Cleveland Council on World Affairs

Bridges to the World Professional Development Institute: 2010

Race, Religion and Culture in World Studies

Spring 2010

 

Cleveland State University

College of Education and Human Services

(EDT 559 Section 980)

 


1. Bridges to the World Professional Development Institute: 2010

2. Optional Semester credits: 1 or 2 (student option)

3. Course Instructors: Professors Donald Ramos (College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences - Emeritus) and James Moore (College of Education and Human Services)

4. Contact information

        Coordinator: Professor James Moore

        Address: COEHS RT1314

        Telephone: 687-4606

        Email: j.moore2@csuohio.edu

     Associate Coordinator

         Professor Donald Ramos, Professor of History Emeritus

         Telephone: 687-3925 (preferentially use email) 

         RT1637

         d.ramos@csuohio.edu

5. Workshop Schedule

            Day/Date                    Number of Hours

           January 21                    8 hours (8:00-4:00)

           February 9                    8 hours (8:00-4:00)

           March 11                      8 hours (8:00-4:00)

           April 20                        8 hours (8:00-4:00)

 

Location:

Barbara Byrd Bennett PD Center in Bratenahl

 

6. Pprogram Description

Bridges to the World Professional Development Institute: 2010 is offered for curriculum coordinators and social studies teachers primarily, although it would be of benefit to language arts and foreign languages/cultures as well.

The purposes of the workshop include increasing global awareness, cultural competency, and content knowledge among educators in order that they can facilitate student competence in global education. The workshops will provide teachers with specific instructional activities that can be implemented, with appropriate modifications, in middle and secondary school social studies classrooms.

Workshop faculty include faculty drawn from several departments of Cleveland State University, Baldwin Wallace College and Case-Western Reserve University. Faculty will be drawn from a range of disciplines to ensure that workshop participants will be exposed to different approaches and viewpoints. Supplemental presenters are cultural representatives of the world regions covered in the workshops.

 

7. Required textbooks or materials packets:

a. Social Studies and World: Teaching Global Perspectives. NCS Bulletin 103.

b. Jared Diamond. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. W.W. Norton & Co.,2005.

c. Each instruction has provided bibliographic citations for readings specific to workshop being presented. Handout, a resources list, and activity materials will be provided to each participant for each workshop. The course will maintain a website with all assignments and handouts.

d. Recommended: David Christian. This Fleeting World: A Short History of Humanity. Berkshire Publishing Group, 2007.


8. Program/Course Workshop Objectives

A. In terms of the major areas of knowledge and understanding, participants should acquire and demonstrate by the end of the course/workshop, students should be able to:

1. Articulate a sound rationale for incorporating global perspectives into social studies and other content areas in K-12 classrooms.

2. Explain the competing political perspectives regarding global education in American society.

3. Describe the important role that religion plays in the different regions of the world,

4. Examine the history and politics of the Middle east and develop appropriate teaching methods and activities about the Middle East.

5. Analyze the role of China and India in international relations and explain why these two countries are critical to world politics and American foreign policy.

6. Examine the critical role that population trends play in international relations and their relationship to other global issues, such as world hunger, ethnic conflicts, and environmental issues.

B. Participants should develop and demonstrate by the end of the course/workshop the following skills:

1. Identify print, electronic resources, and other media for teaching about global education and international events.

2. Develop a unit teaching about a selected global issue (women's rights, religion in different regions of the world, and so forth) and obtain the required materials for the unit plan.

3. Examine thematic issues within a comparative format.

C. Participants develop and demonstrate the following dispositions (attitudes/values)by the end of the course/workshop:

1. Appreciate the wide range of cultural diversity throughout the world and how diversity can be a positive factor for human progress.

2. Develop tolerance for diverse perspectives and ideologies on controversial issues, such as human rights and religion.

3. Understand the importance of geography in influencing a country's economic and political development and reject the racist explanations for developing world poverty.

4. Demonstrate an awareness of the serious issues/problems facing the world community and the United States — intolerance, over-simplification, racism.

 

Course Outline and Schedule of Activities: Race, Religion and Culture

Class 1 (January 21, 2010)

Session 1A

Welcome and Introduction of Participants

    Richard Crepage, Director of Education, CCWA 

Discussion of the Workshop Series, emphasizing teacher and student outcomes, formats, materials, etc.

    Global Perspectives Overview:Global Awareness, Cultural Competency and the Curriculum

    Professor Donald Ramos, CLASS, CSU Emeritus

Overview of need for globalization of the curriculum, state and national recognition of need for globalization, impact for middle and high school teachers

     Resources for Curriculum Development.

Kathy Dobda, CSU Assistant Director for Public Services and Head of Library Instruction

Workshop on website and multimedia resources for teaching about world regions. Assessing and evaluating best resources.

 

Session 1B

Culture in a Global Context

      Professor Kátia Almeida Tracy, Adjunct Assistant Professor, CWRU Anthropology and School of Nursing

            General introduction to the role of culture within the evolving globalized environment.

 

Class 2 (February 9, 2010) 

Session 2A

Religion, Race and Society in Latin America: An Introduction

      Professor Donald Ramos, CLASS, CSU Emeritus

Connections to the Ohio Social Studies Standards

Web and Other Resources

Hybridity, A Synonym for Latin America:

A Catholic Society Except When It Is Not: The ReMaking of Latin America’s Religious Map

                        Brazil: The Trouble with Affirmative Action and the Power of Race

 

Session 2B

Religious Complexity and the Middle East

       Professor Stephen Cory, CSU History and Middle Eastern Studies

Introduction to the religious complexity of the Middle East with a focus on evolution of Islam.

Approaches for teaching about the Middle East, including case studies, responsive papers and Map Walk activity.

 

Class 3 (March 11, 2010)

Session 3A

Placing India into the Curriculum

      Professor Murali Nair, CSU School of Social Work

Looking beyond imperialism, Indian in the modern world. Reality and stereotypes about Indian culture in the U.S..

Using PowerPoint, music, websites, description of the India Experience Program and its impact on area students.

 

Session 3B

Gender and Sexuality in China

       Professor Wenqing Kang, CSU Department of History

            General introduction to history of China

            Exploration of the role which gender and sexuality has played in shaping modern China.

 

Class 4 (April 20, 2010)

Session 4A

Shaping the Present: The Impact of the Past on Contemporary China

            Professor Liya Wang, Baldwin-Wallace College, Department of Sociology

 

Session 4B

Resources for Further Curricular Development

Constructing a Whole from the Various Parts: A Case Study

      Professor Donald Ramos, CSU History Emeritus

The Andes as a Case Study: What Happened to the Incas?

            An Appeal for a holistic Approach to Teaching Social Studies

 

Bringing It All Together: Teaching about the World

     Professors James Moore and Donald Ramos

Curriculum design and pedagogical issues

            Dissecting the global from the regional

Selecting and incorporating curricular materials and activities, outcomes, assessment and evaluation components.

 

Evaluation for credit-seeking Students

Description

% of Grade

Comprehensive 5 day curriculum unit plan based on a selected global issue, theme, or region of the world, etc. that requires teachers to develop objectives, content, activities, materials, and some form of assessment. Evaluation by Moore

               70%

Reflective journal writing on each session Evaluation by Ramos

20%

In-class discussion and participation Evaluation by Ramos

10%

Course Grading.

All work should be done in accordance with generally accepted standards for graduate students.

            A 93-100%

            A- 90-92

            B+ 87-89

            B 83-86

            B- 80-82 Below satisfactory graduate work

            C 70-79 Below satisfactory graduate work

            F 69 and below