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My interpretation of Place based literacy: It is a in relation to everything you are sensing when you are in a place. Attuning to place in this way allows the possibility to be present and conscious to where you are placed in the world. Seeing is only one part of the process and walking through it doesn’t mean that you get to know place. In meeting place, you are conscious to the relationships that are coming together when you arrive. Arriving, I invite a child to gently touch a flower to get to know the flower. I am including myself and the child and the flower to come together. Touching is more than just “feeling” softness. It is responding to softness with a caress of the part of your finger that carries your identity, your fingerprint. So, fingerprinting the flower petals we are coding the flower’s essence into our being through groves absorbing this essence it travels through our whole body.  Our voice then follows with a whisper as the softness reaches our tongues. We are not just generalizing the flower but knowing this flower we get to know what makes this flower who it is.  In turn we get to know who we are to the flower. This is what place pedagogy is.

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As proposed by Häggström & Scmidt (2020) the idea of connecting with our environment as we discover is reliant on the attunement and notions of paying attention to the surroundings and being connected and interconnected to what we are paying attention to. This notion creates the idea to making meaning and truly paying attention. Therefore, the act of paying attention asks us to be present and mindful of everything in our surroundings and to look beyond the habit of simply doing but truly engaging and embracing the world around us. The ecology and factors that are embedded in our surroundings are those that shape our learning and understanding of our world.

With this idea in mind of paying attention to your surroundings and the motion of attunement. I noticed the little lady bug that was by my foot so tiny and being hidden in the grass that I almost didn't see it. So beautiful watching the lady bug open and close her wings getting ready to fly off. In a way it was telling me winter is over spring has arrived. The robins singing a song to the tune of  starting a family. Seeing the flowers bloom in bright  colours. The smell of alliegry season is in the air.

Häggström, M., & Schmidt, C. (2020). Enhancing children’s literacy and ecological literacy through critical place-based pedagogy. Environmental Education Research, 26(12), 1729–1745. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2020.1812537

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As proposed by Häggström & Scmidt (2020) the idea of connecting with our environment as we discover is reliant on the attunement and notions of paying attention to the surroundings and being connected and interconnected to what we are paying attention to. This notion creates the idea to making meaning and truly paying attention. Therefore, the act of paying attention asks us to be present and mindful of everything in our surroundings and to look beyond the habit of simply doing but truly engaging and embracing the world around us. The ecology and factors that are embedded in our surroundings are those that shape our learning and understanding of our world.

An example would be a simple walk in nature that allows us not just to notice our destination but the buds of springtime, the new nests in the trees and birds that hide as sunshine sparkles through, giving new hope to springtime and a farewell to the wintery dead leaves as they slowly fade away amongst new greenery.

Häggström, M., & Schmidt, C. (2020). Enhancing children’s literacy and ecological literacy through critical place-based pedagogy. Environmental Education Research, 26(12), 1729–1745. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2020.1812537

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I took these photos when I walked with children in the forest of SFU. “Ecological literacy in a forest was the main focus” ((Häggström & Schmidt, 2020, p. 1734). Children have been making observations about the changing environment around them. The children notice when the days get shorter and when the leaves change colour and begin to fall. All of these changes happening around them provide real life examples of our things changing throughout their life cycle. With all of these observations being made we have collectively begun learning about sit spots. Sit spots are about creating intentional time in nature to slow down and to focus on your surroundings. It is a time to immerse all of your senses in your environment and experience nature in a calm and intentional way. As we start our first few sit sports I often wonder… What senses will the children connect with most? How long is long enough? What senses will the land use to share with? As we all settle in we prepare our bodies with a few deep breaths as we calm our bodies. We then sit in collective silence to feel. “The results indicate that places that evoke students’ emotions and interests can stimulate meaning-making processes and enhance literacy and ecological literacy” ((Häggström & Schmidt, 2020, p. 1742).

Reference:

Häggström, M. & Schmidt, C. (2020), Enhancing children's literacy and ecological literacy through critical place-based pedagogy. Environmental Education Research, 26(12). 1729-1745, https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2020.1812537

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Hi Bettiel,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience. It really is easy to be caught up in one's life and immedkate circumstance that we are involved in. In this respect, we end up not paying attention to the stories these places may have, or appreciate the place and build a relationship with it. Hopefully by slowing down, taking time to look at our surroundings, and trying to attune to the world around us, we may be made aware of the many stories and lessons they and wish to tell us.

- Alexandra Fuentes

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As we enter the spaces of other, we are invited to inquire and learn the ways of knowing and being that are outside of our own. In this process, we can engage with the questioning of language and literacy, seeking to understand how words can connect us and deepen our relations with place. As Häggström & Schmidt (2020) state, “literacy skills are crucial to critical questioning” (p. 1731). Our ability to build these bridges of knowing from human to more-than-human relations are dependent on our practices of inquiry and literacy.

Kimmerer (2015) speaks to the power of our words and how we choose to connect with the Earth. Once we understand that the Earth and its entities are living and being just as us, we are able to recognize the ebb and flows of relationality between one another. Just as the aging log on the beach is covered by algae, stripped of its original bark and is bleached by the sun, we too are affected and affecting all that is surrounding us. Our understanding of place and literacy is deeply woven and interconnected with one another, as long as we are continually asking. "What is this histories are this place speaking to?";"What is this log asking of me?";"What is the algae on this log telling me?". We are surrounded by knowledge and deeply rooted knowings of other, we must simply choose to listen and inquire of ourselves to hear them.

References
Häggström, M., & Schmidt, C. (2020). Enhancing children’s literacy and ecological literacy through critical place-based pedagogy, Environmental Education Research, 26(12), 1729- 1725.

Kimmerer, R. W. (2015). Braiding sweetgrass. Milkweed Editions.

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Snow Creek in Port Alberni is a place I visit quite often with family and friends. But this place by the creek is one I prefer to visit in solitude. Walking gingerly and attentively down a narrow dirt path, taking time to slow down and listen to Robin Wall Kimmerer (2020) words about how time can be understood as a body of water, with all things being interconnected under, below, and above the surface. Upon closer inspection of the babbling voice of creek, low waterlines call attention to tree roots, rocks, and stones, changing how creek is heard as I come closer. I begin to think about what stories are held in this space or are carried with creek into the connecting Sprout Lake? Attuning to how “people create places and places “make” people” (Häggström & Scmidt, 2020), and my time in this space challenges and further extends my connections with this place’s truth. This time spent with Snow Creek calls me to think with this space in gratitude and listen to stories being told, even if they can’t be heard by ear.

p.1742).

References:

Häggström, M., & Scmidt, C. (2020). Enhancing children’s literacy and ecological literacy through critical place-based pedagogy, Environmental Education Research, 26(12), 1729- 1725.

Robin Wall Kimmerer in conversation with Robert Macfarlane. (2020, May 12). Emergence Magazine. Podcast.

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a moss growing hard on a tree. Covered it all up. This park Has not much of sunlight coming in, it must be humid for plants.

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In my walk, I encountered this moss plant growing on a tree, the part doesn't have enough sunlight getting to trees at this time of the year, thereby creating suitable humid conditions for the growth of this moss plant. Through this encounter, i reflect on (Macfarlane, 2020) idea that we are linked in a co-evolutionary circle, whereby the thriving of one is in the best interest of the other. I think of how this tree's life is supported by the soil structure beneath it and how it in turn provides support to this moss plant. I pause and think and question my connection with the earth? What is my interaction with it?

It communicates to me of the connection between elements of the earth and how things arise from the partnership of other elements and how affecting one of the elements affects the orientation of the universe as a whole and of literacy as a place as an ongoing process of exchange and interaction between place, people processes and activities through the assemblages they form. (Häggström, 2020).

References:

Häggström, M. & Schmidt, C. (2020). Enhancing children's literacy and ecological literacy through critical place-based pedagogy, Environmental Education Research, 26(12) 1729-1745.

Macfarlane, R. (Host). (2020, May). Robin Wall Kimmerer in Conversation with Robert Macfarlane [Audio podcast episode]. Emergence Magazine.

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Is this place as familiar as I had thought?

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Is this place as familiar as I had thought?

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While walking on a familiar path, taking my time and listening to the podcast, I began to take notice of what I hadn’t before; different flowers that were beginning to bloom, the crunch of the rocks under my shoes, a blue heron in the water by Hinge Park.

It’s interesting because though this place is familiar, we often take for granted the conversations we have with place, possibly because of the assumption that our walks seem like the same thing, that there is nothing new to learn. Yet, if we take the time to listen and attune, there is still so much to learn. No conversation is ever the same. This ties into the importance of creating a sacred bond, rather than having a one-sided relationship with the world (Macfarlane, 2020). I believe that place literacy is our communication with the relationships and entanglements that we are intertwined with (Häggström & Schmidt, 2020). It is through these conversations that we get to know and form deeper bonds with the land we are on.

References

Häggström, M., & Schmidt, C. (2020). Enhancing children’s literacy and ecological literacy through critical place-based pedagogy. Environmental Education Research, 26(12), 1729–1745. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2020.1812537

Macfarlane, R. (Host). (2020, May 12). Robin Wall Kimmerer in Conversation with Robert Macfarlane [Audio podcast episode]. In Emergence Magazine Podcast. Emergence Magazine.

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Beings of Place

I am here

Here is with me

We greet each other

with breath

with touch

Listening to and feeling

the invisible threads

that reach out, weaving,

and Entangling with

the strands of my hair

the pores on my skin

Aromas from the star magnolias

Enriching my mornings

and soothing my evenings

An exchange that is

meaning-full

Full of familiarity

of joy

of hope

Words slip off my tongue

Disappearing and intermingling

with the winds that embrace

and surround

affecting a stutter

to my ways of knowing

and being

leaving an ever fixed mark

The silence is abundant

a cacophony of lives lived

Lost

Forgotten

Here remembers

Do you?

Do I?

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There is a little park called Michael Park surrounded by residential subdivisions. I walk past it almost every time on the way to daycare but even had no idea about what this park's name is. While I situated myself in this unusual decision of going for a walk after dinner. The laughter of children attracted my attention, I followed the sound of chasing and tittering and walked into the deep of the park. It is a view I have never really seen in this park.

The aesthetic nature color of forest green is various shades of light to dark green mixing with the sunset glow tinted the cloud’s side coral painted a magnificent view. I inhaled the minty smell from the tree and grass and stepped on the grass, delighting in the sound of my shoes sliding through the leaves. With a gust of wind blowing, the branches crashed against each other gently swayed and rustled. I sat on the grass where I just glimpsed the children between leaves. Beaded dewdrops stood upon several leaves; I opened my hand under one leaf silently to wait for the dew. This reminded me what Wall Kimmerer stated the connection between land and nature, and how it can improve wellness and a sense of belonging (Macfarlane, 2020). This is an amazing place for me to feel safe and quiet that allows nature to heal my tiredness.

References:

Macfarlane, R. (Host). (2020, May 12.) Robin Wall Kimmerer in Conversation with Robert Macfarlane [Audio podcast episode]. Emergence Magazine Podcast.

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Sunlight peeking through the forest

Trees waving in the wind

A swift stream carving out its path in the earth

Leaves drift by on the water, ever-spinning

Soil is flushed downstream and deposited into clay

Time passes by

Love stands still

Between the land and its people

There’s a serene stream running through a park in my neighbourhood. When my children were younger, it was one of their favourite places to play. Behind the stream is a tranquil forest with long trunks of trees and dense shrubs. The forest creates a beautiful backdrop for our community. The coating of silt and clay deposited on the sides of the stream where my children would sculpt, or draw on the surface with sticks.

After listening to Robin Wall Kimmerer’s podcasts (Macfarlane, 2020), I ponder the question of what our relationships with land are --“How we are given so much and what we might give back,” Kimmerer’s voice echoes in my mind (9:06-9:11). As Mahmoudi et al. (2012) narrate, place-based literacy creates connection between humans and communities as well as nature, to foster the processes of “identity formation and meaning-making” (as cited in Häggström and Schmidt, 2020, p. 1730). I wonder if this could be a way to nourish our relationships with the earth and sustain the reciprocal love between the land and its people.

References:

Häggström, M. & Schmidt, C. (2020). Enhancing children's literacy and ecological literacy through critical place-based pedagogy, Environmental Education Research, 26(12) 1729-1745.

Macfarlane, R. (Host). (2020, May). Robin Wall Kimmerer in Conversation with Robert Macfarlane [Audio podcast episode]. Emergence Magazine.

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For nearly twenty years, I have roamed the same path going to and fro my home and school, and though I could likely navigate this specific area with my eyes blindfolded, I realized this week that in familiarity, there is sometimes an underappreciation for what has been present within one’s life. As painful as it is to admit, the more often you see something in your daily life, the erosion of wonder and fascination tends to come traipsing behind, shadowing you in steady steps as silent as falling sand within an hourglass. It is a constancy; something that usually happens without one’s knowledge. Though I could wander this place with a general understanding of what object is where, I was struck with the knowledge that I actually could no longer recall with vivid imagination what this place really looked like. I had seen this path, these cobblestones, these roads nearly every day of my existence but how was it that I could no longer remember details? I can see, but I do not try to see. I observe sometimes, but what is it that I am observing?

As I momentarily struggled with what I had just realized, I stumbled backwards over a tree root and onto the returning green grass. The grass cushioned my fall as I felt the breeze touch my cheek, and suddenly, my gaze fell onto the “perpetrator” that had caused my fall. I had been almost offended for a moment about the root’s existence, but then I realized how silly it was that I, from a human perspective, was irritated because something was “in my spot”. “My spot?” I caught the thought and I could not help but raise a brow at myself. This tree is older than me– has watched me grow from the year I moved into this complex at the tender age of four, to the young woman I am today. Like a silent friend, or a distant family member who had been lovingly observing your life from a distance. Those roots, I recall suddenly, had been smaller back then. Bulging, somewhat intrusive, but I did not recall them sticking out of the earth so obviously. As I grew, so did this tree. Back then I had marveled over how the roots broke through the crust of the soil; reaching out with wide arms towards the rays of the sun to bask in it the same way I did when I was young and careless and had plenty of free time. I tried to count them in my head, follow where they would lead with my eyes, and imagined what it must have felt like to be partially submerged in the world below. How long ago was this? And though I have always been here, I wondered: where have I been? The world around me changed over time before my eyes, and yet I miss so many things on my journey to and from school and home.

In some sorrow, I thought about the words of Robin Wall Kimmerer: “... I knew it with a certainty as warm and clear as the September sunshine, that the land loves us back. She loves us with beans, tomatoes, and blackberries. With a shower of gifts, and a heavy rain of lessons.” (8:00-8:18). I had thought of her words at this very moment because the land has been with us for so long, and yet it seems we do not pay any real attention to it when we are preoccupied with so much in our lives. School, work, deadlines, what to eat, what not to do and what we have to do… the sound of the bird’s calls, the whisper of the winds between leaves, and the world speaking to us softly, lullingly, is drowned out by the world we have created ourselves to exist in. Oftentimes we do not treat nature with kindness, yet it loves us and still continues to do so. And as Wall Kimmerer reminds us that the land is living and breathing and welcoming, Haagstrom and Schmidt explain that the land is what defines us, and the importance of people/children being connected to their environment being the cause of that (p. 1742). With how easy it is to be swept up in our own lives and the new technology around us (especially as I observe more and more children being indoors with technology than being outdoors like I remember in my youth), I sincerely hope that we as educators can help children to establish a connection with the land around them. That it is something that is not meant to serve us, but is important to us on a reciprocal relational basis.

Reference:

Häggström, M. & Schmidt, C. (2020), Enhancing children's literacy and ecological literacy through critical place-based pedagogy. Environmental Education Research, 26(12). 1729-1745, https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2020.1812537

Macfarlane, R. (Host). (2020, May). Robin Wall Kimmerer in Conversation with Robert Macfarlane [Audio podcast episode]. Emergence Magazine.

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I took this photo on my walk in Stanley Park because it made me wonder about the history, presence, and future of a place. The dark, hollow rectangle on the trunk of the tree is what initially caught my attention. This stolen slice of the trunk reminds me that this place was logged. Indeed, I am on unceded, stolen land. Wooden beams would be shoved into these slices and loggers would balance on the beams as they sawed down towering trees.

The tree is now supporting new life, new growth, change, and resiliency. The air feels cool and fresh, and there is a faint smell of cedar. I can hear birds chirp and cars hum in the distance.

From my understanding, a place is a geographic and physical space that holds cultural significance, ways of knowing, and/or ways of being. I see place literacy as a dynamic, multimodal, and multi-sensory framework that disrupts dominant discourses on literacy. As well, I think place literacy is rooted in relationships, and  encourages us to consider how we are connected to each other, non-human beings, and place. Robin Wall Kimmerer discusses relationships to the land, and how nature can foster a sense of belonging and overall well-being (Macfarlane, 2020). Kimmerer invites us to consider: what if the land loved you back? (Macfarlane, 2020). This notion of reciprocity between humans and the land juxtaposes extractive, industrial, capitalist, and colonial practices.

References:

Macfarlane, R. (Host). (2020, May 12.) Robin Wall Kimmerer in Conversation with Robert Macfarlane [Audio podcast episode]. Emergence Magazine Podcast.

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I dance with Shadow,

Shadow echoes with me.

Leaf dances with Wind,

Wind blows forth and back.

Branch dances with Trunk,

Trunk mirrors her posture in return.

To see, to be seen.

To hear, to be heard.

To notice, to be noticed.
To move, to be moved.

To love, to be loved.

A relationship emerges,

Called a mutual flourishing.

I feel connected to Kimmerer’s words when she says, "when you feel that the earth loves you in return, that feeling transforms the relationship from a one-two steer into a sacred bond” (Emergence Magazine Podcast, 2020). Humans are a part of the world, living with more-than-human entities together. Place literacy encourages us to see more-than-human inhabitants in a place, paying attention to the here and now. It is an embodied experience to attend to a place, listen, and notice what others reciprocate. A place with more-than-human entities to “reconnect and interact with the other-than-human world” (Häggström & Schmidt, 2020, p.1732). Häggström & Schmidt (2020) demonstrate that a place can “be viewed as text” (p. 1731) with spatial, visual and embodied ways to engage. Every thing itself in a place is intertwined as an entanglement: language, meaning-making, identity, literacy.

Reference:
Häggström, M. & Schmidt, C. (2020), Enhancing children's literacy and ecological literacy through critical place-based pedagogy. Environmental Education Research, 26(12). 1729-1745, https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2020.1812537

Macfarlane, R. (Host). (2020, May). Robin Wall Kimmerer in Conversation with Robert Macfarlane [Audio podcast episode]. Emergence Magazine.

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On my walk at Ambleside Park, West Vancouver

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It's easy for me to go about my day without taking notice and being aware of my surroundings. This has been something that I've been trying to change so that my connections are genuine. I want to participate in rational space, which is what Downey et al. (2019) define as “... deep reciprocity, mutual respect, care and generosity…” (p. 41) of the space and beings around you.

I paused for a moment and engaged with my 5 senses, also remembering that it doesn't stop at those 5. I wanted to build a new relationship with this already familiar area and expand on the thoughts it brings. This path is one that I would always walk through with my mom and sisters. Many stories have been built here and I start to reminisce about the past. I began to think about the people that have walked the same path as me. Is this place familiar to them too? Have they thought the same thoughts as me?
- Bettiel

Downey, A. M., Bell, R., Copage, K., & Whitty, P. (2019). Place-based readings toward disrupting colonized literacies: A metissage. In Education, 25(2), 39-58.

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Shuxiao Li (Sheena)---When wind meets petals

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Shuxiao Li (Sheena)---When wind meets petals

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In the spirit of respect and honoring the truth, we acknowledge and pay our respects to traditional and unceded territories of the Tsleil-Waututh, where I have been living in this place for three years with deep respect. The land that has natured me with its natural resources and generously provides me with a cozy environment. As a newcomer to this land, I appreciate what this land has offered me.

This place provides a multi-platform that allow me to think with this land and practice embodied engagement. Haggstrom and Schmidt (2020, as cited in Mahmoudi et al., 2012, p. 1730) state that critical place-based pedagogy encompasses identity formation and meaning-making processes through connections to a community as well as to natural environments. Children are educator are learning with the surrounding environment, to feel, touch, to observe to fully situated themselves in the relationship between environmental encounter and language. On the other hand, the place literacy practice is an ongoing process that inherent in reciprocal relationship among people, place, materials and activities (Haggstrom & Schmidt, 2020 as cited in Ross & Mannion, 2012). Therefore, to generate a place-based pedagogy, educators can continually make meaning from in relational ways and allow ecological, digital, visual and printed contexts coexist (Downey, 2019). Chidlren and educators are continually, research, discovery nuances and experiences with the other-than-human world to enhanc language and ecological literacy (Haggstrom & Schmidt, 2020).

References

Downey, A. M., Bell, R., Copage, K., & Whitty, P. (2019). Place-based readings toward disrupting colonized literacies: A metissage. In Education, 25(2), 39-58.

Haggstrom, M, & Schmidt, C. (2020). Enhancing children’s literacy and ecological literacy through critical place-based pedagogy. Environmental Education Research, 26(12), 1729-1745. https://doio.org/10.1080/13504622.2020.1812537

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Birds talk, wind sings, flowers hum,

hello dandelions.

Quiet noise, silent laughters,

maybe sneak a fun.

It’s a trail,

more dandelions, achoo,

tiny path, take a leap,

birds debate.

Walk again,

birds dance,

hello again, dandelions.

“[P]eople create places and places ‘make’ people.” (Häggström & Schmidt, 2020)

Walking alone on the same path again in the earliest morning, I smell, hear, and feel things differently. The relationship I have built with this path have been entangled, intertwined, and overlapped wtih others many times. However, each encounter creates my new identity and relationship with the path. As Häggström and Schmidt (2020) suggested, by situating ourselves into a familiar place allows us the opportunity of meaning-making about ourselves, we can form our identities, connections, and entanglements with the place. Listening to Robin’s podcast, I was heavily influenced by the dandelion conversation. Dandelions are model global citizen as it is always everywhere, in the park, in the mud, and in the tiny cracks of the sidewalk. However, people see them as weed because it is always everywhere (Macfarlane, 2020). Yet, given the opportunity to understand where it is located, we can understand its identity differently. Therefore, a place allows us to be different and offers us the opportunity to create meanings.

Reference:
Häggström, M. & Schmidt, C. (2020), Enhancing children's literacy and ecological literacy through critical place-based pedagogy. Environmental Education Research, 26(12). 1729-1745, https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2020.1812537

Macfarlane, R. (Host). (2020, May). Robin Wall Kimmerer in Conversation with Robert Macfarlane [Audio podcast episode]. Emergence Magazine.

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“You wouldn’t harm what gives you love. Knowing that you love the Earth changes you. Activates you to defend and protect and celebrate. But when you feel that the earth loves you in return, that feeling transforms the relationship from a one-way street into a sacred bond” (Kimmerer & Macfarlane, 2020, 14:26-14:52)

As I listened to Kimmerer’s podcast, this quote spoke the most to me. I embarked on a journey through MacDonald Park to ponder through the liveliness of the trees, birds, insects, leaves, and the whooshing sound of the wind. As I sat down, I reflected on the memories of when I used to come here with my grandfather. This park was a place I came the most frequently growing up because it was close to my childhood home. We would gather and sit on one of the park benches and talk about his histories of when he immigrated to Canada with her to start a new life. This time around, it felt peaceful. The chirping of the birds and the calmness of the environment allowed me to reflect on the memories I once shared with him and how grateful I feel to be able to enjoy this moment again. Even without the physical presence of him here today, I continued to feel the love and connection towards this place.

- Nikki L

Reference

Robin Wall Kimmerer in conversation with Robert Macfarlane. (2020, May 12). Emergence Magazine. Podcast.

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My footsteps slowly march to the beat of a lullaby,

Rhythmic, slow and steady they tell a story of patience and presence. I wander through one of my favourite parks. It has changed since my last visit. Rich greens in soft textures that beg to be touched are enjoying their time to be the focal point of an explorers walk. Spring is finally in the air. I take the time to pause, to dwell and attune to the environment around me. I hear the  quiet rush of water from the miniature waterfall that flanks one side of the pond. The steady quacking of the ducks that glide across the water.  The birds that sing and fly overhead once hidden in the canopy of leaves are now on display. The buzzing chirp of a hummingbird alerts my senses towards a nearby tree. I notice a variety of moss and lichen, each with its own hue and texture. Some cling to the branches while others spread like a cushy carpet that I want to walk barefoot across.

Today I walk alone so that I can provide full attention to the forest around me. I usually come here with my three daughters, drawn to the life, the peacefulness and connection to nature that can be lost living in urban areas. I think of Robin Wall Kimmerer, I too want to share with my children the beauty of the growing world around us.  I want them to be knowledgeable and aware of the plants, trees and creatures that we share our home with. I want them to know when we love the land, it loves us back (Braiding Sweetgrass, Emergence Magazine Podcast, 2010).

In Haagstrom and Schmidt’s article they too define the importance for children to be connected to their environment and the place where they live. If “places define who we are” (Haagstrom & Schmidt, 2020, p.1742) I hope that I have surrounded my children with experiences that will connect them to nature, to the ecologies that we live alongside. Connecting to place enables us all to recognize “how humans are intertwined with place and their natural environments” (Haagstrom & Schmidt, p.1741).
Reference:
Häggström, M. & Schmidt, C. (2020), Enhancing children's literacy and ecological literacy through critical place-based pedagogy. Environmental Education Research, 26(12). 1729-1745, https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2020.1812537

Macfarlane, R. (Host). (2020, May). Robin Wall Kimmerer in Conversation with Robert Macfarlane [Audio podcast episode]. Emergence Magazine.

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Place literacy is about nurturing an awareness and curiosity of our surroundings.

This includes using all of our senses to recognize different ways of knowing and being (Macfarlane, 2020).

Thus, we are able make connections with people and more than human beings opening opportunities to hear their truths and find our own evolving place among them.

Over time, as meanings are made, relationships form and have the potential to be deeply felt.

Place literacy understands the importance of recognizing our interconnectedness and how this informs our behaviours and contributions to "liv[ing] well" (Downey et al., 2019) together.

References

Downey, A.M., Bell, R., Copage, K. Whitty. (2019). Place-based readings toward distrupting colonized literacies: A métissage. In Education, 25(2), 39-58.

QayQayt First Nation. (2019, February 23). Thank you to the New Westminster Museum for screening “A tribe of one” on Feb. 23 rd. [Video]. Facebook.

Macfarlane, R. (2020, May 12). Robin Wall Kimmerer in conversation with Robert Macfarlane [Audio Podcast]. Emergence Magazine Podcast.

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I am shíshálh and live with the traditional lands that my ancestors have lived with for thousands of years. My podcast walk was in the ‘swíya’ in an area known as ‘Hidden Grove’ in this town known as Sechelt, the english colonial names. The word swíya is similar to the english words, land, ground, earth, place, or world. As I walk through the swíya and listen to the podcast, I feel connected to Robin’s (Emergence Magazine Podcast, 2020) words because I relate to them. I take the time to gently touch plants and trees because I was taught by my elders that it allows the plants and trees to know that you are grateful for them. A place-based pedagogy (Downey et al., 2019) I’ve practiced with my children and my way to push back against settler erasers (2020) within the ‘swíya’. However, this time Robin (Emergence Magazine Podcast, 2020) has expanded my way of knowing the swíya with the introduction to her pronoun ‘ki’. While I’ve always recognized the swíya as another living entity, ki gives me a deeper connection to the swíya as a relative not just a being to co-exist with. I will take this with me in hopes to pass this knowledge to others, so they may be impacted by these words in a positive way to live with swíya.

References

Downey, A. M., Bell, R., Copage, K., & Whitty, P. (2019). Place-based readings toward disrupting colonized literacies: A metissage. In Education, 25(2), 39-58.

Haggstrom, M, & Schmidt, C. (2020). Enhancing children’s literacy and ecological literacy through critical place-based pedagogy. Environmental Education Research, 26(12), 1729-1745. https://doio.org/10.1080/13504622.2020.1812537

Macfarlane, R. (2020, May 12). Robin Wall Kimmerer in conversation with Robert Macfarlane [Audio podcast episode]. In Emergence Magazine Podcast. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/robin-wall-kimmerer-in-conversation-with-robert/id1368790239?i=1000474338271

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Carol Ann Misquitta - Walking with Place: The Mamquam River in Squamish

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Carol Ann Misquitta - Walking with Place: The Mamquam River in Squamish

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I go for a walk along the Mamquam River dyke, a path that has become familiar, a path that brings warm memories, a path that I walk with others, a path of many relationships, a path of many conversations, a path of many contemplations, a path of many reflections.  And as I continue on this short, slow, lingering walk, I while with the place that tugs at my heart and stokes a fire in my soul.

My body is enveloped with the warmth and glow of the sun. The rays cloak the mountains and the rivers, the deep trees and the landscape.  The rays that move across this place, making visible the browns, the greens, the blues, the very spectacle before me becomes a kaleidoscope of wonder.  The blue skies beacon me, to search for geese, but today they are not in flight, they are not visible, they are not abundant, they are not gathering in the sky. I have to take more time, I have to stop longer, I have to while a bit more.  I gather and pay attention to these knots, these entanglements, these processes of seeking, of becoming in my quest for finding geese.

I start to pay attention to the river flowing by, to the mountains before me, to the tree reflections in the water, to the sounds of the river. To all the gatherings before me and I pay attention to the ripples of water near my feet, to the way the Mamquam River gathers and pools around as it continues on its journey to meet the Pacific Ocean. I pay attention to the crunching snow beneath my feet, the gathering of plants all asleep this winter, the gathering of snow in the trails beneath my feet in a place - a place called Squamish.

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How does a small bud of bright pink

tell us who we are

Who we may be

Who

exactly has been here

will be here

How does this serrated leaf

cut so deeply into

me

finding my core, my essence

my me

How does this gravelly trail

know my name

my journey

my reasons

These places listen and give the opportunity to be heard, to be known. They have stories and histories that we are welcomed into. They don’t just exist beside us, but they help to create us as the humans that we are, that we will become. We reflect nature as nature reflects us, and yet it is always more. Offering more freely, caring more deeply, seeing more closely.

I have spent most of my life beside one forest or another. On this day I went out to find the first thing that called to me, and it ended up being the bright pink of salmon berry petals. These beautiful little flowers are a welcome hint that spring is almost here, to be patient. When we return in late April/early May to pick the berries we will very mindful to pick only a few because they are one of the first things ready for the bears to eat. Though small, this juicy harvest is always a crisp reminder of good things for me.

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During the walk with my dog, I was waiting for him to sniff the area with grass. His sniffing made me want to feel the air in the park, where my dog and I often visit. Sky made me feel down by being covered with triple-coloured clouds layers. However, the little sunlight behind the clouds and the clear air made me refreshed. The asphalt that reflected the scent of rain brought back my childhood memory with my mother when we walked to the center on a rainy day. The soft, gentle wind moves just like strokes my cheeks. All the movements from nature made me think of the sense of belonging in the environment. As Häggström and Schmidt (2020) mention in the reading, "[l]iteracy practices shape embodied meaning-making through time and space [...]" (Leander and Boldt 2013, 2013, p.1731). Therefore, we can find our literacy practice by acknowledging the place where we live.  - Chino Komaba

Margaretha Häggström & Catarina Schmidt (2020) Enhancing children’s literacy and ecological literacy through critical place-based pedagogy, Environmental Education Research, 26:12, 1729-1745.

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.” For most of us, knowledge of our world comes largely through sight, yet we look about with such unseeing eyes that we are partially blind. One way to open your eyes to unnoticed beauty is to ask yourself, "What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?”(Carson, 1956 ,pg. 21).  My nephews and I went for a walk in the woods. I observe their interaction and response, two children who are brimming with vitality and have spent the most of their days within the school walls, inside their homes, surrounded by bricks. I observed them as we walked slowly; at first, they couldn't stop speaking, oblivious to the world around them; then, gradually, you can hear their silence, their awe, the way they notice everything, they stooped, connecting to the world around them by touching, running, smelling, and wondering aloud, asking questions. “Thinking and asking authentic questions about places in the local neighbourhood can metaphorically be compared to reading the world as a text, linking local issues to global ones “ (Häggström & Schmidt, 2020 pg. 1730).

Margaretha Häggström & Catarina Schmidt (2020) Enhancing children’s

literacy and ecological literacy through critical place-based pedagogy, Environmental Education

Research, 26:12, 1729-1745, DOI: 10.1080/13504622.2020.1812537

Carson, R., & Pratt, C. (1965). The sense of wonder. Harper & Row

Oshrat Zemel

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As I walk outside on a cold cloudy afternoon, I head to a path that I have walked through many times, but on this day, I stopped to look around. I saw the different types of trees ones with leaves and other bear, I saw the flowers starting to bloom, and the prickle bushes tucked away. I heard the birds chirping and saw the bugs crawling. Unlike the many other times I walked through this forest I stopped and connected to the world opening my eyes, ears, and fingers to the world around me. As I walk, I ask myself questions and thought about the nature around me “Thinking and asking authentic questions about places in the local neighborhood can metaphorically be compared to reading the world as a text, linking local issues to global ones” (Häggström, Schmidt, 2020, p.1731). This walk was me opening a book a new perspective on this path I have always walked through.
-Emily Rink

Margaretha Häggström & Catarina Schmidt (2020) Enhancing children’s literacy and ecological literacy through critical place-based pedagogy, Environmental Education Research, 26:12, 1729-1745,

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I am currently suffering from sciatica pain due to my running, so I decided to go for a drive with my partner. While he drove, we took notice of things and discussed the cars on the road and the bridge, which led us to discuss the planning, designing, construction, operation, and maintenance of roads. Place literacy is something that connects " land and literature together (Downey et al., n.d., 41).” We talked about how we take for granted the roads we drive on and the people who build, fix, and maintain them, and how we should slow down and enjoy the time and moments we have.  The land we drive on can provide opportunities for literature by allowing us to sing on road trips, talk with friends from other countries, and, most importantly, be grateful and understanding of one another by raising a hand to say, "Hey, thank you for letting me through." Those small acts of kindness and appreciation make a difference in how we care for the land, others, and ourselves. “ Etuaptmumk asks us to open both eyes and see the world with  more complexity and beauty(Downey et al., n.d., 41).”

References

Downey, A. M., Bell, R., Copage, K., & Whitty, P. (n.d.). Place- Base Readings Toward Disrupting Colonized Literacies: A Metissage. In Educatipn, 39- 58. elearn. Retrieved April 10, 2022, from https://elearn.capu.ca/mod/folder/view.php?id=1813776

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Walking into the forest from an urban environment, I immediately feel, smell, and hear the love the forest has for me and the love I have for the forest. It is an embodied, spiritual, interdependent relationship I have with this forest and Robin Wall Kimmerer(2020) would say that is love. I explore place literacy in this forest and approach it with a new and different perspective as I have been here many times before. Haggstrom & Schmidt(2020) state that “places embrace networks of relationships of various kinds, between human and environment, between actions and emotions and between people. These networks seem to have impact on students’ relationships with places and on meaning making through embodied literacy practices(p.1740). Place, like this waterfall I engaged with, offers a holistic engagement with land and offers meaning making through “spatial, visual and embodied ‘text of place’”(Haggstrom & Schmidt(2020). Water flowing in conversation with rocks, trickling, gurgling, energizing, soothing, in relation with sunlight shining and warming. With my focus normally being on the trees and looking up in the forest, this embodied experience offers new ways of viewing and “reading” place (Haggstrom & Schmidt, 2020).

Häggström, M., & Schmidt, C. (2020). Enhancing children’s literacy and ecological literacy through critical place-based pedagogy, Environmental Education Research, 26(12), 1729-1745.

Robin Wall Kimmerer in conversation with Robert Macfarlane. (2020, May 12). Emergence Magazine. Podcast.

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Place Literacy

Stepping away from my desk and the computer, to the world outside of my house. A breeze of cold air hits my face, the world moves all around us, w e are a part of this world. Every where we go there is an understanding to grasp, to know, to acknowledge its existence, to become and to be with. Doing so requires us to be hands on, to use our senses to sense the world. What is happening around us? What needs to be done? Place literacy helps us connect, learn and engage with the world, providing us with the importance of how it impacts the bigger picture. The environment is used as a tool for learning, everything becomes connected and intertwined with what children usually learn at school. Learning then becomes fun and engaging as things make sense when learning is connected with everything.
-Jordon Lee