Foundations of Education: Unit 8


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Unit 8

Unit 8 opens on Sunday, March 1st and closes on Sunday, March 15th.

Unit Title: Re-seeing the world

Unit overview:

I'm a big believer that education is about coming to see the world differently. I'm fairly certain that I "knew" more things before I went away to doctoral studies than I "know" now. I understand that all I really did was learn to see the complexity of the world - to understand that much more of the world is gray - as opposed to black and white. If the world is black and white - then I know how to respond. However, it is endless shades of gray... then life is much more challenging... and exciting! In my opinion, learning to understand something is seeing how it connects to other things, being able to raise questions about it that you were not able to raise before... seeing problems, issues, relationships, complexity... where you saw none before. These are dispositions of reflective professionals. It is my hope that this class has helped you in all of these ways - has added layers of complexity to your understanding of teaching, learning, and schooling.

Reading assignment:

Nothing!!

Discussion questions:

After reading the assigned material, be prepared to share your thoughts and ideas about how to "be" different in schools and classrooms. Consider some of the following questions as you do:

  1. What things do you think differently about? What will you do with those different understandings as a teacher? How will you work toward the betterment of schools and society knowing what you know now?

Given these questions, proceed to the discussion board.

Log-in and post your thoughtful response to the question for unit 8, then respond to at least two of your classmates ideas.

Remember, you have several assignments that are due in rapid succession from here to the end of the semester. In addition to those, you should probably be nearing the end of the book you've chosen for your book review assignment (see syllabus for details). Be prepared to talk a little about your book on March 14th - and have your 1-pager prepared. Also, don't forget your Philosophy of Education papers are due to me by email by midnight on Tuesday, March 17th.

 

Mark