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Jack: Thank you very much for your response here to my post in the occlusional logic thread. I'll be out of town for a week, with limited access to e-mail. But I'll have much more to share on this when I return on June 27. I hope that these discussions will continue while I'm gone. Regards, David David Loe Kent State UNiversity Kent OH USA On Sat, Jun 20, 2009 at 6:44 AM, Jack Whitehead <[log in to unmask]>wrote: > On 19 Jun 2009, at 21:40, David Loe wrote: > > Hello everyone: > I've been reading the the thread on life-affirming energy, etc., and I > appreciate everyone's contributions. Karen, it's been said here already, but > the metaphor you posted here is wonderful. I'm going to forward it to some > colleagues with whom I worked in a collaborative AR project a few years > back. Nautical metaphors were a big part of the organizing framework for our > writing, and they'll love reading this! > In my dissertation research, I believe I'm beginning to see that this > life-affirming energy is very important to consider in a study of > collabration that points toward an experience of transformative learning (as > defined by J. Mezirow in the adult learning lit). Looking at my data from an > inclusional perspective, and seeing where my participants may have been > engaged in occlusional, rather than exclusional logic, is beginning to lend > clarification. While Mezirow calls the "transformation of meaning > persepctives" the "engine" of adult learning, I have to wonder if the flow > of life-afffirming energy, rooted in love, might play a similar role in > teachers' critical colleague relationships that are functioning in > inclusional "neighborhood". > This is one direction my research appears to be taking .I'd appreciate > anyone's thoughts on this. > David Loe > Kent State University > Kent OH USA > > > Dear David (and all), I'm responding in the thread on explaining our > educational influences in learning because I believe your thoughts on the > flow of life-affirming energy, rooted in love, could be very significant in > the development of explanatory principles and standards of judgment in > transformative learning. > > I think you will enjoy the following extract from Karen Riding's Abstract > at http://www.actionresearch.net/karenridingphd.shtml as > Karen asks, researches and answers her question, 'How do I come to > understand my shared living educational standards of judgement in the life I > lead with others? Creating the space for intergenerational student-led > research.' > > *In this account I explain the shared life that I lead with my husband > Simon transforms itself into a loving energy that emerges in our educational > practice. This loving way of being emerges as the energy that drives me to > transform the social formation of the school to work alongside student > researchers in an intergenerational and sustainable way. > > * > *These living and loving standards of judgment are shared between us, > asking the other to be the best that s/he can be and valuing the > contribution that s/he makes. I live out an inclusional way of being that > extends across the professional and personal domain, asking me to be > responsive to the others with whom I share this life. * > > To share our understandings of flows of life-affirming energy, rooted in > love, as explanatory principles, I wonder if we might need to communicate > our unique expressions of a loving dynamic energy in a way that can be > shared by others. I'm wondering if we could do this by showing what we are > doing in our professional practices and then using the words 'I', 'this' and > 'here' to point to the practices in which we see/experience ourselves > expressing our loving dynamic energy as an explanatory principle in what we > are doing? > > I'm drawn to the significance of 'I', 'this' and 'here' from > Wittgenstein's insight that the words 'I', 'this' and 'here' are not names, > but that names (like loving dynamic energy) are explained with these terms. > In other words I'm wondering if we can develop a shared language for > practitioner-researchers. I'm wondering if the meanings of such a shared > language could emerge from: > > i) showing each other what we are doing, > > ii) explaining to each other our educational influences in learning in the > unique social contexts in which we are working and living? > > One of the reasons I'm so impressed by Chris Jones' dissertation at > http://www.jackwhitehead.com/cjmaok/cjma.htm is because I think that Chris > has shown a way in which this can be done through a visual narrative. I'm > looking forward to sharing the evolution of your own thoughts as your > enquiry continues. > > For anyone in the UK, or internationally, if you can be in Bath on the 10th > July, and wish to focus on some of these issues, there is a day's conference > in the Guildhall in Bath on the 10th July. This includes contributions from > Karen and Simon Riding. You can see the details and get the booking form > from the What's New section of http://www.actionresearch.net . > > Love Jack. > >