Miami University

FRANCES YATES

INTRODUCTION TO SEQUENCED WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

The following assignment is for EDL 204, Socio-cultural Studies in Education. 

Course objectives are for students to discuss the purposes of education in a democratic society, critically analyze the role of schools in creating citizens, and to think critically about the ways in which schools address issues of diversity and difference, including social and economic class, religion, gender, race, culture, and sexual orientation.

Students meet those objectives by analyzing written and visual assigned texts, reflecting on their own experiences as students and citizens, and developing an “education issues” action plan based on research and formulated to meet a real-world need. The culminating project is an “Education Issues Action Project."

The goal is to apply learning from the course to the “real” world.  For the Action Project students work in cooperative groups of 3-4 individuals who identify an issue in the education community they care about, want to research, and develop an action plan which can be implemented.

There are education majors and non-majors in the class and sophomores through seniors.  I encourage students to select issues that are relevant to their majors.  Thus, business/marketing majors might explore the issue of commercialism in schools and PHS majors could explore student obesity.

For the long assignment, I was able to organize it by breaking it into parts and formatted it within a table rather than a daunting list that was several pages long.  By adapting the Washington State U. rubric for critical thinking I will be able to more consistently assess the analysis part of the project, which in the past I believe has been the most ambiguous assessment.

SEQUENCED WRITING ASSIGNMENTS FOR STUDENTS

EDL 204 – Socio-cultural Studies in Education

Education Issues Action Project

Value: 150 points

Project Focus

This project constitutes a "field experience." In other words, it gets you out of the classroom where you are studying the world from written and visual texts and into what educators refer to as "the field." How can we apply our learning from the isolated environment of the academy to the “real” world? For the Education Issues Action Project, students work in cooperative groups of 3-4 individuals who identify an issue in the education community that you care about, want to research, and develop an action plan which can be implemented.

Connection to Course Objectives

The Education Issues Action Project addresses the following course objectives:

• ?Understand and apply the key concepts of the course as raised through the assigned readings, classroom discussions, and other learning activities in the class

• ?Engage in discussion about the purposes of education in a democratic society, and critically analyze the role of schools in creating citizens, social behaviors, and workers

• Think critically about the ways in which schools address such issues as diversity and difference in their curriculum, philosophies, and purposes

Process

This project has six parts. Procedures, Criteria and Due dates for each part are explained in detail after this list:

Part 1 - Identify and research the education issue you want to study

Part 2 - Analyze the issue

Part 3 - Create and present an action plan

Part 4 - Implement the plan (extra credit)

EDL 204 Socio-cultural Studies in Education:  Education Issues Action Project

Part 1 -  Identify and research the education issue you want to study

Part 2 -  Analyze the issue

Part 3  - Create and present an action plan

Part 4 - Implement the plan (extra credit)