Sarah Ross

What egalitarian ideals have shaped our conception of public education? How has the promise of democratic schools been undermined by white privilege, racism, class-based discrimination, inequitable funding, colonialism, patriarchy, and disregard for the human impact on the natural world? This course builds a foundation for understanding the politics of schooling by exploring the struggle for democratic education in Chicago, contextualized by contemporary global decolonial practices in education. Students will consider how shifting conceptions of schooling are responses to the contemporary cultural moment¿recognizing how curriculum supports the beliefs and needs of the status quo as well as how curriculum might critique and propose new ways of being as individuals and as societies. The course explores a broad range of histories, philosophies, and approaches to schooling, including Freedom Schools, Native American boarding schools, transformative justice in education, play and free child movements, teacher-led movements, environmental studies, and the fight to defend ethnic studies programs as well as attempts to re-segregate and privatize public schools.

Artists, designers and scholars to be studied include Tonika Lewis, Eve Ewing, Elizabeth Todd-Breland, Jose Resendiz, Borderless Studios, Interference Archive and Alexis Rockman. Readings from the field of art education by Doug Blandy, Laurie Hicks, and Mark Graham will trace the emergence of eco-art and place-based art education curriculum. Field trips include visits to school sites, Chicago Board of Education meetings and exploration of CBOE archives.

Course assignments include short response papers and course readings. Students conduct and report on six hours of observations in schools, sites of school decision-making, and in places where people attempt to build democratic processes related to schools. Students will conduct independent research on topics related to contemporary issues and schooling. Each student will prepare and present a culminating project proposal for a school whose curriculum and structures address their political and social concerns and pedagogical vision.

The objective for this course is to enable students to collaborate with diverse populations and to broaden their ability to make art with people. A combination of lecture, discussion, and community fieldwork will provide an opportunity to link teaching philosophy with experience. Topics include social theory, identity formation, political activism, critical pedagogy, 'public art,' and art as a force for social transformation. Course requirements include: research, project proposals, curriculum development, participation in an approved collaborative community-based project, and documentation. Students will be expected to spend at least three hours per week at their community field site. This course counts as studio credit.

The objective for this course is to enable students to collaborate with diverse populations and to broaden their ability to make art with people. A combination of lecture, discussion, and community fieldwork will provide an opportunity to link teaching philosophy with experience. Topics include social theory, identity formation, political activism, critical pedagogy, 'public art,' and art as a force for social transformation. Course requirements include: research, project proposals, curriculum development, participation in an approved collaborative community-based project, and documentation. Students will be expected to spend at least three hours per week at their community field site. This course counts as studio credit.

This independent study requirement for candidates for the MAAE (Master of Arts in Art Education) or for the MAT (Master of Arts in Teaching) follows either the MAAE course ARTED 6109--Art Education: Thesis I: Research Methodology or the MAT course ARTED 5290--Graduate Art Education Thesis: Research as Social Inquiry. Students produce a thesis that demonstrates a student?s ability to design, justify, execute, and present the results of original research or of a substantial action research project. Students work closely with an assigned thesis advisor, in addition to participating in supporting workshops, presenting at the annual symposium, and defending the work at a final defense panel.