Sociology of Education 104 Sociology 104a: The Sociology of Education
Brandeis University
Fall 2013
Mitra K. Shavarini, Lecturer
Class Meeting: Monday, Wednesday & Thursday 1:00-1:50
Office: Rabb 107
Office Hours: By appointment or before/after class
E-mail: shavarini@brandeis.edu
Teaching Assistants – office hours:
Julia Bandini – Mondays 2:00-3:00 ==Pearlman 104
Robin Briendel—Friday 10:00-11:00
Margaret Hoffman –Mondays 2:00-3:00
Kelsey Segaloff—Mondays 9:30-10:30
Schools are the primary institution for instructing, training and socializing the next generation.
School attendance or equivalent instruction is mandatory in this country, and the subjects and
methods of instruction have been hotly debated. This course will explore sociological research
and theories that are useful for examining the roles of educational institutions and practices in the
United States. We will critically examine the place and role of schools and schooling in the
wider society, both through a brief historical overview as well as modern perspectives and
current debates on the role and function of schools. Class participants will investigate the ways in
which schools reinforce, and/or challenge prevailing social, economic, and political
relationships. Issues to be discussed include: the purpose of schooling, the structure and
organization of schools, curriculum development, social reproduction, family/school
relationships, and the role of teachers. The meaning of culture, race, ethnicity, gender,
socioeconomic status, disability, sexual orientation and identity will also inform our
investigations into these topics. We will examine the school as a society within itself, with its
own dominant system of values, ideology, and relationships of power and authority. We will also
examine the interpersonal relationships within schools: the types of interaction that occur, and
the opportunities for learning and development.
Course Requirements
This course requires you to complete each week’s reading before the week’s first class session,
attend class, and participate in discussions and exercises. Attendance is required, and I will pass
around a sign-IN sheet during each class session. In general, I do not excuse absences unless you
have a serious problem. If such a problem occurs, you need to let me know.
During class sessions, you should feel free to ask questions, challenge ideas, and respond to me
and to your classmates. I insist that participation be appropriate to the topic and respectful of
everyone, but you are otherwise free to express your views. You need not agree with everything
you read. You need not even understand all of the reading. Class discussions will, ideally,
answer questions, foster critical engagement, and explore areas of disagreement.
You are welcome to contact me between class sessions and during times outside my
office hours. If you are working on an assignment or concerned about some aspect of the
reading, please do not hesitate. You need not hesitate anyway. I usually check my email more
than once a day, and I try to respond promptly. I’m on campus on a regular
basis on class days, and I’ll be happy to make an appointment if those times do not work.
I will calculate grades as follows:
Sociology of Education 104 •
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Attendance and participation: 20 percent
Article presentations: 15 percent
First (short) assignment: 5 percent
Second AND third assignments: 20 percent each
Take-home final/paper: 20 percent
Due dates are noted in the course outline. Instructions for assignments will be distributed in class
(also on Latte – see last block). I will include a grading rubric that clearly sets expectations.
Written Assignments
Final versions of written assignments are due on the deadlines listed.
Written work should be typed, double spaced, with 1-inch margins on all four sides of the page.
Please be sure to refer specifically to the class readings. Please use the ASA style guidelines for
references and citations. I highly recommend that you meet with tutors at the writing center to
develop a sound academic paper.
***Please hand a printed hard copy AS WELL AS electronic copy of each paper. ***
Articles
Students should check news sites such as newspapers, magazines, the Internet, and radio,for
articles and reports on issues relating to the sociology of education. If possible, please e-mail the
article or information about the article to me in advance. If not, please be sure to notify me at the
start of class. Please briefly present the main argument of the article in the context of the themes
of the course and the article’s source. These presentations will contribute to your class
participation score.
Student Accountability
Accountability includes a number of classroom norms: class attendance and punctuality, timely
submission of assignments, and attention to the class sessions without diversion from texting or
web surfing. These elements of normative accountability will be part of your grade.
This is my contract with you regarding absences:
• All absences must be accompanied by a doctor’s note.
• Without a doctor’s note, each absence drops your attendance grade down by half a letter
grade: So an A becomes an A- … to B+ … and so forth.
• You are considered late if I have started class. Three tardiness equals the same as an
absence.
• FOR EACH CLASS, Be sure to check in with your TA to have you recorded as present.
Recognizing that unanticipated problems do occur, I will consider occasional extensions for
assignments if asked before the deadline passes. I do, however, review patterns of lateness and
other elements of accountability. A pattern that violates these norms more than occasionally will
result in a lower grade.
Please turn off phones and other devices during all class sessions. Texting in class is not only
rude but also disruptive; please refrain from all electronic communication. I expect not to have to
ask you again at any time during the semester. If I do have to ask, I will consider it a breach of
accountability.
Sociology of Education 104 Laptops are emphatically discouraged and require permission for note taking. If I grant
permission, laptop users must occupy the front rows of the classroom during each class session.
Please think carefully before asking for permission to use a laptop in class. If several people seek
permission, I will ban laptop use entirely.
Community of Learners
I strive to create a supportive, stimulating and active class environment. This effort is in a huge
part contingent on YOU to be not only a student in this class but rather assume the role of a
teacher yourself. After all, our personal experiences contribute greatly to our understanding of
theories, patterns, current events, etc. My pedagogy, therefore, is NOT rooted in a didactic/rote
approach. Instead, I embrace experiential learning where students participate in the construction
of knowledge.
This said, please be sure to be consciousness of how much “floor” time you take to express your
ideas. Don’t go on and on; this puts pressure on me to cut you off.
I also expect you to build on what your peers have already said – if the thought is aired, don’t
repeat … if the conversation has moved on then don’t redirect. Simple rule for class conversation
is to be active and to think how each comment builds on the next.
For those of you who are quiet, shy or need time ruminate before you make a comment then I
offer you the following option:
Individual Response – Hand-in (drop off at my office) an individual response to any of our class
topics. While I expect you to participate and voice your ideas in class, I realize that this may be
difficult for some of you. Use the individual response paragraph to tell me where your thinking is
… this can be handed-in anonymously if you so prefer.
Academic Accommodations
If you are a student who needs academic accommodation because of a documented disability,
please contact me and present your letter of accommodation as soon as possible. Undergraduates
and graduate students with questions about documenting adisability should contact the Director
of Disabilities Services and Support Office of Academic Services, 6-3470. Letters of
accommodation should be presented at the start of the semester to ensure provision of
accommodations. Accommodations cannot be granted retroactively.
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is central to the mission of educational excellence at Brandeis University.
Each student is expected to turn in work completed independently, except when assignments
specifically authorize collaborative effort. It is not acceptable to use words or ideas of another
without proper acknowledgment of the source. This means that you must use footnotes and
quotation marks to indicate the source of any phrases, sentences, paragraphs, or ideas in
published volumes, on the Internet, or created by another student. Violations of university
policies on academic integrity, available at
http://www.brandeis.edu/studentaffairs/srcs/ai/index.html, may result in failure in the course or
on the assignment, and could end in suspension from the University. If you are in doubt about
the instructions for any assignment in this course, be sure to ask for clarification.
Course Readings
Sociology of Education 104 Class readings will be available on-line in Latte or as handouts in class. It will not be necessary
to purchase any additional books.
Course Outline
PART 1: THE ROLE OF THE SCHOOL IN AMERICAN SOCIETY
Introduction, Sociological Themes and Perspectives, the Origins of Public Schooling in the
U.S.
(1) Course Overview: What is Sociology of Education?
Thursday, August 29
• Introduction to course
• Raising sociological questions: themes of the course
NO CLASS
(2) Introduction to class continued
Monday, September 2
Wednesday, September 4
NO CLASS
Thursday Sept 5
(3) Historical overview I: The Common School
Monday Sept 9
Read: - Kaestle, C.F. 1983. "Prologue: The Founding Fathers and Education."
Pp. 3-12 in Pillars of the Republic: Common Schools and American Society, 1780-1860. New
York: Hill and Wang.
Film (in class): Mondale, Sarah and Sarah Patton. 2001. School: The Story of
American Public Education. Part I: The Common School: 1770-1890. Boston: Beacon Press.
For reference only (not required), written companion to film: Kaestle, Carl. 2001.
“Part One: 1770-1900 The Common School.” Pp. 1-58 in Mondale,
Sarah and Sarah B. Patton, eds.School: The Story of American Public Education. Boston: Beacon
Press.
The Origins of Public Schooling in the U.S: Models of School Structures,
Aims and Ideals of Education
(4) The Administrative Progressives: A Factory Model of Schooling
Wednesday, September 11
Read: -Tyack, David. 1974. “Some Functions of Schooling” and "Inside theSystem: The
Character of Urban Schools" Pp. 72-77, 177-198, 229-254 in One Best System: A History of
American Urban Education.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
OPTIONAL: (not required, discusses the effect of school size on various
educational factors): -Lee, V. E. 2000. “School Size and the Organization of Secondary
Schools.”Pp 327-344 in Handbook of theSociology of Education. M.T. Hallinanan, editor. New
York: KluwerAcademic/Plenum Publishers.
(5) America Expands – Immigrants & Assimilation
Thursday, September 12
Sociology of Education 104 Read: - A Walker in the City by Alfred Kazin pp. 5-51. Also read Gina Bellafante’s recent
NYTimes book review of the book on Latte.
**Will discuss questions about upcoming 1st paper**
(6) John Dewey: A Democratic Model of Schooling
Monday, September 16
Read: - Dewey, John. 1916. "Education as a Social Function.” Pp. 10-22 in,
Democracy and Education.New York: The Free Press. (Optional and suggested: " Aims in
Education." pp. 100-111.)
OPTIONAL (Discusses the limits of what schools can really do): -Sizer,Theodore. 1994,1985.
Prologue, Chapter 2: Setions 2, 4 and Chapter 1: Section 4. Pp. 9-21, 84-98, 109-115, 53-58 in
Horace's Compromise.Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
PAPER 1 DUE @ start of class: see Latte for instructions & topics PART 2: PERSPECTIVES ON THE STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF
SCHOOLS
Perspectives on the Aims and Ideals of Education
(7) Sociological Themes and Perspectives: on the Sorting Function of Schools
Tuesday, Sept 17 (Brandeis Thursday!)
Read: -Durkheim, E. 1961. “On Education and Society.” Pp. 23-34 in Sociology
of Education: A Critical Reader. A.R. Sadovnik, editor. New York: Routledge. (NOTE: Reading
called “Sadovnik& Durkheim in Cicada—this is the second reading).
OPTIONAL (Good reference, overview of field): -Sadovnik, A.R. 2007.
“Theory and Research in the Sociology of Education.” Pp. 3-20 in Sociology of Education: A
Critical Reader. A.R. Sadovnik, editor. NewYork: Routledge.
(8) Durkeim continued ….
Wednesday, September 18
NO CLASS
(9) Theoretical Perspectives on the Social Function of Schools
Thursday, September 19
Monday, Sept. 23
Read: -Parsons, T. 1959. “The School as a Social System.”Harvard
Educational Review 29:297-318.
OPTIONAL-McMannon, Timothy. 1997. “The Changing Public Purpose of Education and
Schooling.”Pp. 1-40 in Goodlad, John andTimothy McMannon.The Public Purpose of Education and Schooling.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
On Schooling and the Social Order: Social Class, Social Reproduction,
Cultural Capital
(10) Privilege, Inclusion and Opportunity: Social Class, Social Reproduction, Cultural
Capital I
Wednesday, September 25
Sociology of Education 104 Read: -Bowles, Samuel and Herbert Gintis. 1976,1977. "Education andPersonal Development:
The Long Shadow of Work." Pp. 125-150 inSamuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in
Capitalist America:Educational Reform and the Contradictions of Economic Life. NewYork:
Basic Books.
-Lareau, A. 2000. “Why Does Social Class Influence ParentInvolvement in Schooling?” Pp. 97120 in Home Advantage, Lanham,MD: Rowman& Littlefield
NO CLASS
Thursday, September 26
(11) Bowles & Gintis continued …
Monday, September 30
(12) Privilege, Inclusion and Opportunity: Social Class, Social Reproduction &
Cultural Capital II
Wednesday, October 2
Read: -Bourdieu, Pierre. 1973. “Cultural Reproduction and SocialReproduction.” Pp. 473-486 in
Karabel, J. & A. H. Halsey (Eds.),Power and Ideology in Education. New York: Oxford
University.
-Granfield, Robert. 2008. “Making it By Faking It: Working-Class Students in an Elite Academic
Environment.” Pp. 114-127 in Ferguson, Susan. Mapping the Social Landscape: Readings in
Sociology 7. NewYork: McGraw-Hill.
Privilege, Inclusion and Opportunity in Education II: The Tracking
Debate, Language and Immigration
(13) On Schooling and the Social Order II: The Tracking Debate
Thursday, October 3
Read: -Oakes, Jeannie. 1985. “Tracking.” Pp. 1-13 in Keeping Track: How Schools Structure
Inequality. Binghamton, NY: Vail-Ballou Press.
-Hallinan, Maureen T. 1994. “Tracking: From Theory to Practice.”Sociology of Education. 67:
78-90.
-Oakes, Jeannie. 1994. “More than Misapplied Technology: A Normative and Political Response
to Hallinan on Tracking.” Sociologyof Education. 67: 84-91.
(14) Tracking debate continued …
Monday, October 7
(15) Privilege, Inclusion, Opportunity: Language, Immigration, Cultural Legacy
Wednesday, October 9
Read: -De La Luz Reyes, Maria. 1992. “Challenging Venerable Assumptions:
Literacy Instruction for Linguistically Different Students.”HarvardEducational Review 64(4):
427-266.
**second paper due next time!**
(16) Immigrants and Education continued …
Thursday, October 10
Listen: -AUDIO SEGMENT: Suarez-Orozco, Marcelo and Carola. “Immigrant
Children in America.”February 21, 2010 on On Point. National Public
Radio.http://onpoint.wbur.org/2008/02/21/immigrant-children-inamerica
.
SECOND PAPER DUE @ start of class: For Topics see Latte
Sociology of Education 104 NO CLASS
Monday, October 14
Privilege, Inclusion and Opportunity in Education III : Gender, Sexual
Orientation, Religion, Disability
(17) Privilege, Inclusion, Opportunity: Sexual Orientation & Gender
Wednesday, October 16
Read: -Marvin Hoffman. 1993. “Teaching ‘Torch Song: Gay Literature in the
Classroom.”The English Journal. 82(5): 55-58.
Read: “Family forced out of Lexington, MA” ALSO read the “Opposition” segment of
Wikipedia regarding the book King & King.
OPTIONAL: -Webpage of Project 10East, a program for LGBT support in high schools.
http://www.project10east.org/about/main.php.
(About schools dealing with gay and lesbian families) -Lipkin, A. 1999. “Gay and Lesbian
Families.” Pp. 218-229 in UnderstandingHomosexuality: Changing Schools. Boulder, CO:
Westview Press.
(18) Privilege, Inclusion, Opportunity: continued (Gender) Thursday, October 17
-Mead, Sara. 2006. “The Evidence Suggests Otherwise: The Truth About Boys and
Girls”(Pamphlet) Washington, DC: Education Sector.(You do not need to remember every detail,
but try to get a sense of the main points)
-“How Schools Shortchange Girls” – the AAUW Report pp. 35-54.
(19) Privilege, Inclusion and Opportunity: Disability-Federal Regulations & Religion in
Education
Monday, October 21
Read: -Artiles, Alfredo J. 2003. “Special Education’s Changing Identity:Paradoxes and
Dilemmas in View of Culture and Space.” Harvard Educational Review, Summer 73: 164-202.
(Focus on p. 164 to the topof 179.)
(20) Privilege, Inclusion and Opportunity continued .. (Religion)
Wednesday, October 23
-Nord, W. A. & Haynes, C. C. 1998. Pp. 1-33 in Taking Religion Seriously Across the
Curriculum. Alexandria, VA: Association forSupervision and Curriculum Development.
OPTIONAL: “Why Education in Public Schools Should Include Religious Ideals” Ruyter&
Merry.
http://uva.academia.edu/MichaelMerry/Papers/833104/Why_education_in_public_schools_shoul
d_include_religious_ideals 2008
Busing and Racial Desegregation of Boston’s Schools
(21) Case Study: Separate but Unequal? Busing and School Desegregation in Boston
Thursday, October 24
Sociology of Education 104 Read: -Willie, Charles Vert. 1983. “School Desegregation and Public Policy:The Boston
Experience” pp. 163-174 in Race, Ethnicity andSocioeconomic Status: A Theoretical Analysis of
Their Interrelationship.Bayside, NY: General Hall.
-Vaznis, James. 2010. “Area School Segregation Called Rife.” The Boston Globe, September 20.
P. B-1.
Video in class on busing from “The Keys to the Kingdom: 1974-1980”in Eyes on the Prize 1990,
2006. Blackside/PBS Productions.
(22) Desegregation continued …
Monday, October 28
Read: Klugar, Richard. 1975. “Together Let Us Sweetly Live” pp. 3-26 in Simple Justice
Vintage Books: New York.
OPTIONAL: Goldsmith, Pat Rubio. 2009. “Schools or Neighborhoods or Both? Race and
Segregation and Educational Attainment.” SocialForces 84(4):1913-1920.
(23) Separate but Unequal? What Now? Critical Race Theory and Education
Wednesday, October 30
Read: -Dixson, Adrienne and Celia Rousseau. 2006. “And We Are Still Not Saved: Critical Race
Theory in Education Ten Years Later.” Pp. 31-56in Critical Race Theory in Education: All
God’s Children Got a Song. Dixson, Adrienne and Celia Rousseau, eds. New York: Routledge.
Read: G. Ladson-Billings & Tate, W. “Toward a Critical Race Theory of Education” pp. 1-29 in
in Critical Race Theory in Education: All God’s Children Got a Song. Dixson, Adrienne and
Celia Rousseau, eds. New York: Routledge.
Note: In Latte, both these articles are scanned into one entry.
OPTIONAL: -The JBHE Foundation. 2006/2007. “The Expanding Racial Gap on the SATII
Tests.” The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, 54:30-32.
PART 3: TEACHING AND AUTHORITY IN EDUCATION
Authority Patterns in Schools, Racial Exclusion, Cultural Dissonance
(24) Authority Patterns in Schools: Racial-Ethnic Exclusion Thursday, October 31
Read: -Szasz, Margaret Connell. 2005. “I Knew How to Be Moderate. And I Knew How to
Obey”: The Commonality of American Indian BoardingSchool Experiences, 1750s-1920s.
American Indian Culture andResearch Journal. 29(4):75-94.
-Miller, Kara. 2010. “Do Colleges Redline Asian-Americans?” The Boston Globe.February 8.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/201
0/02/08/do_colleges_redline_asian_americans/ .
(25) Authority Patterns in Schools, Cultural Dissonance Between Students and
Teachers
Monday, November 4
Read: -Delpit, Lisa. 2006. "The Silenced Dialogue.” Pp. 5-9, 21-27 in Other People's Children:
Cultural Conflict in the Classroom New York: NewPress, W. W. Norton.
Sociology of Education 104 -Ballenger, Cynthia. 1992. "Because You Like Us: The Language of Control." Harvard
Education Review, Summer 1992, 62(2): 199-208.
Transmission of Norms and Values: What Gets Taught in School and
Who Decides? PART I
(26) Perspectives on the Transmission of Culture and Values: The Culture of the School
Wednesday, November 6
Read: - Lightfoot, Sara Lawrence.1983. "St. Paul's School: Certainty, Privilege and the Imprint
of History" and "George Washington CarverHigh School: Charismatic Leadership: Building
Bridges to a WiderWorld." Pp. 221-245, 29-55 in The Good High School: Portraits of Character
and Culture. New York: Basic Books.
** Will discuss upcoming paper **
(27) The Textbook Industry & Curricular Standards Debates
Thursday, November 7
Read: -Spring, J. 1996. Chapter 10, “The Politics of Curriculum, Instruction, and Textbooks.”Pp.
230-254 in American Education. New York:McGraw-Hill
-Eisner, E. 1997. “Who Decides What Schools Should Teach.” Pp. 337- 341 in D.J. Flinders &
S.J. Thorton (Eds.) Curriculum Studies Reader.New York, NY: Routledge.
(28) Curriculum debates continued …
Monday, November 11
Read: Ravitch, Diane. “Education after the Culture Wars.” 2002. Pp. 5-21 in Daedalus MIT
Press/American Academy of Arts and Sciences.131(1):5-21.
OR
-Ravitch, Diane. 2002. “Diversity, Tragedy and the Schools”The Brookings Review 20(1):2-3.
Paper 3 Due @ start of class: See topics on LATTE
Transmission of Norms and Values: What Gets Taught in School and
Who Decides? PART II
(29) The Panopticon: Are Schools Going Too Far?
Wednesday, November 13
Read: -Foucault, Michel. 1979. “The Means of Correct Training.” Pp. 170-228 in Discipline and
Punish: The Birth of the Prison. New York: VintageBooks.
(30) Are Schools Going Too Far? (continued ….)
Thursday, November 14
Read: Vander Schee, Carolyn. 2009. “Fruit, Vegetables, Fatness and Foucault: Governing
Students and their Families Through School Health Policy.”Journal of Education Policy 24 (5):
557-574.
ALSO find and bring in other recent Articles on current debates in education (Articles to be
selected from current news sources during the semester. Likely to relate to issues such as
regulating school lunches, sex education, etc.
(31) Standardization Debate/Market Approaches to Education Reform
Monday, November 18
Sociology of Education 104 Read: -Ravitch, Diane. 2010. “The Trouble with Accountability. Pp. 149-167 in The Death and
Life of the Great American School System: How Testingand Choice are Undermining Education
New York: Basic Books.
OPTIONAL: Borman, Kathryn M. and Bridget A. Cotner. 2008. “No Child Left Behind: The
Federal Government Gets Serious about Accountability.” Pp. 245-250 in Schools and Society: A
Sociological Approach to Education. 3rd ed. Ballantine, Jeanne H. and Joan Z. Spade, eds. Los
Angeles, CA: Pine Forge Press.
OPTIONAL: -Renzulli, Linda A. and Vincent Roscigno. “CharterSchools and the Public
Good.”Pp. 363-369 in Ballantine, Jeanne H. andJoan Z. Spade, eds. 2008.Schools and Society: A
Sociological Approachto Education. 3rd ed. Los Angeles, CA: Pine Forge Press
What Gets Taught in School? Who Decides? PART III
(32) Perspectives on the Transmission of Culture and Values: Power and Authority
Wednesday, November 20
Read: -Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner. 1969. "Crap Detecting" and "The Medium is the
Message, Of Course" Pp. xi-xv, 1-25 inTeaching as a Subversive Activity. New York: Dell.
- Illich, Ivan, 1970. “Why We Must Disestablish School” Pp. 529-536 in Deschooling Society.
New York: Harper and Row.
OPTIONAL: in Illych (above) “Phenomenology of School” Pp. 37-48.
(33) Homeschooling
Thursday, November 21
Read: “Does Homeschooling Pose a threat to Public Education?”
http://www.examiner.com/article/does-homeschooling-pose-a-threat-to-public-education
-“Why Are Pulbic School Proponents So Afraid of Homeschool Kids?”
http://buehlereducation.com/homeschool/indianasportsbill/
Power & Authority, Classroom Roles & Relationships
(34) “Race to Nowhere” –
WATCH FILM BEFORE CLASS …
DISCUSSION IN CLASS …
NO CLASS
Monday, November 25
WEDENSDAY & THURSDAY NOV 27/28
(35) Interactions Between Students, Student Culture
Monday, December 2
Read: -Milner, Murray Jr. 2006. “Fitting In, Standing Out and Keeping Up.” Pp. 39-60 in
Freaks, Geeks and Cool Kids: American Teenagers, Schools and the Culture of Consumption.
New York: Routledge.
Skim: -Olweus, Dan. 1993. Bullying At School.Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. (Read pp. 139).
Interpersonal Relationships in Education: Relationships Between
Teachers, Students & Parents
Sociology of Education 104 (36) Between Teachers and Students
Wednesday, December 4
Read: - Gracey, Harry L. 2008. “Learning the student role: Kindergarten as academic boot
camp.” Pp. 131-136 in Schools and Society: A Sociological Approach to Education (3nd ed.). J.H.
Ballantine & J.Z. Spade, editors. New York: Thomson Wardsworth.
Read: - Lampert, Magdeline. 1987. “How Do Teachers Manage to Teach" Pp. 106-123 in
Teachers, Teaching and Teacher Education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
(37) Between Parents and Teachers continued…
Thursday, December 5
Read: -Lawrence-Lightfoot, Sara. 2003. Introduction and “Natural Enemies.” Pp. xiii-xxx, 42-75
in The Essential Conversation: What Parents and Teachers Can Learn from Each Other. New
York: Random House.
Optional: -Flanagan, Caitlin. “Cultivating Failure” 2010. Atlantic Magazine
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/01/cultivatingfailure/
7819/3/.
IDEAS ON THE GROUND: Schools and Communities, Looking at
Teachers in Action
(38) Between Communities and Schools
Monday, December 9
Read: (Skim) Schutz, A. 2006. “Home is a Prison in the Global City: The Tragic Failure of
School-Based Community Engagement Strategies Review of Educational Research, 76(4): 690743.
Watch Detachment (on Latte). We will discuss in class.
OPTIONAL: -Epstein, Joyce L. 1995. “School/Family/Community Partnerships: Caring for the
Children We Share.” Phi Delta Kappan, 76: 701-712
Film: Guggenheim, Davis. 2004. The First Year: Five Teachers. 180 Days. Our
Children’s Future. New Video Group.
Summary of due dates:
Due at the start of class on the following dates:
Paper 1: Monday, September 16th
Paper 2: Thursday, October 10th
Paper 3: Monday, November 11th
Final due: Friday, December 13th @ NOON (since there is no class, please deliver to my office –
Rabb 107)