Hello,
 
 
I hear Je Kan playfully wondering about

*	
	the line that practitioners walk between ethical practice both as to what the practitioner and institution deems
	as ethical

*	
	the inclusional answer to aggressive invasive seeds

I found the garden metaphor a little confusing. Isn't action research a sustained inquiry into agency. To me, the word agency means, the difference my presence makes in the lives of my students and to our shared experiences in the institution. The institution comes to life through us, policy makers, parents, students and practitioners. I cannot place myself outside it and be a responsible agent within it. Being an ethical agent within the institution means enacting purposes, as well as, problematizing and reshaping hurtful practices. Fundamentally, this entails an appeal to moral and ethical reasons for educational policy and action.

What happens when competing visions emerge, as Je Kan reminded me? I believe that the answer lies in creating time and space for a moral and ethical conversation that would allow people to talk about the practical consequences of these visions and ask what kind of lifeworld are we creating for each other here.

Sarah's words are inviting me to rethink agency

*	
	As a photographer I choose the subject and the framing of the subject and when I talk about the loving eye of the camera I am describing how I (try to) bring an empathetic focus that communicates the essence of what I see. 

I have been using narrative inquiry to understand my agency in the classroom and to construct a better understanding of what the students are doing. How does narrative help me focus on the experiences of my students? This is the question I hear Sarah ask me.

Greetings from Winnipeg,

Matthias



________________________________

From: BERA Practitioner-Researcher on behalf of Sarah Fletcher
Sent: Tue 10/10/2006 4:15 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: What are living standards of judgement?



Dear Je Kan/All,

Thank you! You have hit on something that really
fascinates me!  It's the notion of metaphor as a
standard of judgement - and I so like the image of the
rose as a weed being its rose-like self & to the best
of its ability but in the wrong location and
inadvertently courting destruction.

As a photographer I choose the subject and the framing
of the subject and when I talk about the loving eye of
the camera I am describing how I (try to) bring an
empathetic focus that communicates the essence of what
I see.  How does this relate to educational research
mentoring and living educational stanards of
judgement?  Well - if for example I work with a
teacher who sees mentoring as 'equal connectedness'
then I will do what I can as I video to embody that
metaphor on film.  If they perceived mentoring as
'benevolent hierarchy' I would employ the lens
differently.  That's not to say one form of metaphor
or mentoring is superior but different. Both can be
appropriate in different locations.

Sometimes a mentor has to be directive (rather like Je
Kan may decide what is to be weeded out) and sometimes
working alongside). A good gardener retains strong
plants and doesn't feel threatened by strength.
Balancing colour and vigour and form s/he may nurture
'weeds' that a less expereienced gardener burns.  The
art of gardening is 'balancing'.
A good mentor isn't threatened by a strong mentee but
is empowered.

Similarly in assisting teachers to depict their
growing undestandings of research mentoring...  When I
looked at Donna's image of the gargoyle
http://www.cfkeep.org/html/snapshot.php?id=51952540922866
I saw a metaphor for being scared and yet excited (is
that what you see too?)
Donna's chosen image offered me the chance to draw out
more insight into how she was feeling as a new
research mentor studying for an MA.

Thinking about questions posed by Matthias for uus on
the list today:

"how are students invited into the action research
process and how do they begin to problematize human
relationships in the classroom or at school with a
view to transforming them?"

I use metaphor for assisting new teacher researchers
to communicate how they 'see' themselves as teachers
and there may be potential for helping them identify
new possible selves that they'd wish to embody using
photographic or computer generated image.  What do you
thnk?

Warm regards,

Sarah



Sarah Fletcher
http://www.TeacherResearch.net <http://www.teacherresearch.net/>