Master of Arts in Teaching

This course seeks to prepare students in the methodologies and pedagogies of transformative educating. Students study theories of classroom teaching and apply their learning in the creation of a 10-day unit plan based on the concept of Backwards Design. The course format will be individualized sessions of asynchronous learning activities to be completed in advance of a week of 10 in-person workshops. As part of the culminating assessment, students write a critical essay examining the concepts of the course and present their unit creations. 

While we primarily rely on Google Classroom, Ecourse (Moodle) has the capacity to use turnitin.com, which is a plagiarisim / citation-checking tool.

Read the instructions carefully. Notice that the dates coincide with your due dates in the GRP Classroom course, as they're meant to work together for your submissions.

This course is a general educational course that is required by both the Ministry of Education in Kyrgyzstan. You have to know the basic dates and events that took place in the history of Kyrgyzstan as well as the methods to study and teach it. The study of history is also central to a liberal arts education and required by Bard diploma.

The course objectives are:

·                to define the place of history among other humanities and social sciences

·                to discuss the methods of historical research and teaching

·                to analyze and interpret primary historical sources

·                to recognize the key events in the history of Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia

·                to trace historical continuity and change, and demonstrate the implications of historical events for modernity

The strength of a democracy depends on all of its citizens being able to understand and think critically about public policies, laws, and the role of societal movements in shaping those policies and laws. This course will provide participants with the knowledge, skills, and materials to engage high school students in thinking critically about these topics through interactive techniques: in-class games and debates, site visits to courts and government units, and the design of mini-projects centered on law and society topics (students in this class will both engage in these activities themselves and learn the skills to implement these methods in their own classrooms).

This course will begin with an examination of the cultural, political and economic factors that shape the law in different social contexts. The class will pay special attention to law-society interactions in the Central Asian context - examining societal transformations since the breakup of the Soviet Union through a legislative lens. Participants will explore the ways in which social problems become defined as legal issues, the role that cultural values and assumptions can play in framing legal arguments and influencing judicial opinions, and the strengths and limitations of the law as a means of achieving social policy objectives. Throughout these discussions, the course will make participants aware of the unique opportunity they have and the significant responsibility they bear as educators to prepare their students to grow up as responsible citizens in a rapidly changing world. Educating students about their role in a democracy is one of the most fundamental goals of education in stratified and culturally diverse societies.