[Xmca-l] Re: Sorry I'm late!

[Larry Purss]

Hi Maisha,

Thank you for joining  the conversation. I am thrilled to participate in
this dialogue.   The phrase "joyful belonging" captures the "sense" of what
you are trying to convey, and you suggest this PROCESS may be able to be
replicated.

Mike's question of how the particular qualities that Poppa Joe and Mamma C
"express" may emerge within other historicizing processes is the leading
question in my response.

 When it is understood that Poppa Joe's and Mamma C's "expression" is more
than the characteristic of exceptional "persons" but is an expression of
the "historicizing subject matter" then the change becomes situated in
con/texts such as  Power Writing - which is a "worldview" - deeply
committed to imagining the future and the now of students. I want to hold
this concept of "worldview"

Maisha, you state;

 What Poppa Joe and Mama C are able to do is historicize their lives and
literate trajectories and frame them in ways that their students can view
the process of becoming writers, readers, thinkers, and doers as just
that...A PROCESS. [as expressing a particular worldview]

This "quality" of being able to express "their lives" AS HISTORICIZING
PROCESSES is what seems key to moving beyond locating the change within
"exceptional persons" and developing the insight that the historicizing
process is the "subject matter" that matters.

If this is a central "truth" than is it possible for formal school settings
[with their rules and notions of learning] to become locales which realize
this transformative "historicizing process"?
OR
 must this historicizing realization first develop "beyond" formal school
settings and then be carried into school settings. Can formal school
settings become the locale for "joyous belonging"?
It seems that we require "models" or "blueprints" for how this may be
possible within formal school settings. I question whether
the historicizing process must first be encountered and engendered in
situations beyond the walls of formal school settings and then carried into
the schools. Poppa Joe and Mamma C first experienced the historicizing
processes beyond the school boundaries and then carried these "living
processes" into the school setting.
What seems exceptional were the joyous situations which "cultivated"
particular "worldviews".

Maisha, I believe you are expressing a particular "ethos" [incarnated
within the spoken word as performed] but will pause to hear what others
have to say.

Larry




On Wed, Apr 1, 2015 at 3:04 PM, Maisha Winn <mtwinn@wisc.edu> wrote:

> Hi everyone,I am enjoying reading the thread of discussion and I apologize
> for getting back to you (see message I tried to post!). Just gave a talk at
> PennGSE and have more meetings but I will be back!
>
>
> Thank you so much for engaging this work.
>
>
> Warmly,
> Maisha
> On Tue, Mar 31, 2015 at 10:02 AM, Maisha Winn <mtwinn@wisc.edu> wrote:
>
> > Hi Mike,I am THRILLED to see this thread of discussion before I catch my
> flight. Thank you for sending it my way while we work out my technical
> difficulties.
> > To build on the conversation I wish to submit that I, too, have grappled
> with whether or not Poppa Joe and Mama C are "exceptional" (thus, making it
> difficult for educators across contexts to see the work they do as
> possible). When I published Writing in Rhythm I heard from may people that
> perhaps only Poppa Joe can do what he does. However, I don't think this is
> the case. Power Writing is a worldview deeply committed to imagining the
> future and the now of students. What Poppa Joe and Mama C are able to do is
> historicize their lives and literate trajectories and frame them in ways
> that their students can view the process of becoming writers, readers,
> thinkers, and doers as just that...A PROCESS....one that continues well
> into adulthood. Yes, the word "trajectories" was purposeful. Movement is
> key here. I agree that "shattering" is probably not the right way to
> characterize this work. However, "joyful belonging," sounds just right!
> > Thank you for engaging this work. I am eager to hear more.
> > Warmly,
> > Maisha
> --
>
>
>
>
>
> Maisha T. Winn, Ph.D.
> Susan J. Cellmer Chair in English Education
> Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, Languages & Literacies
> University of Wisconsin, Madison- School of Education
> 225 N. Mills Street, Suite 574B
> Madison, WI 53706
>
>
> See Professor Winn's "Toward a Restorative English Education"
> http://dm.education.wisc.edu/mtwinn/intellcont/Winn_RTE13-1.pdf
>
>