Phone: 756-1569
Messages: 756-5177
email: ldavidma@calpoly.edu

Education 588 is one of three special courses which make up the "core curriculum" for the M.A. programs offered through the University Center for Teacher Education.   These courses have three major responsibilities.   First, each course, in its own way, will introduce you to significant developments in the world of education, selected research skills, and current controversial issues.  Second, the courses will help you refine selected research, writing, and interpersonal skills.  Finally, within these courses you will experience small group interaction and sharing with peers from all the various M.A. programs in Education.   As a result of this exposure, we expect you to be wider, deeper, and taller in your knowledge of, preparation for, and identification with the broader world of education, as well as your specific sub-discipline, within the helping professions.

 With these specific objectives in mind, the special mission of "588" is to leave you better prepared to be an insightful and effective educator and citizen in our increasingly diverse society.   Experience with Cal Poly graduate students over the past decade suggests that for most candidates this mission is facilitated by readings, video tapes, and discussions which provide fresh insight into:

 (a) the core values of American culture and the primary educational institutions in this culture;

 (b) the various ways in which multicultural education  and multiculturalism have been defined in recent decades;

 (c) selected meanings of culture, cultural group, ethnic group, and ethnocultural groups;

 (d) ways to operationalize multicultural education in public schools and other helping agencies;

 (e) the historical and contemporary encounter of African-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Native-Americans, Women, and other ethnic groups with various American educational institutions.

 In addition to the above, to provide greater insight into the relationship(s) between culture(s) and learning in American culture and its various educational institutions, the readings, discussions, research, and written assignments in this course will draw on literature which will deepen and extend each candidate's awareness and knowledge of anthropological, sociological, and psychological perspectives on schooling and education in American culture.

  II. Selected Course Objectives:

 At the completion of this course candidates should be better able to:

 (a) use a specific set of concepts, theories and teaching strategies to conceptualize/create, analyze, clarify, and resolve education related problems and opportunities;

 (b) accurately perceive (and understand) themselves as cultural/ethnic "actors" or "helpers" who live and work with clients in a culturally and ethnically shaped society, and with that perception/knowledge be better able to respond to their clients' needs, strengths and learning styles (particularly those which are influenced by ethnicity and culture);

 (c) think and speak more precisely about the core values of American culture and the specific co-cultures within the dominant culture;

 (d) share an informed opinion regarding the assertion that some portion of classroom, school, hospital, or institutional behavior is "... in large measure shaped by a combination of forces originating outside the school, classroom, etc.;"

 (e) distinguish between the different types of studies created, and evidence provided, by social scientists (psychologists, sociologists, and anthropologists) seeking to shed light on educational issues;

 (f) identify cultural and contextual factors which may, in certain circumstances, tend to make the learning process more difficult or successful;

 (g) use cultural information about selected ethnic and language minority learners to support the academic learning of these students and communicate more sensitively with these learners and their support system (parents, etc.);

 (h) restructure instructional activities, lessons, lesson sequences and units of instruction so that their total classroom curriculum will more wisely incorporate a multicultural perspective (or the curriculum in their local library, school, hospital, etc.); and

(i) use cooperative learning (discussion) groups to establish and maintain a positive "group dynamic"
 in a learning situation.
 

III. Course Documents:

 These course texts are:
 

• The Way Schools Work: A Sociological Analysis of Education (3rd Edition) by  Kathleen Bennett deMarrais and Margaret D. LeCompte
  
  
• The EDUC 588 Resource Notebook.
  
  
• Teaching with a Multicultural Perspective:  A Practical Guide by Leonard Davidman and Patricia Davidman, 2nd edition.
  
  
• Minority Status and Schooling by John Ogbu and Margaret Gibson. (El Corral reprint)

 IV. Evaluation Criteria & Procedures:

 Students can earn a total of 400 points in the course, and will receive points in four different categories.

 The categories and their values are as follows:

Category	Value
Term Paper Report, Summary, and Presentation	150
Mid-Quarter Quiz and Essay	100
End of Quarter Quiz	50
Attendance and Punctuality, And Small Group Preparation	50
Final Essay	50

 The points in the above categories will be distributed as follows:

 1. Term paper parameters will be discussed later this evening (see pp. 15-16 in this resource notebook).  Content and written expression will be evaluated (see pp. 18-19).  Candidates are encouraged to proofread their papers carefully and to have colleagues proofread as well.   Also, just prior to submitting their paper, candidates should reread their paper to make last minute handwritten changes.  This paper should be paginated.

2. The mid-quarter will have a take home component (the essay) which will be worth 60 points and an in class component worth 40 points.  The latter typically consists of multiple choice questions.
  Candidates will be encouraged to collaborate on all aspects of this exam and then write their own
  exam.    The essay should be typewritten, and the print should be dark and quite legible.  Content as
  well as written expression will be evaluated.  Again, the essay should be paginated.

3.Regarding attendance, each session will count for n=3 points.   Points will be taken off for
 lateness, evenings missed because of illness, etc., in a judicious manner.   Attendance and weekly
 preparedness are quite important in this class.  Candidates written assignments and  journals may be
 reviewed on a weekly and random basis throughout the quarter.  Some packets of written
 assignments will be collected at various points in the quarter.  I will by trying to model here a
 judicious approach to ensuring individual accountability in the context of cooperative learning and
 teaching.

 4. Final Grade

  A point system using the five categories listed above will be used to identify the grade earned.
   Based on a total of 400 points, grades will be assigned as follows:

  A    = 380 - 400

  A-   = 365 - 379

  B+   = 350 - 364

  B    = 335 - 349

  B-   = 320 - 334

  C+   = 300 - 314 ...  and so on

Back to Leonard Davidman's Main Info Page
Last updated: Dec.15, 1998