You will not need to purchase any textbooks for this class. All materials will be made available as PDFs or web links.

All times and dates are in Eastern Standard Time (EST).

Class Zoom Info

https://gc-cuny-edu.zoom.us/j/82808556681?pwd=MmRqWWRuNjlnUk5NWURORWFsb21Ddz09
Meeting ID: 828 0855 6681
Passcode: 905288

Instructor

August Smith (all pronouns are welcome)

Office Hours

Thursdays 10-11am
-or-
By appointment on Zoom

Email

[email protected]

Course Description

Analysis of education as a social institution, the school as a social system, and the professional and organizational roles of teachers. Special attention is given to the problems of the school in the urban community.

Department Course Objectives

• Gather, interpret, and assess information from a variety of sources and points of view.
• Evaluate evidence and arguments critically or analytically.
• Produce well‐reasoned written or oral arguments using evidence to support conclusions.
• Identify and apply the fundamental concepts and methods of a discipline or interdisciplinary field exploring the U.S. experience in its diversity, including, but not limited to, anthropology, communications, cultural studies, economics, history, political science, psychology, public affairs, sociology, and U.S. literature.
• Analyze and explain one or more major themes of U.S. history from more than one informed perspective.
• Analyze and discuss common institutions or patterns of life in contemporary U.S. society and how they influence, or are influenced by, race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, belief, or other forms of social differentiation.

My Course Objectives

• Students will learn skills to better critically analyze education as a social system that unequally confers privileges and disadvantages.
• Students will practice using their lived experiences to evaluate educational theory.
• Students will survey sociological literature surrounding a variety of topics in education scholarship.
• Students will develop research skills with an ongoing research project
• Instructor will re-evaluate educational theory based on students’ experiences, testimonies, and other input.
• Instructor will be responsive to student input and feedback.

Grading Breakdown

Assignment	% of Total Grade
Weekly Summary Assignments (10 at 5% each)	50%
Reflection Assignments (10 @ 1% each)	10%
Methods Guide	5%
Research Project Proposal	10%
(optional) Research Project First Draft	5%
Final Project	20%

Summary Assignments

Every week I will assign videos, readings, and/or websites to explore. I expect you to engage with the materials each week in order to be prepared for the class discussion. To help encourage your engagement with the materials, guided summary assignments will be due at 10:30am before our class meeting at 11am. The assignments are available as links on the Course Schedule. There are a total of 11 guided summaries.

If you would like to revise and re-submit an assignment for a higher grade, follow these instructions: Assignment Correction Instructions

Reflection Assignments

These assignments ask you to reflect on the discussions we have during the seminar period of our class meetings. It’s just a place to think about what you’ve learned and offer any ideas you may not have shared in class. They are graded on a complete/incomplete scale. There are a total of 10 reflections.

Submitting Assignments on DropBox

You will submit all assignments for this class on Dropbox. All CUNY students have access to a free Dropbox account. I have the CUNY Dropbox linked on the top of the course website. When you get to the CUNY Dropbox page, scroll down a little and click the “Log Into Dropbox” button on the left side of the screen (below the side menu). Log in with your CUNY Login Credentials (it ends with @login.cuny.edu). Each student will have their own personal folder where they can securely submit all assignments.

Final Project (and assigments)

Please find the descriptions of the final project assignments here.

The three pre-final project assignments (methods guide, proposal, first draft) are optional and contribute to the weight of your final grade. Completing them makes your final project weight less in your final grade, whereas not completing them means your final will be weighted more (and have more of an impact on your final score). For example, someone who does not complete any of the final project assignments will have a final project that is weighted as 40% of the final grade. Someone who completes the three assignments will have a final weighted at 20%. And let’s say someone did only the proposal and not the other two assignments. Their final project would be weighted as 30% of their final grade.

Class Policies

Late Work

Submitting work to me on time helps me out a lot! Firstly, it makes the lectures and class discussions much more interesting since we will all be on the same page. Secondly, when everyone submits their work by the due date, I can set aside time in my schedule to grade it all at once. When there are late assignments, I feel disorganized and a little overwhelmed since I have to continue going back to grade old assignments. Therefore, I ask that you all turn work in on time.

Email

Please email me if you have questions, concerns, or comments that are not addressed in this syllabus. I will try to respond to all emails within 48 hours. If you email me at the last minute with a question about an assignment, I may be unable to answer.

Privacy

Sociology often lends itself to conversations that draw on personal experiences and informed opinions. It is important that we all agree to keep each others personal testimonies private and in the classroom. It is also important that we do not ask people to share information if they do not consent to sharing. We will have a larger discussion about this on the first day of class.

COVID-19

If you are not feeling well, please stay home. If you have tested positive for COVID-19, please contact the Health Center at [email protected] as soon as possible after your positive test result to initiate contact tracing and to get connected to support services.

For more details click here.

Academic Integrity

No cheating, no plagiarizing. As a higher education institution, Lehman College believes that academic honesty and integrity are fundamental to the mission of this institution and are binding upon all its members. Students are responsible for the honest completion and representation of their work, for the appropriate citation of sources and for respect of others’ academic endeavors. Students who violate these standards will be confronted and must accept the consequences of their actions. Included among the most rigorous sanctions for student academic misconduct is a lowered overall course grade, a failing grade in the course, disciplinary probation, and/or expulsion from Lehman.

For more information on avoiding plagiarism, please visit this website.

Accommodating Disabilities

Lehman College is committed to providing access to all programs and curricula to all students. Students with disabilities who may need classroom accommodations are encouraged to register with the Office of Student Disability Services. For more information, please contact the Office of Student Disability Services, Shuster Hall, Room 238, phone number, 718-960-8441 or visit this website.

If for any reason you are unable to get the services you need from the Office of Student Disability Services, please let me know. I am happy to do anything within my power to ensure that each of you have the chance to do well in this class. Whether it’s a small or large accommodation you may need, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Preferred Names

A preferred name is not a legal name, but is generally used to change how others refer to you. For this purpose, students may identify a preferred name to be recorded in the student system. Documents and records that may display a preferred name include, among other things, course rosters, student identification cards, student email addresses, and other documents issued by the University. To change the name that is displayed/reflected on an official academic record, diploma, or transcript, students must follow the instructions on the Personal Data Change Request Form available in the Office of the Registrar. Official and legal name changes require specific documentation outlined on that form. 

Please see the following links on updating your preferred name and other personal information on CUNYFirst:

https://www.lehman.edu/registrar/documents/HowtoupdatepreferrednameinCUNYfirst.pdf
https://www.lehman.edu/registrar/updating-personal-information.php

After a change to your preferred name is entered into CUNYFirst, your preferred name should be reflected in Blackboard. If this does not occur, please contact [email protected] to make the change in Blackboard.

Lehman Tutoring Center

The Lehman Tutoring Center (LTC) and the Science Learning Center (SLC) are two of the tutoring centers on campus. The LTC provides appointment based and drop-in tutoring in the humanities, social sciences, and writing, as well as general writing skills and academic skills workshops. The SLC provides drop-in tutoring for natural and computer science courses. To obtain more information about the LTC and the SLC, please visit their website, or please call the LTC at 718-960-8175, and the SLC at 718-960-7707. I encourage you to take advantage of the support available to you through the LTC and SLC

The Instructional Support Services Program (ISSP)

The Instructional Support Services Program (ISSP) houses tutoring and academic coaching programs at the college. ISSP provides appointment based tutoring in the humanities, social sciences, and writing, as well as general writing and academic skills workshops. To obtain more information, please visit their website at http://www.lehman.edu/issp , or  call ISSP at 718-960-8175.

Lehman College Food Bank and Emergency Assistance

If you are experiencing financial hardship and would like to see if you are eligible for an emergency grant, please visit the Student Affairs emergency grants website: lehman.edu/emergency-grants 

Any student who has difficulty affording groceries or accessing sufficient food is urged to utilize the Herbert H. Lehman Food Bank, which is located in the Student Life Building, Room 108. The Food Bank is open Wednesdays 10am-8pm and Thursdays 10am-4pm. Students must make an appointment at: lehmanfoodbank.setmore.com