The less boring stuff...
The Roles
- Teacher
- Meaningfully integrate the what, how, when, and where of daily classroom life
- Ask questions
- Plan opportunities to expand experiences
- Invite discussions and encourage varied perspectives
- The Student
- Be curious
- Interact with physical and social environments
- Explore and experiment
- Make sense of the world
Basic Principles
Social Studies: The Core of Bank Street
- "Social studies is about the relationships between and among people and their environment, the world in which we live and our place in it" (Roopnarine & Johnson, 2013, pg. 265).
- What a child learns about the world cannot be separated from how the knowledge is gained and used.
- Learning from experience means suffering from consequences whether good or bad.
- The history and story of people's lives-struggles, aspirations, accomplishments, and hopes- are viewed from the perspective of different fields of knowledge.
- "The growth of cognitive function...cannot be separated from the growth of interpersonal processes" (Shapiro & Biber, 1972, pg. 61).
- Actively engaging with the physical and social environments is intrinsic to human motivation.
- Developing a sense of self as unique and independent is crucial.
- Conflict, whether it be with others on in oneself, is vital for growth and maturity
An overview from a professional...
Developmental - Interaction Approach at Bank Street College of Education
Foundations
- Mitchell was strongly influenced by John Dewey.
- Dewey believed in the importance of education as a means to the development of a democratic society
- He felt that schools would enhance and support growth based on knowing about how children learn, how to build on their interests, and how to introduce new knowledge in a way that made sense to the child.
- He believed in the integration of social sciences
Family & Community
Central Concepts
- Self and family are topics that children are interested in and a familiar place from which to branch out into the world.
- Each family brings new experiences, traditions, and stories to learn about.
- Gradually, children broaden their interests to their community.
- Students' experiences and learning increases by going on trips into their neighborhoods.
- Trips can extend connections that children make and expand their perceptions of their community.
- Children then bring trip experiences back into the classroom.
The boring stuff...
Connecting to Our Communities
- Progressivism (as defined by Miriam Webster's dictionary)
- of, relating to, or constituting an educational theory marked by emphasis on the individual child, informality of classroom procedure, and encouragement of self-expression
- Mental Health
- providing opportunities for creative and satisfying work by cultivating cooperation rather than competition and futhering vaules of social democracy
Write a letter to someone in your community that has influenced you. Give thanks, encouragement, or simply kind words to show how they've impacted your life.
Nicole Snader
Even more exciting stuff!
Slightly less exciting...
References
History
- Progressive. (n.d.). Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved August 14, 2013, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/progressive
- Roopnarine, J. L., & Johnson, J. E. (2012). Approaches to early childhood education. (6th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson College.
- Shapiro, E. & Biber, B. (1972). The education of young children: A developmental-interaction point of view. Teachers College Record, 74, 55-79.
- Shapiro, E. and Nager, N. (1999). "The Developmental-Interaction Approach to Education: Retrospect and Prospect." Retrieved 8/13/2013 from https://s3.amazonaws.com/bankstreet_web/media/filer_public/filer_public/2013/02/12/occasional-papers-1.pdf
- In 1916, Lucy Sprague Mitchell founded the Bureau of Educational Experiments, which later became Bank Street College of Education.
- She founded the Bureau as a research organization designed to study children in order to create teaching practices that fostered growth and education.
- Children's growth was seen as encompassing physical, social, emotional, aesthetic, and intellectual domains.