SPED - TLT 404, Summer 2016 - Course record

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Session 1 - Wednesday, 25 May

Before class

• If you can, get into CourseSite and poke around
• Purchase copy of the textbook

During class (ppt)

• Brief introductions
• Course discussion/rationale – why a diversity course? Why this kind of a diversity course?
  • American teachers vs. American students – e.g., recent-ish AP story.
  • Complexity of American educational politics
    • Can't agree on standards – cf right-wing critique of Common Core, as summarized by the Southern Poverty Law Center (see espec. pp. 35-37).
    • Can't agree on what books should be in the school library! Surprising (in hindsight) 1945 example of E.B. White's Stuart Little (see para. beginning, "I never was so disappointed in a book in my life")
    • ...and sometimes teachers' instructional decisions, in hindsight, look pretty bad – recent example of Rialto school district writing assignment about the Holocaust.
  • The difficulties of looking in the mirror
    • Personal example from TCH, centering around class
    • Categorical example of professors! Recent op-ed in the New York Times. (See para. beginning, "Professors were more responsive to...")
  • ...plus we're doing this course at Lehigh, which has not had the most distinguished track record, in terms of diversity / multiculturalism / sensitivity...hence the lawsuit. (And if you need some further background, here's an article from the Brown and White. The updates are handy, and the comments are essential reading.)
• Frameworks / metaphors for the course 
  
  • Hands up demo
  • Metaphors to work by: Teacher as collaborator, communicator, student
• Going through the first part of the syllabus
  • Online resources for you to use
• Going through second half of syllabus: Assignments we'll be doing
• An ice-breaker: Interpersonal scavenger hunt
• End of history effect
• Discuss Self-in-Context assignment
• Conceptual work
  
  • Dimensions of identity; identity as monopolar or multipolar
  • From individual identity to larger systems
    • Selections from 'In My Room'
    • Bronfenbrenner's ecological model
• Closure

After class

• Reading
  
  • Tierney, 2013
  • Christenson, 2004
  • White et al., 2005
  • (browse online bookmarks list: http://delicious.com/tchammond/TLT404)
  • Grant & Ray, Ch. 1 
• Assignments
  
  • In CourseSite, update your profile with a current pic
  • WTL : Participate in the class-wide Writing-to-Learn forum for this week (see in CourseSite)
  • Complete and bring in your paper box. 
  • Complete Self-in-Context assignment
  • Please let me know if you have any contacts with traditionally underserved families that might agree to participate in the Family & School Interview project. Just fill out this form. (If you have more than one contact in mind, you can fill it out multiple times.) Thanks!

Session 2 - Wednesday, 1 June

Before class

• Complete reading
• Complete and bring in your paper box. 
• Complete and turn in your Self-in-Context paper
• Please let me know if you have any contacts with traditionally underserved families that might agree to participate in the Family & School Interview project. Just fill out this form. (If you have more than one contact in mind, you can fill it out multiple times.) Thanks!
• Complete class-wide WTL – it's in a forum in CourseSite under 'Session 1'. 

During class (ppt)

• Housekeeping
• Ice-breaker: Birthday game...silently!
• Conceptual work
  
  • Sharing paper boxes, step 1: What's on the inside? 
  • Dimensions of identity; identity as monopolar or multipolar
  • Challenging the model: WEIRD people...and just how weird are we, anyway? 
    
    • Activity: Name That Norm!
    • Norms Gone Wild
      • 1945 example of E.B. White's Stuart Little (see para. beginning, "I never was so disappointed in a book in my life")
      • 1967 Boston Marathon: Jock Semple attempting to expel Katherine Switzer from the race. The story has a happy ending, though! See http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1987-04-20/sports/8701300811_1_boston-marathon-jock-semple-kathrine-switzer
  • Defining culture
  • Personal identity & broader cultural context
    
    • Special case: religion
  • Models of cultural identity development
  • From identity & culture to impacts: After the apocalypse activity
  • Identity, race, and culture. What is 'white culture'? Is there a 'white race'? 
  • Making identity & cultural more practical and concrete: Privilege and oppression
    
    • ur-text: McIntosh "Invisible Knapsack" 
    • Trying to make this concrete for you: Return to the paper box, compare the inside to the outside. If the outside matches the inside, or at least doesn't constrain it...that's privilege, no? If the outside doesn't match the inside and/or constrains you...that's oppression. 
    • Going broader: PrivilegeCheck.
    • Two suggested tactics for recognizing the constraints of identity & culture
  • Something more pointed: Concept of "white fragility"
  • Broadening your reference base
    • A habit to establish or continue: Consuming media from viewpoints/funds of knowledge different from your own
    • The "vicarious experience of diversity" topic for your private writing-to-learn thread
• Closure
  
  • Private writing-to-learn: Concept of 'floating' topics, specifically the 'vicarious experience of diversity' topic
  • Upcoming assignments

After class

• Reading
  • McIntosh, 1988
  • http://checkprivilege.tumblr.com/archive – select 3 or more privileges to explore. If you prefer a more discussion-driven format, see http://privilegecheck-blog.tumblr.com/  Can also check out http://privilege101.tumblr.com/post/5988512297/list-of-privileges-permanently-in-progress. And if you're just confused by all this, take a look at this (long) comic – I think by the end of it you get the idea: http://checkprivilege.tumblr.com/post/144621649855/steverogersbae-lazerprincess. (And note that part of the fun of Tumblr is you can trace back to the source (and everyone who re-blogged it along the way), and you might find additional authors/voices that you would find useful.
  • DiAngelo, 2011. Warning: You might find this highly annoying. I really like it, but your mileage may vary. Regardless, give it a read and engage the author's point of view
• Assignments
  • Class forum (in CourseSite)
  • Individual thread (via CourseSite blog link): Think back to your own school experiences and/or what you're observing in your current field work. Identify one or more areas where you feel a group of students (and this could be you!) either received a privilege or was oppressed. Explain what the privilege / oppression was, under whose authority it took place, what the community reaction was (if any), etc. How did you feel about it? Did you speak up or take action? 

Session 3 - Friday, 3 June

Before class

• Complete the reading. Don't forget that I had to fix and then expand/clarify the links that expand upon McIntosh – the PrivilegeCheck stuff. Just browse around a bit to get the general idea. 
• If you haven't already: Let me know if you have a family in mind for the family & school interview. I'm going to be trying to get folks set up with stuff starting this weekend!
• If you feel comfortable: Get your private writing-to-learn going on in CourseSite. (If you already started it old-school, outside of CourseSite, feel free to keep that rolling instead. Whatever floats your boat is fine with me.)
• I forgot to mention: There's a class-wide writing-to-learn as well. Please participate, but you have some time to catch up on that one.
• If you already have a field placement: Get working on those hours!

During class (ppt)

• Housekeeping
  • Self-in-Context returned: Grading, next steps, questions about any of the above
• Conceptual work
  
  • (Discussing goals of course, how today's session pivots)
  • Draw your family activity
  • Family models, theoretical frameworks
  • Families: Life cycle theory, crisis/coping, resiliency
  • Communities, researchers' views communities
  • Family-school dynamics
  • Collaborative practice (to be returned to, later)
• Closure: Floating WTL topic of diversity implications within your content area or level.

After class

• Reading
  • Grant & Ray, Ch. 2, 3, & 4; Ch. 6 & 7 (at least get started; we will return to some of these later)
• Assignments
  • WTL: Just private, this week. Topic is open for whatever you like.
  • Get working on your Neighborhood Walk!
  • Work on your field assignment!

Session 4 - Monday, 6 June

Before class

• Work on the reading – I know it's a lot! Don't forget that the textbook does a lot of the work in terms of collaboration & communication strategies. Be an active reader!
• Private WTL, nothing class-wide
• Work on Neighborhood Walk & field assignments

During class (ppt)

• Race, society and schools, starting with the Carlisle Indian School
• Unpacking race
  
  • Sorting People: Who Goes Where? - http://www.pbs.org/race/002_SortingPeople/002_01-sort.htm.
  • Race as biology?

    http://www.pbs.org/race/002_SortingPeople/002_02-traits.htm

  • Race as behavior? YouTube clip of random KPop video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upbAbcTCDwA) or the mind-crushingly awesome Oppa Gangnam Style.

  • Race as experience? Consider history of race in the United States
    
    • Something I knew about but never really thought about: Redlining. For an overview, consult the Wikipedia article. For a more detailed description of redlining–addressing it as something that pre-dates the New Deal–in a specific location (Richmond), see historian Robert Nelson's "Redlining Richmond" project. (The maps I'm using are pulled from Urban Oasis' archive of digital HOLC maps.)
    • Something I didn't know about until recently: "The Ghetto is Public Policy", focusing on Chicago. Note that the author, Ta-Nehisi Coates, recently expanded this discussion to a long article published in The Atlantic, The Case for Reparations. (See comments on the article here; see the author's discussion of his 'evolution' on the issue here.) The article opens with an extended example of Jim Crow law in the South, immigration to the North, and then the impacts of redlining and other forms of institutionalized racism, culminating with the efforts to fight back against it.
    • Something you probably knew about already: Chinese-American exclusion act, placed in background of other legislation
    • Quota system applied to Jews (and others) in school admissions
    • Chicano experience of the border

• Considering role of race in social contexts: schooling, labor, even social phenomena such as gun deaths – see CDC report on gun deaths.

• Education research on impact of race

• Setting up your reading of Harry & Klingner, 2006, Ch. 5 – think in terms of families and race, especially what happens when educators take a deficit view / family structure view as opposed to a strengths-based view / family systems view

After class

• Readings
  • Harry & Klingner, 2006
  • Blanchette, 2006
  • Skim: Smith & Harper, 2015
  • Recommended: Ta-Nehisi Coates on mass incarceration and the black family (see also his many, many other pieces – all worth reading. I got into redlining and ‘Ghetto as Public Policy’ through him)
• Assignments
  • WTL
  • Work on Neighborhood walk – due Friday! (If you need more time, let me know)
  • Work on fieldwork

Session 5 - Wednesday, 8 June

Before class

• Complete readings. Note that some of these you can skim to get the main idea, others should take a little more time. Handy heuristic: The more challenging / off-putting you feel something is (for example, "Wow, I really disagree with the author's premises"), the more time you should take with it
• Work on assignments: Field hours, neighborhood walk
• WTL. Don't forget that there's a public thread and you should also do some kind of private post as well. 

During class (ppt)

• Tonight's topic is socio-economic class
  • Class inventory activity
  • Sharing experiences of class, class-conciousness
    
    • Self-disclosure: My middle name is (was) a car
    • Playing mother-may-I with American household income
      
      • 1979-2003, then we'll go back and do
      • 1947-1979
  • Examples of class as the Forbidden Subject
    
    • First, the impact of class as Forbidden Subject: video on social mobility – I don't think we have any idea how bad it is.
    • What do we talk about when we talk about tax policy? Handy (longer-term!) link to the National Taxpayers Union data. (Note that they would strenuously disagree with the argument I'm making, even though I'm using their data.)
    • Why tax policy is urgent: Katherine Newman, writing in the NYT and summarizing her 2011 book, Taxing the Poor: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/09/in-the-south-and-west-a-tax-on-being-poor/
    • Geography, class, and life expectancy: 

      http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/04/11/upshot/for-the-poor-geography-is-life-and-death.html?_r=0

    • American History as a vision of progress? A history of competing social classes?
  • (Special case of language & class)
  • Considering that most of us are (or grew up in) middle class / affluence, and that many students come from less economically advantaged backgrounds, how do we prepare to teach them? Well, here's a handy Framework for Understanding Poverty. 
  • "I have an agenda to sell you": In addition to Ruby Payne, meet...
    
    • E.D. Hirsch and cultural literacy.
    • Ruby Payne and Understanding Poverty. 
      
      • Book. She's on her fifth edition, and this time there's a handy subtitle that suggests this is based in learning sciences...? Might be useful to compare to earlier editions, see what (if anything!) is different!
      • YouTube channel from consulting arm (aha Process).
      • Ramping up out of K-12 education: Bridges Out of Poverty. 
      • Criticisms of Payne's model: Bohn, Gorski, et al.
    • Ron Clark and...whatever label you want to apply to it. Sub-components
      
      • Books.
      • Ron Clark Academy.
      • Things to buy (could this be you in ten years??)
      • Teacher community: Great American Teachers Club– just $150/year! Gah! Sadly defunct these days. Here's hoping that it will be resurrected. 
    • And to be fair: James A. Banks and multicultural education; Paul Gorski and edchange.org.
    • And my agenda?
• Closure

After class

• Reading
  • Grant & Ray, Ch. 7
  • 3+ self-selections from http://www.edchange.org/handouts.html – this Paul Gorski's work
  • 2+ self-selections from other readings linked from tonight’s class wiki – get more context on issues of class / poverty, other agendists, etc.
  • (And please read ahead for Friday's class: Lois Gould, The Story of X)
• Assignments
  • Complete and turn in Neighborhood Walk! If you need more time, let me know
  • Public WTL on class
  • Private WTL – whatever you like
  • Work on Field hours

Session 6 - Friday, 10 June

Before class

• Complete reading. Please read Lois Gould's brief narrative, The Story of X (in CourseSite)
• Complete and turn in Neighborhood Walk
• Don't forget to do the WTL forum in CourseSite!

During class (ppt)

• Housekeeping
• Conceptual work – gender & sexuality
  • 
    
  • Gender
    • Padlet wall for gender free-associate: http://padlet.com/thomaschammond/lffzn7j7s1g0
    • Gendered curriculum: Caldecott winners, history ed research by Sam Wineburg
    • Kimmel: Gendered classroom
    • Claiming a cognitive basis for gendered education: Abigail Norfleet James – see a collection of links. 
    • Senators KB Hutchison and Mikulski's Op-Ed in the WSJ: A Right to Choose Single-Sex Education.
  • Sexuality
    • Rationale?
    • Genderbread cookie activity from Adams, Bell, & Griffin, 2007
    • A couple of clips from "It's Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School".
    • Shifting social norms: My experiences; yours? 
    • Katz, "The Invention of Heterosexuality"
    • Heterosexual privilege
      • Example: Excerpt from "Homosexuals: Just Another Minority Group?" (and see counter-example to 'six types of homosexuals' in Slate: 'The Six Types of Heterosexuals'.
    • Shifting climate / norms?
    • Tips for working with LGBTQ students & organizations
• Closure

After class

• Reading
  • If you haven't read it already, read Gould
  • Read the Katz and Kimmel pieces
• Assignments
  • WTL: Nothing public, just private
  • Work on whichever you have left, field paper or F&S interview

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