[SSC] Student-Scholars
Michael Neary
nearymichael at hotmail.com
Mon Aug 6 14:30:22 UTC 2012
Dear All,
I am putting together a list of names of all student-scholars who intend take part in the the Social Science Centre programme that is due to start in October.
I would be very grateful if anyone who intends to join the programme to let me have their name as soon as possible.
Please do get back to me if you have any questions as to the nature of the programme that will be running this academic year.
Best wishes,
Mike
From: nearymichael at hotmail.com
To: agurbutt at gmail.com; ssc at lists.aktivix.org
Subject: Student-Scholars social 4th July 6 - 7 pm
Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2012 04:23:26 +0000
Student-Scholars Social
The Angel Coffee House in Lincoln, Free School Lane ( very appropriate address) has become one of the main sites within the city of Lincoln for meetings of the SSC - http://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/angel-coffee-house-lincoln. Attending this social event were, David, Mike T, Sarah, Sandie, Alice, Annie, Vernon and his partner, Peter S and Mike N. We talked about our hopes and fears for the SSC, what we would like to study and what support will be available for student-scholars. What came out very clearly from the meeting was the need to provide a very clear framework for the curriculum so that student-scholars were very sure about what the nature and purpose of the SSC and the amount of time they would need to commit to their studies.
From: nearymichael at hotmail.com
To: agurbutt at gmail.com; ssc at lists.aktivix.org
Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2012 04:03:21 +0000
Subject: Re: [SSC] Revised Notes from SSC meeting 30th June
From: nearymichael at hotmail.com
To: agurbutt at gmail.com; ssc at lists.aktivix.org
Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2012 15:21:40 +0000
Subject: [SSC] Notes from SSC meeting 30th June
Dear All,
Please see notes below from Saturday's SSC meeting:
The SSC meeting started at about 12.30. Those present were Zoraida, Raul, Richard K. David, Alun, Mike T Steve H., Sandie ( chair) Mike N., Adam, Mike W., John, Vernon, Daryyl, Sara M., Sarah A., Grace. Apologies from Joss, Richard H., Joyce...
There was a general discussion about the nature of the relationship between the SSC and the Improvement Centre ( IC) in Mint Lane, Lincoln. The meeting was reminded that this the IC at Mint Lane our formal mailing address. There was general agreement that we should maintain a presence at the Improvement Centre, including a Notice Board, and a mention in the prospectus; and that we should look to support the Improvement Centre as much as is possible. It was also agreed that the SSC intends to use other public, community and common spaces: to 'occupy' the city, and, therefore, would not want to be too closely associated with any one site.
There was a rich discussion about how to enable our events to be as accessible and intergenerational as possible. It was agreed that we should build access to SSC events on the principles of trust and confidence in each other and among the group. A framework to support this commitment would be in place for the next Saturday event on the 21st July.
The meeting was reminded that there was an evening event for all students who had expressed an interest in joining the SSC in the Angel Coffee House, 6-7 pm on the 4th of July.
There was a report back from a Communications workshop facilitated by Sara M., which preceded the full SSC meeting. All agreed that it had been a positive experience. Sara M. is putting together a report on the workshop based on input from those who attended. This report will be posted on the SSC website soon.
The meeting looked at the FAQ page on the SSC website to ensure information is still up to date. It was agreed that a wiki-page would be set up so that all could contribute to making any edits and/or amendments.
The rest of the session was spent working on the curriculum. The session began with Steve H reading out a short paper based on the ways in which students might connect with and experience the SSC. Each of the four curriculum themes were then discussed in small groups and in a large group at the end. The result was a series of rich conversations adding focus and depth to our plans for the curriculum. Scholars working in the small groups agreed to write up there themes and feed back to the next meeting.
I had to leave the meeting before the end. Members who were at the last session might like to write up a short commentary on how the meeting was concluded with any plans for future action.
The next meeting of the SSC at Pathway Centre, Beaumont Fee on 4th July at 7pm. A key issue for this meeting is representation: how we communicate what we are doing to a range of different publics.
Mike
From: agurbutt at gmail.com
To: ssc at lists.aktivix.org
Date: Sun, 1 Jul 2012 21:16:21 +0100
Subject: [SSC] Communications, assessment and disability
Dear All,
It was good to meet you all
yesterday. Thank you for allowing my daughter to stay. I wanted her to
experience learning set aside from schooling. She’s been busy with GCSEs
which is leaving little time for reading more widely. It must have worked; she
is full of enthusiasm and is now busy transferring the creative projects tree
to a computer representation.
We enjoyed the
communications workshop, looking at speaking and listening for personalised
accessible learning.
Regarding
disability and special education needs, I’m conscious that I was asked to
write a short paper about my experience with dyslexia. Please accept my
apologies for not having time to do this hence being ill prepared for
yesterday.
To the best of
my knowledge I am the only member of my family to have been affected by
dyslexia and by a twist of fate it hasn’t been passed down to my
children. However, it should be noted that the word ‘dyslexia’ is a
very broad term which can have implications beyond genetic transmission, for
intergenerational learning. This can be compounded by compulsory
education where standardisation can fail to capture creativity of the young
and/or disabled.
Some describe
dyslexia as a specific learning disability (SpLD) whilst others see it as a
gift of neurological diversity. I guess, where adjustments are made to learning
it becomes less of a disability, where they are not the opposite may apply. It
is doubtful however to be clear-cut because for some the effects can be severe.
For example, dyslexia is associated with conditions such as ADHD.
Then
there’s the issue of how society constructs disability. Some argue for
inclusion, for equality of opportunity, whilst others see inclusion as a
dumbing down of excellence or cheating. State education in England has provided
few favours. It has been in a state of flux since the 1944 Education Act on how
to divide children. Recent amendments to state education around admissions and
academies will mean it will only get worse for those who don’t fit the
mould. What this essentially means is that Higher Education will become a
distant dream for many.
There are legal
protections in the Equality Act 2010. Basically, if a condition is expected to
last for more than 12 months reasonable adjustments must be made. I’ll
revisit this at some point.
The Scottish
Government have produced a working definition of dyslexia which is quite
useful
Dyslexia can be
described as a continuum of difficulties in learning to read, write
and/or spell, which persist despite the provision of appropriate learning
opportunities. These difficulties often do not reflect an individual’s
cognitive abilities and may not be typical of performance in other areas. The
impact of dyslexia as a barrier to learning varies in degree according to the
learning and teaching environment, as there are often associated difficulties
such as:
·
auditory and /or visual processing of
language-based information
·
phonological awareness
·
oral language skills and reading fluency
·
short-term and working memory
·
sequencing and directionality
·
number skills
·
organisational ability
·
Motor skills and co-ordination may also be
affected.
Dyslexia
exists in all cultures and across the range of abilities and socio-economic
backgrounds. It is a hereditary, life-long, neuro-developmental condition.
Unidentified, dyslexia is likely to result in low self esteem, high stress,
atypical behaviour, and low achievement.
Learners
with dyslexia will benefit from early identification, appropriate intervention
and targeted effective teaching, enabling them to become successful learners,
confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens.
My extreme view
for what it is worth is based on retrospection combined with what I have learnt
at the University of Lincoln on a child studies programme. Everything we
become, our ability to process language, with the exception of profound and
unrelated illness, relates to our attachment to our primary caregiver and our
culture: social interactions with other people and
institutions.
The work of
Russian educational psychologist and revolutionary Lev Vygotsky has had a
profound influence on me, but not in the usual sense. As is common to many
dyslexics I often miss chunks of text, transpose meaning and arrive at a
different place. I misread Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
meant I would need to analyse gaps in my own skills in order to find additional
support for my children’s homework. Anyway, all was not lost by failing
to realise that teachers are intended to provide support within the zone of
consolidated knowledge and potential ability. At this point I had spent three
years campaigning for the underlying deficits associated with premature birth
to be passed from health into education so knew Vygotsky had been at work here
too (long story). It also became apparent that interventions such as REAL
(Raising Early Achievement in Literacy) use his theories of ZPD and language
development. Moreover,
the correct interpretation of Vygotsky’s work was he rejected the notion that children
have to
first meet a particular stage of maturation in order to move on to the next
stage of learning. With the right support learning could take place through
effective use of language. Most importantly, he had noted learning can precede
child development. He was ahead of his time. Current fMRI studies are noting
that brain development occurs in spurts and the brain is far more plastic than
was previously thought, particularly in teenage years. Professor Price (UCL)
recently said: "We have to be careful not to write off poorer performers
at an early age when in fact their IQ may improve significantly given a few
more years”.
Why am I waffling on about brain
development and how does it relate to dyslexia?
Allen Schore et al. have
provided a multi disciplinary synthesis of neuroscience from which they have
determined sensitive periods of brain development, particularly in the first 6
months, 24 months and adolescence (up to 21/25 years of age). Most importantly,
this type of research reinforces the influence of the environment on the brain
throughout life – on human potential. Furthermore, it is now generally noted that when damage occurs to one area of the
brain, the problem can be mediated by making another area of the brain
accessible for that activity.
This is why we need to make
reasonable adjustments for students with disabilities in the assessment
process. We need to move away from standardisation and state control.
Best wishes,
Alan
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