Since Dr. Jackson offered this as an “open” post, I want to make a connection and ask for clarification.
After reading the second chapter twice I am beginning to understand this new-to-me meaning of discourse. Perhaps my most meaningful connection at this moment is how I navigate my own life. Until now, I simply characterized this movement as wearing many "hats"—my wife hat, my mom hat, my church member hat, my employee hat, my graduate student hat, my daughter hat, and my friend hat. (I am sure I left out more than one additional hat that I wear, but I figure that is fine since I cannot keep them all on my head at one time anyway.) I am realizing that these hats may be discursive in nature and thus provide a framework for my interpretation of the world around me. Even as I typed the words I felt the obligation to put them in the “right” order. One might ask, “Is there a right order?” While I believe I know the answer to that question, if I understand this reading I am being challenged to consider such notions of rightness.
Without a doubt philosophy is at the core of this discussion, and one’s life philosophy will be the sieve through which the information and opinions are filtered. I am not sure that it is possible for a person to completely separate oneself from her life philosophy in order to be truly objective. The best I can hope for me is that I will situate myself in such a way to be more willing to move from one discourse to another in order to understand my students and meet their needs.
I do need more information as I embark on the adventure of this text. What are "poststructuralist" theories? I am not familiar with the concept of poststructuralism (if I have derived the correct term) and do not want to rely totally on the context to construct meaning.
Lisa Rasey