Writing Suburban Citizenship - (Writing, Culture, and Community Practices) by Robert E Brooke (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In the past century, more and more Americans have been migrating from rural areas and urban centers to suburban communities. As a result, the majority of American youth are educated in the suburbs, and the ways in which they learn to be citizens are shaped by their suburban surroundings. Because many of these communities are designed to support a "placeless" lifestyle of a transient yet demographically similar population, they are often disconnected from a regional history and culture. For practitioners of place-conscious education--education that seeks to ground the curriculum in local experience, both natural and cultural--this presents a challenge.

In Writing Suburban Citizenship, nine college and secondary writing teachers present suburban classroom projects aimed at exploring the watershed and the commonwealth of the region. Watershed projects, those concerned with the natural environment and ecological realities, include a unit on regional water issues and a naturalist almanac for a local park system. Commonwealth projects are concerned with cultural history, including an investigation of a community's Native American heritage and a chronicle of multigenerational work histories. With these diverse and robust projects, contributors spotlight the myriad ways suburban students can build rich, authentic connections to their surroundings and create a sense of belonging to their community.

Review Quotes

What is so impressive about this book . . . is the way it fosters a critical dialogue between high school and college teachers. The chapters serve as case studies for approaches to place-based curriculums and are written in an accessible style.

-- "Community Literacy Journal"

Although these projects are exemplary and describe much authentic learning, the importance of this book goes beyond curriculum development. In short, the book provides an alternative to the current assessment-based educational reform movement, which refuses to recognize that the real issue determining school success is poverty. The contributors argue that creating a school curriculum designed to understand and address the real differences in rural, urban, and suburban communities is a first step toward equal achievement.-- "Choice"

An important historical and theoretical look at the geographical category of suburb and the role of place-based education in influencing learners who can connect to their communities.-- "Nedra Reynolds, professor of writing and rhetoric, University of Rhode Island"

Hugely valuable for high school teachers and college composition teachers while still offering significant rewards to composition and rhetoric scholars.-- "Eli Goldblatt, professor of English, Temple University"

About the Author

Robert E. Brooke is professor of English at the University of Nebraska and director of the Nebraska Writing Project. He is the author of Rural Voices: Place-Conscious Education and the Teaching of Writing.