Return-Path: <nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id h39EZnU27369; Wed, 9 Apr 2003 10:35:49 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2003 10:35:49 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <3EAE1300@webmail.utk.edu> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: jataylor <jataylor@utk.edu> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-AALPD:142] from Andy, positionality & PD X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Mailer: WebMail (Hydra) SMTP v3.61.08 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Status: O Content-Length: 1582 Lines: 31 I know we're on to other discussions, but I just want to note one way that we've tried to address "positionality" in our professional development about civic participation (CP). It relates to Cris's suggestions that attention to the "isms" be woven into all PD activities. We work with teachers to explore a multi-step cycle for developing CP projects with students. Having heard several times about how students were choosing to develop civic participation projects around issues that did not seem compelling to the teacher, we added a step to this cycle that asks teachers to reflect on their positionality with regard to these student-identified issues by asking questions such as, "How is your experience of this issue similar and different from that of your students?" "How do you think race, class, gender, education level, etc. might shape the way people view the issue?" "How can you make sure that these factors are considered throughout the project?" As a group, we ask ourselves these (and other) questions with regard to some hypothetical issues and then generate some strategies for maintaining our attention to positionality and the way it shapes our assumptions and interactions. The approach we used linked attention to roles/privilege/relationships to teaching well. We tried to model ways of talking about it explicitly without the tension of a specific classroom incident that might trigger the discussion, which I know also needs to be done and which I'm learning about here. Andy Nash New England Literacy Resource Center/World Education anash@worlded.org
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