In this interactive session participants will explore educational rhetoric and seek strategies for negotiating discursive tensions amidst diverse academic cultures (Pinar, 2004). Because concepts like “data,” “assessment,” “engagement,” and “educational objectives” carry different connotations in different scholastic communities, and because scholars of teaching and learning often function as liaisons amongst these communities, it is important to acknowledge the cultural ramifications of language and develop a degree of linguistic dexterity in order to foster respectful exchange amongst these diverse communities (Noddings, 2012; Davis et al, 2000). After a brief introduction and critique of contemporary curricular terms and rhetoric (Luce-Kapler, 2004), participants will engage in small group discussions, examining problematic or contentious educational language from different disciplinary perspectives. Thereafter the facilitator will lead a large group discussion where participants will share findings from their small groups. Both the small and large group discussions will provide opportunities to identify and disseminate the strategies participants employ in their respective practices for translating or disambiguating educational terms and rhetoric.
Davis, B., Sumara, D. & Luce-Kapler, R. (2000). Engaging minds: Learning and teaching in a complex world. Mahwah, NJ. Lawrence Erlbaum.
Luce-Kapler, R. (2004). Writing with, through and beyond the text: An ecology of language. Mahwah, NJ. Lawrence Erlbaum.
Noddings, N. (2012). Philosophy of education. Boulder, CO. Westview Press.
Pinar, W. (2004). What is curriculum theory?. Mahwah, NJ. Lawrence Erlbaum.
