This political science course is designed both for majors and for future teachers of social studies in middle and high schools. Participants will learn about educational governance and educational policies at the federal, state, and local levels. In this course, we will analyze civic education, focusing especially on:
*what children actually learn in social studies, stories, classrooms, and standardized tests;
*what children could learn about democracy to facilitate engagement and leadership in a more democratic society.
The course is grounded in the U.S.-Mexico border, and it offers opportunities for participants to learn through experience: exploring web sites; observing at school board meetings or parental academies; working individually or in teams on a policy proposal.
REQUIRED BOOKS
Herbert Kohl, Should we Burn Babar? Essays on Children’s Literature
and the Power of Stories
Susan Rippberger and Kathleen Staudt,
Pledging Allegiance: Learning Nationalism at the El
Paso-Juarez Border
Jim Shultz, The Democracy Owners’ Manual: A Practical Guide to
Changing the World
EVALUATION CRITERIA
Short Papers and Classroom Participation: 30%
Examinations: 20% each = 40%
Team or Individual Project: 20% (NOTE: All individuals must turn in a
paper on their own contributions to the team effort)
News Portfolio: 10%
Expectation of All: Observation at one school board meeting
Participation at one campus or
community event
(Notes from these events can ‘tip’
grade up or downward)
READING LIST
January 13 |
Introduction to the
Course and to One Another |
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January 15 |
Some common conceptual ground: What is democracy?
What is power? How can we characterize power relations in El Paso-Juarez? |
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January 20 |
Reflect on Martin Luther King Day…What did you do? Was it a day on or a day off? Shultz, Introduction and Ch 1-2: What is government’s job? “The rules of politics” |
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January 22 |
Kohl, Preface,
Introduction, and Ch 1: Should we burn Babar? Questioning Power in Children’s
Literature |
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January 27 |
SHORT PAPER: Identify a
favorite children’s story (book or oral folktale),
analyze power relations therein, and be prepared to present in
class. Bring visuals if possible! |
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January 29 |
Rippberger &
Staudt, Ch 1 |
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February 3 |
Rippberger &
Staudt, Ch 2/Historical Perspectives |
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February 5 |
Kohl, “The Story
of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott Revisited” |
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February 9
|
UTEP Students Present Daylong Conference on Murders of Girls & Women in Juarez:
Attend 1+ events, write up notes, and evaluate |
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February 10 |
Discuss notes, and turn them in Shultz, Ch 3-4 “Taxing and Spending” & “Making Public Rules for Business and the
Marketplace” |
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February 12 |
Rippberger &
Staudt, Ch 3/Civic Education, part I |
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February 17 |
Rippberger &
Staudt, Ch 4/Civic Education, part II |
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February 19 |
Rippberger & Staudt,
Ch 5/Bilingual and ESL Education |
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February 24 |
Kohl, “A Plea for Radical Children’s Literature” What would you write
about? 3 sentence summary, please! |
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February 26 |
Kohl, “Wicked Boys and
Good Schools: Three Takes on Pinnocchio” |
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March 2 |
Immigration, Border Patrol and Schools Video: The Time Has
Come |
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March 4 |
Rippberger & Staudt,
Ch 6/Technology and Testing |
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March 9
|
SHORT PAPER: Visit the
Texas Education Agency web site (www.tea.state.tx.us), click on the
AEIS (Academic Excellence Indicator System), and
choose a school or district in our region to analyze. Analyze
the most significant findings, discuss “screaming silences”
(what is NOT addressed, but what parents and/or the public ought
to know), and what implications the data present for action
(greater focus on content areas? ethnic/economic/gender
groups? etc.) |
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March 11 |
Shultz, “Civil Rights and Criminal Wrongs” Choose an issue adaptable for our region, on which you will focus, individually or in a group (EXAMPLE: www.livingwagecampaign.org) for which you will do research and an advocacy strategy, applying Schultz’s Ch 6-13
during the last half of the class. Contact group members during the break! |
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March 23 |
Shultz, Ch 6, “Developing a Strategy” Groups
Present their Plans |
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March 25 |
Shultz,
Ch 7, “Research and Analysis” |
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March 31 |
Shultz,
Ch 8, “Organizing: Bringing People Together to Make Social Change” |
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April
1 |
Shultz, Ch 9, “Building and Maintaining Advocacy Coalitions” |
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April 6
|
Shultz, Ch 10, “Messages and the Media” Be prepared to
discuss your news portfolio |
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April 8 |
Shultz, Ch 11,
“Lobbying” |
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April 13 |
SHORT PAPER:
Analyze the school board meeting you attended |
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April 15 |
How can
educational governance be democratized in El Paso? |
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April 20 |
Grounded learning through experience: Implications for social studies teaching? Rippberger &
Staudt, Ch 7 |
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April 27 |
Projects due; presentations begin |
Choose one of the following essay questions from each alphabetic group. Each answer should be approximately 500 words each. This exam covers the last half of the semester and its readings, rather than the entire semester. Each response is worth a third of the final exam grade.
Group A: Accountability Testing in Education (Connecting web (friendly?) sites and required readings)
Group B: Action Strategies (Connecting policy analysis to action strategies, using the Democracy Owner’s Manual)
Given this ‘problem statement,’ develop an action strategy that would improve educational performance in El Paso, drawing on multiple chapters in Shultz (Ch 5+).
Given this ‘problem statement,’ develop an action strategy around a ‘living wage campaign’ for El Paso, drawing on multiple chapters in Shultz (Ch 5+).
Group C: Strategies for teaching democracy