Dear Moira,

Further thoughts... using Jack and Jean's criteria that the well being of any
participant in research is more important than anything else I face a dilemma.
I cannot display the snapshot with your influence foregrounded as my tribute to
you, Dean Tian and colleagues or I will deny your wishes and risk hurting.

Ethically I cannot proceed - without your portrayal in my snapshot my account is
skewed, so I think the only way forward is to restrict the snaphot's view.
Effectively I'll suspend the snapshot by disconnecting it at Carnegie source. I
am absolutely delighted you enjoyed seeing my work albeit for a short time.

I won't destroy what has been created but put it in 'cold storage' until such
time as we might find a way forward that satifies us all. Does that seem fair?
In parallel I hope Jack will do the same with the paper that I find offensive.
I think that paper should be removed from AR.net, Jack, though not destroyed.

Love and respect,
Sarah
http://www.TeacherResearch.net



Quoting Sarah Fletcher <[log in to unmask]>:

> Dear Moira
>
> Thank you so much for your detailed and affirnative response to my snapshot.
> Perhaps I need to point out again is that it IS a snapshot from my standpoint
> and that I simply cannot extract you from what I depict. Without you I would
> have had no involvement and your encouraging emails right up to the few days
> before the visit have enabled me to feel engaged with Guyuan's AR activities.
> I
> have no idea what the future holds in terms of any involvement with Guyuan
> and
> so what I've tried to portray is my delight and excitement to this point.
>
> I feel so excited about your comments about the role of photography - somehow
> the 'stills' which I extracted from videos communicate more than the videos
> themselves as they distill (in my opinion) the very 'essence' of experiences.
> This isn't to say that video isn't a highly useful medium in teacher research
> (I am in agreement with Jack and Jean here - in their latest book) but there
> is
> something about stills that speaks even more poignantly, but then I cut my
> teeth so to speak as a stills photographer and I enjoy that medium far more.
> I particularly wanted to move away from I's so that is why I showed you in a
> favourite photo, smiling your heart out, but also in an action research group
> that Jack convenes. This is my tribute principally to 'us' of you in Guyuan.
>
> As you put it I have 'carved my self a role' I haven't been aware of that -
> but
> then my determination to promote quality teacher research internationally
> sometimes takes over and I lose myself in the process!  Perhaps we need other
> snapshots linked to show the stages as they unfold in Guyuan's AR
> development.
> I used all the materials I had to hand that spoke to me - videos of you, the
> Monday group, the brief meeting with Dean Tian and Mr Gao and my feedback on
> the AR reports which I asked you if it would be appropriate to send through.
> I
> promised you a year ago when I took the videos of the Monday Group and of you
> in my office that I would pay tribute - but until now I couldn't see how.
> The
> Carnegie Foundation KEEP toolkit has at last enabled me to do just that.
> I think I need to 'frame' what I have created so I explain why it is as it is
> -
> a brief introduction in the title section that this is my tribute ab initio?
> It isn't an official portrayal. It IS how I visualise the links round Guyuan.
>
> Love,
> Sarah
>
> --
> Sarah Fletcher
> SL Mentoring and Induction, BSUC
> http://www.TeacherResearch.net
> Tel. 01225 875875
>
>
> Quoting Moira Laidlaw <[log in to unmask]>:
>
> > I am responding to Sarah's display at the url she cited. I knew Sarah
> > wanted to express something of her delight in working with Dean Tian and
> > colleagues through email in the last two years and in person with Dean Tian
> > and Gao Qin over the last few weeks. She told me she'd be working on
> > something and it would be a celebration of her contact with our Chinese
> > colleagues. The photographs in particular of my two colleagues, are a joy.
> > I love to see the happy openness of people enjoying their conversations
> > together, when it seems to me the boundaries such as they can be perceived,
> > dissolve in intercultural harmonies. That's what I liked most about the
> > pictures. A sense of us being together as we, rather than lots of I's, if
> > you know what I mean. How relaxed everyone looks. It's so important to see
> > such images, rather than imagining or simply hearing about them. The smiles
> > and facial expressions of my colleagues now adorn my desktop, 5000 miles
> > away from 'home'!
> >
> > Sarah, you are helping me to see the value of photography as a profound
> > expression and explanation of what we are doing in education, why we are
> > doing it, and what it means to be doing it in today's world. I couldn’t
> > have believed only a year ago, that my esteemed colleagues could be coming
> > to England, that we could consolidate our learning in physical proximity. I
> > kept having to pinch myself to recognise the fact they really were there
> > with us.
> >
> > I am thinking as I write, of the further attacks in London yesterday, of a
> > reality which denies those 'values of humanity' we (think I can say that)
> > would all like to be held accountable to. I work with people from mixed
> > religious backgrounds in a developing country. I don't quite know what it
> > means to say that, but I know it means something very profound. I want to
> > keep working with people together, to form 'we', so that we might do
> > something to promote the values which give life, not take it away, the
> > values that love and don't hate, the values that speak to our souls, if you
> > like. That's what I want, and seeing Sarah's pictures bring that world just
> > a little closer for me. The future is a different country: we do things
> > better there. Thank you, Sarah.
> >
> > Now, if you'll forgive me, just a couple of small points. I was wondering
> > about the context for this presentation. The pieces about me don't strike
> > me as being necessary and may actually be unhelpful. I have two reasons for
> > saying that:
> >
> > a) I want the work my colleagues and I have been doing over the past four
> > years of sustained commitment, to have an increasing publicity according to
> > their achievements, rather than any sense of past reliance on an
> > international volunteer. My organisation (VSO) promotes sustainable
> > development. I won't deny the part I've played in the initial impetus and
> > subsequent development of this innovation: why would I? I'm proud of it.
> > However, I'm not sure that the background material about my early
> > impressions, for example, or the bit about Chinese characteristics, which
> > Dean Tian writes about in our AR expeditions article, is now what is needed
> > in terms of building a sense of a home-grown sustainable development. The
> > past is an historical part of the AR Centre's growth of course, but I don't
> > feel comfortable with its inclusion, because we've reached a new stage now.
> > This isn't modesty on my part - I know the value of my work - but for the
> > reasons given above, partly political, partly personal, I'm not at ease
> > with this aspect of the presentation.
> > b) Some of the comments aren't annotated, which I think detracts from the
> > sense of overall context. I'd like to see an explanation (if you think this
> > is appropriate - but the fact I sense something's needed, suggests I may
> > not be the only one) of what part you are playing in the development of
> > this work. I think the role you've carved out for yourself is implied, but
> > I don't feel it may be clear enough for others to follow.
> >
> > Warm regards, and thanks Sarah,
> >
> > Moira xx
> >
> >
> >
> >
>