A major goal of this course is to help students better understand how critical elements in our multicultural society contribute to students’ school experiences. Students will examine the ways in which race and ethnicity intersect with other factors including class, gender, sexual orientation, language, disability, and citizenship to influence students’ school experiences and provide important insights for culturally relevant teaching. In addition, they will examine the complex social, cultural, political and economic issues that impact the communities where students live and consider the ways in which those factors are implicated in systems of power and privilege that influence students’ educational opportunities.
This class will be conducted fully online and will have asynchronous and synchronous learning built into it.
We will have synchronous meetings via Zoom every Monday and Wednesday from 11 am till 1 pm unless otherwise noted. Our first synchronous meeting is on Monday, Jan. 3. These meetings will provide an opportunity for you to learn from the insights and experiences of your peers.
This is not a self-paced course; this means that there will be due dates for completing course assignments; but do know that I am here to help. We are in this together.
This course is organized into 11 one-week modules.
As we study teaching and learning in a multicultural society, we will inevitably encounter language, ideas, and images that are provocative and may push our buttons in ways that may sometimes make us feel defensive, uncomfortable, and/or unsafe. It is my hope that acknowledging this fact helps to diffuse any anxiety we may feel about it - both by clarifying why these ideas provoke us, and why it’s important to critically engage with them anyway.
Be aware of your personal sensitivity level, and to remember that a measure of discomfort usually leads to growth and learning. If something you read, see or experience in this course makes you feel uncomfortable, try leaning into the discomfort and see where it takes you. (I call this "finding your learning edge.") However, if you feel an unsafe or unhealthy level of negative emotion, please take a break...and let me know if you need or would like support.
Be proactive! You will have a few assignments due every week. All of these assignments and the due dates are listed on our course Canvas site. Make a list of due dates and figure out how you can fit this work within your other commitments. This will help you be on top of tasks and due dates.
Share from your own perspective and experiences and monitor your participation (when might you need to step up/step back).
Communication is key! If you are confused about an assignment, have trouble accessing any materials or any other just wondering questions, please do not hesitate to reach out.
Embrace that you may change your mind, and be open to the idea of others changing their mind.
We are a learning community and I hope to build this community with you and not for you. So if something is not working for you, if you have concerns, have constraints, are worried about something, cannot complete one of the course assignments in a timely manner, please do let me know. I will let you know if something comes up on my end too. Deal?
The course calendar on Canvas is a great way to check what's coming up and track course activities. If you have not done so yet, consider downloading the Canvas app on your phone. And set Canvas up so that you can receive course notifications when they are made available.
Bookmark this page so that you can easily access our course syllabus.
Turn your cameras on and have your mic set up to promote your engagement with your peers.
I will have plenty of other tips at our first class meeting on Jan. 3.
Some specific skills that I hope you will further develop after the completion of this course include:
Research key non-profit and civil rights organizations in the Puget Sound community that are committed to improving educational opportunities for students.
Define and discuss what is meant by “systems of power and privilege” and examine how they are implicated in schooling.
Explore and analyze how issues related to race, ethnicity, social class, and other factors intersect and influence students’ opportunity to learn.
Unpack the idea of the achievement gap and deepen our understanding of the education debt.
Sensoy, O., & DiAngelo, R. (2017). Is Everyone Really Equal? An Introduction to Key Concepts in Social Justice Education (Multicultural Education edition). New York: Teachers College Press.
Please note that the course text is available as an ebook through UW Libraries Search. However, the license term for this ebook allows 3 user at a time, but our library has 3 electronic copies available. An unlimited user ebook license for this title is not available for academic libraries to purchase. For 1 or 3-user ebooks of required texts, students will likely need to purchase or rent a print or digital copy from the University book Store, to ensure that you have access at your time of need.
The book will also be placed as a print copy on Course Reserves for short-term checkout.
All other required readings will be on our course Canvas site.
This is a fully online course; therefore, it requires a computer with internet access and may require one or more of the following technologies:
Web browsers: recommended Chrome, Safari, or Firefox.
Speakers, headset, or earbuds
Reliable broadband internet connection (DSL or cable) to stream videos and podcasts.
Computer and Digital Skills Needed
To succeed in this course, you will need to be comfortable:
Opening and navigating web browsers
Typing text into a text box
Creating, saving, selecting, and uploading documents
Creating, saving, selecting and uploading multimedia that have audio and visual content
Navigating Canvas modules and pages
Opening, reading, and sending email
Earlier this year, and in preparation for a Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) review, UW Bothell took a first step towards a systematic campus-wide assessment of UW Bothell’s Undergraduate Learning Goals (ULGs - https://www.uwb.edu/academic-affairs/about/goals). In phase one, an initial inventory of assessment practices around ULG #2 was done. This ULG is focused on diversity: “Understanding of diversity in cultures, identities, backgrounds, and experiences among individuals and groups”. Now we move forward with phase two, initial school assessment, where UW Bothell will collect student work samples in order to assess the extent to which we align our assessment practices to the Diversity ULG. As we move forward with this work in 2022 and beyond, we will take a systematic campus-wide assessment of all UW Bothell’s six ULGs. This will allow for institutional learning on our assessment practices and also help address NWCCU’s recommendation in this area prior to the next mid-cycle review in three years.