EDU 415: FOUNDATIONS FOR CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN EDUCATION
Dr. Johanna Filp
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EDU 415: FOUNDATIONS FOR CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN EDUCATION Dr. Johanna Filp |
 Introduction
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Course
Description |
Texts
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| Diversity
Resources |
Highlighters
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| Course
Objectives |
Course
Requirements |
Course
Calendar |
| Tuesdays 4:00 - 7:40 pm
Office: Stevenson 3096 B Office phone: 664-2280 Office Hours: Tues., 13:00 - 14:00; Thurs. 13:00 - 14:00; Wed. p.m. (by appointment) |
Syllabus
Education in the United States and worldwide is facing a new challenge:
how do we achieve equity and quality of Education within a context
of cultural heterogeneity? In the U.S. in l876, 60% of school-age
children were enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools,
by l972 the enrollment figure was 90%, three-fourths of the country's
eighteen year olds were completing high school, and half of them
were enrolling in postsecondary education. In l974 some 10,000,000
students were attending institutions of higher education, three
times the number only 16 years earlier, in l958. This progress
in democratization of education has presented new challenges to
the quality and equity of the Education system. Quality problems
arise, because we are no longer dealing with an education for
small groups, coming from high income groups and elites. The quantitative
improvements have resulted, amongst other things, in a heterogeneous
student population, regarding income, culture, ethnicity, language,
race and socio-economic background of students. The commonly used
teaching strategies, geared toward a homogeneous group are no
longer effective. Equity problems are reflected in unequal learning
outcomes. Students from different ethnic groups and from low income
sectors, have lower achievement levels than students from middle
and high-income groups, which results in equity problems.We therefore
need to reconsider how we teach and what we teach. Diversity is
the ground on which we work and we need to be able to understand
the implications of this challenge.
The course examines current issues and trends in educational practices
through the perspectives of history, philosophy, sociology, psychology
, anthropology and the politics of education. We will focus on
theoretical and practical issues of diversity in classroom settings,
especially related to culture, race, gender ethnicity, language
and socio-economic levels. In the course we will establish a constant
dialogue between theory and practice, between personal reflections
and interpersonal exchange, between feelings, actions and thoughts.
Students will therefor utilize both ethnographic and self-reflective
techniques to expand multicultural awareness. Field experience
(30 hours) in a culturally diverse setting in required. An approach
of this kind is necessary if we are to grasp the deeper meanings,
tensions and implications of the process of creating an education
which builds on the richness of diversity.
Through the present course I would like students to achieve the
following goals.
1. To get acquainted with and investigate major movements in education,
related to issues of diversity and equity.
2. To examine models of multi-cultural education.
3. To investigate representative ethnic groups in the school community,
using different procedures such as, ethnographic observation,
life histories, in depth interview with parents, teachers, school
administrators, etc.
4. To evaluate educational materials for culture, class and gender
bias.
5. To learn useful strategies for developing curriculum which
promote equity.
6. To evaluate current assessment strategies for culture, class
and gender bias.
7. To learn about educational experiences which involve the community
and the family and develop and understanding of the relationship
between the school and the community.
8. To develop awareness of personal bias and classroom stereotypes
and strategies for combatting them.
Nieto, Sonia. Affirming Diversity. (l996) The sociopolitical context
of multicultural Education. Longman Publishers.Derman-Sparks and
the A..C.
Task Force.(l9889) <U>Anti-Bias Curriculum: Tools for Empowering
Young Children.</U> National Association for the Education of
Young Children.
RECOMMENDED TEXTS
Holeton, Richard.(l995) <U>Encountering Cultures</U>, Second Edition.Prentice
Hall, New Yersey.
Other texts will be recommended through the course and will be
available in the Library Reserve room.
1. Class attendance and participation, preparation of readings.
I will focus on how you relate the readings to your experience,
both personal and professional, on the questions you ask yourself
about the readings. If you cannot make it to class, please contact
me or leave a message in advance. 10%
2. Self-reflective, double-entry dialogue journals. Write down
significant quotes from readings, summaries of discussions, field
observations or possibly an assigned topic on one side of the
page. If you find cartoons, poems, songs that address the issue
of diversity, include them in your journal. Write your reaction
to the stimulus on the other side of the page, you may add episodes
of your own school experience. If it feels right, you may represent
your personal elaboration of the material in a drawing (never
mind if you are "good at it", a poem, a collage. This
will allow you to explore your different possibilities of expression
and communication and get a first-hand experience of how you might
be sensitive to your student•s different styles of learning
and expressing. Add a verbal reflection on your creation. Leave
adequate space for a response by your fellow course colleagues.
You will be exchanging the journal with each other and with me;
I will collect all of the journals twice during the semester.
One solid entry per week; personal response or elaboration every
three weeks. 25%
3. Evaluate a random selection of ten children•s books with
a multi-cultural theme for evidence os sexism and racism using
the Guidelines for Selecting Bias-Free Books. 10%
4. In cooperative groups, develop an ethnographic study of a particular
cultural group now represented in California schools. Use reference
materials from the California State Department of Education, investigative
articles, recent books and primary source interviews. Present
your findings to the class orally, supported by a written document.
You may use video or audio to complement your presentation. You
will receive a handout with the general guidelines on what your
written and oral presentation should contain. (Copy for each class
member of the written document). 25%
5. Personal Project. Consider the needs of a particular child
or group of children that you are observing in your field placement.
Find out what their lives are like, visit their homes and walk
in their neighborhood. Find out what they do in school and after
school, how they feel about themselves and their place in the
school. (You can tap their feelings using different approaches,
incomplete sentences, projective techniques, drawings, writing
a story, etc.) Ask their parents what they expect of their children
and of the school. Plan a series of lessons/experiences which
will <U>empower that child/group of children in a significant,
personal way.</U> You may also want to prepare some educational
materials for this purpose. Read. Cummins, Empowering Minority
Students. 30%
6. Field Experience.
a. Make arrangements to observe and participate in a classroom
with culturally diverse students in a grade level of your choosing.
You will spend a minimum of 30 clock hours in this classroom during
the semester observing and participating in activities.
b. Observe classroom interactions: teacher-student (e.g. whole
group, small group, individual) and student-student- (e.g. teacher
groupings, social groupings, one-on-one). You will be receiving
guidelines in our class, on how to proceed with the observation.
c. In consultation with the classroom teacher, choose individual
children and a small group of students whom you will observe and
tutor.
d. Record insights and experiences in your journal. Relate what
you observed to some of the theoretical readings.
e. Maintain a log including activities, dates, hours, grade level,
name of teacher, school and district, first names only of your
special children. The classroom teacher is to sign your log.
SEPT. 3 Introductions, course overview, cultural awareness.
READINGS Handouts, Antibias Curr., Ch. 1
SEPT. 10 The Culture Learning Process.
READINGS Human Diversity., Ch. 1 and 2, Anti-Bias, Ch. 7.
SEPT. 17 Analyzing Intercultural Interaction.
READINGS Human Div., Ch. 3. Anti-Bias, Ch. 4
Sept. 24 Communication Across Culture
READINGS Human Diversity Ch. 4. Anti-Bias, Ch. 4
OCT. 1. Influences on Learning
READINGS Human Div., Ch. 5.Anti-Bias, Ch. 8
OCT. 8 Pluralism and Educational Policy: A Brief History.
READINGS Human Diversity, Ch. 6
OCT. 15 Second Language Issues. Bilingual Education.Human Diversity,
Ch. 7
OCT. 22 Exceptionality in the Contexto of Diversity.Ethnography
Report.
READINGS Human Div., Ch. 8. Anti-Bias, Ch. 5
OCT. 29 The Experience of Gender. Ethnography Report.
READINGS. Human Diversity., Ch. 9. Anti'Bias, Ch. 3 and 6
NOV. 5 Expanding or eliminating boundaries. Ethnography Report.
READINGS. Human Diversity, Ch. 10, Anti-Bias, Ch. 10
NOV. 12 The Emergind Educational Community. Ethnography Report.
READINGS Human Diversity., Ch. 11, Anti-Bias, Ch. 11
NOV. 19 The Transformation of Curriculum. Ethnography Report.
READINGS Human Divesity., Ch. 12. Antibias, Ch. 12
NOV. 26 Critical Pedagogy.
READINGS Human Diversity., Ch. 13 and 14, Anti.Bias, Ch. 9.
DEC. 3 Sharing of personal projects.
DEC. 10 Sharing of personal projects.Self-evaluations and group
evaluations. Course evaluations.
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Dr. Filp's Links to Cultural Diversity Resources
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Spanish Books
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