Here is Anat Geller's (2011) Abstract for her Ed.D. Thesis. I've found that Anat's 5 year enquiry has helped me to understand how to create an environment that calls out the best in everyone. Anat will be graduating this Summer having completed minor amendments to her dissertation and I'll let you know when you can access it on the web:
WITHIN DIALOGUE AND WITHOUT: HOW HAS 'BEING IN THE UNKNOWN' BECOME A VALUE IN MY DEVELOPING AS A BETTER DIALOGICAL EDUCATOR?
ABSTRACT
This is an autobiographical study using a Living Theory Action Research methodology supported strongly by storytelling and visual data as a means of analysing, illustrating and generating a living educational theory concerning the attributes ' good enough' (Winnicott, 2007:140-152) dialogical educators might strive for in light of the Buberian 'I – Thou' dialogical encounters (Buber, 1955).
This thesis is concerned with 'I' as an early childhood pedagogy instructor, an Israeli-Jew from a Hebrew-speaking culture, working mainly in three educational frameworks in three cultures: an Israeli-Arab college which is predominately Muslim; secondly, as director of a course for Druze care-givers on the occupied Golan Heights and, thirdly, as pedagogy instructor in an academic Teachers' Training College that is affiliated with the Zionist Kibbutz movement, servicing the multicultural and multinational sectors of the Israeli society.
The originality of the thesis lies in the process of synthesising and acknowledging instances of 'being in the unknown'; in revealing the values that enabled me to recognise and see beyond the socially constructed discourse, values, ethics and morals in varied cultural contextual and educational settings, and move beyond their limitations, enhancing my ability to be a better dialogical educator.
Although the issues of 'Dialogue' and 'Thou' have been elaborately discussed, the process of revealing the 'I' and the resultant attributes one has to possess in order to be in dialogue with the 'Thou' is not explicit (Buber,1955). I assert that the process of unveiling one‘s core self (Rogers,1969), values - the 'I', is a necessary component or phase in the process of becoming a ‗good enough‘ dialogical educator. This assertion is examined in the light of fundamental literature on dialogue mainly from Buber, Freire, Rogers and Korczak.
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This Year's American Educational Research Association Conference takes place from this Friday 8th April to Tuesday 12th April in New Orleans with the theme of 'Inciting the Social Imagination for the Public Good' - a theme closely related to this thread of our e-seminar. If you are going to AERA do let's meet up in any of the following sessions with Jean, Joan, Jacqueline or myself where we are accounting for ourselves to others, in living our values as fully as we can in our practitioner-research.
Jean's sessions
Action Research for Teachers in Qatar: Linking Practice, Theory, and Policy
Unit: SIG-Action Research
Paper Role: Presenter
In Session Submission: Action Research Across Diverse and International Contexts
Scheduled Time: Fri, Apr 8 - 2:15pm - 3:45pm, Building/Room: Doubletree / International Ballroom
Action Research for Troubled Times and Troubled Places: Working Through Colonization and Its Aftermaths
Unit: SIG-Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices
Paper Role: Presenter
In Session Submission: Theorizing Self-Study
Scheduled Time: Fri, Apr 8 - 12:00pm - 1:30pm, Building/Room: Sheraton / Grand Ballroom B
Jacqueline's session
Transforming Educational Knowledge Through Making Explicit the Embodied Knowledge of Educators for the Public Good
Unit: SIG-Action Research
Paper Role: Presenter
In Session Submission: Action Research: Path to Learning in Doctoral Programs and Beyond
Scheduled Time: Sat, Apr 9 - 2:15pm - 3:45pm, Building/Room: Doubletree / Nottoway
Joan's (Walton) sessions
Accounting for Educational Influences in Improving Practice for the Public Good
Unit: SIG-Action Research
Paper Role: Presenter
In Session Submission: Data, Accountability, and Collaboration: Action Research Meets Basic Educational Needs
Scheduled Time: Mon, Apr 11 - 4:05pm - 5:35pm, Building/Room: Doubletree / Shadows
Collaborative Action Research and Learning for the Benefit of Children and Families
Unit: SIG-Action Research
Paper Role: Presenter
In Session Submission: Learning to Teach and Improve Schools Through Action Research
Scheduled Time: Sun, Apr 10 - 8:15am - 9:45am, Building/Room: Doubletree / Shadows
Jack's sessions - you can access a framing for these sessions at http://www.actionresearch.net/writings/aera11/jwframingaera2011.pdf
Accounting for Educational Influences in Improving Practice for the Public Good
Unit: SIG-Action Research
Paper Role: Presenter
In Session Submission: Data, Accountability, and Collaboration: Action Research Meets Basic Educational Needs
Scheduled Time: Mon, Apr 11 - 4:05pm - 5:35pm, Building/Room: Doubletree / Shadows
Meta-Analysis of the Outcomes of Action Research
Unit: SIG-Action Research
Paper Role: Presenter
In Session Submission: Action Research Identity Outcomes: Shift in Self-Perception, Professional Role, and Researcher Identity Interactive Symposium
Scheduled Time: Sat, Apr 9 - 10:35am - 12:05pm, Building/Room: Doubletree / Shadows
Teacher Educators as Researchers: Living Educational Theory
Unit: SIG-Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices
Paper Role: Presenter
In Session Submission: Teacher Educators as Researchers: What to Do When Roles Do Not Fit?
Scheduled Time: Mon, Apr 11 - 8:15am - 10:15am, Building/Room: New Orleans Marriott / Preservation Hall Studio 6
Transforming Educational Knowledge Through Making Explicit the Embodied Knowledge of Educators for the Public Good
Unit: SIG-Action Research
Paper Role: Presenter
In Session Submission: Action Research: Path to Learning in Doctoral Programs and Beyond
Scheduled Time: Sat, Apr 9 - 2:15pm - 3:45pm, Building/Room: Doubletree / Nottoway
I'll circulate urls for the presentations later this month. If you use social media such as facebook and twitter do please let people know that they can access accounts from practitioner-researchers at http://ejolts.net/ .
Love Jack.
