Education Is Translation: A Metaphor for Change in Learning and Teaching

Education Is Translation A Metaphor for Change in Learning and Teaching Alison Cook-Sather "This book provides an intriguing and reflective analysis of its subject at a time when many individuals seem to have confused learning of the most narrow, technical, and superficial sort with true education."--Margaret Smith Crocco, Teachers College, Columbia University "The depth and resonance with which the author explores the metaphor of translation and the freshness of insights about learning and teaching which the metaphor opens to the reader are truly impressive. I would literally stop in the course of my reading, with a sense of awe, pondering the diverse implications of the metaphor--which is exactly what the author invites the reader to do."--Frederick Erickson, University of California at Los Angeles "The book is enriching and inspiring...It is with the utmost enthusiasm that I read and appreciate the enlightening connections Education Is Translation presents to translation scholars and educators alike."--Lillian DePaula, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Brazil "Different readers will gain different insights from this complex and thought-provoking book."--Samantha Caughlan, Teachers College Record "[This book is] incredibly beautifully written. It really is one of the most exciting education books I've read in a while."--Katherine Schultz, University of Pennsylvania Education Is Translation offers a radical redefinition of the promises and possibilities of teaching and learning. Through an unusual weaving of not only disciplinary but also personal and academic, poetic, and analytical perspectives, Alison Cook-Sather argues that education can be understood as a process of translation through which every learner is both the translator and the subject of her own translation. Drawing on the fields of anthropology, literary theory, psychology, translation studies, and educational theory, she presents in-depth explorations of various educational experiences and provides the insights necessary for the development of rewarding life-long strategies for becoming a more effective teacher and a better learner. Her analysis reveals how teaching and learning are intimately linked, how technology can transform learning, and how teachers and learners must reposition themselves in order to achieve the most transformative education. This is not a how-to book; rather, it presents in a serious and inviting way the metaphor of translation to anyone who wants to understand more deeply and support more constructively the ways humans interact, learn, and change. Alison Cook-Sather is Associate Professor of Education and Director, Bryn Mawr/Haverford Education Program, Bryn Mawr College. She is coeditor (with Jeffrey Shultz) of In Our Own Words: Students' Perspectives on School. 2005 | 224 pages | 6 x 9 ISBN 978-0-8122-3889-1 | Cloth | $59.95s | £39.00 ISBN 978-0-8122-2128-2 | Paper | $24.95s | £16.50 World Rights | Anthropology, Education Short copy: Through an unusual weaving not only of disciplinary but also of personal and academic, poetic, and analytical perspectives, Alison Cook-Sather argues that education can be understood as a process of translation through which every learner is both the translator and the subject of her own translation.