Education for Social Action

Catalog description

What’s the purpose of education? Teachers have colossal pressure to prepare students for standardized tests which can lead to a narrowed overall vision for the purpose of education. This leaves educators in an uphill battle trying to engage students when the learning doesn’t always feel fully relevant and meaningful to students’ lives. In this practical and engaging course, teachers will discover how to augment their lesson plans to bring social action to the forefront of learning all while using their standards-based curriculum. By refocusing on the “why” behind everything we teach and the sense of urgency for which youth can contribute to the world, we inherently address the root causes of motivation and anxiety amongst students. By the end of this course, teachers will develop their own “social action learning” project –creating a model for a specific unit of their curriculum that they can replicate throughout the year. With this transformed approach to teaching, even the most disengaged students will find a renewed sense.