Site Specific Education


Site Specific Education is a philosophy of education created by Marc Joel Levitt that utilizes the physical and/or social-cultural environment in your school to create inquiry, research opportunities and presentation that is authentic, professional and "real world." Mr. Levitt has taught Site Specific Education at Rhode Island College and has utilized it in many workshops. Examples of these include:


1. Charles Fortes Museum Project. A nationally recognized example of Site Specific Education where students utilize the neighborhood's and their 150 year-old former factory buildings history for inquiry, research and museum quality presentation. Funded largely by the Disney Corporation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Museum Project is featured in a Disney made/Nationally distributed film about three schools it funded. Click here for the slideshow with images from the project.




2. The Lewiston, Maine Audio Project where in an old mill town, low on jobs and self esteem, Mr. Levitt led a group of middle school students to create short audio pieces about local history designed to be played throughout the community.

3. Las Vegas, New Mexico Radio Project where Mr. Levitt and a group of summer school students created a local radio show based on the small Northern New Mexico community's music, history and agricultural and craft traditions.

4. New York’s PS 11 Mapping Project where Mr. Levitt had student’s map their Woodside Queens neighborhood while writing about important events in their lives that took place on its streets. The result was a complex and multi-layered study of the way in which neighborhoods are used and a writing lesson that is derived from everyday life.

4. The Colton School Memoir Mapping Project in Monterey, California.

5. Cranston, Rhode Island’s ‘Transition’ Magazine, where students from fifth grade, about to enter middle school created a magazine about change and transition in general. The magazine contained stories about divorce, death, graduations, and fears about entering into a new phase of life.

Click here for more images.

Read Marc's article "What is Site Specific Education?"

"Mr. Levitt has a great ability to understand the needs of a community and to help students come up with the ways to address those needs while developing literacy and social skills in an exciting and meaningful way."
Richard Willing, Director Lewiston Auburn Arts

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