.
.
.
Assumptions:
I teach mathematics to students who are underprepared or afraid of the subject. These students often come from homes where education is undervalued. The mathematics courses I teach are often their first experience with higher education. They usually have not done any schoolwork since high school or earning their GED. This is the population I work with so this is the population I envision when I think of adult students. Most of the material on these pages assumes a similar population.
Situatedness:
My name is Roberta S. Lacefield and I teach at Waycross
College in South Georgia, USA. I began these pages as a way to study and organize my thoughts while I was a student in the Adult Education program at Florida State University. I originally considered working on my Ph.D but stopped with my Ed.S because there are so many fascinating things going on and, as Mark Twain might have said, school was getting in the way of learning. My B.S. (1984) and M.A.T. (1992)
were earned at University of Florida in Mathematics Education and Mathematics respectively. In addition to my experiences teaching at the college level, I have taught high school mathematics, volunteered with the Laubach Literacy program, and taught in a federal prison (Milan, MI.)
I am a white, middle-aged (how awful that sounds! And not a bit like me!), female who was born and raised in the midwestern United States but prefers to live in the Southeast. I have traveled to China, Japan, Canada, and Mexico. I have also traveled extensively within the US. I was raised in a predominantly Catholic community but my beliefs are a combination of Eastern and Western thought. For example, I believe Jesus was the son of God. I also believe that we are all children of God and that we all carry a divine light within us. I am married to a fellow educator and have no children. I believe all people can learn (including educators!) given the right set of circumstances.
The idea that I have an obligation to the reader to disclose my situatedness came from an article by Donna Haraway.
Haraway, Donna, Situated Knowledged: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective. Feminist Studies, No.3, 1988.
The author discusses the issue of the situatedness of an instructor.