| San Diego State University Dept. Of Policy Studies in Language & Cross Cultural Education Fall 2003 |
| PLC 600: Foundations of Democratic Schooling |
| Karen Cadiero-Kaplan, Ph.D. | |
| Telephone: | 619-594-4994 |
| Class: | Thursday 4:00 p.m. National City |
| Office: | ED-130 |
| Office Hours: | Tuesday 2:00-6:00 p.m. and by Appointment |
| E-mail: | kcadiero@mail.sdsu.edu |
| Required Texts & Materials: |
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| Recommended Texts: |
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| Program Overview: |
The mission of the Policy Studies Masters Program with emphasis in Critical Literacy is to prepare professional bilingual and cross-cultural educators and administrators who are reflective and transformational practitioners in addressing the needs of diverse learners through collaboration with schools, families and community. Coursework for the program has been designed to focus on six areas of study that build the candidate's knowledge base on critical literacy. These areas are:
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| Web Based Resources & References: |
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| Texts for the Critical Review & Presentation Assignment: |
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| Program Overview: |
The mission of the Policy Studies Masters Program with emphasis in Critical Literacy is to prepare professional bilingual and cross-cultural educators and administrators who are reflective and transformational practitioners in addressing the needs of diverse learners through collaboration with schools, families and community. Coursework for the program has been designed to focus on six areas of study that build the candidate's knowledge base on critical literacy. These areas are:
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| Course Description: |
| The purpose of this course will be to introduce incoming Policy Studies Masters students to key authors and basic concepts in the general areas of critical pedagogy. Critical pedagogy provides a lens through which educators are to examine and interact with the hidden power relations that underlie our world in general, and schools in particular. The course is designed to help students begin to examine the ideologies that inform unequal power relations and social stratification.
Since Critical Pedagogy is primarily concerned with helping educators better understand the interconnecting relationships among ideology, culture, and power, it is necessary to focus on these constructs across a variety of topics such as ethnicity, language, race, class, gender, and sexual orientation. The first two thirds of the course will consist in constructing (recognizing) and de-constructing (analyzing and critiquing) discriminatory (and at times, oppressive) schooling conditions. This will be done through dialogue and without falling into a "recipe" or "right answer" approach. The last third of the course will encourage students to critically reinvent potentially effective methods, strategies, programs, curricula, or restructuring efforts. It is expected that, through course readings, dialogue, class assignments, and honest reflections, students will recognize, engage, and begin to critique (so as to transform) any existing undemocratic educational social practices and institutional structures that produce and sustain inequalities and oppressive social identities and relations in schools. |
| Objectives of the Class: |
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| Grading Criteria: | ||
| Class attendance | 10% | |
| Reflective Journal/On-line Dialogue | 20% | |
| Critical summaries/reviews and discussions (2-3 total) | 30% | |
| Education Philosophical Statement & Practical Applications | 40% | |
| Midterm: Philosophical Statement Work in Progress | (15%) | |
| Final: Philosophical Statement & Application | (25%) | |
| Organization of Course: |
| "…what is a democratic classroom? It is a place where all of the participants--students, teachers, and paraprofessionals--have a voice in the decisions that are made. It is not a place of chaos, where each individual does what they want. Nor is it a place where external authoritarian decisions dictate and govern classroom life. It is, however an environment where deliberate, conscious, caring, and ethical decisions are made for the well being of everyone. A democratic classroom is alive with the singular possibility that everyone can learn and be successful but never at the expense of anyone else" (McDermott, 1999 p. 1)
It is under the above premise that this course is designed and hopefully will model. A traditional syllabus lays out the information, processes, expectations and procedures that a course will take. While this syllabus thus far has followed that model, it is with the understanding that "students are ultimately responsible for their own learning, and they are as much in charge of what goes on in the classroom as their teachers…productive classroom work for worthwhile learning requires collaboration by everyone in the room" (Smith, 1999, p. 25). So as a participant in this class you are asked to accept responsibility for your own learning and to work with the teacher in figuring out how best to get into the material of this course (Smith, 1999). Thus, the following is meant to be a guide or road map with all of us navigating the best course to achieve the goals set out in the first part of this syllabus. However, with any journey there may be detours, changes to the itinerary and unexpected guests. As such, we will enter the course of the topics to be covered over the 16 weeks of this semester , as a class we will determine the most appropriate weekly readings and the methods that will best engage the ideas and materials. When defining curriculum Joe Kincheloe (1998), in his article "Pinar's Currere and Identity in Hyperreality: Grounding the Post-formal Notion of Intrapersonal Intelligence", defines curriculum in terms of the history of the word itself. The noun 'curriculum' is derived from the Latin verb, 'currere' which means running a race course, an action. However, in education, the present (and much of the past) interpretation of the word is reduced to the noun form, which means 'the track'. This difference in definition is crucial for it implies that curriculum, as it is commonly used, is dictated and static, not fluid or changing. According to Kincheloe (1998), who references Patrick Slattery, "Mainstream educators forget that curriculum is an active process; it is not simply the lesson plan, the district guidebook, the standardized test, the goals and milestones, or the textbook. The curriculum, Slattery continues, is a holistic life experience, the journey of becoming a self-aware subject capable of shaping his or her life path" (Kincheloe, 1998; p. 129). It is my desire that over the course of this semester we will engage in such active, critically reflective processes, that this will be a space that at times will challenge many of our traditionally held beliefs about teaching and learning, but will also provide support as we examine how we have come to believe what we do and that who we are as individuals and teachers is defined by our past, can be changed in the present, and is always open to be modification and change in the future. |
| Weekly Agenda | |
| Week 1 (9/2): | |
| Course Introduction & Ice Breaking Activities | |
| Weeks 2 & 3 (9/9 & 9/16): | |
| Weeks 4 & 5 (9/23 & 9/30): | |
| Week 6 (10/7): | |
| Weeks 7 & 8 (10/14 & 10/21): | |
| Week 9 (10/28): | |
| Week 10 (11/4): | |
| Weeks 11 & 12 (11/11 & 11/18): | |
| ) | |
| Week 13 (11/25): | |
| Combined Class Conference | |
| Week 14 & 15 (12/2 & 12/9): | |
| Final Projects Due & Presentations | |
| *Indicates those readings student pairs or groups will select for student led reviews and discussions | |