Too obvious? Humble wisdom?
This article is from The Chronicle of Higher Education
(http://chronicle.com)
Just Talking: How Ordinary Conversation Helps Make Better
Teachers
By DANA SOBYRA
Talking Shop: Authentic Conversation and Teacher Learning
(Teachers College Press, 2001), edited by Christopher M.
Clark. $22.95.
Teachers have much to learn from simply talking with one
another. This collection of essays argues that ordinary
conversation among educators is a powerful resource not only
for faculty members just beginning their classroom careers,
but also for veteran instructors eager to share their
expertise.
The book tells how groups of teachers from the United States,
Canada, and Israel, at all levels of education, exchanged
ideas, whether in person or via computer, about their
profession. The educators were assembled by the book's
eventual editor, Christopher Clark, a professor of education
at the University of Delaware, who found individuals
interested in "connecting" with their peers through the use of
what he called "teacher conversation groups." As Jean
Clandinin, a professor of education at the University of
Alberta, explains in the foreword, "the groups met in the
context of courses, of shared interest in subject matter, and
of shared work," for periods of one to several years. The
book's essays, she says, reflect "the range of possibilities
for teacher conversation groups -- from groups of beginning
teachers to mentor teachers to women science teachers."
The groups were "extremely diverse," she says, but they shared
key characteristics. For example, after close examination of
the teachers' dialogues, Mr. Clark was able to identify the
qualities of conversations that the participants found
satisfying. First of all, he writes, "good conversations
demand good content -- something worth talking about:
something that every participant can get intense about." Of
course, there is a "paradoxical feature" built into the
process of generating meaningful conversation: Talk can
filter toward subjects and themes not intended to be a part of
the original discussion. Mr. Clark suggests that conversation
be allowed to drift as it will, to touch upon "personal
stories, reports of adversity endured , and tales of heroic
teaching." The point is that no matter what level teachers
find themselves working at, the content of any effective
conversation among them should provide for personal
connections. What's more, of course, good conversation is
voluntary. "For a conversation to have a chance of getting
good, the participants must want to be there, must want to
cooperate."
An atmosphere of safety, trust, and care is crucial, he
writes. Conversation "invites us to become vulnerable by
telling our personal-experience stories, taking a position, or
expressing opinions, uncertainties, and regrets." Egos are on
the line, "out from behind the mask of everyday talk," and
"participants need to know that exposing their vulnerabilities
will not bring judgement, punishment, or rejection."
"Our collective experiences put the lie to the cynical view
that when teachers have the freedom to talk together, they
waste that time on superficial, petty, trivial matters," says
Mr. Clark. On the contrary, he believes, "the common ground
that unites teachers across the spectrum from preschool
through high school to graduate school are the mysteries of
learning, teaching, and life in all its complex
relationships."
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Copyright 2002 by The Chronicle of Higher Education
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