[Xmca-l] Re: Interpreting videos

["White, Phillip" <Phillip.White@ucdenver.edu>]

i agree, David, that the change evident in the video is a result of not just multiple individuals, but also change over time - and we don't know what the time frame has been thus far.  there appears to be a connection between the present activities of practice, and the construction of a new facility.  but perhaps the change began before the construction - perhaps even in anticipation of it.  

and how are the other academies doing?

i don't believe that what was _done_ at Lincoln can be transported - but certainly the questions regarding problems of practice as well as theoretical/conceptual frameworks can be taken up in other locations.

phillip

From: xmca-l-bounces+phillip.white=ucdenver.edu@mailman.ucsd.edu [xmca-l-bounces+phillip.white=ucdenver.edu@mailman.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of David H Kirshner [dkirsh@lsu.edu]
Sent: Sunday, September 15, 2013 10:23 PM
To: lchcmike@gmail.com; eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Interpreting videos

Mike,
There's not much context given, but one assumes this change in the culture at Lincoln High is a result of a concerted effort by one or more individuals.
The changes seem to include some pretty dramatic reorientations in identity structure of some students.
These changes seem to have to do with a social analysis of some sort, reminiscent of Freire's work.
The kids who have changed have come to see themselves as authors of change.
The question I'd like to take up concerns scale-up. Can whatever was done at Lincoln be transported to other locations?
If one puts on blinders (which sociohistorical theory warns us against), it seems possible to think in terms of the demographic at Lincoln, perhaps the management structure at Lincoln, and other internal factors. Perhaps the prospects for replication are good if change agents of similar perspective and talent are available.
However, taking off the blinders, the success at Lincoln probably has a lot to do with the fact that the school is a singleton. I'm thinking not just of the energy and enthusiasm this produces for the initiators of change, but to the possibility that students' identity projects also have been marshaled by the uniqueness of the situation. In this respect, the conditions that are required for replication may never again exist.
It seems to me, the only way in which this process of transformation can scale up is if it becomes part of a broad social movement (in the spirit of the U.S. Civil Rights era of the 1960). Approached at the level of the individual school this is likely to sputter and fade.
David