ED 522

Course Title

Racial and Cultural Harmony in the K-12 Classroom

Course Description

An overview of the many issues relevant to the increasingly diverse student population in public schools today.  Explores how a culturally competent perspective can be incorporated into curriculum design, teaching strategies, and interactions with students and parents.

Relationship to State and National Standards

The Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC) Standards embedded in this course include the following:

  • Standard 9: Professional Learning and Ethical Practice.  The teacher engages in ongoing professional learning and uses evidence to continually evaluate his/her practice, particularly the effects of his/her choices and actions on others (learners, families, other professionals, and the community), and adapts practice to meet the needs of each learner.

This course also addresses the following Teachers Standards and Practices Commission (TSPC) Oregon administrative rules and Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) standard for P-12 ESOL teacher education programs:

  • Domain 2: Culture.  Candidates know, understand, and use the major concepts, principles, theories, and research related to the nature and role of culture and cultural groups to construct learning environments that support ESOL students’ cultural identities, language and literacy development, and content-area achievement.
    • Standard 2.b. Cultural Groups and Identity: Candidates know, understand, and use knowledge of how cultural groups and students’ cultural identities affect language learning and school achievement.

Required Textbooks

  • Moule, J. (2012). Cultural competence: A primer for educators (2nd ed.). Cincinnati, OH: Wadsworth.

Each student also selects one of the following:

  • Delpit, L. (2006). Other people’s children: Cultural conflict in the classroom. New York: The New Press.
  • Loewen, J. W. (2007). Lies my teacher told me: Everything your American history textbook got wrong (2nd ed.). New York: Touchstone.
  • Moule, J. (2013). Ask Nana Jean about making a difference (2nd ed.). Seattle: CreateSpace.
  • Moule, J. (2015). Nurturing Grandchildren: Black, White, and In-between. Seattle: CreateSpace.
  • Tatum, B. D. (2017). “Why are all the Black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?”:  And other conversations about race (2nd/Anniversary ed.). New York: Basic.

Course Outcomes

  1. Understand of your own cultural perspectives.
  2. View students as individuals with diverse backgrounds and abilities.
  3. Value racial and cultural diversity and multiple perspectives.
  4. Evaluate critical racial and cultural issues in school districts in Oregon.
  5. Synthesize these new perspectives into your own teaching.
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