Elizabethtown College’s Education Department is offering a new course for its students. ED 371: The Philadelphia Urban Seminar acts upon the second pillar of the department’s mission statement, social justice.
Faculty have been exploring many ways to create unique experiences for their pre-service teachers which emphasize social justice concepts of peace, equity, inclusion and diversity. Associate Professor of Education Dr. Rachel Finley-Bowman spoke about the new program. “The opportunity for the college to partner with other teacher preparation programs across the commonwealth is very exciting, as we consider the potential networks for our students with these colleges and universities and with the School District of Philadelphia,” she said.
This new course book ends with the department’s Peace and Integrated Education in Northern Ireland course, which is offered in opposite May terms and offers an opportunity to travel to Belfast, Northern Ireland.
“The purpose of the course is to immerse students in the urban context, promoting ‘theory into practice’ through field placement and service learning projects,” Dr. Finley-Bowman said.
Students experience blended learning strategies throughout the course, with the first week being an online study of urban education. The following two weeks, students will stay at LaSalle University and complete an intensive field placement with the School District of Philadelphia, attend seminars and lectures, tour cultural events in the city and complete a service learning project.
“This course explores the policies, experiences, relationships and practices of urban schools, utilizing the case study of Philadelphia. Emphasis is given to the categories of race, ethnicity, class, gender, language, religion, sexuality and ability as social relations of power that impact urban school experiences and the urban context on students, teachers, parents and the community,” Dr. Finley-Bowman said.
The course also includes an intensive field placement in the School District of Philadelphia.
The course is part of the wider “Philadelphia Urban Seminar” coordinated through Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) which has several partnering education programs such as Millersville, Cabrini, Juniata and Shippensburg.
“The field placement in The School District of Philadelphia encourages concentrated study of the principles of urban education, promotes service learning, as students participate in a service learning project during their time in Philadelphia and immersion in the urban culture and history of Philadelphia,” Dr. Finley-Bowman said.
Not only does this seminar work in conjunction with the education department’s focus on social justice, the opportunity to take this course also helps education majors to diversify their in-classroom experiences as much as possible.
If education majors’ field placements were restricted to only the school districts around Elizabethtown, the students would not be able to spend much time in urban schools since the majority of local school districts are considered rural or suburban.
Interested students can contact Dr. Rachel Finley-Bowman for more information at BOWMANR@ETOWN.EDU or by visiting the departments website at http://www.etown.edu/depts/education/.
