Abstract:

Conventional learning takes place in a classroom; transformational learning best takes place in a community. Engaging students in community projects harnesses the pedagogical potential of a place as it abounds learning assets and resources that can be tapped to contextualize theoretical underpinnings in the classroom and teach cultural sensitivity and social responsibility. This autoethnographic paper presents the journey of a teacher in a premier teacher education institution in the Philippines. The journey was inspired by her commitment to promote multivoicedness and critical consciousness by bringing students closer to the communities and sensitizing them towards becoming active agents and prime movers of a collective vision to create effective pathways for schools and communities to learn and work together. In this journey, she narrates how the courses assigned to her have become open pipelines to advance place-based community projects as a reflexive teaching pedagogy. In the end, she hopes that this study strengthens communities of practice and informs initiatives and programs forging collaborations between campuses and communities across societies and platforms of learning.

Keywords:

Community engagement, place-based pedagogy, reflexive pedagogy.