Oct+18

October 18th Class Schedule and Notes

Goals
 * 1) Enjoying each others' company: encouragement and synergy
 * 2) Reflect on our observations about our placement curricula
 * 3) Analyze our own curricular experiences through lenses derived from readings
 * 4) Hone critical thinking through collective discussion of several observations through the lens of our readings
 * 5) Identify key assumptions (in ourselves and in the readings) to be tested against data

Schedule of activities

 2:00 How are we doing? Energy level and emotional support check in

2:15 Review readings to generate lenses:

 To what extent is/does the **curriculum** at you placement school:


 * teach equality and social justice? (Goodland 135)
 * enculturate students into a social and political democracy, i.e. “the democratic ideals of humankind, the freedoms and responsibilities of a democratic society, and the civil and civic understandings and dispositions necessary to democratic citizenship”? (Goodland 135)
 * give students opportunities to practice democratic ideals in their daily lives, both in and out of school”? (Goodland 136)
 * give religion a legitimate and important place in the public school curriculum? (Nord 138)
 * nurture a secular mentality? (Nord 139)
 * "introduce students--at least older students--to the major ways humankind has developed for making sense of the world and their lives"? (Nord 140)
 * seem neutral among religions, and between religion and nonreligion? (Nord 140)
 * include a year-long course in religious studies? (Nord 141)
 * provide "specific grade-by-grade guidelines--developed after several years of research, consultation, consensus-building, and field testing" (Hirsch 143)
 * require commonality of content in each grade to create a core of shared knowledge? (Hirsch 144)
 * give students and teachers a "sense of community and common purpose"? (Hirsch 146)
 * include themes of care? ((Noddings 148)
 * help children believe that they are cared for and teach them to care for others? (Noddings 148)
 * allow teachers to get to know students personally? (Noddings 152)
 * connect content knowledge to great existential questions and themes of caring? (Noddings 152)

2:45 Sacred Writing Time

 2:52 Read Around

3:00 Discussion of your experiences (Why did it Happen? What does it Mean? What are the Implications for the future?) and the readings.

3:30Writing Time: Why? What does it Mean? What are the Implications?

3:37 Review of Final Paper requirements. Discussion of Lesson Planning.