Course Grading
Grades for the class will be based on the following:
- Attendance & participation: 20%
- Round Table Panel: 20%
- Weekly Discussion Board Responses: 20%
- Is it Colonized or Nah? Let’s Take a Trip: 20%
- Deconstructing the Mythical Charter School: An Exercise on Privatization: 10%
- Curriculum Investigation Project: 10%
Course Requirements
- Attendance/Participation: Attendance will be taken every class session. Participation will be assessed in ways that we will collaboratively discuss together during our first class meet. Attendance and participation is a combined grade.
- Roundtable Panel: In assigned groups of 4-5, you will facilitate a round table panel discussion with your peers in class. Each group will facilitate discussion 1 time over the course of the semester. While you can use a PowerPoint, please note that this is a discussion based form of presentation. This means you’re not merely talking AT your audience—you’re pulling them into a conversation, eliciting thought and discussion. THIS IS NOT A LECTURE PRESENTATION. Your roundtable discussion will be responsible for the following: 1) briefly summarizing the reading (2-3 succinct points), 2) asking your audience questions that are generative, 3) connecting the readings to the broader topic for that week, and 4) sharing your thoughts and feelings while working through the readings. Panels will be 20-25 minutes of class time and will conducted after the instructor’s lecture. 5-10 minutes will be reserved after the panel discussion for Q&A. Before you present, one of your group members must email the Powerpoint presentation you will use during your facilitation. Detailed guidelines will be posted on Blackboard.
- Discussion Board Responses: Each week there will be a discussion board prompt. Discussion board prompts will be posted on Blackboard. You are responsible for responding to the discussion board post and two of your classmate’s responses. Each discussion board response is worth 2 points (there will be 10 prompts total throughout the remainder of the semester) and to receive full credit you must respond to the prompt AND two of your classmate’s responses. This exercise will correspond to our unit on colonization/decolonization but it can be done at any point during the semester. It must be submitted no later than 12/21 by 11:59pm. Detailed guidelines will be posted on Blackboard.
- Is It Colonized or Nah? Let’s Take a Trip : This written assignment will include a field trip or as we call it in sociology…field work. This exercise will correspond to our unit on colonization/decolonization but it can be done at any point during the semester. It must be submitted no later than 12/21 by 11:59pm. Detailed guidelines will be posted on Blackboard.
- Deconstructing the Mythical Charter School: An Exercise in Privatization & Neoliberalism: This written assignment will correspond to our unit on neoliberalism & privatization in education. You will analyze a charter school website in either the U.S. or internationally through the lens of neoliberalism and privatization. This exercise will correspond to our unit on neoliberalism and privatization but it can be done at any point during the semester. It must be submitted no later than 12/21 by 11:59pm. Detailed guidelines will be posted on Blackboard.
- Curriculum Investigation Project: This in-class group activity is scheduled for the last date of class. Detailed guidelines will be posted on Blackboard.
