Dilemmas of Cultural Diversity in School Administration EDA 691B
Professor J. M. González
HOT LINKS
In this course you will create at least one case (and possibly more) in HTML format which is used by the World Wide Web to display things in your browser. You will be provided with a template and instructions on how to use the template. Use your ASU computer account to post the page for class members to read. If you do not have a homepage of your own you may want to review the extensive help files provided by the University for this purpose.
Go the ASU Web Jukebox site. Click on First Page when you see the Jukebox menu and browse thru these resources. A deep knowledge of HTML is
not required but it will make things easier if you are familiar with Web basics and with the process for posting file(s) to your web page.
Our course uses a special portfolio format to document student work and
for use in determining a final grade. There are, however, different
types. This webpage, by the Regional Education Service Center, Region
20 in Texas, contains a slide presentation showing different
ways we can use portfolios in K12 education. You can
appreciate the power and flexibility of this concept especially when you
consider the value that might be added to a portfolio by putting it
on line.
This is a LiveText Guide to help experienced educators design constructivist, cooperative learning projects using the World Wide Web. There is more information here than you may need but if you want to go beyond the basics try these resources from ILT, the Institute for Learning Technologies, at Columbia University.
This is the site of the Argus Clearinghouse where you can find information on many topics. Try the Social Sciences & Social Issues link on the Argus homepage as you plan your case(s).
Participatory Action Research is change oriented research useful for practitioners doing research in their own work enviornments. PARnet was set up to serve students, faculty, and other practitioners with an interest in promoting high standards of intellectual and integrity in social research.
The Center for Educational Pluralism is one of many college programs that promote multiculturalism in education. This site is typical. You will get a good idea of how multicultural education is most often approached: through information sharing. What does this accomplish? How well do you think this works in helping to resovlve intergroup conflict? What is the problem they are trying to solve by doing this? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this approach? Study this site in preparation for our class discussion on the various types of multicultural education.
The University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA) maintains an online journal in which 'ed admin' cases are posted for students in this field. The UCEA cases are longer than those used in our course and they are meant to be "solved" in a different way. Visit the Journal of Case Studies in Educational Leadership to get a feel for other ways in which case studies can be used.
Education World, Where Educators Come to Learn is a huge web site with hundreds of resources for school people. This particular page is devoted to a listing of Internet resources for educators . For web research this is a good place to begin browsing when you don't know where else to start.
This site, maintained by ProsperNet, focuses on resources having to do with race and racism. Look around at lists like this as places to start
your exploration on topics related to inter-group conflict. As is the case with most long lists of web resources only a few are helpful for the work of this class.
http://www.nwrel.org/scpd/sirs/8/topsyn7.html This is a synthesis of research finding on subject fostering intercultural harmony in schools. It is well done and deserves a close look. It may help you translate ideas from this course into effective paractice in schools. The review is
part of a series called "School Improvement Research Series: Research you can Use." Great idea!
An important resource of the Internet are listservs or electronic discussion groups on a given topic. There are thousands of these online
and more are created every year. If you have not used one of these mailing lists which is another name for the same thing, read this explanation of how they work. Try to find one that fits your needs.
Many listservs are archived which means you can access discussions and messages that took place before you joined the list. This is a search facility that finds listservs in specifed topics. Look under culture and you'll find a hefty number of listservs -- over 100 -- devoted to diverse groups. Some are more active than others. (Keep an eye on your e-mail if you join a discussion list since the active ones will fill up your disk space in no time.)
Multiculturalists suggest it is necessary to point out the differences among people to ensure they are recognized and respected for who and what they are. Another approach -- and another example of critical thinking -- suggests the opposite: a focus on the similaries rather than the differnces that characterize diverse peoples.
This is a newsletter of a project that advocates the latter.What do you think? Is one or the other better or are there times and places when one might be more appropriate than the other?
Patriotism is often regarded as a virtue that is no longer stressed in education. Many people make a strong connection between patriotism and militarism especially when patriotism is portrayed as a willingness to serve one's country and to die for it if necessary. Is there harm or benefit in teaching the young militay discipline? The American Friends Services Committee AFS, wants to demilitarize the schools by removing JROTC from the curriculum. Others argue that the military orientation of JROTC is helpful to disadvantaged youth who are said to have inadequate discipline at home. Here is a link to the AFS project to demilitarize the schools. Study it and try toclarify your own positionon the matter. Look up a few "patriotism" sites and look for opposing views. (Try finding sites sponsored citizen militia groups that have been in the news. Compare and contrast their views with those of AFS and other pacifist groups. (This is a great topic of conversation the next time you have dinner with your parents!)
Conflict resolution is a new idea whose time may have finally come. It is a useful concept when thinking about how to resolve inter-group conflicts. Here is what happened when I ran an "exact phrase" search for "conflict resolution" in Hotbot a popular search engine.
Katy Schrock's Guide for Educators is a list of Internet sites that are useful for professional growth. It is updated frequently and there are some
interesting resources not found elsewhere e.g. slide shows' explaining such topics as search engines, directories and the difference between them. Overall, a good resource for education practitioners.
This is one of the professor's favorite web sites! Louis Schmier is a History Professor at Valdosta State University in Georgia. He is an inspirational teacher and philosopher. His Random Thoughts have been appearing on the Internet since 1993. Although he teaches at the college level, his comments about teaching, his students, and life in general apply to all
levels of education. Few textbook on education reveal the human side of a great teacher better thatn do these short readings which reflect Louis' thoughts during his morning jogs around his campus every morning.
Critical thinking is one of the ways in which critical pedagogy manifests itself in classroom practice. Here is a sampling of links to sites on critical pedagogythat were gathered by the Institue for Learning Technologies at Columbia Univeristy in NYC. Explore some of these; think about how our dilemma cases might be recast from the perspective of critical pedagogy.
Ethnic groups are not the sole adherents to a discernible "culture".
Institutions and organizations also have distinctive ways of doing
things that become habitual and engrained. They approach the classic
anthropologtical idea of culture. Schools have patterns of life that are
almost cutural in that they are shared by many people who do not
question why they operate they way they do. At the risk of simplifying,
once we stop questioning that, we have bought into the culture and it
more difficult to change it. Here is a long article on school
culture that you may find useful in the course.
During the 1970's serious questioning began regarding the U.S. as a
cultural 'melting pot'. As an alternative, new metaphors emerged --
tapestry, salad bowl, or mosaic to describe the rich diversity that
characterizes our society. We are unique in this way and may be the only
country in the world that is made up almost entirely of immigrants from
other countries and their descendants. While if the situation is
patentily more complex than this, as we shall see from our dilemma
cases, the notion of mosaics, tapestries, and salads persists.
Here is an example of how this might play out in K12.
Think about this and see if you can think of better ways to illustrate
the complexity of our diversity. Tip: This would make for a nice
reflective piece to put in your portfolio...
