Lisa Rathje
Local Learning : The National Network for Folk Arts in Education
Culture influences every aspect of life, including ways of learning, and creates communities throughout our lives. Understanding the complexity and power of culture in arts, leisure activities and folklore provides students agency for personal and academic growth. As a National Arts Service Organization in the United States of America, Local Learning provides resources and training for folk arts in education to transform learning, build intercultural understanding and create stronger communities. Executive Director Lisa Rathje will discuss Local Learning pedagogy, which embraces expertise found in activities often described as “leisure” and “folkloric” to better connect students to strategic learning goals in the formal educational classroom. Games and play offer opportunities to “unpack” stories, beliefs and cultural knowledge. Teachers have noted in Local Learning professional development evaluations that unpacking their cultural identities is transformative and opens the door to “seeing” culture and its vital role in their classrooms and community. When using folklore and place-based learning methodologies that affirm students' multiple cultural knowledge, learning can be transformed. The paper will argue that deeper engagement with folk arts as a part of a larger protocol provides tools and a framework to teach students to understand their personal cultural identity and to create important pathways to learning.
(Presented in the conference : 2017 Chulalongkorn Asian Heritage Forum : Culture of Leisure – Balance of Life, 7-8 August 2017, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand)