Essays

Wild On The Prairie: Learning

Homeland Curriculum
January 6, 2002

At Sibley our mission is to help people learn about the local flora and fauna. After 14 years and 4000 plus programs we have decided it is important to broaden our scope. We have become proponents of place-based education. The purpose of a place-based curriculum at the elementary school level is to create a clear self-definition for every child. Definition comes by a person learning the relationships that unite him or her to the natural world and the local human adaptations and traditions. It is the deepest roots of patriotism, this knowledge of one's own bioregion -- the physical homeland that surrounds an individual.

We believe everyone should be intimately familiiar with their environment. A person learns to be proud of their homeland by connecting with its history and the local natural world. We call this “being a LLANERO”, a citizen of our home ecoregion, the Llano Estacado. A Llanero is familiar with the stories, history, and folktales of the Llano Estacado, as well as the natural history. All regional residents should know what Indian tribes lived here, and how they lived, as part of knowing the ecological history of the area. A Llanero also knows the stories of the settlement by people of all cultures.

At present children and adults formulate much of their perception of the world from television. Network television programming, by its very nature, can only present shallow stories that appeal to a common denominator recognizable nationwide (and usually the lowest common denominator!) Curriculum that focuses on the unifying characteristics for state or national identity is an abstract step that should be learned after in-depth familiarity with one's own human and natural environment. Elliot Wigginton, of Foxfire fame, states that place-based education is the best way to "tell us about human interdependence, human spirit, and self reliance."

The only place-based education at present is through the shadow culture of urban legend and folk tale. Most of what is known about our immediate surroundings is learned through conversation. There is valuable information passed on by word of mouth. "The intricate tricks of self-sufficiency acquired through years of trial and error, the eloquent and haunting stories of suffering and sharing and building and healing and planting and harvesting -- this information is to be saved. We gain invaluable, unique knowledge about our own roots, heritage, and culture." (Elliot Wigginton, again.) Half-truths, partial truths, and exaggeration often surface in oral information dispersal, however. Humans love rumor and hyperbole!

From the stories of others, we glean natural history information, examples of character, a sense of place, and a sense of what it means to be West Texan. Many stories relate a personal aspect of history. Others are folktales, and a different set of folktales is commonplace among each ethnic group. For example, La Llorona and Cucui tales are told to Hispanic children.

We mentally map where stories are said to take place here. It enriches our identification with our homeland to place stories to specific locations. Several types of maps help people visualize their homespace. The mythological map mentioned above is as important as a map of the entire Llano Estacado showing draw courses, or one that illustrates the highways and towns. So, too, is an ecological map showing locations of different habitats, soils, animal populations, or endemic plant locations. A detailed internal map provides a strong sense one's place in the world.

So, too, does knowledge of the natural world that surrounds us. Can you name 200 species of local animals, insects, and plants? Can you name 50 geographical places within 100 miles? Can you write a full page on that many organisms? Can you tell the period in the "natural calendar" in which they are active? Can you tell how each interacts with others? Can you tell which habitat they prefer?

One method to encourage a child to develop a sense of unity with the natural world is for the student to select a critter of the Llano and make an effort to learn all that they can it and its relationships to other species. The child could fill a scrapbook with pictures and information off of the Internet about their critter. The child could also make posters of the creature, or wear jewelry that has its image. Later they could make a puppet or mask of the creature, and learn a face paint pattern and finally learn how to mimic their critter.

Another activity that can help a child become rooted in place, is a school teaching garden of regional plants, especially of plants important in indigenous crafts. Every Llanero child should make soap with yucca and soapberry, for example. Outdoor areas can also lead to teaching a child about work. A place for some chickens and other small animals would be constructive as well. Until less than a century ago, children came and watched a parent with livestock, or a tradesman such as a farrier with fascinated eyes and awed questions. The person doing the work would slowly tried to figure out ways for the visitor to help, and slowly a child learned the worthiness of doing a rote drudgery for a desired end result.

We believe that critters belong in the classroom, and that ethological studies can be done by any age, including kindergarten. Observational and analytical skills, the skills of curiosity, are integral to a child's development. Animal behavior can be interpreted by anyone! These studies can later go beyond the classroom -- to the outdoor learning area, to the student's neighborhood and beyond. School sponsored field trips should go to the bizarre and unique habitats in Midland County, such as salt playas, sand dunes, gyp loess, draw pocket forests, and even city runoff retention ponds. A child should have the chance to visit all 11 of our local habitats.

Creating or sharing of stories and the collecting of observational data are group learning techniques that acknowledges many varying perspectives. Story and data collection enriches us by giving us a chance to compare and respect many perspectives. It also teaches continuity and perseverance, which is as important as teaching process or information. The collection of stories and the collection of data are actions that continually lift us to a higher shared common denominator. Students can sense that their beliefs and attitudes are respected, and they feel part of a greater effort. So much can be taught by fully involving a student in learning about our very own home -- its history, its ecology, and its people.