[Xmca-l] How much fun are we having . . .

[Anthony Barra]

Recently, a small spat has spun into an interesting larger discussion, and
mostly productive at that.

The whole spat, however, began with a misunderstanding.  When sharing the
"Why generations?" video, Andy was alluding, lightly and positively, to a
previous video where he himself was "put on the spot" (ironically enough in
a post titled "Let's have some fun!
<https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://culturalpraxis.net/wordpress1/2020/11/09/an-audience-participation-question-lets-have-some-fun/__;!!Mih3wA!T43ZvPV-bP_hJ_7jwudj1LjgsrqO8umkMgxxV9l0-NRN9Ldn3GSgisSsJJXWQaTroRXAcg$ >").
In my family, from childhood onward, 'on the spot' always had a positive,
even playful connotation. (Maybe it's an italian-american thing?)

Sadly, the initial offer of fun, three weeks ago, was hardly taken up, save
for a brief, interesting response from Huw Lloyd.  But the party shouldn't
end, and the open-ended question remains:

> *How would YOU explain Vygotsky's theory for a general audience -- e.g.,
> parents, teachers, coaches, relatives -- without sacrificing too much
> accuracy?*


Andy gave it a nice go, without advanced warning (i.e., 'on the spot').  I
think it's a pretty hard question, and maybe a poorly asked one -- but what
if many of us weighed in and gave it a shot?  It'd probably be less hard
then, and certainly interesting (and likely beneficial to anyone looking to
share Vygotsky's work in various settings beyond academe) ---> "the pool of
collective knowledge is big," perhaps even *oceanic*.

No one wants my advice, but this would be it: assume you have something
worth saying and also that it might not come out as well as you'd like AND
that people will want to hear it anyway, and even more importantly, that
the momentum of having many voices contribute will be worth as much
(probably more) than any individual contribution (i.e., literally no
pressure).

Give it a shot here, maybe even in video-form if you'd like: "An Audience
Participation Question . . . Let's Have Some Fun!"
<https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://culturalpraxis.net/wordpress1/2020/11/09/an-audience-participation-question-lets-have-some-fun/__;!!Mih3wA!T43ZvPV-bP_hJ_7jwudj1LjgsrqO8umkMgxxV9l0-NRN9Ldn3GSgisSsJJXWQaTroRXAcg$ >
<<But please avert your eyes at the 1:47-1:48 mark>> (I kid, I kid!)

There are other good videos over at CulturalPraxis -- and hopefully, the
uptick in xmca engagement will spill over to there as well (the more the
merrier).

As Natalia Gajdamaschko has suggested, "development comes out of resolving
some sort of contradiction..some type of crisis -- a good crisis
<https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://culturalpraxis.net/wordpress1/2020/10/05/video-series-join-the-discussion-dr-natalia-gajdamaschko-crisis-in-the-classroom/__;!!Mih3wA!T43ZvPV-bP_hJ_7jwudj1LjgsrqO8umkMgxxV9l0-NRN9Ldn3GSgisSsJJXWQaQl-3J_Og$ >
."

Enjoy,

Anthony
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