EDUCATION 63: SCHOOL AND SOCIETY

 

Fall 1995                                                                     Lisa Smulyan

 

Class   Wednesday 1:15PM-4:00PM                         Office Hours: Pearson 216 (X-8343)

            Hicks 211                                                                                Friday, 9:00-11:00 a.m.

 

Overview

 

            This course draws primarily on materials in educational sociology and critical pedagogy to examine the multiple levels at which schools operate in society. It aims to help you develop a critical perspective on classrooms and schools focussing in particular on 1) the ways in which people look at and study educators and educational institutions; 2) the relationship between individuals (students, teachers, administrators, parents) and institutions, and 3) the relationships among individuals, institutions and the larger society within which they operate. Through reading and fieldwork, you will also become familiar with the ethnographic approach to educational research.

 

Notes on Readings: Most of the assigned books are available in the Bookstore, in paperback. Readings can also be found in the Educational Materials Center (Pearson 204) and on General Reserve, McCabe Library. Readings in the Materials Center are located on one shelf marked School and Society and are not to be removed from the Education Office Area. The Materials Center is open from 8:30AM-6:00PM and 7:30PM-9:30PM most weekdays. Materials in McCabe are located on reserve.

 

*Books or journal issues, shelved by author or journal title.

**Xeroxed articles or reprints, collected in black binders, shelved under Education 47.

***Readings available both in books or journals and in black binders.

 

 

Week I (September 6) - Introduction

 

 

Week II (September 13) - Looking at Schools

 

*Lightfoot, S. (1983) The Good High School, NY: Basic Books. "Origins: Art and       Science," and Chapter 3, Highland Park High School, pp. 3-29 and 121-149.

*Meier, D. (1995) The Power of Their Ideas. Beacon Press. Chapters 2-4, pp. 15-90.

**Kidder, T. (1989) Among Schoolchildren, Boston: Houghton Mifflin,. pp. 3-53.

*Woods, P. (1986) Inside Schools, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul,. Chapters 1 and 2, "Ethnography and the teacher," and "Beginning research." pp. 1-32.

 

 

 

 

Week III (September 27) - School Culture

 

*McLaren, P. (1994) Life in Schools, NY: Longman,. Skim Chapters 1-3 and read       Chapters 4-6, pp.33-191.

***Sarasen, S. (1971) The Culture of the School and the Problem of Change, Boston: Allyn       and Bacon. Chapters 1, 2, and 6. pp. 1-14, 62-87.

*Powell, A., Farrar, E. and Cohen, D. Shopping Mall High School, Chapter 1, pp. 8-65.

*Lightfoot, S. The Good High School, Chapter 1 OR 4, pp. 29-55 and 150-218.

**Thorne, B. (1993) Gender Play. Rutgers U. Press, Chapter 3, pp. 29-47.

 

 

 

Week IV (September 20) - Classroom Culture

 

**Goodlad, J. (1984) A Place Called School, NY: McGraw Hill. Chpt 4, “Inside       Classrooms,” pp. 93-129.

*Powell, Farrar and Cohen (1985) Shopping Mall High School, Boston: Houghton Mifflin.         Chapter 2 “Treaties” pp. 66-117.

**Grant, L. (1984) "Black females 'place' in desegregated classrooms," Sociology of          Education , 57, pp. 98-111.

**Ellsworth, E. (1989) "Why doesn't this feel empowering? Working through the repressive          myths of critical pedagogy." Harvard Education Review, 59(3) pp. 297-324.

*Woods, P. Inside Schools, Chapter 3 and 5, pp. 33-61 and 90-119.

 

Optional

**Askew, S. and Ross, C. (1988) Boys Don't Cry. Open University Press. Chapter 2, pp.          18-41.

 

Reflection paper due Monday, October 2.

 

Week V (October 4) - A Separate Peace: Private schools

 

*Lightfoot, S. The Good High School, Chapter 5 OR 6, pp. 221-305.

*Cookson, P. and Persell, C. (1985) Preparing for Power. Basic Books. Chapters 1, 4, (5          optional), and 7.

**Powell, A. G. (1990) "The conditions of teachers' work in independent schools." Chapter       4, pp. 111-141 in McLaughlin, Talbert and Bascia, The Contexts of Teaching in       Secondary Schools, NY: Teachers College Press.

 

**Bryk, A., Lee, V. and Holland, P. (1993) Catholic Schools and the Common Good.       Harvard University Press. Prologue, pp. 1-11 and Chapter 12, pp. 297-327.

                                                            OR

**Lomety, K. and Brookins, C. (1988) "Independent black institutions: A cultural       perspective," Chapter 12 in Slaughter and Slaughter (eds.) Visible Now: Blacks in       Private Schools. NY: Greenwood Press, pp. 163-183.

 

Film: Dead Poet's Society

 

 

Week VI (October 11) - The Aim of Education and the Definition of Knowledge

 

*Hirsh, E.D. Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know, Boston Houghton          Mifflin, 1987. Chapters 1, 5 and 6, pp. 1-32, 110-145.

**Freire, P. Pedagogy of the Oppressed, NY: Herder and Herder, 1972. Chapter 2, pp. 57-         74.

**Apple, M. (1993) Official Knowledge. Routledge. Chapter 3, pp. 44-63.

**Grant, C. and Sleeter, C. (1987) "Multicultural education." Harvard Educational Review          57(4) pp. 421-444.

**Sylvester, S. (1994) "Elementary school curricula and urban transformation." Harvard          Education Review, 64(3), pp. 309-331.

Field notes due Friday, October 13th.

 

 

Week VII (October 25) - Teachers' Lives and Work I

 

*Lortie, D.(1975) Schoolteacher, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Chapters 3, 4, and       6, pp. 55-108, 134-161.

*Meier, D. (1994) The Power of their Ideas. Chapters 7 and 8, pp. 121-140.

*Wasley, P. (1994) Stirring the Chalkdust. Teachers College Press. Read any two cases         (chapters 2-6).

*Woods, P. Inside Schools, Chapter 4, "Interviews," pp. 62-89.

 

Midterm due Friday, October 27th.

 

 

Week VIII (November 1) - Teachers' Lives and Work, II

*Biklen, S. (1995) School Work: Gender and the Cultural Construction of Teaching.       Teachers College Press. Chapters 1, 2, (3 optional) 7, 8

**Foster, M. “Resisting racism: Personal testimonies of African American teachers." in L.         Weiss and M. Fine (eds.) Beyond Silenced Voices. Albany: SUNY press. pp. 273-288. **Metz, M. H. (1990) "How social class differences shape teachers' work," Chapter 3, pp.         40-110 in McLaughlin et al. The Contexts of Teaching in Secondary School, NY:         Teachers College Press.

*Khayatt, M. (1992) Lesbian Teachers: An Invisible Presence. SUNY Press. Chapters 6       and 8, pp. 145-172, 203-226.

 

 

 

Week IX (November 8) - School administration

 

*Barth, R. (1980) Run School Run, Chapters 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9. Boston: Harvard University         Press, 1980.

*Shakeshaft, C. (1987) Women in Educational Administration, Chapters 2, 6, and 7. CA:         Sage Publications, 1987.

***Sarason, S. The Culture of the School and the Problem of Change, Chapters 8 and 9, “The             principal” and “The principal and the use of the system,” pp. 110-150.

*Woods, P. Inside Schools, Chapter 6 "Analysis," pp. 120-146.

 

Film: Lean on Me

 

 

 

Week X (November 15) - Schools and Families

 

*Biklen, S. (1995) School Work: Gender and the Cultural Construction of Teaching.       Teachers College Press. Chapter 6, pp. 126-142.

*Lareau, A. (1989) Home Advantage: Social Class and Parental Intervention in Elementary       Education. Falmer Press. Chapters 1, 2, 6, 8. (3 and 4 are optional)

*Chavkin, N. (ed.) (1993) Families and Schools in a Pluralistic Society. SUNY Press.             Chapter 1 (Moles), pp. 21-52, one chapter from Part II (Current Research) and one             chapter from Part II (Practice Perspectives).

**Wagstaff and Gallagher (1990) "Schools, families and communties: Idealized images and          new realities," in Cunningham and Mitchell (eds) Educational Leadership and Changing          Contexts in Families. University of Chicago Press. Chapter 5, pp. 91-117.

 

 

 

Week XI (November 22) - Schools and Culture/Community

 

*Ladson-Billings, G. (1994) The Dreamkeepers. Jossey Bass.

**Cummings, J. (1986) "Empowering minority students: A framework for intervention,"            Harvard Educational Review 56(1) pp. 18-36.

**Pweewardy, C. (1994) "Culturally responsible pedagagy in action: An American Indian          Magnet School, in Hollins, King and Hayman (eds) Teaching Diverse Populations.          SUNY Press, pp. 77-92.

**Patthye-Chavez, G. (1993) "High school as an arena for cultural conflict and acculturation             for Latino Angelinos," Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 24(1) p. 33-60.

 

 

Week XII (November 29) Projects

 

 

Week XIII (December 6) - School Reform

 

*Lieberman, A., ed. (1995) The Work of Restructuring Schools: Building from the Ground             Up. Teachers College Press. Chapters 1 and 8, then choose 2 cases (Chapters 2-7).

*McLaren, P. Life in Schools, Chapter 10, “Teachers and students,” pp. 226-237.

*Fine, M. (1994) Chartering Urban School Reform. Teachers College Press. Chapters 1, 5,             6.

*Sarason, S. (1990) The Predictable Failure of Educational Reform. Jossey-Bass. Chapters             1, 3, and 7

 

 

Final paper due December 15th.

Books ordered at the Bookstore:

 

Barth, R. Run, School, Run

Biklen, S. School Work

Chavkin, N. Families and Schools in a Pluralistic Society

Grant, C. and Sleeter, C. After the School Bell Rings

Ladson-Billings, G. The Dream Keepers

Lightfoot, S.L. Good High School

Lortie, D. Schoolteacher

McLaren, P. Life in Schools

Meier, D. The Power of Their Ideas

Sarason, S.B. The Culture of the School and the Problem of Change

Woods, P. Inside Schools

 

Course requirements

 

1. Reflection piece (15%)

 

            The work you read and discuss in this course, will, I believe, cause you to rethink some of your own schooling experiences. At the end of Week IV, you will write a short (3-5 page) reflection piece on a single event or issue in your own educational background. You will write a very brief description of the event or issue and then choose 2-3 authors from those whose work you have read to this point in the course and use them to help you reflect on and analyze that experience. Due Monday, October 2.

           

2. Fieldwork and final project (35%)

 

            You will be placed in a school with four of your classmates where you will carry out an action research project and mini-ethnography of the school. Through this project, you will study and/or participate in some issue or topic in the school under the principal's or some teachers' guidance. You will report your results to the school in whatever form would be most useful to them and will write a paper for me that describes your process and product as well as your reflections on both within the context of the course materials you have studied. You will each be responsible for taking field notes of your own particular situation; as a group you will develop as complete a view of the school as you can. In addition to 5-6 observations, your work will include an in-depth interview with a teacher or principal with whom you are working. If necessary for your project, you may also want to interview parents, students or other community members. You will hand in one set of field notes (from one school visit) on October 13, 1995.

 

            You will need to meet as a group outside of class to compare your situations; plan any divisions of labor (e.g., someone might do an observation in the lunchroom, another in the gym, another at bus duty, etc. to round out your experience); brainstorm interview questions; and compare and analyze data. As a group, you may choose to have each person write up their experience and analysis individually, writing as a group a common introduction to the school ethnography you have produced that describes the setting and highlights patterns, themes, unanswered questions, contradictions, etc. Or, you may choose to write as a group, sharing data and dividing up to write different parts of the report.

 

            The final project will be due December 15, 1995.

 

2. Midterm (25%) - a 4-5 page take home analysis of a case study. Due October 27, 1995.

 

 

4. Final (25%) - to be arranged.