Episode 2-6 How Choice for Students Gets Us to Responsibility
Show Notes
Families’ choice of school for their children is not the only kind of choice that matters educationally. It may well not be the most important kind, either. We heard from parents in Episode 4 who were concerned with whether or not their kids learned to think and act for themselves, and in the process, to take responsibility for who they were in the world. What do educators think about this?
When educators wrestle with questions of student choice and responsibility, the differences revolve around when and how much -- and almost never about whether choice and responsibility matter. But the broad strokes of what we know are clear in research and in our discussion here: choice motivates student interest and effort, choice forms the ground for taking responsibility, and choice is both ground for and marker of shared life in a democratic community.
00:00
Introduction to the Second Season Dr. Barbara Stengel
01:24
Choice generates motivation, responsibility, and democracy Stengel
03:51
Introductions Anna Bernstein, middle level English teacher/coach; Sara Sjerven, independent school English teacher/coach; Liz Self, high school English teacher
08:11
So what about choice? Links to teachers’ autonomy, curricular constraints and self-censorship Bernstein, Stengel, Sjerven
17:07
Choice as simple respect for students Self
21:50
Choice is both challenging and necessary for learning Bernstein, Sjerven
26:18
Why choice? Community of learners Stengel, Sjerven
30:10
Why choice? Other people in all their glory! Self
33:30
Why choice? The purpose of public school in a democracy Bernstein, Stengel
36:55
Bring on responsibility (gender, time, desire, perspective) Self, Stengel, Sjerven
41:35
Whose choices? Whose agency? Whose responsibility? Sjerven, Stengel
44:30
Disillusionment is understandable; is response possible? Bernstein
46:55
What’s privilege got to do with it? Students’ economic value Sjerven, Stengel,
50:03
Does responsibility precede choice? Sjerven, Bernstein
53:16
The continuous enlargement of the space of the possible Self
56:40
Supports for teachers who design for choice? Stengel, Bernstein, Sjerven,
63:39
Community, creativity and trust for teachers Stengel
66:20
This is the end of Season 2. Join us in the fall for Season 3!
Many thanks to the committed and accomplished teachers who agreed to inform our thinking for this episode! These include Anna Bernstein, Sara Sjerven, and Liz Self.
As usual, there are references to a variety of social, educational and historical news and commentary. You can pursue our sources and find out more about these issues at our website:
The first season of Chasing Bailey is a podcast about a group of teachers, leaders, and others who dedicated themselves to changing the fortunes of a failing middle school in Nashville TN from 2012 to 2016.
They succeeded, but their achievement was bittersweet.
In 2016, the district closed that school.
Still, those who were there knew they had stumbled onto something special, some important educational truths that might help all of us find our way out of the morass that COVID 19 has left us in.
Chasing Bailey’s second season explores those “important education truths” as we think through some of the challenges that all teachers, leaders, and students face. We consult some of your favorite Chasing Bailey characters, but we also talk with educators in other schools around the country. As always, our focus will be on the experience of educating and being educated.
Our Host is Barb Stengel, an emerita professor of educational practice at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College, and also emerita professor at Millersville University. She is an educator, a self-described fan of the Bailey experiment, and an advocate for public schooling but a strong critic of how public schooling has strayed from educational intentions.
Between 2012 and 2016, Barb spent one day a week at Bailey, coordinating the school’s collaboration with Peabody, and serving as an informal cheerleader while also learning from this remarkable effort. She knew early on it was a story worth telling. So she spent a year interviewing dozens of staff, students, parents, and district administrators who were eager to talk about their experiences.
Barb is now retired from Vanderbilt University but she continues to find ways to highlight the work of educators and to criticize (constructively) the figures and forces that get in educators’ way.
Chasing Bailey is hosted and narrated by Dr. Barbara Stengel, Vanderbilt University.
This episode was edited and co-produced by Brenna Fallon and Kayley Yantis. The executive producer is Dr. Lowery Woodall, Millersville University of Pennsylvania.
Our theme for Season 2 is Folk Music 2 by Caffeine Creek Band. In addition, we have incorporated one other Caffeine Creek Band musical tracks: Sunshine and Flowers. You can find these tunes at Pixabay.com.
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