Dear Alon,
You say
>I shall never indulge you or worse, let you indulge yourself. I shall follow
everything you write or say with fine comb, shake you very hard, give you very
hard time and continuously demand explanations and clarifications. Just as I
expect you to do with me, even more harshly.<
Alon, I sincerely hope that in doing the above, you will still find some time
left for pleasure in your life!
Dear All,
I would really have liked to share with you my processes of discovery of my
values, of my practice, and of the pleasure I get from being in roles of
learning support tutor, staff developer, and chair of a Trust..
However, I feel this is no longer a safe place to share and appreciate. Being a
visual person, when I read some of the emails, I can't stop imagining non-verbal
expressions on the writer's faces. And I don't like what I visualise.
I really hope the list can go back to instilling a sense of security and
respect, which at the moment I feel isn't happening.
With best regards,
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Margarida Dolan PhD Phone: 0044(0)1225 383241
Learning Support Tutor and Staff Developer Fax: 0044(0)1225 386709
Learning Support Service
University of Bath
Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The views and comments expressed in this email are confidential to the
recipients and should not be passed on to others without permission. This
email message does not necessarily express the views of the University of Bath
and should be considered personal unless there is a specific statement to the
contrary.
Quoting alon serper <[log in to unmask]>:
> Just checking if Jack is still alive.
>
> In respect to you, Jack, I shall never indulge you or worse, let you indulge
> yourself. I shall follow everything you write or say with fine comb, shake
> you very hard, give you very hard time and continuously demand explanations
> and clarifications. Just as I expect you to do with me, even more harshly.
>
> Then, I shall draw on it in my own work.
>
> I think that if this is the case and Jack is still alive and contributing,
> then it is our duty to constantly remind him that he has made some good
> criticism and points that are appealing and intriguing and could and should
> be pushed forward and develop them and himself. A person should never be
> permitted to stand still. He/she should be encouraged to push
> himself/herself forward.
>
> I see dismayed as wondering and perplexed, re my last entry.
> Alon
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Yaqub Paul Murray" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2005 2:13 PM
> Subject: Additions to our archive of explanations of educational influences
> in learning
>
>
> > Additions to our archive of explanations of educational influences in
> > learning
> >
> > "What I'm hoping is that practitioner-researchers find some of my ideas
> > about the nature of educational theory helpful as they construct their
> > own,
> > just as I draw on the ideas of others." - Jack
> >
> > I do find Jack's ideas helpful, and he certainly does draw on my ideas.
> >
> > Here is a 'rough guide' take on my experience of working with(-in) the
> > influence of Jack's ideas.
> >
> > Jack has always encouraged me to frist and foremost challenge my own
> > ideas. My tendency is to challenge the ideas of others in a traditional
> > academic sense. I have listened to Jack's counsel because of the
> > authenticity of his own practice with me.
> >
> > Do read this amazing evidence, which I corroborate, written by Jack, that
> > points to his extensive and intensive willingness to bring his body into
> > spaces of challenge and to take the challenge of others, seriously,
> >
> > "Closing this chapter on what counts as evidence ion the self-study of
> > teacher education practices brought to mind a quotation from A.N.Whitehead
> > about imagination, as well as the most challenging question I have been
> > asked as an s-step researcher, by Paul Murray, a former doctoral student
> > and a mixed race educator:
> >
> > Where is the evidence of the critical engagement with the ideas of
> > critical
> > race theorists, critical non-racial theorists and post-colonial theorists
> > in
> > the formation of the identities and practices of individuals you are
> > working
> > with? Where is the evidence of your influence in respect of alerting them
> > to
> > enhancing the quality of their work by making themselves familiar with
> > these
> > epistemologies? (Why should you/they when they can get their PhD's/do
> > their
> > AR writing without making reference to their critical knowledge? (Murray,
> > 2003, 3-mail)
> >
> > Having doctoral students who ask their supervisors such questions does not
> > make for an unreflective life. Yet taking such questions seriously offers
> > the possibility that the s-step researcher will be able to look back on a
> > life of inquiry (Marshall, 1999) that has focused on living values of
> > humanity more fully."
> >
> > (page 897, Evidence in Self-Studies of Teacher Education Practices, in
> > Loughran J, Hamilton, M.L., LeBoskey, V.K, and Russell, T. (eds.),
> > International Handbook of Self-Study of Teaching and Teacher Education
> > Practices, 2004, Dordrecht: Kluwer).
> >
> > As a supervisor and research mentor Jack has been impeccable in providing
> > a tweak to my consciousness concerning how I hold my self accountable for
> > my live/living thesis from within the logics of my own live and living
> > thesis.
> >
> > It seems to me he has done this by way of example. In this process Jack
> > has supported the legitimacy of my own way of seeing as a live/living
> > theory scholar while enabling me to become - gradually!- less defensive
> > and more (psychologically) honest about the glitches in my thinking, the
> > contradictions in my claims to practice, and the sometimes tawdry nature
> > of my scarifying. This is Jack's brilliance in his challenging encounter
> > with me.
> >
> > Because of this encounter I now consciously aim to respond to the
> > challenges from my own students with that combo of grace and intellectual
> > rigour that Jack has shown me in the 'encounter of challenge', and which
> > can be aesthetically appreciated through Gabriel Marcel's (1935) beautiful
> > way of describing the sort of human availability that was needed to
> > achieve the right mode of encounter as,
> >
> > "a mutual availability for what the future holds in store"
> >
> > (p 49, in Emmy Van Deurzen, 1998, Paradox and Passion in Psychotherapy,
> > Wiley)
> >
> > In terms of adding to our archive of explanations et al. What I recognise
> > as Jack's impeccable quality as a doctoral-educator from the grounds of my
> > experience is his persistent invitation to examine whether the unity of
> > imagination I sometimes express in my writing has correspondence with my
> > experiences in reality. I've been influenced by Jack to internalise this
> > standard of judgement, not uncritically and entirely willingly I might
> > add,
> > and it has really helped me to take more careful responsibility for the
> > critical and ethical faculties of authenticity of my research stories. To
> > make a shift from rhetoric and polemic, towards placing my insights in the
> > ground of edcuational practicalities.
> >
> > In developing the art of postcolonial scholarship from a theoretical
> > backdrop of critical theory (and related critical perspectives) I have
> > developed a very 'critical eye' in respect of the authority of
> > scholarship.
> > Jack has encouraged me to find my own theoretical construction for my
> > living and live thesis, without doctrinal cramp, or the caprice of a
> > supervisor's hubris. I have that delight of knowing that I've been
> > influenced by Jack's educational practice to hold dear to my own practice
> > the educational virtue communicated with sublime clarity and elegance in
> > the following excerpt,
> >
> > "In seeing education as an art, I accept a responsibility for helping
> > others to give a form to their own lives. Accounts of our own lives as
> > educators do seem to be intimately related to the lives of those we teach.
> > I mean this in the sense that in accounts of our educative relations we
> > should surely expect our students to speak on their behalf. I believe my
> > students do." (page 9, Jack Whitehead, The Growth of Educational
> > Knowledge: Creating Your Own Living Educational Theories, 1993, Hyde)
> >
> > I do!
> >
> > Yaqub
>
> --
> I am using the free version of SPAMfighter for private users.
> It has removed 1 spam emails to date.
> Paying users do not have this message in their emails.
> Try www.SPAMfighter.com for free now!
>
|