LDR 2 LDR: University faculty communicating practice through theory

Abstract

An act of leadership is always an act of practical theory. We lead because we hold visions of the world as it ought to be, because of the not yet, because of the potential that we see in ideas and people. Yet, there still exists a perceived binary between leadership theory (in the strong sense) and leadership practice, a binary that divides organizations, classrooms, and the differing bodies of leadership literature. In this Symposium, Duncan Waite and his colleagues discuss the barriers they have faced in bringing theory to the educational leadership classroom, as well as the promise they feel theory holds for more productive, equitable, and humane schooling organizations.

Problematizing the Social in Social Justice Education

“…It does not always move us forward in our thinking and our actions. Giddens (1991) noted how social scientists' theorizing and framing sit in relation to the lived world they study as a "double hermeneutic"taken by the social scientist from the stuff of the lived world, analyzed, theorized, reframed, and fed back into the very same lived world or taken up by actors in that same lived world (Waite, 2009), sometimes with disastrous consequences. Varenne and McDermott (1998) cited several examples of the harmful effects of social scientists' work, such as that of the anthropologist Oscar Lewis and his notion of a "culture of poverty," a concept which found its way into the popular and policy discourse of the time, with prolonged negative effects.…”

Teaching the Unteachable

“…Whether conceived of as conceptualization, analysis, interpretation, or theorizing, how does one teach thinking? This is a problem with which I have wrestled for some time (see Waite, 2009aWaite, , 2009b. As with the other fundamental components (fieldwork and writing), there seem to be some who come by thinking, and thinking deeply, quite readily; othersespecially those who are more concrete sequential, in Piaget's terms, find thinking, analyzing, conceptualizing, and relating theory to what they are seeing and hearing a bit more difficult to do (developing theory from the data, from the factoids, in the manner of grounded theory is likewise more difficult for some).…”

The dynamism of the current global (and globalized) moments: implications for teachers, administrators, and other educational leaders

“…182-183). Thinking and learning through thinking are necessary complements to action-for the student, for the teacher, and for the 'leader' (see Waite, 2009aWaite, , 2009bWaite, , 2012.…”