Chen Dynamics in Circle Rituals

Daily Life at a German Reform Pedagogic School
1. Auflage 2016
ISBN: 978-3-8309-8524-2
Verlag: Waxmann Verlag GmbH
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet/DL/kein Kopierschutz

E-Book, Englisch, 176 Seiten

This study focuses on the issues of secrecy, ambiguity and flexibility in what is known as the 'morning circle' in German schools. The morning circle has a longstanding tradition in the German school system and is widely practised. Over the past twenty years, this tradition has been the subject of increasing academic debates, many of which have suffered from one-sided viewpoints that reduce the morning circle to a warm-up phase for the school day or a means of teaching language. What has not been addressed in these debates is the initial notion of the circle as 'the primary feature of new education' (Petersen) - which challenged traditional educational ideas -, or the question as to why the morning circle has become so widespread in German schools today.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Chen, Hongyan

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Book Cover;1
2;Acknowledgements;5
3;Table of Contents;7
4;Abstract;11
5;1. Introduction;13
5.1;1.1 The Morning Circle in Academic Discussion;14
5.2;1.2 Ritual as the Framework of Circle Analysis;16
5.2.1;1.3.1 Beyond the Talking Circle;24
5.2.2;1.3.2 Order and Power in the Playful Morning Circle;26
5.2.3;1.3.3 Qualitative versus Quantitative Research;28
5.3;1.3 Stating Questions;22
5.3.1;1.3.1 Beyond the Talking Circle;24
5.3.2;1.3.2 Order and Power in the Playful Morning Circle;26
5.3.3;1.3.3 Qualitative versus Quantitative Research;28
5.4;1.4 Structure of this Research;29
6;2. The Morning Circle as Ritual Performance;33
6.1;2.1 Ritual as a Dynamic Process: The Transformation of Ritual Study;34
6.1.1;2.1.1 Ritual as an Academic Discourse: From Myth to Social Practice;34
6.1.2;2.1.2 Towards a Dynamic Ritual: Ritual as a Performance Process;38
6.1.2.1;2.1.2.1 Ritual as the Performing and Transmission of Cultural Heritage;38
6.1.2.2;2.1.2.2 Ritual as the Constructing and Performing of Social Institutions;40
6.2;2.2 The Morning Circle as Theatrical Ritual Performance;42
6.2.1;2.2.1 The Morning Circle as Performative Ritual;43
6.2.2;2.2.2 Make a Difference: The Ludic Element of the Morning Circle;46
6.3;2.3 Body and Mimesis;49
6.3.1;2.3.1 Paralanguage: The Body as an Anthropological Topic;49
6.3.2;2.3.2 The Unnatural Body;51
6.3.3;2.3.3 The Creative Body: Body and Mimesis;52
6.3.4;2.3.4 Gesture: Language of the Body;54
6.4;Chapter Summary;56
7;3. Methodology and Methods;58
7.1;3.1 Participant Observation as Performing Ethnography;58
7.1.1;3.1.1 Problems of Participant Observation;58
7.1.2;3.1.2 Participant Observation as Performative Process;62
7.1.2.1;3.1.2.1 Phase One;62
7.1.2.2;3.1.2.2 Phase Two;64
7.1.2.3;3.1.2.3 Phase Three;65
7.2;3.2 Videography in the Classroom: How Kids Play with the Camera;66
7.3;3.3 An Analytical Tool: Documentary Methods of Video-Interpretation;67
7.3.1;3.3.1 Documentary Methods;68
7.3.2;3.3.2 The Application of Documentary Method in this Study;70
7.3.2.1;3.3.2.1 Two Provisos: Conjunctive Experience and the Double Structure of the Body;70
7.3.2.2;3.3.2.2 Performativity in Video: Dimensions of Video Analysis;71
7.4;Chapter Summary;73
8;4. The School Field: Creating a Communicative Living Space;74
8.1;4.1 The School as a Building;74
8.1.1;4.1.1 The School in the City;74
8.1.2;4.1.2 The Internal Structure of the School;75
8.1.3;4.1.3 The Playground;77
8.1.4;4.1.4 School as a Communicative Social Space;78
8.2;4.2 The School Profile: The School as a Community;79
8.2.1;4.2.1 The School Reform in Process: The Way to a Community;79
8.2.2;4.2.2 The Incongruence of Space and Culture;81
8.3;4.3 A Routine Day: We are a Jena-Plan School now;82
8.3.1;4.3.1 The Rhythm of a Routine School Day;82
8.3.2;4.3.2 Heterogeneous Children in a Homogenous School Setting;84
8.3.3;4.3.3 Teacher as Nurturer vs. Teacher as Pedagogue;86
8.3.4;4.3.4 Parents as Participants;87
8.4;4.4 An Analysis Unit: Introduction to Class X;88
8.5;Chapter Summary;90
9;5. A Sketch of the Morning Circle: Performance in the Circle;91
9.1;5.1 Prologue: The Morning Circle as Routine Performance;92
9.2;5.2 Preparation: The Classroom as a Dynamic, Interactive Space;93
9.2.1;5.2.1 The Mobility of the Chairs: The Construction of the Classroom;95
9.2.2;5.2.2 The Creating of Scenes: Forming a Positive Atmosphere;97
9.3;5.3 Staging and Performance: Everything is in Order;99
9.3.1;5.3.1 Organization of Space: Let’s sit in a Circle;100
9.3.2;5.3.2 Organization of Time: Time Sequences as Structured Time Shaping;101
9.3.3;5.3.3 Dramatic Transition: From Chaos to Silence;104
9.3.4;5.3.4 Body Movement in the Circle;105
9.3.4.1;5.3.4.1 Sitting as Basic Form;106
9.3.4.2;5.3.4.2 The Preeminence of Hands;107
9.3.4.3;5.3.4.3 Facial Expressions: Glancing and Gazing;109
9.3.4.4;5.3.4.4 Communicative Body;110
9.3.5;5.3.5 Language;110
9.3.5.1;5.3.5.1 The Art of Speaking;111
9.3.5.2;5.3.5.2 Speech Act(s): Das ist aber schön!;113
9.3.5.3;5.3.5.3 Communicative Language in the Circle;115
9.4;5.4 The Ending: Informal Parting of the Morning Circle;116
9.5;Chapter Summary;117
10;6. The Reconstruction of the Scenes: On Orders and the Ludic;119
10.1;6.1 Meta-Communicative Framework: Making an Acquaintanceship;120
10.1.1;6.1.1 The Circle as a Natural Form: Performativity of the Circle;121
10.1.2;6.1.2 Greeting and Parting Rituals;123
10.2;6.2 Establishing Order;126
10.2.1;6.2.1 Cyclic Time in the Morning Circle;127
10.2.2;6.2.2 The Circle Space as an Active Zone;130
10.2.3;6.2.3 Civilization in the Practice of Order;133
10.2.3.1;6.2.3.1 Framing the Professional Schooling Posture;133
10.2.3.2;6.2.3.2 Talkativeness as Main Criterion of Competence;137
10.2.4;6.2.4 A Disorderly Moment as Promoter of Readjusting;140
10.2.5;6.2.5 Spoilsports: Who Breaks the Rules and Who Deserves to be Punished;145
10.2.6;6.2.6 Under the Auspices of Order;149
10.3;6.3 The Ludic Morning Circle: Power In-Between;149
10.3.1;6.3.1 Have Fun!;150
10.3.2;6.3.2 Gender as Game: Between Playful and Serious;153
10.4;Chapter Summary;155
11;7. Discussion;157
11.1;7.1 Magic Circle Rituals as a Basic Framework of Modern School Practice;157
11.2;7.2 Rethinking Method and Methodology;162
12;Bibliography;165
13;Appendix: Transcription Key;175