[Xmca-l] Re: Non-academic book learning theory for labor educators

[Helena Worthen]

Helena Worthen
helenaworthen@gmail.com

On Feb 5, 2015, at 12:28 PM, David Russell wrote:

> Helena,
> I edit the Journal of Business and Technical Communication, which includes
> people who do workplace studies and training.
> I'll pass your book along to our book review editor. See my details below.
> David
> 
> On Thu, Feb 5, 2015 at 12:18 PM, Helena Worthen <helenaworthen@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> Hello -
>> 
>> I've just found out that my book, "What Did You Learn at Work Today? The
>> Forbidden Lessons of Labor Education," was awarded the Best Book related to
>> labor education prize for 2014 by the United Association for Labor
>> Education, my professional association. With this in hand, evidence that I
>> am not completely nuts about trying to bring learning theory into classes
>> where nurses and postal workers are trying to learn how to organize to
>> protect and improve their jobs, I want to turn back to my long time friends
>> on XMCA to see if I can get a reaction from someone on this list.
>> 
>> My primary audience is other labor educators, who tend to come from
>> political science and sociology, not education. But my secondary and
>> perhaps more important audience is teacher trainers, who are being required
>> to feed their students into the grinder of standardized testing, private
>> charter schools an, in higher ed, student learning outcomes and who need to
>> know that there is a theoretical framework out there that provides and
>> alternative. The third audience would be any young kid who is trying to
>> work at a bad job, while going to school and accumulate debt, who wonders
>> if they are wasting their time and not learning anything.
>> 
>> It's not an academic book and is short on references and footnotes,
>> although I leave trail markers about how to get to richer stuff if the
>> reader is interested. I try to explain what Vygotsky gave us in a couple of
>> short pages. It's written at a level to be "readable," and it seems to have
>> enough stories in it to pull the reader along.
>> 
>> If someone wants a free copy, perhaps to review (if  you like it; not
>> everyone will), I'll get my publisher to send you one.
>> 
>> Thanks -- Helena
>> 
>> 
>> Helena Worthen
>> helenaworthen@gmail.com
>> hworthen@illinois.edu
>> 21 San Mateo Road
>> Berkeley, CA 94707
>> 510-828-2745
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> David R. Russell, Professor
> English Department
> Iowa State University
> Ames, IA 50011 USA
> (515) 294-4724
> Fax (515) 294-6814
> drrussel@iastate.edu
> http://www.public.iastate.edu/~drrussel/drresume.html