The world is wide and mysterious to the willing eye …
To a trained ear, sometimes loud and often off-key …
A wonderland of sensations for the child at play …
A lifetime of experience each and every day …
Where is the meaning in what we see and hear?
How to make sense of experiences that come our way?
What can be gathered from coincidence that will last?
Ludwig said that we picture facts to ourselves …
We create internal representations to make sense …
Ludwig noted that we talk about these pictures with others … we externalize …
Is it not amazing that we create internal representations to make sense of experience?
Is it not amazing that we engage in language games to make sense of those representations?
Well, that is what we do, it seems … there is no stopping it …
We are meaning makers … even when we are making mean …
An anti-meanness message embedded in an incantation on meaning …
The message here is simple … plain and unflavored …
We are constructors of meaning regardless of what is happening here and there …
We construct meaning regardless … that’s our nature … it’s what we do …
Construct this … a new movie … starring ... none other than … YOU!
J. Michael Spector (12 Nov 2010)
Friday, November 12, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
The Times They Are Changing
AECT 2010 has come and gone. Now I am the Immediate Past-President with new and different responsibilities, including finding folks to run for President-elect next year and serving as the AECT Board liaison to the ECT Foundation. The conference was a tremendous success, thanks to Barbara Lockee, Miriam Larson, Lois Freeland and Dalinda Bond. The organization is healthy with new collaborators and affiliates all around the world; there were 30 Indonesians at AECT 2010 and they added insight and diversity to a meeting already quite rich in terms of quality and multiple perspectives. AECT is now in the very capable hands of Barbara Lockee.
The American educational system, however, does not have such a bright outlook, especially with the November 2nd election looming large in the USA. I wish I could somehow magically transfer what I have learned working with Indonesians the last five years to the voters who decide how well to support their school districts and schools. I have seen how highly Indonesians value education, from remotely located multi-grade rural schools to the Ministry of Education. It is not just talk about how an education should be valued - the Indonesians are putting substance and meaning to such words. It seems like we used to do that in America, and I am sure it happens here and there ... but considered as a large-scale system, my sense is that American public education is faltering.
With my new found free time I wish I could think of something to do that would yield substantial and sustained improvement, but I just do not know what would really help. Please help me learn how to help improve our schools - I am a slow learner, but I am willing to learn.
Mike Spector
The American educational system, however, does not have such a bright outlook, especially with the November 2nd election looming large in the USA. I wish I could somehow magically transfer what I have learned working with Indonesians the last five years to the voters who decide how well to support their school districts and schools. I have seen how highly Indonesians value education, from remotely located multi-grade rural schools to the Ministry of Education. It is not just talk about how an education should be valued - the Indonesians are putting substance and meaning to such words. It seems like we used to do that in America, and I am sure it happens here and there ... but considered as a large-scale system, my sense is that American public education is faltering.
With my new found free time I wish I could think of something to do that would yield substantial and sustained improvement, but I just do not know what would really help. Please help me learn how to help improve our schools - I am a slow learner, but I am willing to learn.
Mike Spector
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