Cartographic Storytelling for a Changing World: The Pedagogical Praxis of Home in School

Abstract

What are we doing now that will be good for our children? What are we teaching and how are we teaching? What does sustainable teaching look like? Sustainability pertains to intergenerational equity. In thinking about systems theory and the interdependence of living and learning, I realize the system can only change with each individual thinking about what is closest at hand while still seeing the broader picture. One avenue to begin to address the big questions this paper poses is simply through storytelling and fictions. Storying develops re-envisioned community through pedagogies of safety, hope, and liberation; and agentically challenges colonial and neo-colonial discourse. The paper describes how global literacy, problem solving, innovation, and creativity can be intentionally integrated into learning when living is considered as schooling. Additionally, through the metaphor of home in school, I am not merely rethinking curricular content, but restructuring sense-of-place as a critical educational goal.