And what can be unproductive in a practical sense is collaborative
research within the framework of mandates set, only to have policy
changed at national level, and thus the changes that were implemented
during the research made redundant. That happened in Thailand recently
with a schools-based curriculum policy that resulted in a lot of
'useful' situated collaborative action research taking place, only to
have a new policy a year later centering curriculum development back at
the national level. Not that any miracles happened at the schools end,
but that aint what C.A.R is about, I guess.
Phil
On Nov 19, 2003, at 3:14 AM, Peter Smagorinsky wrote:
> Philip makes an important point. Even researchers who work
> productively with teachers often bypass the mandates of administrators
> and policymakers who expect miracles immediately. This is surely a
> shortcoming of some of my own work. Thanks for helping to expand the
> lens to situate teaching in its policy context. Peter
> At 12:35 PM 11/18/2003 -0700, you wrote:
>> Steve wrote:
>>
>> Here is a penny's worth. Your comments made me want to go back to
>> Lee's
>> article to confirm just who her research work is really for. As you
>> point
>> out, she does not begin with the perspective of being a teacher. In
>> my
>> opinion, she begins from the point of view of students, and in
>> particular,
>> students living in poverty and students of color. Below are some
>> quotes
>> from Lee on this. I like her focus both on students and the question
>> of
>> resources. At the same time, your stress on the importance of closely
>> involving teachers in research and implementation is very important,
>> and I
>> heartily agree.
>>
>>
>> and Peter wrote:
>>
>> ust a word on whom Carol's piece is for....perhaps it's true that
>> this specific piece is written not-for-teachers. I've known Carol
>> since the 80s when we were grad students at the U. of Chicago in the
>> same program. She has an immense dedication to the teaching of young
>> people of color, particularly African American youth. As part of this
>> project, she often presents to audiences of teachers. I suspect that
>> her position at Northwestern requires her to position her writing in
>> research journals. But on the whole, she shares her work for an
>> appropriate variety of audiences, whether this individual article
>> reaches everyone or not.
>>
>> Steve and Peter, thanks for your insights. and thanks too
>> for the introductory statements you had given, Peter. these
>> comments helped me more tightly focus on my concerns - as an
>> elementary school teacher (precisely in those kinds of schools,
>> Peter, that you described Lee as working in - i've seen far too many
>> teachers' automobiles stolen from school parking lots, much less the
>> random thefts from there classrooms, etc.) i can easily envision a
>> principal arriving at school with a copy of Lee's article, and
>> announcing that we teachers need to become more culturally responsive
>> to our students. End of conversation. What the article doesn't tell
>> me as a teacher, which i would like to know since in the final
>> analysis i'm the one who has to put this all into place, is about
>> necessary planning time, resources, methods, assessments, etc. etc.
>> - i read Lee's article and i've not a clue about how much time and
>> effort and planning and resources went in to get the algebra program
>> up and running, or the literature program. these are enormous
>> undertakings, and for any teaching dodging the fireballs of no child
>> left behind, another example of top down hierarchical directives.
>>
>> the history of teacher practitioners and university researchers
>> is not one of comfort and ease - the teachers are usually depicted
>> as the problem that needs to be corrected.
>>
>> it's an irreducible tension that i work with as a teacher
>> within the university - and your comments and perspectives have
>> helped me negotiate those tensions.
>>
>> thanks,
>>
>> phillip
>>
>> school of education
>> university of colorado at denver
>
>
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Dec 01 2003 - 01:00:12 PST