what’s expected of you in this course?

Our course will be conducted in person. This means you will attend live class sessions at Lehman College (unless specified otherwise on Blackboard or our course syllabus) on Fridays from 2:00pm-4:40pm.

This course is designed to be interactive and collaborative. This means there will be lively conversations and spirited (and respectful) intellectual exchanges. My pedagogical technique also consists of a combination of group activities (usually in the form of small discussions) and independent activities (usually reflective exercises).

Also, a note—some of the topics we will discuss will be challenging and many people have many different feelings and thoughts about them. There will be moments of discomfort. Moments of uncertainty. Moments of clarity. That’s all ok. It’s expected. And it’s part of the learning process. In this class, you must be prepared to engage in dialogue—do the readings and come prepared to learn and grow from one another. This classroom and my teaching are predicated on critical pedagogy and reciprocity in learning—this happens most effectively when you give your all!

what’s expected of me? 

As your instructor for this course, you can expect me to listen authentically to your needs and concerns as learners and as people. This means that if you have a preferred way of learning (for example, maybe you’re a visual learner and would like if more visuals were incorporated in my pedagogy), then share that with me. If you find supplemental materials that remind you of a course discussion we’ve had or a text you’ve read, feel free to bring that into the classroom. You can expect me to facilitate, teach and learn, and be a co-creater of learning, thought, and knowledge in our virtual classroom.

#ourcoursegoals:

• Critically and contextually examine educational inequalities and be able to discuss said inequalities analytically
• Bolster public speaking skills and be able to effectively convey thoughts and information to an intelligent audience
• Connect broader systems of oppression and inequality to the policies, systems, and culture which produce educational injustices

course text:

All readings provided by instructor and accessible on the CUNY Commons. Click the links to take you to our course readings!

course requirements:

• Weekly Discussion Board Responses (20%)
• Course Presentation (20%)
• 1st Reflection (20%)
• 2nd Reflection (20%)
• Attendance & Participation (20%)

explanation of course assignments:

Each week, your instructor will post a discussion board prompt on Blackboard each week and you are responsible for responding to the original prompt as well as to two of your classmate’s responses. This means each week, you will posting on Blackboard a total of 3 times. Your weekly blackboard discussion prompts will be worth 2 points each (and as there will be 10 prompts over the course of the semester, that will total 20% of your final course grade as 2×10=20).

In assigned groups of 3-4, you will present on an assigned reading. Your presentation will be responsible for briefly summarizing the reading (2-3 succinct bullet points), sharing 2-3 discussion questions that are generative, and connecting the reading to the broader topic for that week. Presentations will be 15-20 minutes of class time.  Additional guidelines forthcoming.

Before you present, one of your group members must email the Powerpoint presentation you will use during your facilitation.

Consistent attendance and participation are essential for this course. Because the course is predicated on involved participation, and dialogue, you must be present to fully engage in the course and get the most out of it. Excessive absences and/or absent participation will lower your grade–this is particularly true if you don’t communicate with me around these issues.  Participation will be assessed in ways that we will collaboratively discuss together. Attendance and participation are a combined grade.

The 1st reflection will be essay/short answer format. The due date of your 1st reflection can be found on the course schedule.

The 2nd reflection will be essay/short answer format. The due date of your 2nd reflection can be found on the course schedule.

For this reflection, you may consult your textbook, notes, and standard Internet resources when taking take-home exams, but your work must be original and you may not solicit or obtain assistance from or provide assistance to other people for any specific content on the exam.  All resource materials must be cited. All reflections are checked for originality and copied content and anyone found cheating will be assigned a failing score for the reflections. The date of your final reflection can be found on the course schedule.