Northeast Kingdom Heritage Education

The Vermont Rural Education Collaborative provides a range of professional learning opportunities to teachers and administrators across our region. We also provide mini grants to schools that support place-based learning.  We are establishing an initiative we are referring to as Northeast Kingdom Heritage Education that will promote place-based learning focused on the region’s rich history and cultural composition. 

Heritage education celebrates the diversity of the NEK’s past and present.  It honors the past and present Abenaki people and the impact of immigrant groups such as French Canadians to the culture of the region.  Likewise, we will embrace the stories and impact of ‘ back to the landers’, working people, new Americans, BIPoC and LGBTQ people who contribute to the fabric of our communities.

It is important for students to know more about who they are through deep exploration into those who have come before.  Our goal is to both open windows to important aspects of our local culture unfamiliar to some and hold up a mirror for students to find appreciation for their own heritage.

There is a strong connection to student agency with increased relevance and rigor.  We must provide opportunities for culturally responsive learning that embraces the work, crafts, foods, folkways and traditions that are part of students and their families.

NEK Heritage Education focuses attention on our history and culture that includes the natural and built environment, material culture, agriculture, work, oral history, language, music and folkways. The Heritage Learning approach engages learners in an interactive exploration of the intersection of these areas and encourages learners to move from idea to action – from understanding past experience to who we are today. Heritage Learning draws on many disciplines – history, geography, natural and social sciences, arts and literature – to find meaning and significance in who we are today and belief in our future.

Why Place-Based Learning/Heritage Education?

  • High stakes accountability has placed an emphasis on Language Arts & Math and history education is often considered secondary.

  • History is often  taught with a focus on national  and international events while ignoring local heritage.

  •  Local heritage serves as a catalyst in fostering and promoting student engagement, as students find relevance and value in their work and actively engage in learning.

  • Heritage education is culturally responsive and promotes an inclusive approach to learning

  • Heritage education is place-based and allows for students to pursue individual interests through flexible pathways.

VREC Commitments:

  • VREC is committed to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility and will bring diverse voices into the planning process and ensure our outreach is inclusive.  We ensure that activities are physically and financially accessible.

  • We will work with our seven supervisory unions/districts and community partners to advance this initiative.  We already have strong interest from the Old Stone House and Nulhegan Education and Cultural Center.  We will seek to work with local historical societies and other organizations.

 

Desired Outcomes/Success 

  • We will have active participation in a regional Advisory Committee, made up of representatives from regional school districts and community partners,  dedicated to advancing NEK Heritage Education.

  • We will provide one seminar/conference and one course annually along with a professional learning network to support teachers’ ongoing learning and share information.

  • We will increase the number of teachers teaching about our local heritage over the next five years. (we will look to get baseline data this fall)  

  • We will increase the number of days/hours teachers spend on teaching about local heritage and engaged in place-based learning. (we will look to get baseline data this fall)

  • We will instill increased awareness and appreciation for local history and culture  in our students through both collective and independent  learning opportunities.

Strategies  to promote Northeast Kingdom Heritage Education

1) Advisory Committee:  In order to develop and implement NEK Heritage Education VREC would establish an advisory committee that would meet quarterly.  We would provide a small honorarium of $250 for up to eight (8) participants.  The VREC Professional Learning Consultant would coordinate this group.

2) Professional Development:  The primary goal of the advisory committee is to develop professional development opportunities for area teachers. 

  • We would create a one day seminar on place-based learning and introduction to NEK Heritage Education to support approximately 30 to 40 teachers.  This seminar would look to area educators and community partners to present and facilitate learning.  The goal will be to establish the NEK Heritage Education Seminar as an annual event.  We would utilize Vermont Humanities Council funds to help underwrite this day to help keep registration fees down for participants.  Our goal is to provide the learning and not generate revenue from this event, so registration will be geared to cover expenses.   Most school districts provide funds for workshops & seminars, but VREC is committed to ensuring access and can reduce or even waive fees if interested participants do not have the ability to pay.

  • The Advisory Committee would also provide guidance to VREC’s Professional Learning Consultant on the development of a NEK Heritage Education Place-Based Learning Course to take place the summer of 2024.  It is hoped that VREC can offer a course related to place-based learning each summer or during the school year moving forward. The cost of the course and credits would come from participants' school districts.

  • The Advisory Committee will also establish a NEK Place-Based Learning Network.  In conjunction with VREC supporting other professional learning networks, this one would directly support those in the field who are implementing place-based learning.  Research supports the efficacy of professional learning networks in the development and implementation of instructional practices.  It is also possible to incorporate a book study into a PLN.  We would pay a small stipend to the PLN facilitator–$100 per session for six sessions.

  

 3) Resource Sharing:  One way for VREC to promote place-based learning is to facilitate opportunities for teachers to access and share resources.

  • The Advisory Committee will also collaborate in the identification of resources that would be useful for teachers considering place-based learning activities.  We would seek to find someone to assist in the collection of those resources and work with VREC’s website  support to build out a page for teachers to access resources online.  We would pay that individual a $500 stipend for this work and cover the additional costs of web design.

  • We would establish a small Lending Library of books on place-based learning along with those on Vermont and NEK history & culture.

   

Steering Committee:

Jennifer Barone, Professional Learning Consultant
Theresa Pollnar, Director Innovation & Learning, Kingdom East Supervisory District
Lucy Neal, Director of the Nulhegan Education & Cultural Center
Ed Coordinator  of the Old Stone House Museum
Teacher:  To Be Determined
Teacher:  To Be Determined

 

Resources

Vermont Social Studies Standards
C3 Framework
Appalachian Heritage Education
Place-Based Education:  Connecting Classrooms & Communities
Bringing School to Life:  Place-based Education Across the Curriculum
The Power of Community Centered Education:  Teaching as a craft of place