Creating an Engaged Community: Building Praxis in the Sustainability-Focused Composition Classroom

1. Need
David Orr, “The modern curriculum teaches little about citizenship and responsibilities and a great deal about individualism and rights. The ecological emergency, however, can be resolved only if people come to hold a bigger idea of what it means to be a citizen. […] The ecological emergency is about the failure to comprehend our citizenship in the biotic community” (Earth in Mind, 32)

Existing Curriculum:
Personal Academic Argument --> Op-Ed --> Life-Place Essay
Possibilities for Further Praxis:
Place-Based Essay --> Civic Essay/Service-Learning Project --> Future- Scenario/ Local-Sustainability Research Project

2. Methods

“Place” as an entry into the discussion of sustainability.

Why—builds on familiar themes, pre-existent knowledge,builds investment in writing, develops personal essay skills
How—use place as a way to create a supportive, engaged classroom community.Reading place essays out loud, bringing photos, comparing similarities/differences, focusing on developing a specific and critical awareness of place.


Encouraging praxis through civic engagement (service-learning)

Why—moves students into a position of power within the community as agents of change, develops the ability to reflect and write for a public audience
How—connect with the Office for Civic Engagement, have students research local organizations and choose, offer options/flexibility, have alternative assignment ready (environmental justice essay, civic opinion paper, etc.)


Creating a sense of agency/urgency through researching sustainable futures

Why—empowers students as agents of community change, develops critical research skills, imparts critical knowledge of environmental crises and sustainable choices
How—build on knowledge from service-learning project by asking students to look at local sustainability efforts, require bioregional research, require students to consider what an “eutopia” (to borrow from Derek Owens) would look/function like.


Resources

Owens, Derek. Composition and Sustainability: Teaching for a Threatened Generation. Urbana: National Council of Teachers of English, 2001.

“Sustainability Curriculum Framework.” Second Nature.
http://www.secondnature.org

Weisser, Christian and Sidney Dobrin, Ed. Ecocomposition: Theoretical and Pedagogical Approaches. New York: SUNY Press, 2001.


Conclusions
These methods build upon the existing syllabus in a way that encourages further praxis.

Encouraging praxis is our primary means for extending composition beyond the classroom and encouraging the life-long empowerment of our students as agents of change.