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Courses

Social Justice in the Classroom

This course is designed to provide educators with the foundational knowledge they need to begin using anti-bias education as a means to create socially inclusive environments within their school communities. This course is designed to help teachers navigate areas of social comprehension that are critical to the growth of our students and school communities. Using the Teaching Tolerance Social Justice Standards, participants will learn to design curriculum that builds and deepens their students’ social awareness and compassion. Participants will have the opportunity to integrate the Social Justice Standards into existing material or use them to create new and innovative educational experiences.

This course will focus on building a learning environment that embodies the goals necessary for teaching social tolerance. Participants will learn to create a classroom that is free of prejudice and teaches children to celebrate the diversity of those around them. Participants will learn to design opportunities that will assist their students in recognizing and appreciating both their own identities and the identities of their peers. Participants will learn valuable strategies for exposing their students to the need for social justice and the deep impact their actions can have on the world around them.

Throughout the course, participants will reflect on their own views of bias, stereotypes, discrimination and inclusion. Self-reflection is a crucial step in realizing the need for anti-bias education and it will inspire participants to take innovative steps toward doing so. Participants will also analyze the steps that they, along with their school community, can take to create inclusive and respectful learning environments. Participants will leave the course having learned to use the goals of Teaching Tolerance to build and solidify a socially-responsive culture within their school community.

 

Carlow University ED 605 • Madonna University EDU 5830.50 •  Mercy University EDUT 542 

The required text for this course is From Thought to Action: Developing a Social Justice Orientation by Amy Aldridge Sanford.

ISBN: 978-1516543380

 


Graduate participants earn 3 semester hours of graduate credit and will receive a transcript from one of our partner institutions below. Professional development participants will receive a certificate of completion for 45 hours of professional developments credit for face-to-face classes and 60 hours of professional development credit for online classes.

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Course Schedule

  • 2/13/24 - 5/14/24
  • 4/9/24 - 7/9/24
  • 6/11/24 - 9/10/24
  • 8/13/24 - 11/12/24
  • 10/8/24 - 1/14/25
  • 12/10/24 - 3/11/25

Course Schedule

Fall 2024

  • Oct 18-20 & Nov 1-3
  • Michael Sims

Module One: Social Justice & Social Justice Orientation

Content:

  • Introduce yourself to the group.
  • Identify the definition of “Social Justice” and “Social Justice Orientation” and how they are connected.

Module Two: Early History of Social Justice in the United States

Content:

  • Analyze the early history of Social Justice movements in the United States.

Module Three: Social Justice in the United States during the 20th Century

Content:

  • Analyze the history of Social Justice in the United States during the 20th Century.

Module Four: The Language of Social Justice Activism

Content:

  • Define the language of Social Justice activism.

Module Five: Diversity: Similarities and Differences

Content:

  • Reflect on the contributions of Social Justice activists from history.

Module Six: Diversity: Instructional Approaches and Techniques

Content:

  • Identify specific causes and the actions that are necessary to attain Social Justice.

Module Seven: Justice: Stereotypes and Discrimination

Content:

  • Analyze various approaches to conversations on potentially controversial topics.

Module Eight: Justice: Classroom Application

Content:

  • Identify the characteristics of Transformational Leadership.

Module Nine: Taking Social Action

Content:

  • Consider the effective power of groups and coalitions when working toward Social Justice.

Module Ten: Bringing it all Together

Content:

  • Identify the risks and the rewards of Social Justice activism.

Final Project Content:

  • Create a classroom based lesson or a school wide activity that has the potential to be implemented in your school community.
  • Use the Teaching Tolerance Social Justice Standards to drive the conception of your lesson or activity.
  • Consider all the skills we’ve covered throughout this course to create a lesson or activity that supports the fundamental purpose and goals of the Social Justice Standards.
Important Information

Online 3-graduate credit courses are 13 weeks in length.

On-site weekend courses are held Friday evening from 6:00pm-9:00pm and Saturday/Sunday, 8:30am-5:30pm.

Weekday courses are Monday-Friday from 8:00am- 6:00pm.

It is the responsibility of the student to check with their state, county, district, or school to ensure that all requirements are being met by the course you're taking.  

Check the Partner Universities page for specific university information as well as course numbers which are specific to the university partner. 

Students are required to purchase their own textbook, the information for which can be found here. If no book is required it will be specified on the list. We have copies of many of the textbooks should you wish to purchase directly from TEI. 

Professional development (PD) participants receive a certificate of completion from TEI for 45 hours of PD credit for face to face classes and 60 hours of PD credit for online classes. These certificates are mailed within one week of the end of the class and reflect the course title, dates of attendance, and credit hour information. 

Student Academic Integrity
Participants guarantee that all academic class work is original. Any academic dishonesty or plagiarism (to take ideas, writings, etc. from another and offer them as one's own), is a violation of student academic behavior standards as outlined by our partnering colleges and universities and is subject to academic disciplinary action.