Nager, Nancy & Shapiro, Edna K. (Eds.). (2000). Revisiting a Progressive Pedagogy: The Developmental-Interaction Approach. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. pp. 313 + pp. ix; pbk. ISBN 0-7914-4468-6
Introduction
As an educator I see this book as a welcome aid for constructing explanations about my classroom practices to many audiences; this is particularly important in today's climate where pedagogical responsibilities are being legislated away from classroom teachers. The political verve of progressive education is not without its risks, and Revisiting a Progressive Pedagogy: The Developmental Interaction Approach does not shy away from that danger. Rather than gloss over educators' roles in addressing urban plights like homelessness, AIDS, and poverty with their students—the authors in Revisiting a Progressive Pedagogy offer teachers practical examples of how they dealt with those concerns in their own classrooms. What's more, suggestions for teacher educators who struggle with preparing future and practicing teachers for these and other community-based challenges keep the cycle of past, present, and future progressive educators evolving.
In Two Lives (1953) Lucy Sprague Mitchell wrote: “It seemed to me that knowledge gained through all the kinds of work I had seen . . . was relevant to a study of children, and surely one had to understand children in order to plan a school that was right for their development” (as cited in Nager & Shapiro, 2000, p. 13). Revisiting a Progressive Pedagogy is an eclectic grouping of chapters committed to the philosophies, histories, and stories of New York City's Bank Street College of Education. Opened at the turn of the century by Mitchell and others, Bank Street's legacy supplies rich resources for progressive educators interested in observing student experience and making curricular decisions based on those observations.
The predominant discussion thread throughout the book is how this philosophical approach to teaching and learning (the developmental-interaction approach) informs pedagogical decisions made by preservice teachers, teacher educators, and administrators affiliated with Bank Street. Fluid definitions of the developmental-interaction approach to teaching and learning explain that concepts of discovery and change are viewed as patterns of engagement with the environment (this includes students and teachers / socially and individually) which are then measured in terms of growth and understanding. Interconnected into this philosophy are “spheres of thought and emotion” (p. 11) which, once adapted into models for schooling, include watching children closely, learning what they need, and valuing their interests. For instance, teachers working within the developmental-interaction philosophy must be “attuned to what the child brings to the classroom—the social and intellectual talents and abilities, the gaps, the inconsistencies, fears, and joys—and construct a curriculum that reflects both decisions about content and what children bring to that content” (p. 22).
Teachers, teacher educators, administrators, and the general public who want to learn more about beginning, operating, and promoting education that starts with matching children to their needs will appreciate the variety of experiences authors who contributed to Revisiting a Progressive Pedagogy bring to the text. Broken into three distinctive parts featuring theory, teacher research, and practical advice; Revisiting a Progressive Pedagogy casts a wide net over prevailing educational issues relevant to progressive educators including multiethnicity, violence, artistic expression, family partnerships, and teacher education.
Part I expands the theoretical base of the developmental-interaction approach to education by first discussing its historical background, and then by connecting the philosophy to child's play, Vygotskyian theory, and cultural studies. These opening chapters are valuable because they offer foundational support for challenges faced by progressive educators who reject rigid standardizations of classroom practice. Something as seemingly trivial as child's play becomes the basis of inquiry for Margery B. Franklin as she observes connections between acting out dramatic scenarios in the classroom to Vygotskian theories supporting the notion that pretending (play) develops abstract thinking skills necessary for reading and writing. It becomes clear that time spent playing has its own developmental values and that this development is only visible when adults take the time to watch, listen, and learn from children who are given a chance to explore what interests them.
If Part I is the theoretical bones of the book, Part II is the meat on those bones. Primarily made up of narrative research based on classroom experience, Part II begins with a reprinted article from 1935 written by Lucy Sprague Mitchell who recounts how she prepared preservice teachers to become observers of their environment. The chapter describes Mitchell taking preservice teachers out into New York City streets to view “community patterns of work” (p. 132) by standing on a road for 15 minutes with instructions to observe and take notes. Realizing that most of her students simply recorded the comings and goings of buses and automobiles, Mitchell expanded the lesson to include visiting “under-the-street activity” which included “harbors, railroads, streets, etc., where the functioning of city roads is evident” (pp. 132-3). Other chapters in this section include stories by teachers who watched students and learned that: emphasizing art in the classroom can increase school-based knowledge, incorporating family storytelling into daily curriculum breaks down barriers between school and home, and discussions of community-based violence with young children helps students work through some of the sadness in their lives. While the majority of the classroom scenarios involve young children, the instructional principles used in those elementary classrooms are easily adaptable to all ages. The descriptions are vivid, and the reflections are heartfelt; readers who wish to write their own classroom scenarios (like the ones recounted in the chapters of this section) are shown how in the step-by-step guide: “Learning to Look Closely at Children” (pp. 203-220).
Part III devotes its energy to helping teachers, teacher educators, and administrators learn how to promote progressive pedagogy. Suggestions for conducting teacher research, constructing a teacher portfolio, and incorporating children's families into the schools complete the book, making it both theoretical and practical.
While a few contributors sometimes resort to jargon, what I like about this book is that it provides a rich assortment of classroom stories, historical perspectives, and curricular overviews all conceived around a theoretical lens that values children, childhood experiences, and the environment where children grow and learn. Because Bank Street's approach to education is built on the assumption that “what a teacher offers to children is necessarily connected to how she experiences, understands, and acts on pressing social issues of the time” (p. 4), the writing style of the contributors mirrors an attempt to capture the thoughts, feelings, and voices of participants. Consistent throughout its pages are solid research-based and historical records describing how the developmental-interaction point of view links teachers to students, students to their experiences, education to local communities, and learning to the world. By relying on teachers' voices as they describe the experiences of their students, Revisiting a Progressive Pedagogy lends structural support to a progressive agenda because the experiences of learning become the research, stories, and sources of inspiration behind the philosophy prevalent at Bank Street. By remaining poised to promote and support progressive pedagogy, Revisiting a Progressive Pedagogy encapsulates a wide variety of issues pertinent to all educators.
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