A warm hello from a chilly Japan. I think it was (Bernstein 2000) whom
I had great difficulty in engaging with at first, that described what
is acceptable thinking and unacceptable thinking and the space between
the two he called the discursive gap. My interest in space from my
Buddhist training was stimulated , for I was intrigued by (Rayner 2003)
concept of the space of non space, or the excluded middle. Both
concepts I found to be exciting in their depths of offering a new
dimension to the thinking on space. I read the postings on this list
with the idea of space in mind. I feel that what seems to a universal
attribute, perhaps a value, is that most of the “world class” educators
I know share certain qualities that are beyond race, culture or creed.
It is these qualities that offer hope for humanity. I believe that
they are space creators and they set about doing three major things:
Firstly, They create spaces for learning that are built on the firm
conviction of compassion, love and tolerance. Great educators that I
know and impacted on my life such as Jack, Alan, Jean, Maggie, Moira
to name but a few. All go out of their way to avoid any violation of
the other, not in the complexity of word webs woven with double
meanings but the shining brilliance of lived values in praxis. This
space creation is such a gift as it is the building block of a safe
space. What do I mean by safe space? Well, tough question, as
educational spaces are such complex things often being shaped by
external conditions and power relationships. I feel that the inner
space as it were, the classroom or learning space that the teacher
holds in making contact with their students, has to be safe. Safe
enough to embrace the learning needs and vulnerabilities of the
students, strong enough and compassionate enough to hold fluid
boundaries that stop the space from being a therapeutic space alone and
keep it focused on the learning tasks at hand.
This brings me to the second skill these educators show and that is of
holding the space. In Buddhist thinking we create a space by making its
form, this is because all space is connected, the form is the causal or
mental construction of visualizing the object. We also teach that
lighting a candle in the dark attracts the moths!. So holding a space
is a discipline that prevents others moving in to take over the space
already created. Alan talks of the vamparic, I also suggest the cuckoo
and energy that it not what it seems, invades spaces and then ejects
all that was original from the space and replaces it with its own
image. Great educators hold their space in service to others by the
lived expression of their values.
The third thing they do is clean the space, by clean I mean they create
a space that is positively neutral, I know that many will object to my
use of these words but let me try and use the limited cage of words to
explain an esoteric concept of importance. The positive refers to the
love , compassion and non judgementalism they use that allows others
to bring into their spaces values that they themselves may not agree
with. They do not eject the other but rather make safe the difference.
I have seen them take aggressive wounded learners and give them enough
space to heal, I know I was one!.
Surfing the gap between what is acceptable and unacceptable forms of
knowing is where I believe practitioner research flourishes because it
is the ability of practitioners to create safe spaces in the complexity
of chaos. Like surfing, it is a skill that has to be grounded in the
praxis. The western fixation for dissecting words in the object often
results the whole being lost as implied by Alan’s twin towers. Hence
the beauty of the potential of media as it offers an image or set of
images that are open to interpretation by the other. Jack for example
has shown all the skills I have mentioned as he checks out our meanings
and understanding with his own. I would feel more comfortable if more
space was made for difference and allow for others to express of to
feel some thing that we do not see or feel. It takes courage to break
new ground which is often forgotten by those whom follow as instant
experts. As a practitioner I would like to see more images of practice
and less words, but that is just me!..smile.
Bernstein, B. (2000) Pedagogy,Symbolic Control and Identity, Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers Inc, Lanham MD:.
Rayner, A. (2003) Inclusionality-An Immersive Philosphy of
Environmental Relationships, Macmillan, Palgrave.
uoting Marie Huxtable <[log in to unmask]>:
>
>
>
>
>
>
> I find it difficult to know how to start each posting. In the physical
> world there are the micro-movements, the quiet exploratory `um´, that is used
> to test the space and introduce - such subtly isn´t available here.
> As I can´t
> find a salutation that doesn´t feel inappropriately over-familiar,
> impersonal,
> or personal I leave you to imagine whatever you find communicates my
> intention
> to contribute to the flow of exploration Jean and Jack are provoking and
> connect with the thread of the list´s conversation.
>
>
> Jean wrote:
>
>
> How we are with one
> another is what we do, our embodied actions. And how we are makes us who we
> are. Our identities are grounded in our actions. We literally create
> our selves
> and our identities. As you, Moira, greet each person I believe you are
> explaining publicly how you are, with that person and with yourself in the
> world.
>
>
> In this context I find
> the Zulu Sawubona thought provoking. Jack wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> Tsepo Majake introduced me to the idea of Sawubona in a
> paper for his masters programme with Jean in the township of
> Khyaletisha. A literal translation means, 'I see me in
> you'. As you look at the clips I am wondering if you recognise the
> expression of embodied values, skills and understandings you are also working
> to bring more fully into the world?
>
>
>
>
>
> I wonder if that is
> something I see in the flow of connections in the greetings of students and
> Moira; each is connecting with their `me´ in the other, in the context of a
> quality educational environment.
>
>
>
>
>
> Jack asks:
>
>
> http://www.jackwhitehead.com/jack/jwyoutubeimages3.htm
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> As you look at the clips I am wondering if you recognise
> the expression of embodied values, skills and understandings you are also
> working to bring more fully into the world?
>
>
>
>
>
> And Jean asks:
>
>
> How do we make judgements about how we are?
>
>
> When I look at Jack´s
> collage and narratives I feel an invitation to see and create these flowing
> connections extend across time and space. As I create and recreate those
> connections I am thinking ' do I see me in you?´, `what `me´ am I
> seeking?´ and
> I wonder how often I connect to the `me I don´t want to be´ in others:
> impositional, aggressive, demanding. How am I making judgements about
> me and the
> way I want to be in the world?
>
>
>
>
>
> When Jack writes:
>
>
> In asking, researching and answering good quality questions
> I think we can contribute to the creation of a world of educational quality.
>
>
> I am wondering if exploring the implications of asking questions
> about our educational influences in our own learning, in the learning
> of others
> and in the social formations in which we live and work, is a
> characteristic of
> world leading standards of judgment for educational practitioner research?
>
>
>
>
> I see in the collage
> and narratives Jack recognising people seeking to connect to the other
> invitationally, non impositionally, sensitively, to communicate
> enquiringly of
> themselves and the other, to communicate something that is important
> to them. (I
> appreciate this is how I am seeing the world and I do not pretend that I can
> talk for Jack.) In writing this I realise these are qualities I wish to see
> lived more fully in the world and in the world of education children
> and young
> people are exposed to and I am asking myself how I might contribute
> more to the
> realisation of such a world. So for me the question is an important one to
> continually ask, `am I asking good quality questions and in
> researching answers
> do I contribute to the quality of an educational world I wish to see?´
>
>
>
>
>
> For me a gift is in the
> creation with another in mind, the offering and the manner in which it is
> valued. Jack writes:
>
>
>
>
>
> I hope you receive this visual narrative in the spirit of a
> gift in which I'm developing my own talent for communicating the living
> standards of judgment that can help to move the world to a better
> place to be.
>
>
>
>
>
> I feel an open
> offering, rather than the delivering, of a gift in creation; in
> working with it
> over time I hope I can contribute to it´s worth. Feels like a really good way
> to start a day, a week and a year.
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Jack Whitehead <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Saturday, 30 December, 2006 2:32:17 PM
> Subject: Re: Judging Educational Influences In Terms of World Leading
> Standards of Judgement
>
> Here's wishing you a most pleasurable and productive New Year as we
> move into 2007. Do please
> share your thoughts on the questions we might address in 2007 that
> could help to fulfil the purpose
> of the seminar.
>
> As part of my own contribution I have produced a multi-media response
> to the question:
>
> Are we co-creating world leading standards of judgement in our
> enquiries as educational
> practitioner-researchers as we work at contributing to the generation
> of a world of educational
> quality?
>
> and you can access the collage of video-clips and visual narrative at:
>
> http://www.jackwhitehead.com/jack/jwyoutubeimages3.htm
>
> I do hope the account captivates your imagination and stimulates a
> response. My question is
> grounded in the assumption that each one of us is contributing to the
> creation of a world of
> educational quality through the expression of world leading standards
> of judgment in our local
> contexts. My own feeling is that each individual in the different
> video-clips is freely giving of
> themselves in the educational relationships and conversations and it
> is in this spirit of a gift that I
> offer the collage of video-clips. Love Jack.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
Rev Je Kan Adler-Collins
Assistant Professor of Nursing
Fukuoka Prefectural University Faculty of Nursing
Tagawa City
Fukuoka Prefecture
Japan
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