Hi Jack
Thank you and your co-researchers for making a contribution to "my own learning" about, "living educational theory", about developing a "culture of inquiry", and about "the values we believe carry hope for the future of humanity". I was particularly "energised" by this piece you wrote in a paper:
" I see the recognition of the significance of expressing and sustaining a pooling of life-affirming energy within a culture of inquiry, together with the commitment to sustain this pooling of energy within this cooperative inquiry, as perhaps our most important contribution to educational knowledge and to our living legacy. My interest in understanding sociohistorical and sociocultural influences and integrating implications of these understandings in what one is doing to improve practice extends into influencing social formations outside the classroom." (page 19, "Action research transcends constraints of poverty ..... ").
This seems important for me in a hectic week of key "moments", where I (living and teaching in Durban, South Africa) have witnessed through the power of TV : the London funeral service of Margaret Thatcher (and the reflections on, Thatcherism, the connections to Reagonomics, to neoliberal ideology and their connections to recent crises in global financial markets and with banking practices and government/taxpayer bailouts of collapsing banks; followed by the Boston Marathon bombings, the service in the Boston Cathedral, the story of the two bombers, one a 19 year old student. There was also in these moments a strong connection made to matters of religion, the diversity and similarities of our spiritual beliefs. I learned more about Religion/Faith, about God,about Death, about Harm, about Evil, about Good, about Courage, about Humanity.
Are there not lessons to be learned here about what we do in our classrooms in our schools and in our universities - the "culture of inquiry"? For example, is the Science of Economics, the curriculum, just about abstract theoretical laws, unrealistic assumptions and mathmatical models? Is there a space, a place for a "living curriculum", Economics as if people matters? Why does a 19 year old student plant a bomb? What are the influences?
Indeed, how can we influence social formations outside the classroom?
Lawrence
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From: Practitioner-Researcher [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Jack Whitehead [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 16 April 2013 03:22 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Researching Our Own Practice
Here are some details of practitioner-researcher contributions to AERA in San Francisco on the 28 and 29 April 2013 and to the Inaugural Conference of the Action Research Network of the Americas in San Francisco on the 2 May 2013. I've put the details in the What's New section of http://www.actionresearch.net . If you have accounts to share from researching your own practice do please send the urls to me and I'll add them to the resources on actionresearch.net. I've still time to modify the Workshop presentation below so if you have suggestions on how to strengthen this resource do please let me know:
Workshop at the inaugural conference of the Action Research Network of the Americas on 2nd May 2013 in San Francisco on 'What could the Action Research Network of the Americas contribute to and learn from the learning of others?' at:
http://www.actionresearch.net/writings/aera13/jwarnawork2013.pdf
An international Round Table discussion on Creativity And Criticism In The Growth Of Educational Knowledge From Researching One’s Own Practice. at the inaugural conference of the Action Research Network of the Americas on 2nd May 2013 in San Francisco at:
http://www.actionresearch.net/writings/aera13/arnaRTprop2013.pdf
Jacqueline Delong, Elizabeth Campbell & Jack Whitehead, with Cathy Griffin on 'How are we creating cultures of inquiry with self-studies that transcend constraints of poverty on empathetic learning? at the American Educational Research Association Conference in San Francisco on the 28th April 2013 at:
http://www.actionresearch.net/writings/aera13/jdlcjwaera13cgopt.pdf
Elizabeth Campbell, Jacqueline Delong & Cathy Griffin, with Jack Whitehead on 'Action research transcends constraints of poverty in elementary, high school and post-graduate settings' at the American Educational Research Association Conference in San Francisco on the 29th April 2013 at:
http://www.actionresearch.net/writings/aera13/lcjdcgaera13jwopt.pdf
Love Jack.
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