Courses

• Critical Issues in Education

• Developmental Psychology (2)

• Multicultural Education

• Advocating Diversity in Higher Education

• A Site of Struggle: Educational Policy

• Psychology of Diversity

• Social Psychology Lab

• Developmental Psychology Lab

• Race and Law in the American Context

• Race, Ethnicity, and Politics

• Professional Development at The Franklin Institute: Understanding the Brain, Demystifying Maker Spaces, Science & Stories: Integrating Science and Literacy

 

These classes have collectively provided me with the foundational knowledge needed to understand the social, political, and economic context in which the social ailments of society can affect those within marginalized communities, which is really important if one aims to better understand their students in order to teach more effectively. This background is necessary in order to be able to be able to provide students with the lens to critically critique their own situations and provide the necessary tools and knowledge in order to change them. By working with students from a wide range of ages in both my education and psychology praxis within these courses, I have been able to see how different teachers engage in the pedagogical practices that I am learning about and the ways in which they do or do not work. An example of being able to see these pedagogical practices put into action was in my placement at the Friends School Haverford in which the English teacher provided the students with the space to talk about different social issues including LGBT rights, religious freedom, authoritarianism/dystopia, and racism through conversations about themes of different books and movies. Additionally, the professional development classes that I attended at The Franklin have provided a more specific lens in looking at informal forms of education and how these more formal education based pedagogical practices can be integrated with forms of informal education (See Image). There I was able to explore ways in which science can be taught in informal settings and engage students in learning that wasn't for a test, while also learning new ways to engage people of all ages in science. An example of this is being able understanding how literacy rates are affected by different socio-economic factors and how having conversations about this would look different for different communities and integrating this understanding into informal literacy instruction through museum programming. All of my experiences here have prepared me to teach students about the more difficult conversations that are needed in classrooms by providing models of how to do so and the necessary contextual information in order to knowledgeable engage in such conversations.