Should a cop ever say to you "Sir (or Ma'am), please identify yourself..."
You can honestly respond with "Ok, but it depends on who is asking."
Some thoughts on identity...first, I'll start with my title and lead-in.
Before I go any further, it is important to know that my primary interest is non-formal education, specifically the camp industry, and I have worked at a summer camp for the past 13 years of my life, as a counselor and now Program Director. With that in mind, I recently (and successfully) defended my comps exam. Many of my questions centered around applying youth development concepts and theories to the world of summer camps. Afterwards, my committee complimented me by sharing, to paraphrase, that I am somewhat of an expert on camping. That made me feel good.
Since I just built myself up, it is only fair that I knock myself down. If I told my colleagues at the summer camp that, they would laugh at me and probably ridicule PSU's credibility for making such a statement. Part of their warm response is because we are all sarcastic jerks to each other and this is how we keep our egos in check. But I think the main reason this response is that none of us see any one of us as any more of an expert on camping than the rest of us (wow, that's quite the usage of "us" in one sentence). My camp colleagues see me merely as one of them.
At the same time, the camp colleagues have declared me an expert on youth development and literature, and often ask me for advice and to recommend sources when they are in need of help. Please note, this is in direct contradiction to the aforementioned sarcastic jerkiness theory. Ahh, I feel good about myself again.
But here comes the kick in the knee: I will be the first to admit that my research and academia skills are quite inferior, particularly compared to the great minds that I theoretically encounter on a daily basis in State College. Some of my PSU colleagues would likely laugh at the thought of me being a youth development or literature expert and, unlike the camp colleagues, they are generally nice, encouraging people.
My point is this: I am a member of two different communities, the summer camp community and the PSU research community. I don't conduct myself any differently in either community; in fact, I often try to do things and complete projects that satisfy the demands and responsibilities of both communities at the same time. Yet the perception of my identity is different despite my uniform actions in both communities. The camp community sees me as an expert in youth development because I read more literature and am more familiar with the academic community than the rest of the community, though my research skills are quite ordinary in the academic community. On the other hand, the academic community sees me as an expert on camping because of my vast experience, understanding, and philosophical abilities of the camp community, though my camp knowledge is quite ordinary in the camp community.
Interesting how two different communities see me as an expert in the opposite world, yet not in their own. My actions are important, but my identity is dependent upon the context of the observer. Perhaps my identity is not that I am an expert in camping or an expert in youth development and literature, but that I am an expert in bridging these two communities?
What do you think? Do you have any similar experiences, where two worlds observe you as two different people based on the rest of the community?
Some thoughts on identity...first, I'll start with my title and lead-in.
Before I go any further, it is important to know that my primary interest is non-formal education, specifically the camp industry, and I have worked at a summer camp for the past 13 years of my life, as a counselor and now Program Director. With that in mind, I recently (and successfully) defended my comps exam. Many of my questions centered around applying youth development concepts and theories to the world of summer camps. Afterwards, my committee complimented me by sharing, to paraphrase, that I am somewhat of an expert on camping. That made me feel good.
Since I just built myself up, it is only fair that I knock myself down. If I told my colleagues at the summer camp that, they would laugh at me and probably ridicule PSU's credibility for making such a statement. Part of their warm response is because we are all sarcastic jerks to each other and this is how we keep our egos in check. But I think the main reason this response is that none of us see any one of us as any more of an expert on camping than the rest of us (wow, that's quite the usage of "us" in one sentence). My camp colleagues see me merely as one of them.
At the same time, the camp colleagues have declared me an expert on youth development and literature, and often ask me for advice and to recommend sources when they are in need of help. Please note, this is in direct contradiction to the aforementioned sarcastic jerkiness theory. Ahh, I feel good about myself again.
But here comes the kick in the knee: I will be the first to admit that my research and academia skills are quite inferior, particularly compared to the great minds that I theoretically encounter on a daily basis in State College. Some of my PSU colleagues would likely laugh at the thought of me being a youth development or literature expert and, unlike the camp colleagues, they are generally nice, encouraging people.
My point is this: I am a member of two different communities, the summer camp community and the PSU research community. I don't conduct myself any differently in either community; in fact, I often try to do things and complete projects that satisfy the demands and responsibilities of both communities at the same time. Yet the perception of my identity is different despite my uniform actions in both communities. The camp community sees me as an expert in youth development because I read more literature and am more familiar with the academic community than the rest of the community, though my research skills are quite ordinary in the academic community. On the other hand, the academic community sees me as an expert on camping because of my vast experience, understanding, and philosophical abilities of the camp community, though my camp knowledge is quite ordinary in the camp community.
Interesting how two different communities see me as an expert in the opposite world, yet not in their own. My actions are important, but my identity is dependent upon the context of the observer. Perhaps my identity is not that I am an expert in camping or an expert in youth development and literature, but that I am an expert in bridging these two communities?
What do you think? Do you have any similar experiences, where two worlds observe you as two different people based on the rest of the community?
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Why yes, I face the identity dichotomy every day. In the teaching community I was thought of as a leader in the field, and in academia, a member of the novitiate in the research community. Multiple personality disorder comes to mind as I struggle to shelve the old person practitioner "filters" as I view new concepts, while trying to give birth to the infant researcher struggling to emerge from the womb. Identity is a fleeting thing, hard to pin down, and drives what we believe about ourselves and about what we can do. Perhaps multiple identities on the web are not really that much different than the integrated selves we are in daily life. It is easier to separate them in virtual reality and compartmentalize oneself. In real life we are who we are, and although we appear not to be what others want us to be, maybe we are indeed so...
As teachers or teacher educators, or camp directors, it takes all of the identities to work together in integrated mode to perform the multitude of tasks required to help learners actualize.
How do we develop these identities in teacher candidates and how do we teach them when to integrate and how much? Where does the identity with experience fit among the multitudes of research articles? How can we expect teachers to use these new technologies if they perceive their identity as a techno-phobe, and possess all the related feelings, attitudes and beliefs about self in that way? Should we, as early adopters, help other teachers to form an identity that ecologically fits with the Web 2.0 environment?
As Scott would say, "I'm just sayin"