Schools, and other social institutions strongly influence, impact and police the construction of identity. This course examines the nature of schooling and the socializing power of schools, using gender as its primary lens for analysis and considering how gender interacts with other facets of identity including race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status. Through readings, writing, discussion, and time spent in schools, students examine the hidden and official curriculum schools use to teach about gender identity and norms. Successful completion of this course requires a commitment to spend 10 hours outside of class volunteering in a school or a youth-serving community organization.
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Experiential Learning
Teaching students to read is a fundamental task of teachers in every class and grade level. This course examines the nature of reading and provides an introduction to well balanced reading instruction in grades K-12. Through readings, writing, discussion, and time spent in schools, students are introduced to the nature of reading, how young people learn to read, and instruction that fosters lasting literacy. Successful completion of this course requires a commitment to spend regular time in schools, participating in the teaching of reading or writing.
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Experiential Learning
This course is designed to allow individuals interested in schools to develop a greater understanding of economic inequality and to examine what teachers can do to provide the best possible education for students impacted by economic inequality. The course considers how social and educational policies have resulted in schools that are not equally resourced. This course examines and confronts the American stories of rugged individualism and of the United States as a place where class and race are irrelevant, while maintaining a focus on what teachers can do for the children with whom they work. Successful completion of this course requires a commitment to spend 10 hours outside of class volunteering in a school or community organization that supports children and families impacted by economic inequality.
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Experiential Learning
The history of legislated and de facto everyday white supremacy in public schooling and social life has created a highly segregated teaching force. Most U.S. teachers are white, middle-class, monolingual females who grew up in predominantly white communities. Teachers of color are dramatically under-represented in the teaching force, and children of color have very limited representations of their racial identity throughout their schooling experience. The central work of this course is to center race as a lens for understanding miseducation in American schooling. Through shared discussion, reading, and engagement in public school communities, students will confront the assumptions of whiteness in U.S. schooling and seek to unlearn socialized assumptions about race. Students will reflect on classroom and community learning, as well as personal experiences, to develop and apply strategies and action steps that promote equity in learning contexts.
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Experiential Learning
Teaching reading has never been politically neutral because reading instruction, when it is done well, requires that we read something. Underlying this course is an assumption that the selection of what students read should consider the promotion of American ideals of liberty and justice for everyone. Together students think about the messages children's and young adult books send and how to select books that promote social justice. Students read children's and young adult books that include people from different racial groups, and books that open up ideas of gender and sexuality. Successful completion of this course requires a commitment to spend regular time working with youth.
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Experiential Learning
Teaching about the past tells us where we came from and provides a narrative that communicates who "we" are. Using primary sources with K-12 students is often touted as one of the best ways to shape inclusive narratives while developing reading, writing, and critical thinking. And yet, primary sources are rarely used at the pre-college level. This class is designed to introduce students to using primary documents to help K-12 students understand alternative perspectives of the past. While many perspectives are marginalized in K-12 classrooms, few experience the silence that surrounds LGBTQ people. By using the Archive of Sexuality and Gender, students learn about LGBTQ history, discover valuable primary sources for use with K-12 students, and create a plan for using these sources with K-12 students. Successful completion of this course requires a commitment to spend regular time working with youth in a volunteer setting.
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Experiential Learning
This course focuses on the ways in which educators, politicians, and the public view the state of American schools. Broad philosophies of education guide an analysis of schools, which include historical lenses as well as the current literature on classroom reforms. This course contrasts central issues of schooling as seen from the "outside" political domain and the "inside" experience of students. In particular, the course addresses how issues of race and social class as well as economic inequality surround current debates over the best way to improve schools in the 21st century. This course is intended both for prospective teachers and for students interested in examining critically the policies that shape one of the key institutions in American society. Required for the Education Studies minor and for admission to the MAT program.
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Knowledge, Identity, and PowerSocial Scientific and Historical Perspectives
Prerequisites
Sophomore or greater standing.
The central topic of this course is the ways teachers view learning, instruction, classroom organization, and motivation. This course takes a micro-analytical approach focusing on classroom interactions and how a teacher plans for a range of student interests, experiences, strengths, and needs. Students in the course consider 1) how the teacher inquiry cycle of planning, teaching, and reflecting supports teacher identity development and improves instruction, and 2) how the interactions between teachers and students, and amongst students, are located at the intersections of issues of knowledge, identity, and power.
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Knowledge, Identity, and PowerSocial Scientific and Historical Perspectives
Prerequisites
Sophomore or greater standing.
This is the capstone course and culminating experience for the Education Studies minor. Participants should have completed most or all of their Education Studies coursework before enrolling. During the course, students work with a mentor teacher to examine instructional practice and student learning in a classroom setting. Students learn about action research, and develop a study in their school-based classroom, identifying relevant questions, collecting and analyzing data, and developing practical implications.
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Experiential LearningSocial Scientific and Historical Perspectives