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

[Larry Purss]

Annalisa, thanks for the article.

I wanted to focus on the word "intimacy" as a criteria of Winn's project or
"work" by drawing attention to Richard Palmer's manifesto for literacy
theory which he pursues in his book Hermeneutics.  [see page 277].

Richard is making a distinction between literature as "object" and literacy
as "works". In Buber's familiar I-Thou terminology, the difference between
literacy as I-It [object] and I-Thou [work]. .
Richard states:
The work when conceived as an object  [instead of a work] becomes simply an
entity ABOUT which knowledge is acquired through spatializing ideation,
dissection, and analysis. Such an approach represents the transposition
into criticism of a technological approach.
Larry


On Sun, Mar 29, 2015 at 2:58 PM, Larry Purss <lpscholar2@gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
>>
>
>