Re: [xmca] Re: AERA Kudos

Ditto to all that Ana and others have said about the sessions!

Other sessions I greatly appreciated were a few sponsored by the Arts and
Education and the Out of School Time SIGS. Both have enough overlap with the
C-H Research SIG to think of coming up with some jointly sponsored sessions
next year and having appeal to a wider audience.

I was discussant for one of our SIG sessions, Exploring Learning
Communities..., at which 3 presentations had to do with on line instruction
and all 4 presentations had Engestrom's triangle as a key player. I was
impressed with the quality of all the presentations‹and the discussion, in
part because I was able to spark a dialogue as a non-triangle person.

Something I became aware of during those few days in the (very) Windy City
is the absence of familiarity with philosophy of science and language among
AERA-ers, and how, in my opinion, this limits the kind of conversation you
can have. It seems to me that addressing/exploring the learning and/or
teaching of language/speaking/literacy/etc., has to include how one is
understanding/conceptualizing language/speaking/literacy, etc., and be
somewhat familiar with this literature. Given Wittgenstein's relevance‹and
uniqueness as a philosopher‹I wish his later works were required study for
educators and educational researchers.

If anyone here is interested I'd jump at the chance to do some playing with
Philosophical Investigations.

Lois

> From: Ana Marjanovic-Shane <ana@zmajcenter.org>
> Reply-To: "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
> Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2007 13:06:35 -0400
> To: "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
> Subject: Re: [xmca] Re: AERA Kudos
>
> Cathrene, Mike, Jay, Elina, Galina and all,
> I had a long phone conversation with Elina yesterday about the session
> on the Qualitative Methods and Quality in Education and CHAT -- the one
> Jay described below. I was so sorry not to be present in person. The
> papers I received earlier are very stimulating and thought provoking,
> even on the level of skimming.
> Jay's remark about "bridging the phenomenology of direct first-person
> experiencing with the semiotic (3rd person) analysis" is an interesting
> way of conceptualizing and seeing the relationship between the emotional
> and the cognitive aspects of interaction with the world, if I am
> understanding the mentioned relationship correctly. We also have, to add
> to this, work by people like Matusov who are trying to understand the
> dialogic nature of development in which the second person (thou, du,
> tois, ti -- singular "you" in English, German, French and
> Russian/Serbian) seems to play an important role in discovering
> relationships and processes and units of analysis.
>
> The CHAT "Mini course" had much fewer students than in the previous
> years, and we don't know why that happened exactly. But it was as
> stimulating as ever, for those who attended it.
>
> Another excellent CHAT session I attended was the one on the Role of
> Pretend and Improvisation in the development of children and adults with
> Artin Goncu, Anthony Perone, Carrie Lobman and Keith Sawyer. One of the
> very interesting issues that was discussed in their papers and later in
> Vera John Steiner's remarks was the issue of the dynamic relationship
> between the "scripted" (the known, the stable or the given) aspect of
> situations and the "emergent" (the new, the improvisational, the
> unexpected, etc). In its own way, this also connects to the issue of
> individual and group identity over shorter or longer time-scales and
> over the first, second, third person experiencing.
>
> I also have to mention the more than excellent Business meeting panel
> and Eugen Matusov's presentation that was so well coordinated with the
> panel. The main topic, if I can borrow Matusov's words was really how to
> take back the real meaning and action from the hijacked concept of "No
> Child Left Behind". Ellice Forman, Leslie Herrenkohl, Kris Gutierrez
> together with Eugene Matusov, raised very important issues and showed
> optimistic possibilities, if only glimpses, on the way out of the
> dead-end quandary in which American education seems to be stuck.
>
> Talking about kudos, we need to give it, first and foremost, to
> Jennifer Vadeboncoeur and Keith Sawyer for their incredible work on
> organizing the program for this conference. And of course, to all the
> participants who worked on their papers and presentations and made the
> program so exciting.
>
> Ana
>
>
>
> Jay Lemke wrote:
>>
>> Mike and all,
>>
>> I also thought that the two CHAT SIG sessions I participated in were
>> very stimulating and well organized ... thanks to Ana and to Elina!
>>
>> In both there was discussion of the role of affect and
>> personal-interpersonal dimensions of learning, and of research. I am
>> particularly interested these days in bridging the phenomenology of
>> direct or first-person experiencing with the semiotic (3rd person)
>> analysis of how we engage with learning environments (which means
>> really ALL environments!) across different timescales.
>>
>> There was also interesting discussion of the use of various
>> qualitative research methods within a CHAT framework, and of CHAT
>> itself as paradigm (including values), conceptual framework, specific
>> theory, and research methodology. It seemed clear that various
>> researchers adopt CHAT at different levels, from a life commitment to
>> a technique of identifying useful units of analysis, and that working
>> with it at one of these levels does not necessarily imply the others.
>>
>> In the Friday session we had a particularly fascinating and personal
>> account by Galina Zukerman of a 10-year longitudinal study that made
>> connections between the democratic vs. elitist effects of education
>> and the structure of classroom organization and student initiatives.
>> And many other very good papers for which I was happy to be the
>> discussant ... though there was far too much to do justice to in my
>> short time for comments. A very active discussion followed, well past
>> the end of the session time.
>>
>> If I get some time, maybe not for a while yet, I will try to post some
>> more notes.
>>
>> And the Damasio and other MB&E articles do look interesting in this
>> connection, too.
>>
>> JAY.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> At 08:33 AM 4/15/2007, you wrote:
>>> I read the article by Damasio and colleague that Gordon recommended, and
>>> found it tremendously relevant to a study I'm currently working on with
>>> doctoral student Elizabeth Daigle. It's a protocol analysis of a high
>>> school
>>> senior who's writing an interpretive paper on Shakespeare's Much Ado
>>> about
>>> Nothing. What's so interesting is that she (the student) really
>>> struggles to
>>> interpret the play, but has an emotional disposition that she can
>>> produce an
>>> acceptable paper, and a set of writing strategies that, coupled with her
>>> positive affect toward school, enables her to produce one. The MBE
>>> paper has
>>> been very helpful to us in establishing what's often missing from
>>> discussions about learning strategies, which is a student's emotional
>>> orientation toward the general prospect of succeeding in a school task.
>>>
>>> Peter
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu
>>> [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On
>>> Behalf Of Mike Cole
>>> Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2007 9:14 PM
>>> To: Cathrene Connery
>>> Cc: Culture Activity eXtended Mind
>>> Subject: [xmca] Re: AERA Kudos
>>>
>>> Sounds great, Cathrene.
>>>> From all those who made it to AERA, what new ideas and inspirations did
>>>> you
>>> get that we might want to discuss?
>>> I just downloaded the entire issue of Mind, Brain, & Education that
>>> Gordon
>>> tipped us to. This movement is really interesting in many ways. Has
>>> anyone
>>> read any of the articles yet?
>>>
>>> mike
>>>
>>> On 4/14/07, Cathrene Connery <ConneryC@cwu.edu> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Dear Colleagues:
>>>> Much thanks to Ana and all the panelists and presenters at AERA. Both
>>>> the CHAT symposium, presentations, and business meeting were
>>>> outstanding venues to explore new ideas, receive support from esteemed
>>>> mentors, and validate our common efforts. The nurturing that was
>>>> exhibited toward myself and other novice researchers was especially
>>> appreciated.
>>>>
>>>> I once read Luria commented that Vygotsky was not only a genius, but
>>>> one of the most positive, interpersonal individuals he had ever met.
>>>> How refreshing that his legacy continues today. My experience has been
>>>> that such support and dialogue is devoid from the vast majority of
>>>> academic circles. Thanks again to all who shared their talent,
>>>> expertise, and commitment to each other and the field as a whole.
>>>> Cathrene
>>>>
>>>> M. Cathrene Connery, Ph.D.
>>>> Assistant Professor of Bilingual & TESL Education Co-coordinator,
>>>> Bilingual / TESL Program Central Washington University
>>>>
>>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
>> Jay Lemke
>> Professor
>> University of Michigan
>> School of Education
>> 610 East University
>> Ann Arbor, MI 48109
>>
>> Tel. 734-763-9276
>> Email. JayLemke@UMich.edu
>> Website. <http://www.umich.edu/~jaylemke%A0>www.umich.edu/~jaylemke
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
>
> --
> //
>
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> /Ana Marjanovic-Shane, Ph.D./
> /151 W. Tulpehocken St./
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> /ana@zmajcenter.org <mailto:ana@zmajcenter.org>/
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Received on Tue Apr 17 17:54 PDT 2007