Author: Robert Brooke, Cara Morgenson
Summary: In this episode of the Nebraska Writing Project 4-part series on place-conscious education, Cara Morgenson talks with Robert Brooke about an extensive project for her high school English learners with the Homestead National Monument and Brooke’s college juniors.
Listen to the Show
This podcast describes an 8-week joint class project that linked together Morgenson’s Thematic Issues course for English Language Learners at Lincoln High School, Brooke’s Uses of Literacy students who were juniors in college, and the Homestead National Monument of America. 
The project focused on immigration in Lincoln, Nebraska grounded in the historical study of the Homestead Act as a “first wave” of immigration in Nebraska. In this project, Morgenson’s students produced first-person accounts of recent immigration to Lincoln and engaged in cooperative work with four local agencies providing support for refugees: Center for People in Need, El Centro de las Americas, Asian Community and Cultural Center, and the Yazidi Cultural Center. The project is an example of the place-conscious educational principle of “spiraling out” from local to regional/national/international issues.
Podcasters:
- Dr. Robert Brooke, Director, Nebraska Writing Project
- Cara Morgenson, doctoral candidate in Universityof Nebraska-Lincoln Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education, and former Lincoln North Star High School English Language Learners Teacher
Related Resources
- Basics of Place-Conscious Education: The Nebraska Experience
- Blending Place-Based Education and C3WP in Rural Nebraska: A Focus on Civil Discourse
Original Source: Nebraska Writing Project