Education Commons^™

Progressive Practices In Public Schools

Occasional Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Constructivists Online: Reimagining Progressive Practice

Occasional Paper Series

No abstract provided.

A Case For Inclusion: A Study Of The Relationship Between Students Of Color In Private Progressive Institution, Aasiyah A. Ali

Senior Projects Spring 2018

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Kids Make Sense... And They Vote: The Importance Of Child Study In Learning To Teach Responsively, Frederick Erickson

Occasional Paper Series

A lecture that discusses the "developmental-interaction" perspective and practice that has become the hallmark of Bank Street. Erickson builds upon the relations of mutual influence among students, teachers, and learning environments, and taking account of the relations between local practice within the small-scale "here and now" interactional ecosystems of immediate learning environments and the workings of culture, language, and society across more distal connections in social space and time.

The Developmental-Interaction Approach To Education: Retrospect And Prospect, Nancy Nager, Edna K. Shapiro

Occasional Paper Series

This paper analyzes the past, present, and future of the developmental-interaction approach to education: human development and the interaction between thought and emotion as well as the interaction between learners and their environment. Shapiro and Nager review the history of the developmental-interaction approach, outlining its essential features and tracing Bank Street College's distinctive role in its evolution. They then reassess key assumptions, address criticisms of developmental theory and its place in education, and suggest possible new directions.

"Noise Level Zero" And Other Tales From The Bronx, John Wolfe

Occasional Paper Series

Wolfe reflects on his journey of teaching in various settings, teaching him what public education should and should not be. He compares his experiences at two public schools in the Bronx with very different approaches to public education.

Introduction: Steady Work And "Noise Level Zero", Frank Pignatelli

Occasional Paper Series

Pignatelli introduces two narratives by Tom Roderick and John Wolfe that test our belief in public education as a special space where American society holds fast to its promise to vanquish inequity, to assure equal opportunity, and to nurture a kinder, more just citizenry.

It Should Not Be Left To Chance: Ensuring A Good Education For All Our Children, Ellen Condliffe Lagemann

Occasional Paper Series

This essay suggests that progressive education is equivalent to good education. Condliffe Lagemann poses the question: What do we need to do to ensure that good education becomes more universally available than it is today? The answer lies in developing a new science of education, one that better integrates research, practice, and policy, and does a better job of educating the public about education.

Introduction: It Should Not Be Left To Chance, Jonathan G. Silin

Occasional Paper Series

Silin introduces an essay from the annual Barbara Biber lecture, speaking to the importance of progressive education, and the flaws regarding the standardization of learning.

"See, Two Yellows Make A Rectangle!": Constructing Meaningful, Emergent Learning Moments In A Structured Special Education Program, Lucy Bayer

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This paper explores the relationship between emergent, child-driven learning and the structured curricula of a special education program. Relying on current research and theory as driving forces, the author designed and implemented a series of math lessons with a small group of kindergarten students in a self-contained, special-education setting. The paper begins in narrative form, detailing the author’s journey to her current line of inquiry. Empirical research and educational theory about both emergent, child-driven learning and math instruction are then summarized. The following two chapters chronicle the author’s work with her students. These chapters are presented as both narrative documentation …

Pedagogical Practices In Homogeneous And Heterogeneous Ability Grouped Classrooms, Theresa Marie Kinsey

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative action research study was to describe one sixth grade English Language Arts (ELA) teacher’s pedagogical practices in her heterogeneous grouped classroom and her homogeneous grouped classroom. The focus of this study was on instructional practices in two classes, one homogeneously grouped based on high English Language Arts ability; the other heterogeneously grouped. Through the data generated, the participant-researcher reflected upon the English Language Arts instruction in both classes and described the teacher’s instructional practices in this middle school. Semi-structured interviews, a questionnaire, field observations, videotapes and lesson plans provided the qualitative research data for this …

A Letter To Future Educators: Making The Case For Progressive Education, Melissa C. Barone

SPACE: Student Perspectives About Civic Engagement

Northeastern Illinois University requires pre-service teachers to take EDFN 313: Problems, Issues and Practices in Education, to receive a middle school endorsement. The course was offered in the summer of 2016 over a six-week period. The main objective of the course was to discuss the issues in education related to the middle school curriculum philosophy while introducing ideals of progressive education. This is a daunting task in a short period of time. This is especially true when most students have not been exposed to the historical, philosophical, and sociopolitical aspects of middle level education in the context of progressive education. …

Selected Works By Harriet Cuffaro, Miriam Raider-Roth, Jonathan Silin

Occasional Paper Series

Selected works by Harriet Cuffaro.

Introduction: Living A Philosophy Of Early Childhood Education - A Festschrift For Harriet Cuffaro, Miriam Raider-Roth, Jonathan Silin

Occasional Paper Series

This issue of the Occasional Paper Series is a Festschrift in honor of Harriet K. Cuffaro, a Bank Street College faculty member from 1968-1998. A Festschrift—a volume reflecting the values, theories, and passions of a senior scholar in a field—seeks to offer scholarship that builds on these contributions. Harriet Cuffaro has touched and shaped more lives of teachers, scholars, and colleagues than we can possibly count. A teacher in her soul, and an esteemed scholar of John Dewey, Harriet has “unfolded and connected” essential Deweyan ideas and made them accessible and meaningful in the lives of teachers. …

Technology As A Tool For Collaboration, Understanding & Engagement, Kai Johnson

Occasional Paper Series

The author incorporates multimodal online inquiry to deepen the thinking of children in his elementary classroom. When he sees how engaged his students are in their work, he realizes that this is a true picture of constructivist learning.

Front Matter And Editors' Notes, Helen Freidus, Mollie Welsh Kruger, Steven Goss

Occasional Paper Series

Cover page, table of contents, editors' notes.

Thinking Together: The Value Of Discussion In The Five Year Old's Classroom, Elizabeth C. Radens, Susan Schwimmer

Thought and Practice: (1987-1991) the Journal of the Graduate School of Bank Street College of Education

Illustrates a kindergarten classroom where the teacher places a high value upon questions - child or adult generated. Discussion is the centerpiece of the program.

Front Matter

Thought and Practice: (1987-1991) the Journal of the Graduate School of Bank Street College of Education

No abstract provided.

Elements Of A Strategic Implementation Plan: Implications For Enhancing Combination Classes Using A Multiage Framework, Tracy Harding

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

Combination classes are often created out of financial necessity rather than a desire to engage students in multiage learning. Teachers assigned to these classrooms come from the general teaching pool and may not have specialized training around the intricacies of multiage teaching.

A review of the literature indicates that the United States has a long history of multiage classrooms. When the practice of graded schools took over, however the multiage school remained as an approach to teaching children (Anderson, 1992). Progressive education programs often use a multiage classroom paired with looping, students remaining with the same teacher for more than …

The Bank Street Program: Child Growth And Learning In Social Studies Experiences (1952), Charlotte B. Winsor

Bank Street Thinkers

"The teachers and psychologists who are the Bank Street group lay no claim to the discovery of any new axioms in educational practice. They have invented no method, no device, no gadget that opens magic doors to learning. What they have done is to establish principles based upon the needs and purposes of children, related to the world in which they live..." This article illustrates a program at City and Country School in which class jobs, such as running the school post office, supply store, and printing shop form the base for social studies experiences. Applying a philosophy similar to …

Social Studies And Geography (1934), Lucy Sprague Mitchell

Bank Street Thinkers

Lucy Sprague Mitchell muses upon the meaning of each of the title words separately and then together providing insight into how children learn best -- by doing. Discusses Mitchell's concepts of human geography and how school trips promote students' understanding of their world.

The Bank Street Thinkers: Foundational Knowledge To Support Our Roots And Wings, Bank Street College Of Education

Bank Street Thinkers

A series of papers and lectures that explore Bank Street history, the concepts of teaching and teacher preparation, our long history of social studies teaching and curriculum development, the role of language and play in young children's growth, and a look at the meaning of competence in schools.

What Is Bank Street? (1973), Barbara Biber

Bank Street Thinkers

Biber provides an overview of the Bank Street philosophy. She covers the following areas: the School for Children; the Graduate School's preparation of teachers; Bank Street College's broader role in the world of education through its programs for change; and its educational perspective.

The Sun Is Yellow, The Bird Is Black : Fostering A Progressive Pedagogy In Rural Rwanda, Stephanie L. Davis

Graduate Student Independent Studies

An experiential narrative of how the author applied asset-based progressive pedagogical approaches to develop curricular context and help foster creative teaching strategies at a rural public school in the village of Musha, Rwanda over the course of three weeks in June 2013.

Technology At The Bank Street School For Children, Wendy Apfel

Progressive Education in Context

Describes the meaningful use of technology in a progressive school setting.

Progressive Education: Why It's Hard To Beat, But Also Hard To Find, Alfie Kohn

Progressive Education in Context

Looks at the varying ways educators characterize progressive education, why progressive education makes sense, and why it might be the exception rather than the rule in educational philosophies.

When Good Ideas Flow Two Ways, Mary Ellen Kenny

Progressive Education in Context

Describes the collaboration between Bank Street College Graduate School of Education and the Bank Street School for Children.

A Parent's Point Of View, Sandra Pinnavaia

Progressive Education in Context

A parent in the Bank Street School for Children offers her perspective on the value of the educational philosophy and classroom practice in the School.

I Learned That A Nail Can Go Through A Bottlecap Easily: The Buddies Program At Bank Street, Greg David, Emily Linsay

Progressive Education in Context

The buddies program at the Bank Street School for Children, where each classroom pairs with a classroom in another grade for a full year, is at its core a reflection of Bank Street's developmental interaction approach and an extension of the classroom experience.

The Teacher-Artist's Creed: Teaching As A Human, Artistic, And Moral Act, Amanda Morales, Jory Samkoff

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Historically, educators and philosophers have struggled to define the role and the value of formal curriculum and its impact on classroom praxis. As the current accountability movement dominates discussions in education, educators are pressured to implement increasingly standardized curricula. The authors of this chapter consider the tensions arising from this trend, situated first within contrasting theories on teaching and learning. They then explore the concept of phronesis through an interpretive biography of one teacher-artist, Frieda, whose praxis also demonstrates the aesthetic and artistic side of the teaching-learning process. This 90-year-old teacher-artist's experiences implementing her curriculums suggest that it is always …