| Welcome! | Tentative Schedule | Helpful Links | ||||
| Required Texts |
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Assignments & Grading |
Welcome!
I look forward to learning about you and your interests
in education. We will be working together this semester to examine and
apply the implications of culture and its relationship to teaching and
learning, schools and other pedagogical institutions, the lives of ourselves
and our students and colleagues, and the decisions we make as educators.
This course is designed to foster the creation of a community of colleagues who can help each other to comprehend the complexities of culture, race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, ability, and other categories of difference that people often use to analyze their professional work, and the context in which it takes place.
Here are five starting points that we will initially seek to understand, and then critically analyze for their own partial and misleading assumptions; please think about each one and the ways in which those with different ideological beliefs and personal backgrounds might seek dialogue across them:
--The educational experiences of students are directly influenced by the ways that educators consider and approach such factors as culture, race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, and (dis)ability.
--Students learn more of what educators want them to learn, and learn such stuff more efficiently, in environments that are sensitive to and appreciative of who they are and where they come from.
--Educational institutions and individual teachers structure learning experiences and outcomes for students in different ways depending partly on their own life experiences and partly on how they interpret differences because of these experiences.
--Effective and culturally responsive teaching (teaching that is creative, dynamic, reflective, refractive, and diffractive) requires a teacher to be willing and able to know her/his students, including their cultural experiences and the cultural communities of which they are part, as well as her/his self in similar ways.
To have strong voices as educators (something crucial to being able to support our own students' power to accomplish things) we need to focus on the implications of culture -- not so much to define "culture" or to learn how to "use culture," but to recognize the effects of cultural practices, and the ways that some other things might be mixed up with what we tend to label as culture. Macedo & Bartolomé write on page 135 of our text that culture is "the representation of lived experiences, material objects, and practices forged within the unequal and dialectical relations that different groups establish in a given society at a particular point in historical time." We'll be coming back to this... Another course I discovered in preparing for this semester defines culture a bit differently: "human intellectual activities at work, home, play" -- Wow, isn't that different? And what does it say about work, home, and play? It is important that you know I find Macedo and Bartolomé's approach more useful in my own work.
Grant, Carl & Christine Sleeter. 1998. Turning On Learning: Five approaches for multicultural teaching plans for race, class, gender, and disability. John Wiley or Merrill. ISBN 0471391433 or 0471364452.
Kohl, Herbert. 1994. I Won't Learn From You and other thoughts on creative maladjustment. The New Press. ISBN 1565840968.
Macedo, Donaldo & Lilia Bartolomé. 1999. Dancing with Bigotry: Beyond the politics of tolerance. Palgrave. ISBN 0312293267.
There will be additional required readings distributed in class throughout the semester.
Participation and contributions.
Our collective assignment is to make sure that each one
of us is an active participant in a collaborative learning process. In
this course, will will all be teachers and learners throughout the
entire semester. Because of the nature of this course, which is designed
to create a context in which trust and honesty are possible, it is vital
that each one of us is here, intellectually as well as physically, during
each class session, and that you are on time, and plan to stay until
at least 6:50 pm. Your participation beyond the bare minimal expectation
of attendance and punctuality are viewed as a sign of respect for each
and every other member of the course community; it is one of the important
criteria for building rapport and understanding among all of us.
But this is far from enough to make the course successful! Students have different preferred modes of learning and interaction, and different expectations; there are likely to be times when it seems like the format of class is not what you had imagined. There may be times when it is uncomfortable for you, or when someone is saying something you cannot fathom. It is this very type of feeling that we must experience often this semester if we are to challenge ourselves to be prepared to enact pedagogy grounded in an understanding of cultural foundations. It is crucial that each one of us takes responsibility for creating a "safe space" -- a safe environment in which open and respectful dialogue can occur. Part of our goal this semester is to better understand how to actually do this.
By safe environment, I do not mean that we should not actively challenge each other on important issues. When done respectfully, challenging each other on ideas or issues is an important learning tool: we must quickly start feeling that when we come together we can discuss our differing beliefs without being judged as "naive" or "ignorant," or pigeon-holed into categories such as "racist," "p.c.," "homophobic," or "sexist." For this to happen, we will each need to work hard to remain respectfully tentative about others' opinions (and critically self-reflective on our own!). On top of this, we all need help in comprehending our own evolving beliefs and values: so it is essential that we contribute by asking others to further clarify their thoughts and examples. To ask questions of others in the class is an important sign of respect for our developing community of learners and teachers.
Critical engagement with the readings
It is paramount that you have completed all assigned
readings listed in our schedule before each class meeting.
You are required to integrate readings into our class discussions and projects.
Your willingness to interact with these texts and your ability to engage
seriously with them will be reflected in your grade. Please note that being
critical does not mean disagreeing! ... unless you have thought through
things and have decided that you do actually disagree. You are required
to challenge yourself to consistently find ways to apply the ideas of the
readings to your professional and personal experiences (even if you do disagree!).
Critical Curriculum Projects
You will do three critical curriculum projects in the
first half of the semester. For each, you need to choose one of the following
options:
a. Select one of the "after" lesson plans in the assigned
Grant & Sleeter chapter for further revision. Based on your critique
of this "after" lesson, redo the lesson plan so that it better supports
a response to the issues and concerns generated by the cultural foundations
of education. (Even though the authors include it as an example of something
"well done," we can easily see that our authors have not thought
through all of the issues themselves!) Write a 1-2 page "why the changes" orientation
explication for your new
plan.
b. Describe a recent lesson or unit that you have taught
yourself, experienced, or observed. Then create an "after" lesson or unit plan that illustrates ways that this existing example of curriculum and instruction
can be changed to better implement the approaches described in the assigned
chapter. Write up a 1-2 page "why the changes" orientation to your new
plan.
Make three copies of your assignments: one to share with
me, and two to trade with others.
The third critical curriculum project will be workshopped
in class to incorporate a comprehensive understanding of the range of mainstream
approaches to multicultural education that are commonly practiced. This
should be a curriculum project that you plan to use. The final version
should include a brief annotated bibliography of ten resources on multicultural
education that you will consult in the implementation: five print
resources and five web/internet or other media resources.
Action/Research Projects
These projects may be done collaboratively or individually.
You will do four mini action/research projects in the first half of the
semester. For each, you need to select one of the action research activities
suggested in the assigned chapter(s) of Grant & Sleeter. Then choose
one of the following:
a. Write a 1-2 page Research/Action Projection.
The idea of this "projection" is to consider the implications of what you
thought about and discovered in the action project. Describe ways that
your work, ideas, and foci will change or be directed because of this project.
Do not summarize what you did, and do not spend more than one paragraph
highlighting the key aspects of what you thought important before and during
the project. The main purpose is to guide you in formulating a vision of
the kinds of educational efforts that should be grounding your professional
growth and development.
b. Prepare an interactive exhibit for the class that
will force us to address a controversial or complex issue related to a
significant aspect of your project. The idea of this exhibit is to get
us to consider the implications of what you thought about and discovered
in the action project. The exhibit should not summarize what you did or
report on what you found out. Instead, it should provoke us to formulate
a vision of the kinds of things we need to think about and the sorts of
educational efforts we should be compelled to undertake if we are to enact
sound and exciting forms of pedagogy. Include a 1-2 page orientation pamphlet to
help folks understand the theories and questions that were incorporated in the
exhibit.
c. Bring a guest to class who can teach us something
about the cultural foundations of education that is related to your action
research project, but which we could not easily learn from our texts and
discussions on our own. After the class meeting in which your guest visits,
write up a 1-2 page reflection/refraction on how what happened in class compared
with what you anticipated before it happened; based on your experience, how
would you plan such a visit in the future to take greater advantage of the
guest?
You will also do a final action/research project due at the end of the semester. Details will be developed in class.
Group History Event
In the second half of the semester, you will be randomly
assigned to a reading/research group on the history of the schooling experiences
in the US of a recognized ethnicity or sub-culture. Over the course of several weeks
your group will plan an experience for the whole class. This experience
should be 20 minutes long. You will need to decide the best type of experience
based on the theories and practices we are discussing in the course. Schedule
a date with me as soon as your group is able.
Autoethnography Analysis Project
This semester-long assignment asks you to weave together
two things: you are assigned to develop an autoethnography, and also to
use the authors of our course to analyze your autoethnography. For the
autoethnography, you are to describe yourself as a member of cultural groups,
and then to illustrate through short narratives how these memberships have
contributed to the person(s) you are now. The analysis of your autoethnography
provides an opportunity to generate the important depth and seriousness
of reflection and self-study that is necessary for educators who hope to
apply the tools of cultural foundations in their work. Start a portfolio
of short narratives and logs on your readings right away; you will
look back over what you have already written numerous times over the course
of the semester to again examine your evolving thoughts, feelings, hopes
and fears. This portfolio is for your reflection, so use the format
that best gets your ideas going: write, draw, put together photographs in a
collage,
download music off the net, etc. Work in ways that feel comfortable and
genuine to you. At the same time, you need to consistently write ideas
that are generated by the readings, and use these logs on the readings
as a chance to analyze what you have been putting into this portfolio throughout
the semester. We will schedule brief class workshops to think about this
assignment as the class sees fit. The final version of this will depend
on your own interaction with "culture as represention of lived experiences,
material objects, and practices forged within the unequal and dialectical
relations that different groups establish in a given society at a particular
point in historical time." For one form of inspiration go to http://www.cmp.ucr.edu/students/glasshouses/
. (if you have trouble finding the key, go in the door for repeat visitors).
For more, see http://www.haussite.net/haus.0/SCRIPT/txt2001/01/russel.HTML
, http://simsim.rug.ac.be/schole/nieuw.html
, and especially http://www.humboldt.edu/~tdd2/AutoethnographyPW.htm.
| Course Grade: | |
| Contributions & Group History Event: | 25 |
| Critical Curriculum Projects: | 25 |
| Action/Research Projects: | 25 |
| Autoethnography: | 25 |
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Total:
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100 % |
Contact Information & Office Hours
Peter Appelbaum
Taylor 312 A
Mondays & Thursdays 2:00 - 3:30, and by appointment
215-572-4476
appelbaum@arcadia.edu
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Welcome | Buy those textbooks! | |
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MLK DAY | Grant & Sleeter Chapter 1 | |
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Teaching the Exceptionally and Culturally Different | Grant & Sleeter Chapter 2 | Action/Research Projection #1
(3 copies of) Critical Curriculum Project #1 |
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Human Relations and Single-Group Studies Approaches | Grant & Sleeter Chapters 3 & 4 | Action/Research Projection #2
(3 copies) of Critical Curriculum Project #2 |
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Multicultural Education
Planning for 2/24 -- brainstorming |
Grant & Sleeter Chapter 5 | Action/Research Projection #3
(3 copies) of Critical Curriculum Project #3 Invite guests for 2/24 |
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Education that's Multicultural and Reconstructionist
Planning for 2/24 -- refining/rehearsing |
Grant & Sleeter Chapter 6
Appelbaum handout, 59-64 |
Action/Research Projection #4
(3 copies of) new draft of crit. curric. proj. #3 re-invite guests for 2/24 |
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Multicultural Education Conference | Critical Curriculum Project |
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Student Agency
Conference debriefing History Research/reading Groups |
Kohl "I won't learn from you;" Spring handout | Thoughts on last week; Preparation for research/reading group |
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Inscriptions of Culture; History Research/reading Groups |
Kohl, "The tatooed man;" Ladson-Billings handout |
Ideas/materials for research/reading group |
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Ethnography of Race
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Nieto handout Kohl, Excellence, Equality, & Equity; Uncommon Differences |
Autoethnography portfolio in its current state |
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The Politics of Maladjustment "Culture Wars" and Education |
Kohl, Creative maladjustment Macedo & Bartolomé Chapters 1-3 |
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From Insurgent Multiculturalism to Moving Beyond Tolerance Planning for 5/5-brainstorming |
Macedo & Bartolomé Chapters 3-5 |
Ideas for May 5th |
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Moving Forward: Projects for Critical Multiculturalism Planning for 5/5-refining/rehearsing |
Appelbaum Handout, "Barriers to Multiculturalism" |
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Self-scheduled partner meetings |
work on assignments in buddy groups. |
Working draft of final action/research projection |
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Exam Period: Festival of Learning? |
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Assignments Due |
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What are you going to read over the summer???? |
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Autoethnography: Journeys of the Self http://www.haussite.net/haus.0/SCRIPT/txt2001/01/russel.HTML
NAME National Association for Multicultural Education http://www.nameorg.org/Teaching for Change http://www.teachingforchange.org/
Campaign for Meaningful Student Involvement http://freechild.org/CMSI/home.htm
GLSEN Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network http://www.glsen.org/templates/index.html
Pedagogy and Theater of the Oppressed http://www.unomaha.edu/~pto/
The Multicultural Pavillion http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/
The Multicultural Skyscraper http://www.multicultural.net/
EMME Electronic Magazine of Multicultural Education http://www.eastern.edu/publications/emme/
BUENO Center for Multicultural Education http://www.colorado.edu/education/BUENO/
Philadelphia Schools Framework # 102 http://www.philsch.k12.pa.us/boe/BPolicy/multiracial.html
PAME Pennsylvania Association for Multicultural Education http://www.clarion.edu/edu-humn/multicultural.htm
Pennsylvania Department of Education http://www.pde.state.pa.us/
Spring Vacation 