Return-Path: <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id h09K00P13980; Thu, 9 Jan 2003 15:00:00 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 9 Jan 2003 15:00:00 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <5.0.0.25.0.20030109115201.00a05370@mail.aracnet.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: Sylvan Rainwater <sylvan@cccchs.org> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-ESL:8440] 3 groups of workers X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.0 Status: O Content-Length: 3164 Lines: 60 At 11:12 AM 01/09/2003 -0500, sissy kegley wrote: ><SNIP> > There are the practitioners, those of us teaching. There are the >theorists, those whose work informs and provides tremendous insight >(frequently, not always) about effective practice. There are the 'policy >wonks' who oversee and monitor (and try to influence) how much power and >resources we will have to do what all of us are trying to do. > ><SNIP>My constant amazement is the tremendous disconnect between the >three groups. Some of the disconnect is well-discussed...Teachers may >bristle at what the academics come up with, etc. > >Maybe I'm splitting hairs, but I see a difference between a "disconnect" >and the lack of cohesion, unity, collaboration which actually >exacerbates the daily challenges we each face. <SNIP> I quoted quite a lot of what you posted, because it struck a chord with me. I struggle with that disconnect often. These days I could be said to fit in to all three of those groups, at least to some extent, and the disconnect is sometimes palpable. I teach in the classroom 2 days a week (sometimes 3), coordinate a family literacy program, and am a student in a Masters in Adult Education program. I often find that I can discuss theory with the best of them, and can be very articulate and talk a good game, but when I walk into a classroom, I'm not thinking of theories at all -- instead I'm focusing on the students, what I think they need to learn (and what I observe and what they tell me they need to learn) and how best to teach it. I think of what's worked in the past and what hasn't, what resources I have available to me at the moment, how to use what I have handy and respond to events as they arise. I suppose one could make a theory out of all of that, and maybe someday I will. It would be cool to write it up somehow as part of my course work and finally find a place to put it. But the reality is that my day-to-day practice feels more like flying by the seat of my pants rather than a fully-planned out, coherent, theoretically-sound course of action. Similarly, my daily practice informs the administrative work (I'm not sure I'm quite into the "policy wonk" arena yet, or maybe only on a very tiny scale within our non-profit grantee) I do, but it also feels pretty nuts-and-bolts, with maybe a little theory thrown in. But a lot of it is problem-solving. I do find that it's difficult to look at what the US administration is doing around education these days without complaining. On an administrative level we are forced to make hard choices all the time about what we can and can't do. On a practitioner level we have to make do with fewer resources and sometimes with less staff and/or fewer days to teach. Both of those groups need to do a fair amount of creative problem-solving in order to continue. As a theorist, it may be interesting to notice whether or how this really impacts the effectiveness of education. There's plenty to discuss here. -------------------------------------------------------------- Sylvan Rainwater . sylvan@cccchs.org Clackamas County Children's Commission Oregon City, OR USA
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