The primary purpose of this course is to bring together students and faculty who are engaged in all kinds of community and public interest projects, to make connections between projects, to read and discuss social and political theory articles, and to meet interesting outside guests. Permission of instructor.

Education affects the lives of everyone in this country. As future professionals, voters, teachers, parents, and leaders, students at the University of Michigan will help shape the quality of life in the United States, and education will matter – a lot. This course will introduce students to the role of education in today’s world. Topics will include the implications for schooling our increasingly diverse population; principles of how kids learn; ways schools facilitate student achievement (or not); and the changing nature of literacy in the information age. In addition to readings and discussions, there will be opportunities for hands-on experience and interactions with K-12 students in schools.  

EDUC 118 is an approved course to satisfy the LSA Race and Ethnicity Requirement.

This class meets the Race & Ethnicity requirement.

Education Policy in a Multicultural Society explores policy and school improvement, and focuses in particular on the U.S. public school system, with an emphasis on both equity and access. In this course we begin by asking: what is public education for, and then consider how schools can be improved so that educational outcomes are ambitious and equitable. We build on students' understandings of the practice of teaching, developed in ED118, to investigate the dynamics of education reform.

We closely examine authentic texts – including artifacts from our own experiences in schools, as well as mandates and legislative texts, policies, data on school improvement, and other resources designed for the improvement of schools. We critically examine each of these, looking for assumptions about teaching and learning and their improvement, assessing the key levers for improvement that they provide, and extrapolating implications for the design and valuation of change. In so doing students will develop critical skills of analysis and interpretation that will enable them to (1) better understand and evaluate efforts to improve schooling in the United States, (2) collaborate substantively, (3) and write and speak about educational policy persuasively. Given the courses strong focus on equity and access, issues of inclusion, voice, and rigor will be consistent through-lines.

Service-Learning in Mathematics Tutoring

Prerequisites: Graduate standing.

Provides key theoretical underpinnings to research and instruction in literacy. Investigates current theories of reading/literacy and their historical roots as well as current trends in practice. Ties these trends in practice to the question: “What is typical and atypical development and how does context affect judgments about typicality and atypically?”

Focuses on the child in her or his own varying life contexts, including home, school, clinic, and community. Studies the ways individual children who are experiencing literacy problems understand and express their knowledge of literacy within and across these contexts. Uses this portfolio of information in the design of effective interventions and assessments for young children in their classrooms.

This course surveys new media and literacies and examines definitions of learning in classroom and out-of-class contexts. Each week, we will examine various media, the literacies they demand or produce, and methods for studying new media effects, and consider debates about the value of new media and literacies for learning.

Prepares secondary education students to critically examine the teaching and learning applications of a variety of technology tools and resources, situating this examination in the context of contemporary and historical issues related to technology use, access, and the broader purposes of schooling. Explores notions of what it means for both a teacher and learner to have a digital presence by developing an understanding of oneself as a professional, and offers hands-on experience and opportunities for engaged reflection.

Enables students to successfully meet the needs of middle and high school students with literacy problems with regard to assessment, instruction, and curriculum development/modification. Attends to the transition from learning to read and write to using reading and writing to learn, the literacy demands of the context areas (science, history, and mathematics), the relationship between in and out-of-school literacies, and developmentally appropriate technological tools that enhance the learning of students experiencing learning difficulties.

Introduces students to current theory and research in the processes of learning and teaching in schools. Focuses primarily on educational psychology; emphasis placed on urban education and diversity. This course is closely tied to EDUC 650, which entails an internship in schools in an urban area.

The purpose of the course is to introduce students to the use of digital records of practice (RoP) as a method for understanding their own practice as well as the practice of others. Students will work with new technologies to develop a professional language and theoretical and conceptual frames that will guide them in their gathering, examining, analyzing, and evaluating a variety of RoP.

The purpose of the course is to develop a professional voice and dispositions by examining and learning from one's own practice. In this course, students will work in a technology rich environment to understand how the use of digital records of practice can guide their learning and deepen their knowledge and skills of teaching. Students do this by sharing their digital records of practice in a professional context.

Provides an overview of behaviorist, constructivist, and sociogenic theories and their application to early childhood education settings. Students use narrative specimen records, structured inquiry, and case studies to explore relationships between theory and practice.

Considers a number of issues of concern to the field such as day care, work and family, readiness testing, and poverty and public responsibility. Course is focused on one or two issues each semester.

This course explores objectives, methods, and content in PK-6 mathematics instruction, emphasizing concept development in several areas of PK-6 mathematics; refers to pertinent contributions from research; and provides opportunities for engaging in core teaching practices around discussion-based mathematics lessons.