Trinity College Spring 2005
TR 9:55-11:10am McCook 225
www.trincoll.edu/depts/educ/
Asst. Prof. Jack Dougherty
McCook 302
Phone: 297-2296
Email: jack.dougherty@trincoll.edu
Office Hours: Mondays 10am-noon
and Tues 1:15-2:30pm
Teaching Assistant: Amanda Miser ’06
Email: amanda.miser@trincoll.edu
Introduction:
analysis (noun, plural analyses; adjective analytical; verb analyze)
1. The separation of a whole into constituents with a view to its examination and interpretation.
This course introduces the study of schooling within an interdisciplinary framework. Drawing upon sociology, we investigate the resources, structures, and social contexts which influence student opportunities and outcomes in the United States and other countries. From psychology, we contrast theories of learning, both in the abstract and in practice. From philosophy, we examine competing educational goals and their underlying assumptions regarding human nature, justice, and democracy. In addition, a community learning component, where students observe and participate in nearby K-12 classrooms for three hours per week, will be integrated with course readings and written assignments.
Readings:
Available at bookstore in Ed Studies section:
DC Phillips and Jonas Soltis, Perspectives on Learning, fourth edition. (New York: Teachers College Press, 2004). ISBN 0807744476; $18
Vivian Gussin Paley, You Can’t Say You Can’t Play. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992). ISBN 0674965906; $10.95
Additional readings will be made available in class.
Evaluation:
Six 2-3 page analysis papers 6 x 10 =60 pts
#1 Sociology of the Classroom
#2 Theories of Learning
#3 Explaining Educational Inequality
#4 School-based Reform Strategies
#5 Curriculum Project Proposal
#6 Philosophy of Education
Classroom Participant-Observation (evaluated by classroom teacher) =15 pts
Curriculum Project - Oral Presentation (evaluated bycoordinators) =10 pts
Curriculum Project – Final Draft (evaluated by instructor) =15 pts
Cumulative Final Exam =10 pts
NOTE: Initially, the total number of points equals 110. When calculating the final grade, your lowest 10-point grade will be dropped, resulting in an adjusted total of 100 points.
Be advised that adequate work earns a C, good work earns a B, and outstanding work earns an A in this class. Students are expected to engage in academic honesty in all forms of work for this course. If this is unclear to you, ask for clarification.
The late assignment penalty is a 10% reduction for every 12-hour period beyond the deadline, with exceptions granted only for documented medical & family emergencies.
Please notify me during the first week if you require any special accommodations.
How to succeed in this course:
• Class begins on time and we expect you to be present at every session from start to finish. If you run into a one-time scheduling conflict with our class, be sure to consult with me (by email, phone, or in person) BEFORE the conflict to inquire about alternative arrangements. If you become ill or have a family emergency, then email or phone me to inquire about what you’re missing and how to compensate.
• Participate regularly in class discussions and bring the relevant readings and notes with you. While there is no formal “participation” grade, actively engaging in discussions (both inside and outside of the classroom) will help you learn the material. At the same time, remember that being a reflective listener is crucial to meaningful discussions, especially when the views of others differ from your own.
• The short analysis papers require students to bridge theoretical readings with the participant-observation experiences in Hartford schools. They also serve as the primary evaluation tool in this course, so look for feedback about improving your writing.
• The instructor is assisted by TAs who attend all classes, facilitate small group discussions, and write comments on (but not grade) written assignments. Make an appointment with any one of us to talk about improving your learning in the course.
• Check your Trinity email account regularly, since we frequently send out messages with important information, and it's the best way to get answers to simple questions.
Tue Jan 20th Introduction to Syllabus & Placements in Hartford Public Schools
Participant-Observation Guidelines:
Clusters of students will be assigned to work with classroom teachers in five different schools in the area. In each school, a coordinator has been designated to help organize placements, guide orientations, and facilitate communication with classroom teachers.
Schools & Placement Coordinators Address Main Phone
M.D. Fox Elementary School 470 Maple Avenue 695-3600
Elise LaRosa Murphy
McDonough Elementary School 111 Hillside Avenue 695-4260
Patricia Phelan
Moylan Elementary School 101 Catherine Street 695-4500
Irene Coe
Bellizzi Middle Sch. (formerly South) 215 South Street 695-2400
Deana Leiken
Mitch Grant
Hartford Magnet Middle School 53 Vernon Street 757-6201
Nancy Otter
Mark Flaherty
Hartford Public Schools website: http://www.hartfordschools.org/
HPS info on weather-related closings: 695-SNOW (695-7669)
Trinity Ed Studies Program website: http:/www.trincoll.edu/depts/educ
Students will work as “participant-observers” with their classroom teachers for at least 8 three-hour sessions (a total of 24 hours) over the course of the semester. The objectives are for Trinity students to:
· Integrate theoretical readings with first-hand experience, in order to complete the 6 analysis paper assignments required in the course
· Develop meaningful relationships with students and teachers, to deepen our reflections on the contexts of urban schools and the purposes of education
· Identify potential resources and gain practical experience for designing a curriculum project
Clusters of students will attend a mandatory orientation session during the second week of the course with their school coordinator. (Exact times TBA).
During the initial visit with the teacher, students will complete a basic contract to establish their schedule and role in the classroom. “Participant-observation” is more than just quietly watching; it includes more active roles in the classroom, such as one-on-one tutoring, working with small groups, preparing materials for a classroom project, and (in some cases) planning and teaching a brief lesson.
At the end of the semester, school coordinators will evaluate Trinity students’ placement experiences based on their level of engagement, reliability, and effort demonstrated in the classroom.
Unit 1: Sociology of the Classroom
Question:
How does the physical, social, and curricular organization of schools and classrooms influence teacher-student interactions?
Thur Jan 27 Teachers' Work: Hollywood versus Reality
Read:
Sophie Bell, "Dangerous Morals: Hollywood Puts a Happy Face on Urban Education," Radical Teacher 54 (1998): 23-27.
"Teachers, Teaching, and Professionalization" in Alan Sadovnik et. al., eds., in Exploring Education, second edition, (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2001) pp. 239-244.
Video excerpts in class:
Stand and Deliver, fictionalized portrayal of Jaime Escalante, (1988). VID 0730
High School II, documentary of Central Park East HS, F. Wiseman (1994). VID 0203
Tue Feb 1 Looking Inside Schools: International Comparisons
Read:
Kathleen deMarrais and Margaret LeCompte, "The Social Organization of Schooling" and "What is Taught in Schools" in The Way Schools Work: A Sociological Analysis of Education, third edition. (NY: Longman, 1999), 43-52, 222-228, 236-247.
Sharan Merriam, “Being a Careful Observer,” Qualitative Research and Case Study Applications in Education (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1998), 94-111.
James Stigler and James Hiebert, "The TIMSS Videotape Study" in Alan Sadovnik et. al., eds., Exploring Education, second edition (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2001), pp. 276-281.
Video/CD-ROM:
Eighth-Grade Mathematics Lessons: US, Japan, and Germany (US Department of Education, TIMSS Study, 1998).
Borrow CD-ROM from Educ Resource Center
Distribute: Paper topic #1, DUE Friday, Feb 4th
Thur Feb 3 Contradictions of Reform: Teaching in Hartford Schools
Read:
Linda McNeil, "Contradictions of Reform" in Alan Sadovnik et. al., eds., in Exploring Education, second edition, pp. 245-255.
Robert Slavin et. al., Every Child, Every School: Success For All (Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 1996), pp. 1-20.
Jeff Archer, “Under Amato, Hartford Schools Show Progress” Education Week (March 1, 2000).
Unit 2: Theories of Learning
Question: How do classical and contemporary theorists explain how people learn?
Tue Feb 8 Classical Theory and Behaviorism
Read: Phillips and Soltis, Perspectives on Learning, intro and chapters 1-4
Distribute: Learning vignette writing pre-assignment
Thur Feb 10 Constructivist Theories: Piaget, Dewey, and Vygotsky
Read: Phillips and Soltis, Perspectives on Learning, chapters 5-6
Video excerpt in class: First Graders Divide 62 by 5 (TC Press, 1999). VID 2730
Tue Feb 15 Constructivist Theories: Bruner
Read: Phillips and Soltis, Perspectives on Learning, chapter 7
Video excerpt in class: A Private Universe (Annenberg/CPB, 1987). [Ed Res Ctr]
See companion website: http://www.learner.org/teacherslab/pup/
Distribute: Paper topic #2, DUE Tuesday Feb 22
Thur Feb 17 Making Sense of Theories of Learning
Read: Phillips and Soltis, Perspectives on Learning, chapter 9
Tue Feb 22 Learning and Individual Differences
Read: Gary Clabaugh, “What’s ‘Special’ about Special Education?” Educational Horizons (Fall 2002): 6-7.
Susan Barringer, “Inclusion: All Children Welcome,” Parenting Insights (1995): 12-13.
Guest instructor: Amanda Miser
Unit 3: Explaining Educational Inequality
Question: How do different theories attempt to explain racial, social class, and gender gaps in educational achievement?
Thur Feb 24 Making Sense of Race, Class, Gender and the Test Score Gap
Read: Selected data from SAT and National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
In Class: Standardized test score analysis and brainstorming activity
NOTE: For next class, print out and read “Strategic School Profile” for your school.
Go to CT Dept of Education, School Information website:
http://www.csde.state.ct.us/public/der/schools/index.htm
School Profiles > Regular Education by School 2003-04 > Hartford [find school]
View video: Puerto Rican Passages (CPTV, 1995). [VID 2231 and Ed Resource Ctr]
Showing by TA at _______________________ or go to library video reserve.
Thur March 3 School Finance and Tracking
Read: Jonathan Kozol, “Children of the City Invincible: Camden, New Jersey,” Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools. (NY: Crown, 1991), chapter 4.
Jeannie Oakes, “The Distribution of Knowledge,” Keeping Track: How Schools Structure Inequality (New Haven: Yale Press, 1985), excerpts from chapter 4.
“Strategic School Profile” for your placement school [see directions above]
In class: Analyze metropolitan Hartford data; handout from Ivan Kuzyk, Hartford Primer and Field Guide, 2nd edition. (Hartford: Trinity College, 2003), pp. 100-103.
Tue March 8 Cultural Capital
Read: Annette Lareau, “Social Class Differences in Family-School Relationships: The Importance of Cultural Capital.” Sociology of Education 60 (1987), pp. 73-85.
Rick Green, “Chapter 6: A Jolt of Juanita,” Hartford Courant (November 21, 1999).
Guest speaker: ________________________________________
Thur March 10 Cultural Discontinuities
Read: Lynn A. Vogt et.al., “Explaining School Failure, Producing School Success: Two Cases.” Anthropology and Education Quarterly 18 (December 1987): 276-286.
John Ogbu, “Immigrant and Involuntary Minorities in Comparative Perspective,” in M. Gibson and J. Ogbu, eds., Minority Status and Schooling. (NY: Garland, 1991).
Distribute: Paper topic #3, DUE Friday March 18
Tue March 15 Stereotype Threat
Read: Claude Steele, "A Threat in the Air: How Stereotypes Shape Intellectual Identity and Performance," reprinted in Eugene Lowe, ed., Promise and Dilemma: Perspectives on Racial Diversity and Higher Education (Princeton, 1999), excerpt from pp. 107-108.
Claude Steele, “Thin Ice: Stereotype Threat and Black College Students” Atlantic Monthly (August 1999), pp. 44-54.
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/99aug/9908stereotype.htm
Paul Sackett, Chaitra Hardison, and Michael Cullen, “On Interpreting Stereotype Threat as Accounting for African American-White Differences on Cognitive Tests,” American Psychologist 59 (January 2004): 7-13.
Video excerpt in class: Secrets of the SAT (PBS Frontline, 1999). [Ed Res Center]
See full interview with Claude Steele at:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/sats/interviews/steele.html
Thurs March 17 Gender Bias
Read: Myra and David Sadker, “Hidden Lessons,” Failing at Fairness: How America’s Schools Cheat Girls (NY: Scribner’s, 1994), chapter 1.
AAUW, Gender Gaps Executive Summary: Where Schools Still Fail our Children (Washington DC: AAUW, 1998). http://www.aauw.org/research/girls_education/gg.cfm
Robert Frahm and Rachel Gottlieb, “Merits of Single-Sex Classes Debated,” Hartford Courant, March 5, 2004.
Video in class: Failing in Fairness (NBC Dateline, February 8, 1994). [Ed Resource Ctr]
Unit 4: School-based Reform Strategies
Question: How do different school-based reform strategies attempt to improve education? What assumptions do these strategies make about the causes of educational inequality?
Tues March 29 Cooperative Learning
Read: Robert Slavin, Cooperative Learning: Theory, Research, Practice, 2nd edition. (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1995), chapters 1 and 2.
In class: Cooperative learning exercise; distribute teacher interview pre-assignment
Thurs March 31 Detracking and Multiculturalism
Video: Michelle Fine et. al., Off-Track: Classroom Privilege for All (Teachers College Press, 1998). [VID 1931]
Read: James Banks, "Approaches to Multicultural Curriculum Reform," in Multicultural Education: Issues and Perspectives, 5th edition. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2004.
Sonia Nieto, “Multicultural Education in Practice” in Affirming Diversity: The Sociopolitical Context of Multicultural Education, 3rd edition (NY: Longman, 2000).
Rita Tenorio, “’Brown Kids Can’t Be in Our Club’: Raising Issues of Race with Young Children,” Rethinking Schools 18 (Spring 2004): 29-32.
Tues April 12 Curriculum Design and Objectives for Student Learning
Read: Bob Peterson, “Measuring Water with Justice: A Multidisciplinary Lesson that Explores Water Issues,” Rethinking Schools 19 (Fall 2004): 33-37.
Sample curriculum projects by previous Trinity Ed 200 students [to be assigned].
Bloom's Taxonomy
/depts/educ/resources/bloom.htm
Howard Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences
http://www.ibiblio.org/edweb/edref.mi.th.html
In class: Curriculum project guidelines and evaluation criteria; exercise on identifying and articulating objectives for student learning
Paper topic #5 (proposal) assigned; DUE via Blackboard on Sunday April 17 at 9pm
Thurs April 14 Curriculum Design and Activities/Resources
NOTE: This session will meet at _____________________
Read: Linda Christensen, “Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us: Critiquing Cartoons and Society,” in Reading, Writing, and Rising Up: Teaching about Social Justice and the Power of the Written Word. Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking Schools, 2000.
Kelley Dawson Salas, “Teaching About Toxins: Students Explore the Health Issues Affecting their Community,” Rethinking Schools 18 (Winter 2003): 22-25.
Resources: Go to Ed Studies website (/depts/educ)
Click on “Resources” and see:
Ed Studies Resource Center (books and videos for loan)
Educ 200 Curriculum Design Resources (web links)
Ed 200 Curriculum Projects (PDF and Powerpoint files from previous students)
In class: Orientation to print and digital curriculum resources; test Blackboard posting
Tues April 19 Curriculum Design and Evaluation
Read: Linda Christensen, “Portfolios and Basketball,” in Reading, Writing, and Rising Up: Teaching about Social Justice and the Power of the Written Word. Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking Schools, 2000.
In class: Feedback delivered on paper #5 (proposal) via Blackboard
Unit 6: Philosophy of Education
Questions: What is the purpose of education? What is worth learning? How should debates over these issues be resolved in a democratic society?
Thur April 21 Individual Freedom and Civic Virtue, Part I
Read: Amy Gutmann, “Democratic Education in Difficult Times.” Teachers College Record 92 (Fall 1990): 7-20.
Video excerpt in class: It’s Elementary: Talking about Gay Issues in School (Women's Educational Media, 1996). [Ed Resource Center]
Read: "Why Address Gay Issues With Children" It's Elementary Viewing Guide, 1997.
Tues April 26 Individual Freedom and Civic Virtue, Part II
Read: Vivian Paley, You Can’t Say You Can’t Play (Harvard Univ Press, 1992).
Distribute: Paper topic #6, DUE |