Course Instructor and Author: Donny Wise has been an educator for 20 years, in addition to working for UCLA, Hughes Space and Communication, Monster.com, IDC, and RAND Corporation. He is known for providing very clear, methodological instruction, while being inspiring, as well. He is passionate about closing the opportunity and achievement gaps for students by empowering and equipping teachers with relevant, practical, researchbased pedagogy and tools.
Course Objective & Learning Goals: This class will equip teachers with practical, in classroom methodologies that have shown to advance the academic performance of students of color. Based on the work of researchers such as Tyrone Howard, Claude Steele, Pedro Noguera, Gloria Ladson-Billings, Johnnie McKinely, Gary Howard, Baruti Kafele, Geneva Gay and Gilda Ochoa, this class takes a constructivist and research-based approach toward helping educators recognize and combat the negative affect of stereotype thinking and master skills needed to remove barriers to student learning.
- Lesson 1: Breaking Down the Stereotypes of African American and Latino Students Understand the devastating effects of having a pre-judgment regarding the academic performance of African Americans and Latino Americans based on research regarding what is called the stereotype threat. Research has proven that a teacher’s attitude and expectation of a student’s future performance greatly impacts the student’s actual performance.
- Lesson 2: History Matters Understand the history, culture and background of the typical African and Latino American student in order to give them a healthy self perspective of where they came from, who they are and the academic potential they possess.
- Lesson 3: Role Models of Academic Excellence Interviews with African and Latino Americans and success stories of achieving academic excellence; Learn the key characteristics of educators who can reach, relate to, and empower African and Latino American students to succeed in academics and see specific examples of African Americans who have succeeded in history and function as role models to African and Latino Americans.
- Lesson 4: Acquiring the mindset of a researcher for evaluating strategies that aim to help African American and Latino Students Learn what measurement standards should be used to assess the value of researched methods for improving the academic performance of African American and Latino boys and girls. Also view exemplary research work by three researchers: Pedro Noguera, Carol Dweck, and Tyrone Howard.
- Lesson 5: Culturally Relevant and Responsive Teaching Learn 9 key strategies to promote academic achievement among African American and Latino students. (Gary Howard, Kefele, Gladson-Billings)
- Lesson 6: Integrating Cultural Relevance into Your Lesson Plans Learn how to link your teaching to culturally relevant strategies
- Lesson 7: Review and Final Project and Final Exam Participants will complete a project as well a final exam.