SED 695D  Seminar in Mathematics with a Focus on Instructional Leadership    Spring 2008

Education Building Room 1126

Tuesdays, 7:15 – 9:40 pm

 

 

Julie Gainsburg                                                                                       Office   (818) 677-6155

julie.gainsburg@csun.edu                                                              Dept.     (818) 677-2580

Office Hours: Tues. 4:30-6; Wed. 2:30-4                           Home   (818) 788-4833

Room 3106, Education Building                                               Course information at www.csun.edu/~jg1857

 

 

Course Overview

In this culminating course for the Math-Education Masters Program, you will take stock of what you have learned and produced over the course of the program and consider how to spread that learning to your classroom, school, and wider settings.  Seminar discussions and readings will address various aspects of teacher leadership, with the aim of building your own leadership skill and style.  We will examine the dynamics of school change and explore how teachers can spearhead and facilitate educational improvement.  You will begin or continue your own leadership efforts with a project to improve mathematics education at a local or broader level.  You will also hone your ability to facilitate productive work sessions among colleagues by leading part of a seminar session.  This course will also support your completion of the Masters Portfolio, in which you will present evidence of your mastery of the five Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) required for graduation. 

 

 

Student Learning Outcomes for MA Programs

Secondary Education MA Candidates will develop as professional educators who demonstrate:

 

  1. REFLECTIVE PRACTICE by critically examining their subject knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and pedagogical skills to improve their diverse studentsÕ learning;
  2. THEORETICAL UNDERSTANDING by reading, synthesizing, and evaluating educational theory and research in their field and applying research findings to their practice in diverse classroom settings;
  3. RESEARCH SKILLS by designing and conducting research ethically and effectively and presenting their findings at a professional level in oral and written forms.
  4. EDUCATIONAL AWARENESS by knowing current discipline-based and current general educational issues and how those impact schools; and

5.   LEADERSHIP by influencing policy and practice in educational communities through

         advocacy and example.

 

 

Course Expectations

Given the significant role of participation in this seminar, your attendance at every session is crucial, both for your own learning and each otherÕs.  Please make every effort to avoid scheduling conflicts with class meetings and, out of respect for others, to arrive promptly.  Because participation factors into the final course grade, absences from sessions or parts of them can indirectly affect your grade, as they prevent your participation.  During the semester, you must attend one professional conference for math teachers or education leaders.  Good options include the LACTMA conference, March 28-29, (www.lactma.org) and the Orange County Math Conference, March 14-15 (nregister.ocde.us).  One seminar session will be dropped in exchange for your time (minimum 4 hours) at this conference.

 

 

Coursework

 

Participation  To be productive, this seminar requires intensive participation from all members.  This includes contributing to whole-class and small-group discussions, thoroughly reading all assigned articles, engaging in discussions and activities facilitated by classmates, and providing feedback on classmatesÕ work.  Much of the seminar is based on readings—usually an article or chapter per week— and it will be impossible to participate meaningfully in seminar without completing the reading assigned for each session.  The SED 695D course reader can be purchased in the Matador Bookstore; other readings will be available electronically. 

 

Seminar Facilitation  Once or twice during the semester, you will facilitate our processing of the weekly reading.  For this, you will be responsible for knowing the reading well; designing discussion questions and activities that help your classmates better understand the reading, consider its implications for schools generally, and make connections to their own local situations or leadership projects; and leading this hour of the session so that productive work ensues.  You may choose to lead one session (hour) independently or two sessions with a partner. 

 

MA Portfolio  This seminar will support your writing of the narratives that accompany the 5 artifacts for your MA Portfolio (which you will select in SED 697).  To facilitate your on-time completion of the portfolio, write-up drafts are due on specified dates during the semester.  You will receive peer and instructor coaching on the drafts, but the quality of your write-ups will not be assessed for this course; only their timely submission will be credited.  (Portfolio assessment occurs outside this course.)

 

Leadership Project  You will conceptualize, plan, and possibly implement a Leadership Project that leverages what you have learned in the masters program to improve mathematics education at the department level or beyond.  Possible projects include:

 

á          Writing and submitting an article manuscript for publication 

á          Writing and submitting a proposal for a conference presentation or leading a professional development (PD) workshop

á          Writing and submitting a proposal for a school- or teaching-improvement grant

á          Becoming trained as a leader in an existing PD initiative

á          Designing and leading a curricular, pedagogical, or assessment change in your school

á          Starting an academic student-support organization on your campus

 

Projects must be approved by the instructor, with whom you will also negotiate how far along in implementation you must be by semesterÕs end, depending on your projectÕs scope and logistics.

 

Assessment 

Generally, your course grade will be your point total for the course assignments and participation, as delineated below.

Assignment                                                                                             Possible Points

Participation                                                                                                                 30       

Facilitation of seminar discussion                                                               20

On-time submission of 5 Portfolio narratives (@ 2 pts.)         10
Leadership Project                                                                                                   40

Total                                                                                                                  100

 

 

 

 

SED 695D Seminar in Leadership                                         Schedule                                                                Spring 2008

 

 

DATE

READING DUE

IN-CLASS ACTIVITIES

WORK DUE

 

What does it mean for a teacher to be a ÒprofessionalÓ?

 

Jan. 22

 

á          Intro course

á          MA Portfolio & SLOs

 

Jan. 29

Gardner. The nature of leadership. AND

 

U.S. DOE. Teachers leading the way.

á          Reading activity

 

Feb. 5

Shulman. Theory, practice, and the education of Professionals.

á          Reading activity

 

á          Write-up for SLO 1

Feb. 12

Little. Assessing the prospects for teacher leadership.

á          Reading activity

á          Andre Chevalier (8:30)

 

 

Does teaching have to be an isolated occupation?

 

Feb. 19

Huberman. The model of the independent artisan in teachersÕ professional relations.

á          Reading activity

á          Paul Payne

á          Write-up for SLO 2

Feb. 26

McLaughlin & Talbert. Communities of teaching practice.  AND

 

Wenger. Communities of practice

á          Reading activity

á          Peg Cagle (6:30)

 

Mar. 4

Hargreaves. Collaboration and contrived collegiality.  OR

 

Hargreaves. The balkanization of teaching.

á          Reading activity

á          Write-up for SLO 4

 

What are different ways to lead?  How can I lead?

 

Mar. 11

Lieberman, et al. Teacher leadership.

á          Reading activity

á          Leadership Project Draft 1

Mar. 18

NO CLASS   (CSUN Vacation)

Mar. 25

NO CLASS   (exchange for conference attendance)

Apr. 1

Gabriel. Adaptive leadership.

á          Reading activity

á          Leadership ÒWorkshopsÓ w/ Ivan Cheng, Joe Morgan

 

Apr. 8

Sawyer. Teachers who grow as collaborative leaders.

á          Reading activity

á          Leadership ÒWorkshopÓ w/ Mary Siorody

á          Leadership Project Draft 2 (1/2 class)

 

Do schools ever really change?

 

Apr. 15

Cuban. Constancy and change in schools.

á          Reading activity

á          Leadership ÒWorkshopÓ w/ Debbie Leidner

á          Write-up for SLO 3

á          Leadership Project Draft 2 (1/2 class)

Apr. 22

Sandholtz, et al. The challenge of instructional change.

á          Reading activity

á          Write-up for SLO 5

Apr. 29

Cohen. A revolution in one classroom.

á          Reading activity

á          Leadership Project Reports

á          Leadership Project Final Write-up

May 6

 

Meet in ED 1214 from 4:30 ~7:00 pm

á          Portfolio Conferences

á          Program wrap-up

á          MA Portfolio

 

 

 

 

Readings for SED 695D  Seminar in Mathematics with a Focus on Instructional Leadership    Spring 2008

 

 

Due Week 2:

Gardner, J. W. (2000). The nature of leadership. In Jossey-Bass reader on educational leadership, (pp. 3-12).  San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. (Reader)  AND

U.S. Department of Education (1998). Teachers leading the way: Voices from the National Teacher Forum.  (Read all sections.)  http://www.ed.gov/pubs/TeachersLead/index.html

 

Due Week 3:

Shulman, L. (1998). Theory, practice, and the education of professionals. The Elementary School Journal, 98(5), 511-526.   (CSUN Library Website; JStor)

 

Due Week 4:

Little, J. W. (2000). Assessing the prospects for teacher leadership. In Jossey-Bass reader on educational leadership, (pp. 390-418). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

http://lsc-net.terc.edu/do.cfm/paper/8122/show/use_set-ldrshp

 

Due Week 5:

Huberman, M. (1993). The model of the independent artisan in teachersÕ professional relations. In J.W. Little & M. W. McLaughlin (Eds.), TeachersÕ work: Individuals, colleagues, and contexts (pp. 11-50). New York: Teachers College Press.  (Reader)

 

Due Week 6:

McLaughlin, M. & Talbert, J. (2001). Communities of teaching practice. Professional communities and the work of high school teaching (pp. 40-65). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.  (Reader)  AND

Wenger, E. Communities of practice: A brief introduction. http://www.ewenger.com/theory/index.htm

 

Due Week 7:

Hargreaves, A. (1997). Collaboration and contrived collegiality: Cup of comfort of poisoned chalice? (pp. 186-211) OR The balkanization of teaching: collaboration that divides (pp. 212-240). Changing teachers, changing times: Teachers' work and culture in the postmodern age. NY: Teachers College Press.  (Reader)

 

Due Week 8: 

Lieberman, A., Saxl, E., R & Miles, M. B. (2000). Teacher leadership: Ideology and practice. In Jossey-Bass reader on educational leadership, (pp. 348-365). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

http://lsc-net.terc.edu/do.cfm/paper/8121/show/use_set-ldrshp

 

Due Week 9:

Gabriel, J. G. (2005). Adaptive leadership: Navigating challenges and effecting change.  How to thrive as a teacher leader.  ASCD, pp. 71-101.  (Reader)

 

Due Week 10:

Sawyer, R.D.  (2001). Teachers who grow as collaborative leaders: The rocky road of support. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 9(38).    http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v9n38.html

 

Due Week 11:

Cuban, L. (1988). Constancy and change in schools (1880s to the present). In P. Jackson (Ed.), Contributing to educational change (pp. 85-105). Berkeley, CA: McCutchan Publishing Corporation.  (Reader)

 

Due Week 12:

Sandholtz, J., Ringstaff, C. H., & Dwyer, D. C. (1997). The challenge of instructional change: Two teachersÕ stories.  Teaching with technology: Creating student-centered classrooms (pp. 16-32). NY: Teachers College Press.  (Reader)

 

Due Week 13:

Cohen, D. (1990). A revolution in one classroom: The case of Mrs. Oublier. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 12(3), 311-329.  (CSUN Library Website; JStor)