Words convey ideas, concepts, meaning. \u00a0Word choices elicit an evocative response that brings an experience beyond the explicit message. \u00a0In Dr. Ramsey’s two articles, \u201cManagement Learning: A Scholarship of Practice Centred on Attention?\u201d and \u201cProvocative Theory and a Scholarship of Practice,\u201d she uses words that stir the reader to respond, creating an opportunity for a transformative possibility: provocative, social poetic, social constructionism, tension, generative, phronesis, mindfulness, relational. \u00a0Integrated throughout her thesis – change requires reflective moments for an ongoing synthesis of knowledge and practice – these words emerge as part of what she advocates in her practice. \u00a0They undergird the premise that the reader must respond, either favorably or unfavorably. \u00a0Regardless if it’s negative or positive, the response changes the reader.<\/p>\n
Perhaps because I have met Dr. Ramsey personally, I know provocative measures delight her. \u00a0In reading her articles, I see that same desire in her use of words that convey more than meaning – she wants a response. \u00a0 She wants this “practice-as-learning” to be held in the same esteem as “scholarship,” setting the scene with an intrepid, daring and audacious assertion that calls for a confrontation with anyone to suggest it is only a conjecture. It is not enough to read another article. The words on the page take on life as a \u201csocial poetic\u201d \u2013 they \u201ccenter the way that our talk strikes, moves, gestures to us, calling out action from us in a relationally responsive manner. \u00a0This is talk as invitational.\u201d[1]<\/a> \u00a0In the engagement of the words, conversation, and action, that\u2019s where provocative learning occurs.<\/p>\n I want my words to provoke conversation. I, like her use of Dostoevsky\u2019s work, want to continue in an ongoing generative conversation whereby new life occurs with each interchange.[2]<\/a> My hope is to provide that opportunity in the same kind of posture that I witnessed in Cape Town by Dr. Ramsey: a posture of curiosity, learning and action that demonstrates a humility of discovery which happens in the moment. The moments change us, if we\u2019re willing to stay in the tension and phronesis (practical wisdom) that come in the praxis of learning.<\/p>\n As Dr. Ramsey identifies her own learning through the CAD project, I\u2019m struck by her commitment to \u201cattention rather than knowledge.\u201d[3]<\/a> Willing to admit to her own mistakes as well as discoveries, she reflects a scholarship of practice that focuses on being attentive, mindful, not only our actions and judgments, but also our communication. In describing \u201csocial poetics,\u201d as defined by \u201chow our talk not only informs others but also strikes, move, or gestures,\u201d[4]<\/a> she restores the value and use of words and our attention to a relational level of transformative capacities.<\/p>\n While I\u2019ll admit to not understanding all of the academic jargon, I resonate with the premises of both articles that learning requires practice and practice requires learning, usually in the moment, built with\u00a0knowledge that offers common language and understanding. Leaning into that practice requires a reader to reflect on his\/her own contribution to and philosophy of learning.<\/p>\n As I prepared my post over this week (did anyone else find it excruciatingly painful knowing that the reader\/facilitator of our posts is the author of what we read?), I found a prayer that helped me through. As I reflected on the power of words, the need for provocative conversation, practice-as-learning, reflection-as-action, and living in the moment-by-moment, I came to a place of confession and worship. \u00a0Perhaps because I have so little to offer in this post, I share the words of another to encourage us all, in particular the last line:<\/p>\n O Holy One, we call to you and name you as eternal, ever-present, and boundless in love.<\/p>\n Yet there are times, O God, when we fail to recognize you in the daily-ness of our lives.<\/p>\n Sometimes shame clenches tightly around our hearts, and we hide our true feelings.<\/p>\n Sometimes fear makes us small, and we miss the chance to speak from our strength.<\/p>\n Sometimes doubt invades our hopefulness, and we degrade our own wisdom.<\/p>\n Holy God, in the daily round from sunrise to sunset,<\/p>\n remind us again of your holy presence hovering near us and in us.<\/p>\n Free us from shame and self-doubt.<\/p>\n \u00a0Help us to see you in the moment-by-moment possibilities to live honestly, to act courageously, and to speak from our wisdom.<\/em><\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Caroline Ramsey, \u201cProvocative Theory and a Scholarship of Practice,\u201d Management Learning<\/em> 42, no. 5 (31 March 2011): 469-83, accessed March 9, 2015, http:\/\/mlq.sagepub.com<\/a>, 3.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Ibid, 4.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Caroline Ramsey, \u201cManagement Learning: A Scholarship of Practice Centred On Attention,\u201d Management Learning<\/em> 45, no. 1 (11 February 2013): 6-29, accessed March 9, 2015, http:\/\/mlq.sagepub.com<\/a>, 18.<\/p>\n