TEACHER,
SCHOOL AND SOCIETY
EDN
200
Instructor: Dr. Robert Smith Office Phone:
962-4076
Office: Education Building 376 Home Phone: 256-1860
Web Page address http://people.uncw.edu/smithrw/ Email: Smithrw@uncw.edu
Course Description:
EDN 200 is the introductory
course in the Watson School of Education (WSE) teacher education program and
provides a historical, sociological and philosophical perspective on education.
The course introduces students to key ideas of WSE conceptual framework: the
development of highly competent
professionals to serve in educational leadership roles. While students are provided with important knowledge pertaining to
the
Course Text & Materials:
Required: Kozol, Jonathan. (2005). Shame
of the nation: Restoration of apartheid schooling in
Recommended: Tozer, Violas & Senese.
(2003). School and society: Historical and contemporary perspectives.
McGraw Hill.
Choose one of two books:
Hacker, Andrew. (1992). Two
nations: Black and white, separate, hostile, unequal. Ballantine
Sizer, Theodore. (1992). Horace's
compromise: The dilemma of the American high school. Houghton Mifflin.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
1) Attendance is Required.
Excessive absenteeism may result in a lower grade. If students miss more than
two class periods, your final grade can be reduced by one letter grade.
Students who arrive more than 5 minutes late to class will also be counted as
absent.
2) Late assignments. Assignments
submitted after the due date may result in a lower grade. Assignments two days
late will be penalized by 20%. More than four days, 40%.
3) Complete all assignments as
detailed in the requirements section.
4) Adhere strictly to the UNCW
Honor Code (See Student Handbook, Code of Student Life)
5) All papers should be word
processed and edited for grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. Points will be deducted for poor writing
and/or the paper will not be accepted. The
Students seeking teacher
licensure should be aware that their performance is reviewed throughout the
program. The first review occurs on application to WSE. The performance review focuses on two main
areas 1) Academic Achievement – 2.7 g.p.a. is required and 2) Professional
Behavior. Included in this latter area are attitudes, behaviors and skills
related to becoming a professional educator, such as punctuality and
attendance; appropriate attire; development of positive rapport with students,
parents, teachers, and administrators; professional demeanor; professional
interactions with university students, faculty, staff and administrators; use
of standard English in oral and written communications; adherence to school
rules and ethical standards and preparation for field-based assignments. To help students successfully meet these
standards, students will complete an assessment of the WSE Professional
Dispositions.
Course Objectives:
1. Students will describe the nature,
problems and complexity of the
2. Students will critically examine
the relationship between self and society to clarify their motives and goals
for becoming teachers.
3. Students will summarize basic
substantive information regarding the social, historical, political, legal,
economic, and philosophical foundations of education.
4. Students will critically analyze
the relationship between school and society from both a macro- and a
micro-level of analysis.
5. Students will critically analyze
the effects of race, class and gender on educational achievement.
6. Students will be introduced to
the National Educational Technology
Standards for Teachers (NETS-T, http://cnets.iste.org/teachers/index.shtml) in
completion of specific assignments
Description of the Course
Assignments
A. Key Questions (5 points) In order to
get you engaged in thinking about the course, list 3 key questions you have related
to Schools, Teaching and Learning. Questions might be related to an issue you
are already thinking about, a question arising from the examination of your own
school experience or, questions identified from the examination of the School
Report Cards. (Avoid factual questions eg. How much $ do teachers make? or, What
is the 2nd grade math curriculum?)
B. The Social Identity Paper (20 points)
requires you to explore the development of your own social identity as a way to
better understand how race, class, and gender affect people's lives, You are to
1) Describe your experience of growing
up and specifically what you were told about who you are (in terms of race,
social class and gender) and what you were told about people who
are different than yourself. Include all
three categories of race, class and gender in your paper. Examine the
messages that you received from groups such as your family, school, peer group,
religious experiences and work. Include only the most important groups.
2)
Describe your response to what you were taught making sure to include your
current beliefs.
3)
Include examples of any incidents you experienced or tensions you observed that
caused you to reflect on the beliefs you were taught. (3 pages)
C. Article Presentation (10 points) In pairs or threes, students will select a
current event article about an issue in education, be assigned a particular
article, or select an article pertaining to a specific topic. A summary of the article will be presented to
the class, and students will pose discussion questions for the class. Presentation dates will be assigned within
the first two weeks of class.
D. Research Paper (50 points).
Research papers will be written in groups of three students. The primary
purpose of the research paper is to provide you with an opportunity to explore
an educational topic of significance. Each group must submit a research
proposal for approval prior to beginning the research. Research topics must fit
the focus of the course. (See detailed guidelines)
E. Research paper presentation
(10 points). With the other members of your research team, you will present
your research findings to the class. The presentation will last for
approximately 15 minutes.
F. Book Response (10 points each). You are
to write a 2 page response to each of the two books you read. All students read
Kozol’s book. You choose either Sizer or Hacker’ book.
The
book response should include a) a summary of the author’s main argument and b)
your response to it. Your response to the author’s argument should be reasoned
and include both strengths and limitations. You can respond based on your own
experience or through analysis of the reasoning behind the argument. However,
having an experience different from that described by the author is
insufficient evidence alone to refute an argument. Where appropriate, include
specific quotations.
Sizer: Read the preface and up to the
end of the chapter “What High School is.”
Read the 9 principles for reform under “An Experiment for Horace.”
Hacker: Read Part 1 (Chapters 1-4) and
“Racial Income Gap,” Ch 6.
Kozol: Read: Intro, Chapters 1-3, Ch 5
(pages 109-121); Ch 6 & 7; Ch 8 (pages 201-209) and Tables pages 321-324.
G. Mid-term .
H. Final
Reflective paper (20 points)
This should be a
brief statement (approximately 3 typed, double-spaced pages) in which you
address the following issues. Use
section headings in writing this report.
1.
Identify the
questions you have asked and what you have learned in relation to those
questions. Briefly explain why these things are important. (You may want to
review and refer to your other papers in producing this part of the report. If
the questions you originally asked were not appropriate or were revised,
describe the questions you have engaged in the course.)
2.
Explain how your
thinking about schooling and education has changed over the course of the
semester. (Present evidence of these changes as revealed through papers and
class discussions etc.)
3.
Describe any
connections you can see between your own socialization in terms of race, class
and gender and the views or reactions to the issues discussed in the
course. Include examples of ways in
which your thinking has changed or else how your thinking has been reinforced.
4.
Indicate the
classroom activities from this class that were most useful to you in meeting
your personal interests and expectations, and indicate things you may have
learned through these experiences that were unexpected. Explain why/how these activities were useful
(e.g., how do they match your preferred learning style; how did an activity contribute
to a sense of interest, ownership and commitment). In addition, make suggestions (these may be
additions or substitutions) of instructional activities that may be more useful
for you than those adopted this semester.
I. Final exam.
COURSE ASSIGNMENTS POINT
DISTRIBUTION
A. Key Questions 5
B. Social Identity paper 20
C. Article presentation 10
D. Research
paper 50
E. Research paper presentation 10
F. Book Response (2x10) 20
G Mid-term exam 30
H Final Reflective paper 20
I. Final Exam 35
Total
Points 200
GRADING: A = 200-189
A- = 188-185 B+ = 184-181 B = 180-175 B-
= 174-172
C+
= 171-167 C = 166-162 C-
= 161-158 D+ =157-154
D = 153 -149 D- = 148-145 F =
Below 145 points
EDN 200: RESEARCH PAPER FORMAT
There
are many issues and questions of general professional interest that may
be pursued in this paper. You may also have legitimate educational questions
that do not fit comfortably within a research paper format. Questions of school
discipline or prayer in schools fit into the latter category and are best
pursued in some other fashion than this research paper. It is important that
you talk with me about your research question prior to beginning.
1. Introduction. Tell the reader (in a paragraph) what it is you intend to undertake in
the paper. Your next task is to describe the issue, problem or question that
you intend to investigate. This description should be brief (i.e., to the
point) and complete (so that your audience knows how to view the issue). You should
also describe why the issue is of professional interest and what factors limit
easy identification of a solution. This part of the paper will involve a review
of literature and description of the situation. Finally, give your best
judgment about the significance of the problem.
2. Your second task is methodological: to find information and
data to address your research question. For example, if you do a literature
review, describe your search strategy (e.g., what key words from ERIC did you
use, how many sources were found, how many were used, what criteria did you use
for selecting sources to use, etc.). If you gather interview or survey data
describe how you selected informants, how they were contacted and how data was
collected; describe the instruments you used or developed to gather data.
3. Once you have collected
information you need to present your findings
in an organized fashion. It is generally desirable to summarize your findings
and then have a longer prose section describing in detail what was presented. A
table or chart may be a useful way to summarize your findings.
4. Your fourth task is a section
called discussion or implications in
which you describe how the information collected addresses your research
question. An important part of the discussion section is to describe the
5. The last section is References in which you include the full citation of any works
referred to in your paper.
Your
paper should include section headings and adopt the structure outlined
above: Introduction, Methods, Findings, Discussion/Implications, References.
Your paper should be typed, double-spaced; include a title page; staple in
upper left corner. The paper should not
exceed ten pages including bibliography.
Foundations Portfolio
Beginning with the fall 2005
semester, the Watson School of Education requires that all students enrolled in
EDN 200, 203, 301 and/or 303 maintain an active account on TaskStream, a
web-based curriculum builder and portfolio toolset. You are asked to maintain
that account for the duration of your program with the Watson School of
Education (www.taskstream.com). Students in these courses will use TaskStream
to maintain a Foundations Portfolio. The Foundations Portfolio is a compilation
of selected work from each of the foundations courses (EDN 200, EDN 203, EDN
301, EDN 303) in the Watson School of Education. You instructor will advise you
on how to obtain this account. TaskStream will be used later in your program to
gather evidence of your work in meeting our performance standards and will be
part of your exit requirements from the Watson School of Education. (Cost for 1
Year account is $39, 2 year account is $65)
Information and detailed
directions about opening an account, creating the portfolio and linking
evidence to the portfolio is available at:
http://www.uncw.edu/ed/portfolio/
Research Paper Proposal
Group Members: __________________________________________________
Research
Question:________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Rationale for Question:_______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Data Collection
Strategy:____________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
List Tasks to be Accomplished;
Due Date for Tasks; Group Member(s) Responsible:
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Group Sanctions for Members
Non-performance: _________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Additional Comments:
________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________