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Description
of the book by Nancy Friday-Cockburn for Alphaplus resource discussion:
Just out,
this book written by Jenny Horsman was published by McGilligan Books in
1999. It is 323 pages long and all text. Jenny has woven many, many voices
into the text, voices from across Canada, and from the United States and
Australia. If you participated in or lurked on the AlphaCom Literacy and
Violence On-line Seminar facilitated by Jenny Horsman and later Deanne
Bradley, you will recognize those voices. There is such a nice familiarity
with that, at least for me, who lurked a good deal over the course of
that seminar. If you were part of Jenny's exhaustive schedule of interviews
and focus groups and workshops over the course of her research, you may
also find your voice or the voices of people you know within this book.
The inclusion of so many voices, breaks up the density of the text and
combines the theoretical and the practical.
I quote
from Jenny's Preface.
"Too
Scared to Learn was originally written for literacy and adult upgrading
practitioners, as well as teachers of English to speakers of other languages.
I imagined myself speaking to others like me, who worry about how to
help their students to learn successfully and struggle to respond adequately
to direct disclosures of violence and the myriad other ways that violence
and its aftermath is a daily presence in the classroom. Encouraged by
Susan Heald, reviewer and critical reader, as well as other educators,
I have increasingly begun to imagine a wider audience that includes
not only those involved in adult basic education, but also in other
areas of adult and children's education. I believe many educators hold
pieces of the puzzle of how to teach in ways that recognize the impacts
of violence on learning. I hope that through bringing together disparate
wisdom, this work will provide a key to develop new understandings and
analysis."
"In
my life and in my work I believe in bridging the divides between theory
and practice. This book is no exception. Too Scared to Learn rethinks
conceptualizations of violence in society and connections between violence
and learning and interweaves a wealth of practical ideas, possibilities,
thoughts about what practitioners might do differently in classrooms
and educational institutions if we begin to think differently about
violence. I hope this book will also be read by those interested in
theory - academics, activists, and policy makers - resulting in theoretical
and systemic changes that broadens possibilities for societal and educational
change."
In true
Jenny Horsman fashion, Jenny extends an invitation to us all to continue
the " conversations which have led to the writing of this book..." "I
invite you to join in. Write to me via my web page (www.jennyhorsman.com)
and tell me about your reactions to this work. What happens when you rethink
violence, or break the silences in your program and put ideas presented
here, or new possibilities you envisage, into practice?"
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