EDC 405 Foundations of Culturally Responsive Teaching

3 Credit(s) CS DPDS

Education is often touted as a vehicle for individual and social advancement – a “great equalizer,” in the words of Massachusetts educator Horace Mann. In this course, students will consider the extent to which the aspirational goals of education are constrained by the social and cultural forces that hold systemic, institutional, and individual oppression in place. Specifically, students will explore historical and contemporary forms of oppression and how these dynamics manifest in communities, schools, and other educational settings resulting in unequal opportunities and inequitable outcomes for students from marginalized communities. They will also discover how their work as future educators can be part of addressing these injustices and creating transformative educational experiences for students in educational settings. This course provides a strong foundation in the concepts (e.g. intersectionality and positionality) and skills (e.g. the ability to recognize and respond to bias and the use of deficit-based frameworks) that are critical to developing teaching practice that is culturally sustaining and anti-racist. Drawing on theory, research, and people’s lived experiences, students will come to more deeply understand their own identities, and the identities of the students and families in educational settings where they would like to someday work. They will analyze the impact of these identities on teaching, learning, curriculum, and classroom climate, and in doing so, they will advance their ability to work across lines of difference in educational settings, and promote educational equity. Three lecture hours per week.
Prerequisite: EDC115 or EEC105, or ENL110, or equivalent.