TTT#311-3rd Space w/ Mike Murawski, Christina Cantrill, Ralph Cordova, Nina Simon, Bowen Lee, Fred Mindlin, Patricia Swank 8.22

Post-Show description: 

On this episode we are joined by some of the participants from a "3rd Space Conference" in July and others interested in community collaborations. They discuss their learning together in St. Louis last month, and also talk about and how we can bring this work into our local communities in the future, wherever we are.

The 3rd Space Conference, held July 9-13, 2012, in St. Louis,
ourcolab.org/the-invitational-summer-institutes-teachers-teaching-teachers/ brought together teams from local sites of the National Writing Project nwp.org and museums around the US to explore creating projects and curriculum that take advantage of collaborations among students, teachers, and local communities.

Learn more about combining the insights and work of artists and museum professionals with hands-on art making and collaborative curriculum design.

Patricia Swank sent us this video "of my students engaging with a piece of art at the St. Louis Art Museum along with some of their theorizing as to how it impacted them."

Third space? Third place? There's a useful summary of some of these concepts on Wikipedia, and it starts like this:

The third place (also known as Third Space) is a term used in the concept of community building to refer to social surroundings separate from the two usual social environments of home and the workplace. In his influential book The Great Good Place, Ray Oldenburg (1989, 1991) argues that third places are important for civil society, democracy, civic engagement, and establishing feelings of a sense of place. --Wikipedia (accessed 8.21.12)en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Third_place&oldid=500220817

Ralph Cordova's descriptions of the 3rd space work: "The language of envisioning and possibilities signal to us all that what we're about to experience, although principled and theoretically grounded, is completely yet-to-be-invented."

Jump into this conversation with the fascinating educators, artists, museum directors... 3rd Spacers!... and let's see where it takes us!

Click Read more to see a copy of the chat that was happening during the webcast.

 

Paul Allison: Hi Mike.
20:52Mike Murawski: Hey! Getting connected now
21:00Christina: Hello everyone
21:00Christina: Hi Gail!
21:01Gail Desler: Hi Christina! So glad to "see" you!
21:03Gail Desler: @Christina - and very excited to learn more about spaces that " are important for civil society, democracy, civic engagement, and establishing feelings of a sense of place"
21:10Gail Desler: Waving like crazy to Ralph Cordova
21:15Fred Mindlin: A quote from Ralph about one of the 3rd space activities: the language of envisioning and possibilities signal to us all that what we're about to experience, although principled and theoretically grounded, is completely yet-to-be-invented.?
21:17Fred Mindlin: Nina, the line you used about the museum I think applies as well to schools: we're not just about art or even education, but about involving the community in issues they care about: that's the best brief for schools to get students really learning...
21:24Jeff: What I hear Fred describing is how 3rdSpace challenged our thinking about where learning happens
21:28Mike Murawski: Fred, I agree with your connection between Nina's statement about museums and the work we're doing.
21:32unnamedSorry - sudden strange sounds in the museum and I'm the only one here. I may not be back but look forward to learning more.
21:32Nina: and... that unnamed from Nina.
21:36Jeff: For me, what was revolutionary about 3rd space was the notion that museums (or libraries or classrooms) can and SHOULD be places where knowledge is created as opposed to merely stored or consumed.
21:36Mike Murawski: Fred, you may want to mute (I'm getting lots of street sounds)
21:41Gail Desler: Fred and Owen, you might want to connect with Corrine Takda, who does amazing community street art. She's in your area - http://www.okadadesign.com/
21:59Mike Murawski: I unfortunately need to peace out -- I've got a full night of painting our house ahead of me as we get ready to sell our St. Louis home. Thanks for the great chat! And HUGE thanks to Fred for arranging this!
22:01Mike Murawski: And thanks to Paul!!!!!
22:02Mike Murawski: Cia!
22:02Mike Murawski: Ciao!
22:02Gail Desler: Very interesting topic. Thanks everyone. Night all.
22:06Christina: Thank you Paul!
22:06Christina: Nice to see you guys ... sorry the connection didn't work Jeff.
22:39Jeff Hudson: I appreciate the reminder about involving the community. A question for my teaching - how might I involve the community in the spaces I am creating with my students? How do they become a part of our community? Either bringing them in or us going out with them?
22:39Jeff Hudson: Okay - Jeff Hudson did not say that. I, Patti Swank, typed it and his name showed up. Jeff and I are now in community and go by the same name.