Fwd: Follett Conversation on Creative Democracy: Research Teams LO31076

Sun May 9 06:34:00 PDT 2004

Hello:

I am Fwding this from the LOlist as I imagine that
some points may interest you all, namelly 1. and 2.
Point 3 may interest some people from USA (or even
from outside the center of the Empire). Point 4,
specially as it cames after 3, is very interesting...
It suggestes that 4 is an "American problem". Of
course it was written before the recent news; but even
then, one could very easily understand that in IRAQ
(as in Middle East) USA is not part of the solution
but the biggest part of the problem...

Artur

---------------

> The Mary Parker Follett Conversation on Creative
> Democracy 2004 --
> October 21-24 Boise, Idaho, USA
>
> Proposed Research Conversation Teams
>
> The following teams have been proposed and are open
> for
> participation.
> If you are interested in joining one of these teams,
> please contact
> the
> appropriate team coordinator as soon as possible.
> You must be willing
> to attend the Follett Conversation in person in
> order to participate
> (see the Call for Participants on our website,
> www.follettfoundation.org).
>
> It is highly recommended that you join one of these
> teams and
> participate in the preparatory phase if you plan to
> attend the
> Follett
> Conversation. However, attendees who have not chosen
> a team may find
> openings at the Conversation event, depending on the
> policy of the
> teams.
>
> Important: The registration deposit of $50 is due by
> July 1, with the
> balance of $175 due August 1. Travel and
> accommodations are the
> responsibility of the attendee. We have hotel
> recommendations listed
> in
> the Call for Participants, which can be downloaded
> from
> www.follettfoundation.org.
>
> List of Teams (followed by full descriptions)
>
> Team A: Education for Full Participation in a
> Democracy
> Team B: Social Justice Through Literacy
> Team C: Imagining a Creative America - A Performance
> and Town Meeting
> Team D: Envisioning an Iraqi Model of Democracy
>
> TEAM A:
> Education for Full Participation in a Democracy
> Mike Poutiatine, Mark Beattie, Dr. Karen Norum,
> Colleen Daniel, Brian
> Dunlap
> makalu1 at earthlink.net
>
> We believe that in order to "fulfill the promise of
> democracy as a
> creative experience, one that releases both personal
> and social
> potential, from the local to the global level,"
> every individual must
> be able to participate fully in such a society.
> Furthermore, full
> participation requires a certain amount of shared
> beliefs and
> behaviors-culture, to be short-which society
> transmits to its members
> through a process known generally as "education."
>
> Social institutions of education, therefore, must
> promote the beliefs
> and behaviors necessary for full participation in
> democracy in order
> to
> release the potential of that promise.
>
> Triggering Question: From this conclusion arises our
> question: What
> does it mean to be educated for full participation
> in a democracy?
>
> We propose to pursue this question through study and
> conversation in
> several themes, including but not limited to
> ·          the relationship of education and social
> justice
> ·          the role of leadership in democratic
> education
> ·          the relationship between participative
> democracy and
> education
> ·          the value, necessity, and process of
> educational reforms
>
> Preparation: To address this question completely
> some understanding
> of
> the American vision of the public school might be in
> order, as well
> as
> an understanding of the development of the public
> school idea in our
> national consciousness.
>
> Our team currently consists primarily of students
> and faculty in the
> Gonzaga University Doctoral Program in Leadership
> Studies, but we
> would
> benefit from collaboration with individuals willing
> to join our
> study.
> We especially welcome people with expertise or
> experience in the
> thematic areas mentioned above who are willing to
> continue reading
> and
> dialoguing with us over the coming months.  We
> intend to make use of
> the on-line BlackBoard learning system as much as we
> can.  We can
> enroll others from outside Gonzaga University in the
> BlackBoard
> system.
>
>
> TEAM B:
> Social Justice Through Literacy
> Anne Gregory, Carolyn Loffer, Mary Ann Rawley,
> Jennifer Snow-Gerono,
> and Debra Yates agregory at boisestate.edu
>
> The lens of literacy in this theme proposal is used
> as a means for
> studying social justice in teaching and learning.
> According to Henkin
> (1998), literacy offers a vehicle for helping "all
> of our students to
> gain greater understanding and insight into all the
> peoples of the
> world. Literacy can serve as a tool to open our
> worlds and help us to
> better understand and accept all human beings" (p.
> 3). Likewise, Gee
> (1992) offers the notion of literacy as an "identity
> kit," where
> people
> associate with particular social groups through the
> use of language.
> Gee's (1992) definition of literacy expands the
> concept to the act of
> reading and utilizing multiple literacies, "Literacy
> is control of
> secondary uses of language" (p. 25). According to
> Slonaker (2001), it
> is through language learning that we gain the
> meta-knowledge to
> critique the multiple discourses we encounter in our
> everyday lives.
> Thus, Gee's definition of literacy contributes "some
> degree of being
> able to 'use,' [and] to 'function' with." language
> (Gee, 1992, p.
> 26).
> This conversation is geared toward broadening
> educators'
> consideration(s) of literacy and how it may be used
> to teach for
> social
> justice (Henkin, 1998).
>
> Literacy learning is socially constructed (Comber &
> Nixon, 1999; Gee,
> 1992, 2001). Situated at the center of literacy
> rests an adherence to
> power and power relationships constructed through
> interactions and
> participation in social groups. As literacy
> educators, we often
> invite
> children to join the 'literacy club' without
> considering whose clubs
> they are, what kinds of identities are required, and
> who might be
> excluded (Comber & Nixon, 1999; Delpit, 1995). We
> are mitigating and
> minimizing the potential of pedagogy for social
> justice. This
> reluctance to examine the unanticipated effects of
> school literacy,
> literacy practices, and forms of literacy creates a
> normative rather
> than transformative context for learning that
> enables images and
> myths
> of children and their learning to be generated.
> Without an analysis
> of
> how language and literacy practices work in social
> and political
> contexts for and against groups, we perpetuate the
> stories that have
> and are continuing to be told about literacy
> learning, a normative
> perspective.
>
> Triggering Question: How do the present and
> constructed Discourse
> structures (i.e., "enacting meaningful socially
> situated identities
> and
> activities" (Gee, 2001, p. 35)) in classrooms
> promote and perpetuate
> the values, beliefs, and power of the dominant
> cultural group?
>
> Preparation:  Originators of this theme would like
> to see
> participants
> engage in an exploration of literature surrounding
> literacy, teaching
> for social justice, and democratic education in an
> effort to build a
> framework for this conversation prior to the June
> start of
> distance-based inquiry.
>
> New Participants: The team is open to new
> participants until July 1.
>
>
> TEAM C:
> Imagining a Creative America - A Performance and
> Town Meeting
> Tom Tresser
> tom at creativeamerica.us
>
> This team would create an event that combines
> elements of
> performance,
> spoken word, lecture and town meeting. The idea is
> to celebrate
> creativity as a fundamental American value and vital
> to the continued
> vigor of its body politic and economy. The core of
> the event is to
> have
> participants give voice to their personal vision of
> what a Creative
> America looks like or what it would require in order
> for every
> citizen
> to be able to express her full creativity and
> contribute to the
> fullest. We capture these statements real-time on
> video and by a
> visual
> facilitator who creates a visual synthesis of the
> statement using
> icons, cartoons and text. This is done on large
> sheets of butcher
> paper
> on the wall - the effect is to create a wall-sized
> tapestry of the
> collective vision statements. This over-sized
> document becomes a
> non-traditional policy statement which my
> organization folds into an
> ongoing series of such statements.
>
> Triggering Question: What would it take for America
> to be a country
> where every person could express or fulfill their
> creativity to the
> max
> - thus being able to contribute and invent new
> possibilities for us
> all?
>
> Preparation: Read "The Rise of the Creative Class"
> by Richard
> Florida.
> See www.creativeclass.org.
>
> New Participants: This group would be open to all
> who wanted to
> explore
> the subject.
>
>
> TEAM  D:
> Envisioning an Iraqi Model of Democracy
> Matthew Shapiro
> mshapiro at follettfoundation.org
>
> The war in Iraq has ostensibly sought to create a
> "clean slate" for
> political reform in a recently totalitarian nation.
> But is there such
> a
> thing as a "clean slate" for a complex society with
> ancient roots?
> There is an intention on the part of Westerners to
> see established a
> secular, Western-style democracy succeed in Iraq.
> Can such a model
> succeed there? A competing alternative may be found
> in Islamist
> participatory concepts such as consultative
> leadership, consensus,
> and
> reinterpretation of traditional ideals. While an
> Islamist model of
> democracy might be more readily accepted, it may not
> be any easier to
> realize than a Western secular model, because
> democracy in any form
> is
> a way of life that needs to be learned generation by
> generation.
>
> Triggering Question: How could a model of creative
> democracy be
> developed that is authentically Iraqi, draws from
> the diversity of
> Iraqi society, and sets an example for other nations
> (particularly
> Islamic nations) undergoing political transition?
>
> Preparation: In our preparation phase, we will
> consider the cultural,
> social, political, and historical context of Iraq
> through both common
> and individual readings. Participants might divide
> the task of
> researching various aspects and then reporting their
> findings to the
> group. Due respect will be given to the principle
> that we cannot
> design
> a democracy for the Iraqi people; only they can do
> that. But we may
> be
> able to offer scaffolding that has added value
> during this time of
> conflict and opportunity.
>
> New Participants: This team is fully open to new
> participants until
> July 1.
> --
>
> "Matthew Shapiro" <mshapiro at follettfoundation.org>
>

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>From  Sun May  9 09:39:11 2004
Message-Id: <SUN.9.MAY.2004.093911.0400.>
Date: Sun, 9 May 2004 09:39:11 -0400
Reply-To: pculhane at magma.ca
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: Phil Culhane <pculhane at magma.ca>
Subject: Re: OST and Open Forums
In-Reply-To: <20040509132643.16583.qmail at web11201.mail.yahoo.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

Artur - breathing's good...feel your feet.

Harrison - eagerly awaiting. Everything I do to "improve" really only
complicates. Partially that's due to high-tech and government clients
expecting detailed deliverables. But OS supplies so much of the power of the
event with such ease...

What's next? Let's go!

Phil Culhane

-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Artur
Silva
Sent: May 9, 2004 9:27 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: OST and Open Forums

Harrison:

--- Harrison Owen <hhowen at comcast.net> wrote:
> In fact, I
> increasingly see Open Space Technology as a "halfway technology" - an
> interesting and useful step on a journey. More about
> this later.

I would like to know more about that. I am curious but
also somewhat afraid of what will unfold...

Artur

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