Week 1
September 3 |
Introduction to Course
What is a Teacher?
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Week 2
September 10 |
Examining Assumptions about Teachers and Teaching
Cultural and Popular Representations of Teachers
Letters to the Class due (Wednesday, Sept. 9th)
Readings: Chapters 1-2 in Grant & Murray, Teaching in America; Baldacci, “The Kids are All Right but the Teachers are Wrecks” (ER); Moore, “Classroom Distinctions”; (ER) Fried, “Abd Al-Maalik, High School History Teacher” (ER); Michie, “Look at Your Hands” (ER).
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Week 3
September 17 |
Identifying the Contexts of Teaching
Understanding What It Means to be a Teacher
Readings: Haycock & Crawford, “Closing the Teacher Quality Gap” (ER); chapters 3-4 in Grant & Murray, Teaching in America.
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Week 4
September 24 |
Historical Perspectives on Teaching and Teachers
Roundtable discussions
Readings: Lortie, “The Hand of History” (ER); Orfield, "Policy & Equity" (ER); Patri, “A Schoolmaster of the Great City” (ER); chapters 5 and 6 in Grant & Murray, Teaching in America. |
Week 5
October 1 |
The Social Contexts of Teaching: Relationships
Introduction to Reflective Practice
Draft of Teacher Profile due
Readings: chapters 1-3 in Reagan, et al., Becoming a Reflective Educator; Kozol, “Reaching Out to Get to Know the Parents of Our Children” (ER); Merten, “Transitions and Trouble: Rites of Passage for Suburban Girls” (ER).
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Week 6
October 8 |
The Social Contexts of Teaching: Race, Gender, Ethnicity
Revised version of Teacher Profile due
Roundtable discussions
Readings: Chapman, “Gender Bias in Education”; Katz, “Teaching in Tensions”; Wills, “Some People Even Died” (all on ER).
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Week 7
October 15 |
The Cultural Contextx of Teaching
Roundtable discussions
Readings: Delpit, “Hello, Grandfather” (ER); Starnes, “What We Don’t Know Can Hurt Them: White Teachers, Indian Children” (ER); Thompson, “Why Do African-American Students Need a Culturally Relevant Education?” (ER).
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Week 8
October 22 |
The Institutional Contexts of Teaching
Roundtable discussions
Readings: McNeil, “Forest Hills HS”; Postman & Weingartner, "The Medium is the Message"; Postman & Weingartner, "New Teachers" (ER).
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Week 9
October 29 |
Political and Ideological Contexts of Teaching
Group project interim reports due
Roundtable discussions
Readings: chapters 6-9 in Grant & Murray, Teaching in America; Rees, “Frederick Taylor in the Classroom” (ER); Slouka, “When Math and Science Rule School” (ER); Wolk, “Why Go To School?” (ER)
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Week 10
November 5 |
Social Class, Schooling, and Teaching
Roundtable discussions
Readings: Anyon, “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” (ER); Berliner, “Our Impoverished View of Education Reform” (ER); Finn, “A Distinctly Un-American Idea” (ER); Gorski, “The Myth of the Culture of Poverty” (ER).
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Week 11
November 12 |
Critical Perspectives on Teaching and Teachers
Roundtable discussions
Readings: Darling-Hammond, “Creating Excellent and Equitable Schools” (ER); Freire, “The Banking Concept of Education” (ER); Giroux, “Teachers as Intellectuals” (ER); chapter 8 in Grant & Murray, Teaching in America..
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Week 12
November 19 |
Group presentations
Readings: chapters 4, 5, 6, and 8 in Reagan, et al., Becoming a Reflective Educator; chapter 9 in Grant & Murray, Teaching in America..
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Week 13
November 26 |
No Class (holiday)
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Week 14
December 3 |
Last class meeting
Group Presentations
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| Friday, December 7 |
Final reflective essay due
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