1st Edition

Honored but Invisible An Inside Look at Teaching in Community Colleges

Edited By W. Norton Grubb Copyright 1999
    404 Pages
    by Routledge

    404 Pages
    by Routledge

    Based on the most extensive research on community college teaching to date, this book examines the nature of teaching and the institutional forces that shape it in a variety of course settings, ranging from innovative approaches to complex subjects to conventional didactic instruction. Drawing on observations of and interviews with over 300 instructors and administrators, this book documents the idiosyncratic instructional practices of teachers who learn to teach primarily by trial and error. It argues that in order to realize their enormous potential, community colleges must take greater advantage of the many institutional influences on the quality of teaching--such as personnel policies, instructor training, and the culture established by administrators--only then will they be able to successfully carry out their many roles in both mainstream education and in workforce development.

    Introduction:Who Cares for Teaching in Community Colleges? The Rationale and Method of Our Inquiry Chapter 1: Instructors' Approaches to Pedagogy and the Multiple Conceptions of Good Teaching Chapter 2: The Modal Classroom The Varieties of Lecture/Discussion Chapter 3: W. Norton Grubb and Barbara Byrd--Lecture/Workshop and Hands-On Learning The Complexities of Occupational Instruction Chapter 4: W. Norton Grubb and Helena Worthen--Literacy Practices in the Classroom The Foundation of Schooling Chapter 5: W. Norton Grubb and Helena Worthen--Remedial/Developmental Education The Best and the Worst Chapter 6: W. Norton Grubb and Helena Worthen--Standards and Content The Special Dilemmas of Community Colleges Chapter 7: Innovative Practices The Pedagogical and Institutional Challenges Chapter 8. W. Norton Grubb and Elnora Webb--The Institutional Effects on Teaching The Potential Power of Teaching Colleges Chapter 9: Funding and Policy The Neglect of Teaching Chapter 10: Alternative Futures Creating the Teaching College References Appendix Colleges and Courses Observed Index

    Biography

    Berkeley. He is author of Working in the Middle: Strengthening Education and Training for the Mid-Skilled Labor Force (1996) and Learning to Work: The Case for Re-integrating Job Training and Education (1996).

    "...the coverage of the study provided by multiple sources of data, including interviews, observations, and documents reviews, provides a sound basis for Grubb's analysis. The vast amount of data, and the wide spectrum of programs visited, offer a remarkably rich portrayal of the community college classroom." -- Educational Researcher, March 2002
    "Honored but Invisible is an important contribution to our understanding of actual instructional practices and the influences that can help bridge the gap between the rhetoric and practices of teaching college.--Susan Twombly, University of Kansas."
    "...this is an extremely comprehensive work that is a rich source of data on teaching...The authors are also to be commended for their sympathetic treatment of the community college teaching process--they have a grasp of the institutions they examine...This book should be read by all teachers and administrators at community colleges who are interested in improving their teaching." -- Jim Jacobs, Community College Journal