WINTER

Program Overview: During the first quarter of this program, participants explored and analyzed historical and
contemporary models of teaching and learning using three theories of learning (behaviorism, constructivism,
social constructivism), recent research about the roles the brain plays in learning, and the relationship of
issues of power and privilege to learning.  Winter quarter's work will build on the explorations of fall quarter to
determine approaches to teaching that best support the diverse population of children who attend public
schools in this country.

Program members will begin the quarter in small collaborative groups investigating the systemof public
schooling in Washington and the attitudes of educators and politicians toward the children they serve.  We
will attempt to discover how poverty, disabilities, gender, and ethnic diversity impact students' abilities to
obtain an equitable and excellent education. We will also attempt to answer the question of what schooling
should look like if one of its purposes is to prepare young people to participate effectively and ethically in an
increasingly diverse, multicultural society.

Seminar books and papers will focus on experiments in public education that have been successful in
helping more children and young people participate in equitable and productive educational experiences.
Workshops, projects, and field trips will support program participants in carefully analyzing the aims of
education and effects of specific teaching strategies.  In addition, students will be introduced to:
 

        --current federal legislation that is reshaping teaching and assessment,
        --regulations that affect teacher certification in Washington, and
        --the Essential Academic Learning Requirements which guide the curricula of schools in
           Washington.

Special Fees:   Students may be asked to contribute $60 each to cover field trip and/or retreat costs.
 

Anticipated Credit Distribution Winter 2003:

4-History of Education
4-Writing
4-Social Foundations of Education
4-Educational Psychology

Winter  Weekly Schedule

Teachers teach who they are and what they believe. Learners learn all kinds of things --- but not necessarily the content teachers may think they are teaching. The purpose of this program is to explore just what learning involves, the relationship of teaching and learning, and how people teach in ways that support the greatest number of learners.

Over the course of two quarters, we will :

• write , illustrate , perform, and discuss our own stories as learners
• read a variety of texts about theories of learning and critiques of those theories
• read and view the stories of learners from diverse backgrounds
• listen to and talk with teachers from a variety of backgrounds
• spend time observing and working in public or private schools
• explore the relationship of how learning happens to effective teaching
• examine the relationship of the politics of teaching to power and oppression
• develop, support, and present our own emerging understandings of what learning is and what it means to be an effective teacher for all the children in America's schools.

• 4 - Theories of Learning
• 4 - Intro duction to Foundations of Education
• 4 - Expository Writing
• 2 - Personal Fitness
• 2 - Academic Planning