Policies 1
What counts as participation in this class?
Learning in this course requires active engagement with concepts, ideas, and experiences. In order to maximize your learning in this course, you are expected to complete required readings and contribute to class discussions. Substantive contributions include sharing thoughtful responses to readings, posing thought-provoking questions, critically analyzing own experiences, being actively involved in small group activities, responding to peers’ contributions, and building on class discussions. Please, keep your textbook and other relevant materials handy and use those to improve the quality of your contributions. During the stage of remote instruction, participation in Zoom meetings counts towards your overall participation grade.
What textbooks do you need to have for this class?
Sensoy, O. & DiAngelo, R. (2017). Is everyone really equal? An introduction to key concepts in social justice education (2nd Ed). Teachers College Press.
Vavrus, M (2015). Diversity & education: A critical multicultural approach. Teachers College Press.
United Nations. (2015). Universal declaration of human rights. Paris: United Nations.
Throughout the semester, there will be small learning tasks that will have to be completed before you come to class. Those are included to help you explore how the concepts we discuss in class function in the wider world or apply to your own personal experiences. Examples of those tasks include filling out Privilege and Disadvantage Inventory, Critical Incident Inventory, or Class Background Inventory. The course schedule and the syllabus on Canvas show due dates for your learning tasks.
What style should you use when you prepare a reference list for your papers and where do you find information about this style in your syllabus?
APA. Appendix C - page 20 and 21 of the syllabus.
How do you find out what you need to read in preparation for a class session or what you need to submit on any given week?
Consult Course Content and Schedule, pages 3-9.
Canvas Syllabus tab also has due dates and times for all of your assignments.
How do you participate in online discussions in this class?
To build community and engage in deeper thinking, you will engage in online discussions. We will take turn posting reflections, comments on colleagues’ reflections, questions, and responses to questions. Your discussion contributions will be evaluated based on the quality of your thinking, the depth of engagement with readings, and the amount of learning you have done from the readings that were assigned to you.
The following list of questions will be helpful to keep in mind as you read and develop your posts.
What argument is the author(s) trying to make?
What does this reading have to do with particular aspects of diversity, power, opportunity, inequality, and/or schooling?
In what ways is the argument persuasive or not to you? Why? Why not?
What is the evidence that the author is using to substantiate the argument?
What do you think the author failed to consider about the issue? Why? Why not?
Where do you agree/disagree with the author? Why? Why not? What evidence do you rely on in your agreement/disagreement?
What strikes you as particularly interesting, curious, insightful, irritating, etc.?
Please, check Canvas for your group assignment and make sure that you check the course schedule for different types of discussion posts assigned for your group for each week.
What is the purpose of this course?
The purpose of this course is to provide you with intellectual and conceptual tools for understanding the interaction between inequality and schooling. You will explore what research and scholarship in education, sociology, anthropology, legal studies, philosophy, and other disciplines show about how diversity interacts with systems of injustice and inequality. In particular, you will learn how students’ diverse identities shape their experiences in educational settings and opportunities in the society at large. In order to gain deeper insights into these processes, you will be invited to reconsider taken-for-granted assumptions about schooling and society, to reason with evidence, and to develop empathy for those whose experiences might be different from yours. All of these skills will help you become a better educator in the future.
How is your work graded in this class?
Appendix A: Grading Rubric
What paper do you have to write in this class?
Schooling and Cultural Autobiography
Understanding how your personal experiences have shaped your own assumptions about teaching and learning is important to your development as an effective teacher of diverse learners. To that end, you will write an autobiography in which you will reflect on how your background and identity (race/ethnicity, social class, gender, sexuality, ability, language, religion, etc.) influenced your schooling experiences and what your schooling experiences taught you about your identity. You should draw on course readings, learning tasks, and discussions to develop a critical analysis of your experiences for this paper.
What are the three dimensions of learning outcomes in this course and what questions do these dimensions address?
Cognitive development: viewing knowledge and knowing with greater complexity and taking into account multiple perspectives. The key question is: How do I know?
Intrapersonal development: increasing awareness of one’s own values and self-identity and integrating these into one’s sense of personhood. The key question is: Who am I?
Interpersonal development: fostering one’s willingness to interact with persons with different social norms and cultural backgrounds, acceptance of others, and comfortability in relating to others. The key question is: How do I relate to others?[1]
[1] Based on Braskamp, L. A., & Engberg, M. E. (2011). How colleges can influence the development of a global perspective. Liberal Education, 97(3/4), 1-8.
What should you do if you have a question about this course?
Questions About the Course: If you have general questions about the course, please, post your question on the Q&A board on Canvas. Allow me at least 24 hours to respond. If you have questions that are specific to your situation, email me.
What does the case study analysis involve?
This assignment asks you to utilize critical thinking skills as you analyze and respond to a case study on the main topics we cover in the course. This assignment asks you to apply the concepts you are learning in class to cases that capture inequalities in school realties. You will choose a group and a topic you are interested in analyzing. With your group, you will analyze the case using “Equity Literacy” framework. You will facilitate a class discussion of the case and to engage the entire community in analyzing the case. Afterwards, you will submit your analysis as well as a short reflection paper on what you have learned by doing this exercise and how well your group collaborated on this assignment.
What kind of speech/behavior should you avoid in this class?
Rude, sarcastic, obscene, or disrespectful speech and disruptive behavior have a negative impact on everyone's learning. Because this class needs to be a participatory community if students are to fulfill their potential for learning, individuals who disrupt the community will be removed from the class and their enrollment will be terminated.
Disruptive behavior includes, but is not limited to the following: receiving and sending phone calls, texts, or other messages during class, leaving class early or coming to class late, disrupting instructional discourse, doing assignments for other classes, sleeping, and engaging in other activities that detract from the classroom learning experience.
You are expected to complete your Healthcheck screener daily.
Your health and safety, and the health and safety of your peers, are my top priorities. If you are experiencing any symptoms of COVID-19, or if you discover that you have been in close contact with others who have symptoms or who have tested positive, you must follow the instructions on the Healthcheck app. My hope is that if you are feeling ill or if you have been exposed to someone with the virus, you will stay home to protect others.
Please do the following in the event of an illness or COVID-related absence:
What is the final assignment in this class?
The culminating assignment in this course is a final reflection. In this assignment, you are expected to demonstrate an in-depth understanding of course topics and themes. You will do that by applying them to an analysis of current debates or issues in education. You will be asked to choose a prompt from the list provided by your instructor and use course readings and discussions to formulate a position, develop an argument, and provide evidence in support of your argument.