The Author

Bio on the back cover of the book - picture from GLP website:

Jane Vella is the founder of Global Learning Partners, Inc., and is former adjunct professor at the School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She has designed and led community education and staff development programs in more than forty countries around the world. She is currently retired and living in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she continues her research on adult learning.

The Book

Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach: The Power of Dialogue in Educating Adults

Jane Vella June 2002 Jossey-Bass ISBN 0-7879-5967-7

In this updated version of her landmark book Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach, celebrated adult educator Jane Vella revisits her twelve principles of dialogue education with a new theoretical perspective gleaned from the discipline of quantum physics. Vella sees the path to learning as a holistic, integrated, spiritual, and energetic process. She uses engaging, personal stories of her work in a variety of adult learning settings, in different countries and with different educational purposes, to show readers how to utilize the twelve principles in their own practice with any type of adult learner, anywhere.

<http://www.globalearning.com/book_LTLLTT.htm>

Choices, Choices, Choices - The Winner is

This hasn't been an easy week and the semester hasn't even started :-(

After much deliberation - I thought I was ready with my book choice (drum roll please): The Tao of Teaching by Greta Nagel. I seem to be on a zen - ageless wisdom track. I seem to have gotten better at figuring out metaphors or have I just stopped overanalyzing and followed my gut reaction?

Fortunately as an AET student entering my third semester, I really do know that Leann is reasonable. When she states in the course syllabus, "Select a book from the list below, or if you have a recommendation based on your area of interest you can submit the title and a brief abstract to the instructor for approval." she really means it :-).

My prior coursework to date has highlighted the importance of dialogue in the exchange between teacher and learner. I've skirted around the idea; but have not delved deeply into the realm of dialogue and its implications on learning. I'd begun a book by Jane Vella that was on a reading list from last semester. As with similar earlier blog posts - it was added to my 'will read later' list. Later is now - and with Leann's permission I will be using Learning to Listen Learning to Teach as my book selection.

As the syllabus states, "Your written analysis of the book should discuss the relationship between the book content and adult education. The requirements for the analysis are purposely open-ended in order to allow you to think and write about an area that is the most useful for your own situation." My own situation to further my understanding and application is delving deeper into 'the power of dialogue in educating adults'.

Pick a book already!

I've spent the week gathering information on the book selections; what I have left:

Feminist perspectives with . . .

In a Different Voice by Carol Gilligan
Woman’s Ways of Knowing by Belenky, Clinchy, Goldgerger & Tarule

I'm familiar with both books from prior coursework and recommendations; but is this the time/place for either book to further my own learning?

The others . . .

Ethical Issues in Adult Education by Ralph Brockett

I’m very familiar with Brockett as an adult education textbook author/editor. I’ve had a very difficult time finding any real information on this book. From Amazon it has been cited in 19 books (that must be a good thing – right?).

What Amazon provides:
· Paperback: 224 pages
· Publisher: Teachers College Pr (April 1988)
· Language: English
· ISBN-10: 0807729094
· ISBN-13: 978-0807729090

Since I'm always a believer in ethics - this one will need to be added to future reading.
_______

Honky by Dalton Conley and The Education of Hyman Kaplan by Leonard Q. Ross.

First impression – autobiographical . . . how close am I to that first impression?

Google search of Honky – I should have placed a big bet :-).

I like Random House’s description the best

http://www.randomhouse.com/%20catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780375727757&view=rg

I’ll need to revisit this book … looks like a very good read.





The Education of Hyman Kaplan by Leonard Q. Ross – maybe I ought not be a betting person – this is a work of fiction by Leo Rosten who used the pseudonym Leonard Q. Ross. Wikipedia and other sources provided necessary background info for this book.

The Jewish Book Center provided the following book description:
Hyman Kaplan, the irrepressible student with ostentatious pride at the American Night Preparatory School for Adults, has captivated readers ever since he first appeared in the pages of the New Yorker. Few immigrants have prepared themselves for the responsibility of citizenship with such high spirits as Kaplan, unrestrained by the pedantic guidance of Mr. Parkhill, who suffers as his student skews the English language with a zany logic all his own. His original treatment of speech recitation and composition irritates his classmates and tempts his teacher to promote and be rid of him prematurely, but in this compassionate classroom of misadventures, Hyman Kaplan is unmistakably at its heart.
http://www.jewishbookcenter.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=437

Another good read for another time.

Learning curve continues

Seems I have way too many gmail accounts and I must remember (i.e., write down) which one I am using for this blog and class assignment! Sorry Sarah - I need to go back and unfollow your blog on the gmail account I'm not using for this class!

Anyone who is interested in program design and needs a true guinea pig, I volunteer my uneducative stumbling, tripping about in this medium :-)