I was a member of this list from about 1993 to about 1996 near the
beginning of my doctoral journey at which time I received mentoring from
you all in a critical period of my own professional development. I am
looking forward to
rejoining the discussion and hearing where you all have evolved to in my
absence.
In my professional life, I have re-emerged as a classroom ecologist. I
consult to school systems - primarily on literacy for at risk students -
at all
grade levels. I enter systems in various ways: as a consult to one
child, as
the "objective" diagnostician in legal disputes, as a consult to a
program,
or as a program evaluator. My interests are in helping teachers become
more
learner-centered in their practices toward all children in their care
and in bringing the needs of these teachers to the attention of
administration
to enable changes to occur.
I was initially captivated by the work of Vygotsky, Rogoff, Cole, Moll,
Brice-Heath, Gallimore & Tharp, etc. - hence the interest in this list.
I have come out at the other end of grad school able to bring this body
of
literature back to my roots in dyslexia research: reading and strategy
instruction. My hope is bring the best of current research to the
knowledge base of the
general classroom teacher so that their teaching can become more
critical and
their voice can become more confident in their decisions. Given the
standards
movement, I feel provoked to constantly explain that reverting to one
curriculum for all is
not the way to go. In that regard, McRel presented a wonderful model at
their
conference in November which clearly shows what holds firm (effective
student learning) and what is allowed to and actually must vary in order
for
optimum student learning to occur (supervision, curriculum, assessment,
instruction). I have already used it in workshops, and it made for
interesting comments
and discussion.
Regards,
Ilda