Re: personal in academic discourse

SMAGOR who-is-at aardvark.ucs.uoknor.edu
Mon, 18 Dec 1995 07:00:35 -0600 (CST)

Jacques--this observation is grounded in my experiences as a
parent, and has no empirical basis. I wonder if teachers who
are parents teach differently than teachers who are not. Because
I engage in home-based learning with my kids every day, I
tend to view my teaching in terms of how it serves the
development of both school-based ("scientific") concepts
and home-based ("spontaneous") concepts. For instance, when
I play games with my kids that involve counting (adding the
numbers on dice, arranging cards in a particular order)
or go shopping or hand out allowance, etc., I use the
opportunity to practice math with them in ways that have
immediate concrete consequences for them. I wonder if
teachers with kids are more likely to recognize the uses
kids have for math outside school, and thus make the
linkages more explicit. Of course, this is more a
generalization or tendency that I'm suggesting--a thoughtful
teacher who has no kids of his or her own could reach the
same conclusion. But it might be worth looking in to.

Peter Smagorinsky smagor who-is-at aardvark.ucs.uoknor.edu