Wise Practices

Round Dance Drummer Photo: L. Fors

Interconnections. Protocols. Wisdom.   Yesterday,  I attended a Round Dance in Driftpile, Alberta, a First Nations community.   It reminded me of the first time I heard the term "wise practices." (It was in the document Best Practices in Aboriginal Community Development: A Literature Review and Wise Practices Approach (2010) by Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux and Brian Calliou).


O. Davis Jr.  (1997) wrote about this approach in an article "Beyond best practices' toward wise practices".

According to Davis (1997), “wise practice, by its very nature, is idiosyncratic, contextual, textured, and probably inconsistent. It is not standardized, not off-the-shelf, and not a one-size-fits-all concept.” 

Interesting. 

This "wise practice" approach as defined by Davis is in response to the tendency to capture a best practice, as the practice, which "unrealistically elevates expectation beyond possibility."  It is the one size fits all mentality, that "commonly ignores reasonable options by its insistence upon a singular path."  

Wise Practices according to Davis operates on three assumptions:

1) Many teachers and administrators understand what guides their professional endeavor. They possess wisdom of practice.2) Wise practices always are situated thoroughly in their context, and recognizable, commonly ordinary individuals use them in real, specific life circumstances.3) Circumstances and life seldom unfold as individual teachers and administrators wish they would. Consequently, reality will be—not just must be—a central consideration of their teaching and administration.

When it comes to online delivery and basic education learners, and the virtual learning environment in general, the tendency for cookie cutters are inevitable due to the nature of the landscape.  It is a space that lends itself to standardization in many ways.  In this teaching place, is essential to question, evaluate and apply an approach that recognizes protocols, is aware of interconnections, and practices wisdom that honours our students' reality.

Davis Jr., O. (1997). Beyond `best practices' toward wise practices. Journal Of Curriculum & Supervision, 13(1), 1-5.