[Xmca-l] Re: Winn's Exploring the Literate Trajectories of Youth across Time and Space

[Larry Purss]

First a request. I cannot find the Winn article on my onbox. Would someone
please repost.

Peter, I will give a personal example that supports your description of the
constraints that teaching in school engenders.  When AERA came to Vancouver
this international forum was highlighted in Vancouver schools inviting
participation by teachers.
However, at the actual conference I noticed that most of the participants
were from university departments and rarely did I meet a local teacher
taking a professional day to attend the conference.

Teacher counsellors in Vancouver receive $75 a year for professional
development and to go to a conference is an act of dedication.

If, as Peter described, a teacher besides teaching, takes on other duties
in the community, then the opportunity to also "reflect" on their practice
becomes an act of personal dedication committed to individually.  The
opportunity for front line teachers to gather regularly together and
collectively reflect on their practice is even rarer [and more precious].

Mike, recently you reflected on a professor who has tenure and a home and
financial concerens having constraints on how they approach their work.
What Peter is highlighting is the constraints on "reflective time".
In some ways a university setting as a social situation of development is
far removed from the community of educators who they are addressing.  When
you ask how to generalize the understandings of Winn and the critique
of current practices, the lack of opportunity for "ongoing" shared
reflective practice within "communities of learning" [the latest buzz
words] is a constraint that is real and limiting.

Larry

On Sun, Mar 29, 2015 at 2:23 PM, Annalisa Aguilar <annalisa@unm.edu> wrote:

> OK, now I understand the boundaries that you mean, mike.
>
> I thought you meant the institutional boundaries as communities of
> practice, not personal boundaries of the teachers inside and outside the
> institution.
>
> I can see that boundaries around teaching are important to keep intact in
> that sense. Teachers are already so overloaded, that there has to be some
> way of drawing out appropriate interactions that are "allowable" and
> "finite" and perhaps this suggests that there is a study of patterns of
> interactions in an ethnographic sense to decide which are the optimum ones
> and then these can become sorts of touchstones or guideposts that can be
> elaborated upon over time?
>
> Of course I'm not thinking as a teacher, but as a designer of
> interactions. Perhaps one of the reasons outside activities are so
> demanding is because of a lack of naming and defining these interactions.
>
> Also I'd like to add that it can also be the case that activities that are
> creative, such as poetry slams, are enormously rewarding and so they can
> become a kind of fuel for everyone involved, as is the case where joyful
> undertakings take place and takeover the place. Because of this
> energy-creating force, it's hard to see this as work that requires
> boundaries, and it's even harder to see it as a sacrifice, as may be the
> case when marking papers for 150 students.
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Annalisa
>