregon high schools were sent out to document, through pictures, the story of their communities. "A Day In the Life of the Columbia Pacific" was the result.
Read more about this Featured Project

Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative
Until recently, teachers in Native Alaskan villages found a wide gap between the curriculum they were expected to teach and the concerns and traditions of the community they served. Facing the challenge, Alaskan Elders have collaborated with each other and with educators across the state to reshape what students are learning and how they are being taught.
Read more about this Featured Project

Arts & Cultural Heritage

Education for the whole person
There is a part of the whole person that does not develop when they don't have art. We know how important it is to integrate art across curricula--to use art as a medium of connection to the community, communication with one another, service to those around you, and, as a medium of joy. Just joy.
--Diane Pasquini, art teacher, Grizzly Hill School, North San Juan, California

Connecting to a place through time

We're preserving people's stories so that 100 years from now, people will be able to pick up our book and read all about the valley. Things around here will change, but the stories will always be there.
--Leah Collins, a student historian working with the "Voices of the Valley" project at Anderson Valley High School in Mendocino County, California.
Local History and Culture

For many Rural Trust schools, the path to understanding the importance of place has been to examine the historical events that have shaped the culture and the community. Often, the students' historical research has led to the rediscovery of little-known characters or events -- people and occurrences that have helped make these rural communities what they are today. In many cases, these discoveries have been translated into public performances and presentations that help members of the community reconnect with their past, with the students, and with one another. In other cases, the simple act of collecting oral histories from community "elders" has given a new sense of value and validity to people and their stories -- and to the rural places that have shaped them.

For other schools, it is the traditional crafts, music, dance, and folklore of their communities that brings education to life. Whether it is in the traditional language and "way of living" of the Yup'ik in Alaska, the herbal lore and quilting of rural Appalachia, or the native art and dances of the 19 pueblos represented by the Santa Fe Indian School, local cultures are honored -- and form the basis of study -- in many Rural Trust schools.

The following are a few examples of the many Rural Trust projects that use local history and culture as the centerpiece of place-based education.

In Idalia, on the eastern plains of Colorado, elementary and middle school students have produced a display called "Picture Old Idalia." What began as a collection of old photographs is now a permanent exhibit that is bringing community people into the school to share their knowledge of the people and places depicted in the photos. More than 1,000 photos collected by the Idalia students include pictures of the area's original homesteaders.

In Mendocino, California, students' curiosity about Chinese immigrants to the area 100 years earlier led to extensive historical research. By exploring photographs, maps, and historical accounts from journals and newspapers and conducting oral histories and historical interviews, students developed a new appreciation of the Chinese contribution to the history and culture of their town. Community presentations of their work, which included a documentary video, resulted in a $5,000 donation from the National Trust for Historic Preservation to help restore and preserve a Mendocino Chinese landmark, the Kwan Tai Temple.

In eastern Kentucky, students at Stanton Elementary School have immersed themselves in the bluegrass music traditions for which the area is known. One out of four students gets individual lessons on some kind of bluegrass instrument -- fiddle, banjo, bass -- from a member of the community. The school's musical performance group, the Wise Village Pickers and Singers, includes students aged five through twelve, and has performed at the International Bluegrass Music Association Awards show.

Middle- and high-school teachers across the country should take advantage of a place-based education poster published by the Rural School and Community Trust and the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Learn more about how to Explore Your Community