My goal in this course is to get students to think further about education as something that all human beings are ubiquitously and continually do, practically, to themselves and to each other.

• For students in professional tracks (MA and EdD), this means that they will face the fact that schools, and all other forms of professional educational practice, are only one setting or set of voices that will be heard within a chorus of other voices in other settings.
• For students in research tracks (EdD and PhD), this means that they will come to phrase their research projects, even if focused on schools and other settings for expert practice, in a way that acknowledges the partial character of these institutions.

To get a sense of how students in the course are thinking about these isssues (and to get credit for the course) I expect each student to hand in two texts:

1. a short (5 to 10 pages) paper directly related to the readings for the first half of the course.
   1. For some students (perhaps most), this will take the form of an essay-style, take-home, "mid-term exam."
   2. For others it will take the form of the write-up for an in-class presentation.
2. a longer (15 to 20 pages) paper exploring in some detail an issue of particular interest to the student
3. I will be running a kind of "blog" through StudyPlace designed to continue the conversations started during class time. Contribution to this will count as "class participation" in my final evaluation of a student's work.

PRACTICALLY

1. First paper
   1. Mid-term exam to be distributed on October 21, 2008 and due on November 4, 2008
      OR
   2. In class presentation of one of the "alternate ethnographies" listed in the syllabus. Students choosing this are asked to make a 10 to 15 minutes presentation of the ethnography including placing it within the history of the ethnography of education, and summarizing the method, location, modes of interpretation and contribution to the debates in the field. The students will be expected to hand-in the revised text of this presentation a week after they have made it. Since there are about eight slots for this, the determination of who will do what will be made on a "firt-come/first-served" basis. If you are interested, look at the syllabus and contact me within the first three weeks of the semester.
2. Final paper
   1. Come and visit me during my office hours with an outline of your proposed paper and your initial list of references you expect to use. Do this no later than December 25th.
   2. This paper is due on the last day of class, December 16th
      

 

See the note on my grading practices