While our proposal was not accepted for AERA, we await word on whether or not weāll be presenting at ICQI. For the ICQI proposal, we focused on one of theĀ āfindingsā from our AERA proposal--the way in which the team reading of Unflattened caused us to question, dismantle, rebuild, and (again) destabilize our individual educational philosophies. Iāve been thinking about this since I first started reading the book. Iāve been asking: Where do educational philosophies come from? How do we know what we think we know about teaching and learning? Is every educational idea simply a remix? My sense is weāll keep chasing these questions, as the answers are elusive. Anyways, our ICQI proposal is titled: A Trioethnographic Methods Derive: Educational Philosophies Indelibly Unflattening. I like words, as my flatlessness āteammatesā like to say. Canāt you tell?
So, the AERA reviewers were split in their receptions of the work. Two loved it; two didnāt love it. Itās always fascinating and frustrating toĀ āreadā the feedback. ByĀ āreadā I mean look underneath the words and imagine the framings influencing the reviewersā positions on the work. The take away? Our methods are sound (which is interesting because weāve been kind of aimlessly wandering around all of the ideas), and the work is important in advancing what we know about trioethnography, but we must situate the process and the findings against/inside the broader cultural landscapes within which are are working (and thinking). I think weāre up for it.Ā
The prospect of presenting at ICQI has been energy-giving. If accepted, we plan to make a comic (handout), write a paper (paper), and engage in some kind of theatrical reading of that paper (presentation). It wonāt be boring, we promise.Ā
As of right now, weāre actively doing nothing. Well, weāre just not doing things on purpose. Any āworkā that happens is random. The co/team-reading persists. My pleasure reading has consisted of tagging along with my āteammates.ā For example, this, this, this, this, and this. And Iāve also tried to keep up with what Nickās class is reading (e.g., this and this). Itās been marvelous. All of these works are poignant for different reasons. And if I look closely, I can see a lineage stemming fromĀ UnflatteningĀ (topic) and our experiences of team reading it (method). It feels like a class Iām taking, and enjoying a lot. That the team reading persists hasĀ āfindingā-like qualities, which I think we might be able to situate in observations/literature/extant knowledge about the āpullā of such a thing/phenomenon/community/sensation/intellectual endeavor within a certain cultural context. Like a book club? A thought club? Weāll see what happens.