In the quiet woods of Shelburne Farms that resembled the landscape philosopher John Dewey explored as a child, educators used their hands to build a fort with long, jagged sticks. After placing the last piece, the group climbed inside their new creation and sat together. ̽̽ Associate Professor Simon Jorgenson then asked, “Who are we in here? What are we?”
“A new community,” one educator responded. Others described feeling comfortable, relaxed and proud to be inside a structure of their own making.
As part of the John Dewey Memorial Conference, the outdoor workshop highlighted the rewards of shared experiences, place-based learning, emergence and play—all things Dewey, a ̽̽ alumnus, championed throughout his life.
The two-day conference was presented by ̽̽'s College of Education and Social Services, The John Dewey Society, and the North Eastern Philosophy of Education Society. It featured presentations from Dewey scholars, a School & Society Forum on campus with students, educators and leaders from the Burlington School District, and experiential learning opportunities at Shelburne Farms and the ̽̽ John Dewey Kitchen Institute.
“We are hoping that attendees of the conference came away with a new appreciation for Burlington and ̽̽ as John Dewey's birthplace and alma mater,” Jorgenson said. “This conference has also been a great opportunity for people to learn more about the Dewey Kitchen Institute, our dynamic partnership with Shelburne Farms, and the transformative social justice work happening in Burlington School District—all powerful examples of Dewey's thinking in action.”
Shelburne Farms is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to inspire and cultivate learning for a sustainable future. Shelburne Farms and ̽̽ work together to envision a new kind of teacher education that is place-based with a concentration on global sustainability. The long-standing partnership between ̽̽’s College of Education and Social Services and Shelburne Farms recently included co-teaching courses and co-designing a Place-Based Education Undergraduate Certificate.
Aimee Arandia Østensen, a professional learning facilitator at Shelburne Farms, started the two-and-a-half-hour experiential learning workshop Saturday outside of the historic Farm Barn, acknowledging that the land the group stood on originally belonged to the Abenaki. In the 17th century, Europeans arrived and displaced the Indigenous community through settler colonialism.
“While I have deep appreciation for what this land affords us, I also take with that the knowledge that the Winooski band of the Abenaki, who stewarded this land, suffered generations of genocide, erasure and ongoing colonization,” Østensen said. “And yet, they persist, and they are here with us today. We are so lucky to have partners in the community who help us learn more about the land we're on and share traditional ecological knowledge to address our shared problems and the individual challenges we face. We'll continue the work of living better and learning from the land.”
Learning from the land, addressing equity, racism, and the community’s needs were also highlighted at the conference’s School & Society Forum Friday in ̽̽’s John Dewey Lounge. The forum featured ongoing projects and initiatives at Champlain Elementary School, Edmunds Middle School, and the Burlington City and Lake Semester. The purpose of the forum was to recognize and help sustain the work by students in the community.
“John Dewey was interested in experiential education, and he would be interested in the work our schools are doing in Burlington,” Jorgenson told the audience as he introduced the panel of students, educators and administrators. “This work connects to the community and addresses real-world problems and problem-solving. The work these students are doing make this a better place for more and more people, and it’s happening each and every day at Burlington schools.”
Champlain Elementary School fifth grade students Aria Leff and Arthur Lea shared how they learned about climate change from Judy Dow, an activist and teacher of traditional Abenaki culture and native practices. They also collaborated with the Burlington Parks and Recreation Department, Burlington Wildways, Clemmons Family Farm, and other organizations.
“We picked up trash in our watershed on Green Up Day. We provided feedback to the Burlington Parks and Recreation Department about the design of their parks. We’ve partnered with New Farms for New Americans and the Abenaki Land Link Project to plant culturally significant crops in our garden. We created an anti-racist mural with Juniper Creative Arts that fosters community and, most importantly, equality,” Leff told the audience. “As you can see, we get a lot done.”
At Edmunds Middle School, the Youth Participatory Action Research Collective (YPAR) is a collaborative effort with ̽̽. YPAR is an innovative approach to positive youth and community development in which young people are trained to conduct systematic research to improve their lives, their communities, and the institutions intended to serve them.
YPAR teaches critical consciousness skills to sixth graders, analytical skills to seventh graders, and activism to eighth-graders. All of the ideas are generated by students, and educators offer support and guidance. Students have consulted city leaders and administrators on everything from the urban design of open spaces in Burlington to the city’s equity policy.
“This process gives a voice to kids, and our mission is to amplify the voices of students,” said Edmunds social studies teacher and YPAR co-facilitator Jeremy DeMink. “It allows students to have purpose and impact and to feel like they are part of important changes. We also design for emergence, and for us, that means an open-ended design with an ability to respond to what’s real and what’s relevant. We want students to be in relevant learning all the time. Because inquiry is both a mindset and a practice.”
The Burlington City and Lake Semester is an immersive experience open to Burlington High School juniors and seniors. The program’s foundation is to empower young people to be curious students, active members of the community and engaged citizens.
“I think John Dewey would like the idea that we are not just waiting for students to be agents of change at some time in the distant future,” said Andy Barker, program director and a teacher in the Burlington City and Lake Semester program. “They are agents of change in the here and now.”
The programs prioritize empowerment and create student-led initiatives that encourage students to use their voices and feel a sense of purpose.
“My favorite part is having other kids come up to me and say, what can I do to help?” said Anyier Manyok, a 10th-grader who participated in YPAR at Edmunds.
Even in elementary school, young students take on leadership roles and learn how they can make a difference. Starting in fourth and fifth grade inspires students to continue to be involved in programs later on like YPAR and the City and Lake Semester.
“We are so grateful to the knowledge experts have shared with us. They’ve expanded our thinking about social and environmental justice,” fifth-grader Lea said. “We believe our work matters and has an impact on our community.”
At the panel’s conclusion, Burlington School District Superintendent Tom Flanagan and District Equity Instructional Leader Autumn Bangoura spoke about the importance of Burlington’s progressive education initiatives and prioritizing ways to focus on the needs of students. At the District’s 2021 Summer Racial Justice Academy, for example, which is designed to build capacity for youth leadership, Bangoura said the group asked themselves: “Who are those students for whom school is not working? And why?”
“We have all these cool opportunities where you’re outside, you’re involved, and there’s all these community partners,” Bangoura told the audience at ̽̽. “But we have to think about engaging those kids that wouldn’t sign up necessarily.”
Flanagan said the district is drafting a five-year strategic plan, one that the community will help develop. He described the progressive programs highlighted at the forum as positive examples that can inform the future of the district.
“We want to build our future together. We have a lot of bright spots, and as a district, it’s all about highlighting these bright spots and building off them,” Flanagan said. “We can't do it alone, and we’re not doing it alone.”
