Assignment:
My School and Its Culture
As illustrated in the introduction discussion this week, each of you has experienced a unique journey through a variety of educational experiences throughout your lives. Naturally, some of these experiences will have contributed to your personal development and identity with greater impact than others. Furthermore, many in-school variables have affected your educational journey.
After reading selected materials from Week One, you should now be familiar with the research that describes the relationship between social class and school success (Chapter and the Funds of knowledge help by students and their families). You will use this knowledge as a foundation for completing this assignment.
For this assignment, describe a school-related experience that you believe influenced your identity either positively or negatively or both. You will analyze this experience and reflect on all the factors that might have shaped it, and the different ways these experiences shaped you. This analysis will include an examination of factors related to school (such as social class, socioeconomic status, diversity, family issues, etc.) that you believe influenced your schooling. This type of analysis provides a powerful introduction to learning more about the relationship between culture, education and how such factors can impact school.
In your paper, include the following:
1. Describe your selected school experience that influenced your personal identity development.
2. Describe the school where your experience took place including (a) school characteristics, (b) student population characteristics, (c) socio-economic background of the families affiliated with the school, (d) the family structures represented, and (e) values, behaviors, and symbols that would be considered normal in that community (microculture).
3. Explain the influence that your family's "funds of knowledge" and social capital had on your ability to succeed in your school; address your success in the following three areas: academic success, social success, and emotional success.
4. Explain, using specific examples, how educators could use information about culture and individual student identities to make effective instructional decisions.
If you are enrolled in the MAED Program, it is imperative that you keep copies of all assignments completed in this course. You will return to them for the portfolio that you will create in your final MAED course. This portfolio is a culminating project that will demonstrate that you have met program outcomes.
Review this week's Instructor Guidance for additional information about completing this assignment. Contact your instructor for clarifications about this or any assessment in the course before the due date using the "Ask Your Instructor" forum. Then, also using the Grading Rubric as a guide for your performance on this assignment, construct your assignment to meet each of the content and written communication expectations.
The My School and Its Culture paper
Must be two to three double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.