[NLA] Government Misinformation-summing Up

[Eileen Eckert]

Comments about the exchange between Tom and Catherine:
Methods from many different disciplines can be used in support of a single 
philosophy. When this philosophy is learned implicitly, it is often not 
recognized as one of many--it is seen as "the" way the world works rather 
than "a" way of looking at how the world works. It is the foundation of the 
"mental model," which organizes and filters knowledge and skills, beliefs, 
and learning from new experience.

Tom critiques Catherine's "creative dialogue" statement through the lens of 
his own philosophy, which seems to say that the "creative dialogue" as 
research is separate from and a prerequisite of changes in literacy 
instruction and practice. But it doesn't have to be. I can have that 
creative dialogue with students as I teach. It can be part of practice. This 
is, of course, based on another philosophy and mental model, that of 
research and practice wedded into praxis. I don't need to wait for a 
researcher to tell me what to do (and for others to tell me whether the 
researcher's work is "valid" and what it should mean to me). I can learn 
about and make my own evaluations of research done by others, share it with 
my students, learn about their perspectives on their needs, goals, and 
understanding(s) of success, help them develop those perspectives through 
dialogue, and in the same way further develop my own understanding.

At another level, programs and evaluators can engage in creative dialogue 
(and this is what I thought Sheryl was encouraging in her post). Of course, 
policymakers, administrators, and others can make that easier or harder.

Eileen







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