EDUC 6603 American High School

A critical examination of how Secondary schools came to be as they are. Engages critical and reform studies. Reading, conversations, and projects.

Credits

3

Typically Offered

fall

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Equip teachers and prospective teachers with an understanding of (a) how secondary schools came to be what they are, (b) what critical studies have revealed, (c) what the possibilities are for improving them, and (d) some of the issues in the surrounding political and social contexts in which high schools operate.
2. Provide for focused conversations in which participants can bring their experiences and perspectives to bear on the readings, and attend thoughtfully to the experiences and perspectives to the other members of the class.
3. Enable (and encourage) members of the class to view their own schools and classrooms with the enhanced perspectives which come from these readings and collegial discourse.
4. Discuss and be open to changes in perspective regarding the aim of the American High School, now and in the future (hopefully you will be part of change in the future!)

This course pursues the democratic classroom approach.  That requires active participation in deciding how we will meet the “givens” of the course while enabling each participant to glean the most from the course.  If we make this work, it will have the added benefit of providing everyone with strategies for a democratic classroom.  From that, perhaps your students can acquire the knowledge and dispositions to function as citizens in a democracy, perhaps even leading us away from the kind of political mindlessness that has characterized this nation in the past several decades.

Most relevant secondary education program goals:

Goal #1: Acquire the following habits of mind:

• an understanding of the purposes of education and how our respective beliefs affect the learning possibilities of students and peers;
• a commitment to professional development exhibited by scholarly reading, collegial discourse, collaborative endeavors, personal assessment, and the relationship of educational research to your own practices
• critical awareness of and open-mindedness about thinking, processes, and activities which affect student learning and teacher effectiveness.
• finding out historical origins of American trends, policies and your personal beliefs of them, after viewing some opposing sides/facts about them. 

INTASC Standards that will have outcomes in this course

NOTE: “The teacher” in these standards refers to the performance of candidates in the course.

• 2(n) The teacher makes learners feel valued and helps them learn to value each other.
• 3(p) The teacher is committed to supporting learners (colleagues) as they participate in decision making, engage in exploration and invention, work collaboratively and independently, and engage in purposeful work.
• 3(r) The teacher is a thoughtful and responsive listener and observer.
• 4(c) The teacher engages learners in applying methods of inquiry and standards of evidence used in the discipline.
• 4(q) The teacher recognizes the potential of bias in his/her representation of the discipline and seeks to appropriately address problems of bias.
• 5(d) The teacher engages learners in questioning and challenging assumptions and approaches in order to foster innovation and approaches in order to foster innovation and problem solving in local and global contexts.
• 8(f) The teacher engages all learners in developing higher order questioning skills and metacognitive processes.
• 9(m) The teacher is committed to deepening understanding of his/her frames of reference…the potential bias in these frames, and their impact on expectations for and relationships with learners and their families.
• 10(l) The teacher understands schools as organizations within a historical, cultural, political, and social context and knows how to work with others across the system to support learners.