SPED - TLT 404, Fall 2012 - Course record
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Session 1 - Thursday, 30 Aug
Before class
If you can, get into CourseSite and poke around
Purchase copy of the textbook (Amatea, E.S. (2008). Building culturally responsive family-school relationships. Allyn & Bacon – see Amazon page.)
During class (ppt)
Brief introductions
Going through the first part of the syllabus
Online resources for you to use
Frameworks / metaphors for the course
Hands up demo
Metaphors to work by: Teacher as collaborator, communicator, student
Going through second half of syllabus: Assignments we'll be doing
Matching game
Discuss Self-in-Context assignment
Closure
After class
Reading
Christenson, 2004
White et al., 2005
Amatea, Ch. 1
(browse online bookmarks list: http://delicious.com/tchammond/TLT404)
Assignments
Start your WTL thread (and update your profile with a current pic)
Bring in an artifact for your personal sharing. (For example, I’m posting a URL to my flickr feed)
Start working on 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!
NB: Help session on library resources & how to use the portfolio system (Mahara) - WEDNESDAY, 5 SEP. Sessions are 4-7 pm and 7-10 pm in the Mac lab.
Session 2 - Thursday, 6 Sep
Before class
Complete reading
Update your CourseSite profile to include a picture, if you haven't already.
Tell me if you know a family that may want to participate in our Family & School Interview project! Do it by filling out this form.
Do your Writing-to-Learn. If you're unsure about using Google Docs (for the personal / private writing), don't worry – we'll discuss this in class on Thursday.
During class (ppt)
Housekeeping
Changes to scheduled topics in next couple of weeks
Writing to Learn
CourseSite forum OK?
Google Docs journaling OK? Lehigh Google Docs server.
Conceptual work
Sharing artifacts
Dimensions of identity; identity as monopolar or multipolar
Challenging the model: WEIRD people...and just how weird are we, anyway?
Activity: Name That Norm!
Defining culture
Personal identity & broader cultural context
Special case: religion
Models of cultural identity development
Identity & cultural context revisited: Privilege and oppression
ur-text: McIntosh "Invisible Knapsack"
Going broader: PrivilegeCheck.
Two suggested tactics for recognizing the constraints of identity & culture
Closure
Connection game
Discussing Self-in-Context; note newly-created checklist for grading.
Discussing fieldwork and Family & School Interview assignment planning. (Seriously? No one has any suggestions for me??)
After class
Reading
McIntosh, 1988
Select three or more other areas of privilege from http://privilegecheck.tumblr.com
Feel free to follow up on any of the articles mentioned in class today – they're identified in the ppt and linked from http://delicious.com/tchammond/TLT404
Assignments
I'll ask again: Please suggest a family for the Family & School Interview assignment, if you know someone who might like to participate.
Complete class-wide WTL. Remember to make TWO (or more) posts.
Complete personal/private WTL.
Session 3 - Thursday, 13 Sep
Before class
Complete reading
WTL (private AND group)
Complete & turn in Self-in-Context assignment.
During class (ppt)
Housekeeping – turning in Self-in-Context OK?
Conceptual work
Draw your family activity
Family models, theoretical frameworks
Family-school dynamics
Closure: MorphThing?
After class
Reading
Amatea, Ch. 4 and THEN Ch. 3
Pick one: Reschly, 2008; Carter, 2002; Woolley & Grogan-Kaylor, 2006
Assignments
WTL
Private
Group: Post on one of the threads for the articles
Work on F&SI project and/or Fieldwork. If you have a field opportunity, LET ME (and Carla) KNOW. If you have a family interview opportunity, LET ME KNOW.
Session 4 - Thursday, 20 Sep
Before class
Complete reading
WTL
Work on field projects
During class (ppt)
Housekeeping
Fixed ppt
Self-in-Context returned
Conceptual work: Families and communities
Opening activity: Selections from In My Room: Teenagers in Their Bedrooms.
Families: Life cycle theory, crisis/coping, resiliency
Community
Again, as with individuals and families, challenge of creating acceptable models, definitions. Typology, yes; functional clarity...not so much.
To ground this conversation in a reality: Southside Bethlehem. Let's do a modified KWL activity
Establishing the frame: What geographic area are we talking about?
K: Write down 5 facts that you know about SSB. For each: How do you know this? Personal experience? Hearsay? Something you read or saw on TV?
W: Write down 3 things you want to know about SSB. For each, write down a possible source.
Investigation phase
Share your Ks and Ws at your table. Can you help one another out in filling in gaps of knowledge? Thinking about resources? Do you have any conflicting knowledge?
Turning to (social) media: Without overtly focusing on your 3 "want to know" items, use the following tools to learn more about SSB. Feel free to divide up the labor at your table, or just do a free-for-all. We'll start with a demo with this YouTube clip from April, 2012.
Organized media, focusing on Southside results
The Morning Call. (Temporarily not working??)
Channel 69, WFMZ.
The Bethlehem Press. You're probably best off using a Google scrape of their site, so follow this URL to this search for their items related to "Southside."
Patch.com's Bethlehem bureau.
Social media. Note that you need to use some surfing smarts here: Find a video or an image that seems fruitful? Look at the related items, look for more items by that user, etc. Also, keep in mind that social media is, by definition, pretty much unfiltered; surf within your own comfort limit.
Twitter feeds – start with these searches for Southside Bethlehem, Broughal, Donegan Elementary, and then try your own. (You may have to sign into Twitter to do this)
Flickr map, zoomed in on SSB.
YouTube–again, surf within your comfort limit.
Search results for SSB, ordered by date.
Individual videos that may be good starters. I'm pretty sure these were created by Lehigh students as part of a class within the South Side Initiative.
Individual users that may be useful to explore – be sure to check out their related videos (with caution...)
Lehigh student (A. Detterline), channel created for a class: http://www.youtube.com/user/brey825 – sorry, video taken down. Here's something similar, from a Lehigh PR class: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOSP5-12r7Y&feature=plcp.
Skate enthusiast PoHeezy.
Discussion at your table: What did you learn about SSB? What sorts of information did different media channels tend to offer? Try to focus your discussion on funds of knowledge – what funds of knowledge were presented in the organized media? Social media? What funds of knowledge do you think exist within SSB that the organized media might not report? That the university might not know about?
L: Class-wide discussion of what we learned, what we would need to do to investigate further.
Putting the exploration of the Southside into a larger context
Research perspectives vs. parent perspectives
Schools' community action efforts to support schools and/or support families
Support families: Deficit-based approach and/or asset-based approach
Real-world examples
Broughal as a community school
Asset map of Easton
Harlem Children's Zone
Closure
Plug for two sources that certainly push my thinking about community, families, and education
The documentary Born Into Brothels– VERY uncomfortable to watch, lots of ambiguity to deal with, definitely worth thinking about. The FML Media Center has a copy.
The writing of Ta-Nehisi Coates. I read his blog; you could also consult his memoir (The Beautiful Struggle). Here's an interview he did on NPR about his memoir.
Building up your own employability: See the questions on p. 193 – GREAT material for interviews during the "Do you have any questions for us?" stage.
After class
Reading
Assignments
Session 5 - Thursday, 27 Sep
Before class
Complete the reading.
During class (ppt)
Housekeeping
Conceptual work: Gender & sexuality (guest presentation by Dr. Christianne Gadd)
Looking ahead to the Family & School Interview
The role of cultural assumptions in contemporary life & politics, courtesy of Senator Scott Brown: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzf2WIJgxwI
New, preparatory step for Family & School Interview assignment: At some point in the next two weeks, please complete the following prompts in your private Writing-to-Learn thread.
Closure
After class
Reading
Amatea, Ch. 5 (more on families), Ch. 7 (communities)
Follow up on one or more community investigations – perhaps something from our activity about the Southside, or some articles about the Harlem Children's Zone, or anything else mentioned in class. (I also posted a reading in CourseSite mentioned in the book: Berg, Melaville, & Blank, 2006: Community & Family Eengagement: Principals Share What Works)
Assignments
WTL (both private and group)
Organize your Neighborhood Walk
Session 6 - Thursday, 4 Oct
Before class
Complete readings
During class (ppt)
Housekeeping
Conceptual work
Discussion of textbook case study 6.1 ("Leaving Midland")
John Dewey on schools and society
Man is the animal that teaches (relevant YouTube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48rhtgtNxRI )
School IS society – revisiting cross-cultural boundaries with "SooLing" scenario
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?
Race as behavior? YouTube clip of random KPop video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upbAbcTCDwA) or the mind-crushingly awesome Oppa Gangnam Style.
Considering role of race in social contexts: schooling, labor
Education research on impact of race
Setting up your reading of Harry & Klingner, 2006, Ch. 5
Closure: I've been wanting to somehow work in this point about tarantulas.... YouTube clip from 'Dr. No':
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS3Lb7PZDtQ; related article from Slate: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/green_room/2012/03/tarantula_a_revolting_creature_.html
After class
Reading
Amatea, Ch. 6
Harry & Klingner, 2006
Blanchette, 2006
Assignments
WTL
Complete the neighborhood walk assignment
Pacing break - Monday, 8 Oct & Tuesday, 9 Oct
Session 7 - Thursday, 11 Oct - NO CLASS due to conference
To complete in Dr. Hammond's absence
...(TBD)...
Session 8 - Thursday, 18 Oct
Before class
Complete reading
During class (ppt)
Housekeeping
Conceptual work
Opening anecdote: Classism and a car alarm
Class in America
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
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.)
American History as a vision of progress? A history of competing social classes?
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
Ruby Payne and Understanding Poverty.
Book.
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.
E.D. Hirsch and cultural literacy.
Ron Clark and...whatever label you want to apply to it. Sub-components
Books.
Things to buy (could this be you in ten years??)
Teacher community: Great American Teachers Club– just $150/year!
And to be fair: James A. Banks and multicultural education.
And here's a callback to our gender discussion, courtesy of Gina: Senators KB Hutchison and Mikulski's Op-Ed in the WSJ: A Right to Choose Single-Sex Education.
Complexity of social encoding of class: Focus on language
Selections from the body of research on SES, parenting, and early childhood outcomes
...and a (humorous) demonstration of how we judge and self-enforce class norms within language, courtesy of Key and Peele.
Closure
After class
Reading
Assignments
Session 9 - Thursday, 25 Oct
Before class
Complete reading
During class (ppt)
Housekeeping – flipping topics
Conceptual work: Culture & acculturation
Immigration in the United States
Personal history of immigration
Overview: 1820-2007: http://vimeo.com/2424744
Pair up and inspect decade-by-decade, country of origin by country of origin: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/03/10/us/20090310-immigration-explorer.html
What were you familiar with? From what context – classroom instruction? Media? Interaction with family and/or friends?