First Anniversary Issue

Last month, you may recall that I shared information regarding dual language programs http://www.joanwink.com/newsletter/2003/news0603.php#dual. Much of this is now posted on my updated WebPages http://www.joanwink.com. Next month I anticipate that I will write about international education in Mallorca, Spain.

This is the first year anniversary of WinkWorld, and I want to thank you for your kind comments during the past year. To celebrate this anniversary issue, I am including only short descriptions of my real world on the ranch.

One day a couple of years ago, I was in my garage looking at all of the boxes of teaching/learning treasures, which I have accumulated through the years. I wondered how to pass those materials on to other teachers. Denise, who maintains my WebPages, and Dawn suggested an electronic newsletter. Thus, the idea of WinkWorld was born. My purpose was and is: to pass on to others the many teaching treasures in those boxes before I retire. I knew when I began this process that there would be many surprises, and indeed there have been.

In July 2002, the initial issue of WW http://www.joanwink.com/newsletter/2002/news0702.php, I intended only to send out a transcription and translation of a Paulo Freire audio tape http://www.joanwink.com/newsletter/2002/news0702-freire.php from CABE 1993. The truth is that several of us worked several weeks on the transcription and translation. We agonized over the delicate balance of maintaining his authentic voice, as we knew the written text could never capture the magic of his persona as he actually delivered it. I know that several of you are now using this text in your contexts of teaching and learning. To share this audio tape in written form makes WW worth the effort for me.

I originally had no intention of including Prairie Pedagogy. At the last minute, I spontaneously included a little description http://www.joanwink.com/newsletter/2002/news0702-prairie.php of that particular day on the ranch. I spent only a few hours crafting it, while several of us had spent many weeks with the Freire transcription/translation. The irony, of course, is that the Prairie Pedagogy piece received interesting responses, too. I have no idea why I continue to write about our life on the prairies. Maybe one day, Dawn or someone else will use these snapshots of ranch life to write the great American novel, and I will be noted in the acknowledgements as a handy research assistant.