Abstract

This ethnographic case study describes one Nebraska teacher's response to the multiage conditions ofthis naturally small institution in her use of "recitation" lessons. The form of the country school recitation, with its predictable student-teacherinteraction and emphasis on independent work, appears as a sensible practice for curriculum and student management. I investigate the residual form of the recitation in a modern one-teacher school in rural Nebraska as a patterned response to the conditions ofsmallness. Conservative in its orientation toward knowledge and student learning, the recitation is explored as a functional response to the context ofsmallness, implicit parental and community expectations, inevitable student transfer to large graded middle and secondary schools, and its symbolic defense ofcommunity at a time ofrural social and economic decline.

How to Cite:

Swindler, S. A., (2000) “Notes on a Country School Tradition: Recitation as an Individual Strategy”, Journal of Research in Rural Education 16(1), 8–21.

Rights: Copyright