Course Number: | EDU 5515 C08 |
Instructor: | Tom McGuire |
Location: | Online |
Dates and Times: | July 13 – August 10, 2023. Class meetings will be from 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm, tentatively, on the following dates: Thursday, July 13,Thursday, July 20, Thursday, July 27, Thursday, August 3, & Thursday, August 10. |
Credits: | 3 Graduate Credits |
Tuition: | $1,195 |
In a post-pandemic future it will be more important than ever to create schools that are centered on the primacy of every student’s right to learn in a just, equitable, and holistic environment. It takes visionary leaders to create and support whole child schools that emerge as places where diverse children can learn and excel with competence and creativity. In the context of this course, the term school leader includes not only those in administrative positions, such as principals and superintendents, but also teachers and school community members who take on leadership roles as they work for change. Re-envisioned schools nourish democracy and support social justice and therefore strengthen the whole community. This course, designed as a seminar, allows participants to explore the many contexts involved in developing whole child schools.
Audience: Pre- K- 12 teachers, administrators, aspiring administrators, community members, school board members.
Course Goals:
School transformation requires leadership skills and dispositions across wide areas, which include, but are not limited to, policy development, management, and public relations. Leadership is the key component for school change and transformation that is necessary to improve educational outcomes for all students in the 21st century. Effective leadership begins with an understanding of the how change happens and the critical components necessary for school transformation. This course will explore the many contexts involved in school transformation, including, but not limited to, mission vs. vision, school transformation, change process, roles and responsibilities, and school culture.
Course Objectives:
The learner will:
NOTE: This course can be taken independently or as part of a 4-course sequence that leads to 12-credit certificate in Teaching the Whole Child (TTWC).
This 4-course sequence, informed, supported, and credited through Castleton University, is geared towards K-12 teachers and administrators wanting to gain further understanding of teaching “one student at a time” at all educational levels, based on the belief that the best learning takes place in small communities that integrate academic and applied learning, promote collaborative work, and encourage a culture of life-long learning. Through the whole-child approach to learning, children are immersed in learning environments intended to foster a sense of community and encourage interpersonal skills, problem solving, goal setting, creativity, autonomy, and self-accountability.
These courses can be taken “sequentially” toward earning the 12-credit certificate, individually as electives for a concentration in TTWC within the Master of Science in Educational Research (with advisor permission), or individually, through the Castleton Center for Schools, for personal growth. Each course will earn three (3) Castleton University graduate credits.
Course Offerings for 2023-2023
Spring 2023 Fundamentals of Teaching the Whole Child
Summer 2023 Developing Whole Child Schools
Fall 2023 Social Justice in Education- From Awareness to Action
Spring 2024 Teaching Students with Disabilities in the 21st Century
Tom McGuire, M.Ed.
Tom McGuire’s career in education has spanned over 40 years and has included teaching in middle and high school, serving as a principal in an elementary school, and years as an assistant professor, preparing pre-service teachers. As a lead partner in founding the Principal Residency Network, he helped to develop and certify over 300 progressive
public school leaders. In his current work with Educate the Whole Child, supported by the Myrin Institute, Tom visits, studies, and documents publicly funded schools across the country that focus on whole child education. Visit https://www.educatethewholechild.org/ for more information.
Required Texts are not included in the course tuition.
Sarason, S. B. (1999). Teaching as a performing art. New York, NY: Teachers College Press
Three self selected articles related to whole child education, parameters will be discussed in an online class meeting.
(631) 671-1174
(802) 468-1325