EDA 510 DISCUSSION PROMPT FOR MODULES 7 and 8
Catholic Schools
Introduction to the Discussion Prompt:
In your lifetime of school experiences, have you ever been enrolled in a class wherein the instructor runs out of time, as the term comes to an end, and the final chapters of the basic text - or the concluding parts of the syllabus - are subsequently treated with shortened or rushed emphasis?
If not, then you are the exception, as many students have seen that exact scenario. The clock seems to be ticking more rapidly than usual, the end of the term looms larger and larger, and in response, the instructor adopts a compressed delivery mode, ala Emeril Lagasse, and "kicks it up a notch."
Consequently, the content that is scheduled last in an academic course becomes, by inference, less important than all that preceded it. Indeed, if one subscribes to the notion that "first things come first" and believes that the order in which items are studied is a tacit indicator of contextual importance, then one might logically assume that the final chapter in our basic textbook addresses a topic of lesser significance.
However, as you will see, that assumption is mightily challenged by the discussion prompt for the final three modules of this course.
Background to the Discussion Prompt:
Chapter 9, the final chapter in our basic textbook, addresses school culture and climate.
The feel, or working atmosphere, of a school is commonly known as the organizational culture and climate of the school. The textbook authors provide an extended definition of culture and climate on page 354. An abbreviated version of their perspective is provided here:
"Culture is the shared set of beliefs and values that binds the organization together and gives it a distinctive identity. The culture of the school can be viewed from four vantage points: tacit assumptions, core values, shared norms, artifacts."
"School climate is a relatively enduring quality of the school environment that is experienced by teachers, influences their behavior, and is based on their collective perceptions of dominant patterns of school behavior."
Discussion Prompt for Modules 7 and 8:
Given the above introduction and background, the content of the basic text, and other resources provided in the modules, plus additional resources that you find on your own, you are to engage in an on-going discussion with members of your discussion group regarding the items listed below, plus other related items that surface from your group's written dialogue.
Remember: "on-going" is defined as the time period that extends from the beginning of Module 7 to the conclusion of Module 8.
Discuss:
How the closing words of Chapter 8 "Ultimately, the task of the school is not to identify talent, but, rather, to develop it." should guide the practices of classroom management and the practices of assessment in Catholic schools, according to Catholic anthropology, which believes everyone is created in the image and likeness of God, and the dimensions of the Catholic school community rooted in Gospel values.