Place: 4274 Chamberlin Hall (Refreshments will be served)
Speaker: Mary Metz, School of Education
Abstract: Over the last century and a half many aspects of schooling, especially secondary schooling, have been standardized and their form, despite some changes, has been remarkably resilient. Patterns of legitimate, “real” school are deeply embedded in social expectations. At the same time, we know that effective teachers create routines and atmospheres that vary widely. Some individual students thrive better with some approaches, others with others. Further, (though less well documented) community context and students’ social class and ethnicity have a big effect on what happens in classrooms. Nonetheless, over the last 35 years, there has been increasing societal pressure to standardize the substance and practice of K-12 education yet further. This presentation explores the reasons for the persistent tension between standardization of routines and the need for wide variation and flexibility in actual instruction inside the classroom.