Ellin, Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on this naming issue. I was thinking that was why you re-named things--to provide clarity about what you mean when YOU say reader's workshop, as opposed to what people's interpretation of reader's workshop might be.
When I was doing my dissertation on lesson-study (mathematics part), I ran into this naming issue. People in the area of lesson study were trying how to "protect" the name from injury because lots of people were picking up on this great idea and then misusing it and calling what they did lesson study. The damage of that is that others will see a poor representation of lesson study and assume lesson study is for the birds. No one ever resolved the issue...there was even talk of registering "lesson study" so people could not use it except in a specific context from a specific source or product that could be kept pure. The problem with that, I think we will all recognize, is that then we run into "programs of fidelity" and thinking is thrown out the window in favor of saluting and marching, never a good thing. So, how do we make a name stay true to its designation when all sorts of people jump in and smudge up the product? Even though, Ellin, you have renamed to clarify, your renaming, unfortunately, could end up in the same boat down the road. Is this the lot of all things named? :)Bonita _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list [email protected] http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org
