Abstract
The term Un(precedent)ED conjures ‘images’ that have never been seen before in education. Too often in the classroom we focus on the classification of objects and practices. The metaphysical question “what is?” is important only in that it must be continually revisited. Through continual re-visitation, the question becomes “what can it be?” Unfortunately, the process of becoming through imagination is a practice that is often relegated to childish whimsy. Un(precedent)ED practice requires the (re)imaging of the current apparatus of education. Precedent is a standard or model that comes before a particular event or moment; components, such as sound, written text, sight, and thought, are pieced together to create the event or moment that collapses in on itself to create the ‘images.’ Precedent, as it will be described in the following pages, refers to the construction of myth perpetuated by ‘images.’ The ‘image’ in imagination is “more than that which the idealist calls a representation, but less than that which the realist calls a thing” (Bergson, 2004, p. vii). We are immersed in a spectacle culture in which ‘images’ transform and become reality. Therefore, tremendous power lies in the ability to facilitate the use of one’s imagination to (re)interpret, (re)(con)textualize, and (re)define. Such practices become a mash-up of cultural understanding in which dominant discourses are remixed. These new imaginings require work and a belief that change can occur. Transformation or change is not a task that one should undergo without the realization that such change will require a tremendous amount of effort - physical, mental, and emotional. The purpose of this paper is to (re)imagine literacy practice based on the layering effects already taking place within our technologically driven culture. Through the process of remix, the apparatus of social interaction (i.e. literacy) becomes transformed. The ability to imagine something greater than that which preexists allows for the invention of new modes of practice in teaching and learning in the public school setting (Barthes, 1974; Debord, 1994; Derrida, 1976; Foucault, 1978; Garoian & Gaudelius, 2008).
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