phillip writes
>However, it is clear to mean that individual agency is strongly shaping
>the socio-cultural activity here - and some of the historical sources
>are clearer than others - but each individual is clearly shaping and
>attempting to control the direction of the group activity, even though i
>the great teacher has very specific learning goals.
phillip, wow. what an extraordinary description of the sheer dynamism of
children's passions for the 'big' questions! how excellent.
and, i might add, _good_ for you for not shutting it down, for being able
to flow with the energy and not resist it (energy = chaos, Teacher
Handbook, paragraph 24.6... etc... [insert sarcasm here]),
and as an example of the relations of individual actions in the context of
social activity - well, it's, as they say,
sweet, dude.
when i taught gr 3, a similar exchange took place as we discussed maps and
basic cartography, how to read a map -
and we started talking about water currents, and a girl asked why rivers
move one way, or another (the difference between a river and a lake being
the subject of discussion) and what makes the water move,
and i was pretty much at a loss, a bit off guard,
although i said something about oceans, tides, and gravity and the earth's
rotations, - and another girl asked, then, if the world is spinning how
come we don't fly off into space;
i still recall the powerful resonance of that question with the other
children - their faces changed so brilliantly, suddenly, as if now they
were wholly engaged in discussion,
and i remember saying 'what an excellent question' because i thought it
was, really, and much more interesting than how-to-read-a-map,
so i parlayed the handy example of swinging a bucket of water and i
pantomimed the action and every child in that room stared at my arm,
and could, i was sure, see that imaginary bucket, and the water inside,
and were watching to see what would happen to the water,
... we went on for a while like that, because i was ALWAYS ready to ditch
the mundane for more engaging discussion (which goes a long way to explain
why i ain't a teacher no more eh? ha ha)
BUT,
returning to ideas of individual action and social activity,
the function of agency is, i think, the pivot on which this distinction
tipples, the fulcrum upon which this subtlety teeters...
it is not a hard and fast specification but, as i understand it, an
important recognition of agency and difference,
why we are not automatons, obedient, predictable, why difference matters,
and so on.
to me, your narrative well-exemplifies how individual differences are what
constitute the energies of any activity, and how particular actions are
enacted by particular individuals, - for instance, not every student
pounded their chest and raised their hands,
and so on...
the significance of differentiating individuals and 'social' is, to me,
more about the coupling of the terms - individual action, and social
activity,
referring more to ways of speaking about the dynamics of activity -
it is not a differentiation of action vs activity, or individual vs.
social,
but a description of the difference between personal will,
and social consciousness: neither exclusively nor inclusively,
but distinct in terms of actions - no two carpenters will hammer the same
nail in the same way, with the same rhythms, but they might be building
the same boat -
many thanks phillip.
diane
"The world is too much with us,
late and soon..."
Wordsworth.
*********************************
diane celia hodges
Diane_Hodges@ceo.cudenver.edu
hodgesdiane@hotmail.com
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