(13) Learning through conversation - NZJES article

The context is a TLRI partnership between Avonside Girls' High School and the University of Canterbury.

Even as you write you are changing the title - Lindsey's paper highlighted leadership for learning - this one has another focus - it points to the realisation that learning does occur through conversation, and that wallpapering over the cracks inhibits conversation - those are two key findings from this project

Such partnerships can be problematic but in this case the consequences of working through the differences have led to learning on both individual and collective levels.

The research associates (RAs, Lindsey and I) used complexity thinking and insights from post-structural and sociocultural theory to guide our work - but this background theory was not relevant to teachers.

The paper is being written in a way that documents insights about the project at the end of the project - while it describes what happened, much of the learning has evolved from insights of some of the participants and has been shared with everyone - but the findings, the learning, the wisdom that accrues in this article are retrospective reflections on the process and our speculation (Somekh) about the importance of the findings.

Do I need to justify that - or simply explain it - it is a part of complexity thinking that we report on emerging ideas - Is this linked to speculation? (Somehk) on the importance of this as part of the article.

What is not written is that we, also, were part of the investigation - we were not clear about what we would find - we were stepping into uncharted waters.

A teacher said at the end of the project - "if you had told us that at the start we would have understood."

This statement summarises the emergence of knowledge within this project. How would it be if you used it to structure the whole thing?

A teacher said: "what we didn't understand was that we learn through conversation"

This could be a heading for the section on practice-based methodology.

I think that writing has clarified for me that the focus of this article is on bringing out the point that complexity thinking has enabled us to assemble some traces of the collective learning that is emerging within the thinking of the participants and the collective knowledge of the communities affected. These traces are evidenced by shared agreements around the writing in this document. The participants have learnt individually (in the usual sense of the word) and also collectively (in that our understandings are part of dynamic, changing educational structures and networks).

stop - you are ranting.