Field Experience in Early Childhood Education

Professor Carlos Acevedo, Ed.D.

Health and Human Services Dept

Goal:                Integrate some of the major educational contributions of E. M. de Hostos in the curriculum sequence of early childhood education students.

Objective:          Students will be able to identify and critique some of the major educational contributions of E. Ma. De Hostos while they develop

·         Knowledge regarding Hostos,

·         Critical thinking skills,

·         Written communication skills,

·         Academic research skills, and

·         Familiarity with electronic media applications in their field of study.

Activities:          Based on the digital materials available in the Library, a hybrid-learning module will be developed that will include “links” to primary sources of information so that students can complete ECE –6813 with a comprehensive understanding of the work of Hostos an a distinguished educator.  The learning module will include a study guide, activities and questions that will facilitate the student’s study and critical analysis of the materials.  The completed module will be included as a requirement of the course and students will be assessed regarding their understanding of the content.

1.       Introduction - develop a biographical summary that describes some of Hostos’ overall historical and political contributions but highlights his educational accomplishments.

2.       Identify specific documents that can be considered “primary sources of information” regarding Hostos’ educational work and which expand the information described in the biographical statement.

3.       Integrate these sources throughout the biographical statement and establish electronic links that will lead students to more in-depth understanding of the educational accomplishments of Hostos.

4.       Develop specific questions that will enable students to better understand the work of Hostos and develops further their critical thinking and written communication skills.

5.       Integrate all the above within a “Blackboard” learning module within ECE 6813 – Field Experience in ECE which is being developed as an electronic hybrid course.

College Orientation: Hostos Ahora: Una conversación entre Hostos y yo

Lizette Colon

Counseling Department

Introduction

      One of the objectives of the College Orientation course is to instill pride of belonging to an institution named after E.M. De Hostos and fostering the proper attitude toward learning using Hostos’ teachings and philosophy as the groundwork for this module.

Through this lesson plan, Hostos will become pertinent in the students’ day- to- day life, no longer seeing him as an anachronism, but as a figure that is still so much relevant to this day.  The historical, sociological, philosophical and artistic contexts will be explored and integrated in the module and the follow-up activities.

Learning objectives

Structure and Organization of the lesson:

            Introduction to Hostos’ life and contributions

            Assign readings , anecdotes and /or excerpts of Hostos’ diaries

            Write a personal response on a dialogue format

At the end of the lesson, the students will:

·         Demonstrate concrete knowledge of the Hostos’ life and contributions by preparing  a dialogue: Hostos Ahora: Una conversación entre Hostos y yo The dialogue will depict aspects of Hostos’ life that they have identified with throughout the lesson and that have inspired them in their search for excellence.

·         Students will be able to identify characteristics in Hostos that they would like to emulate in their process of becoming master students.

Guiding Questions:

            After reading about Hostos’ contributions and accomplishments, please indicate

what aspects of his life are more relevant to you?

which of the  anecdotes of the ‘Semanario’ did you identify more with and why ?

why do you consider our College was named after him?

How would Hostos characterize your life?

Suggested activities

·         The students will be asked to present the dialogue through  an oratory setting. This could be done as part of the Hostos & Martí 2003 celebration, in collaboration with other SSD 1000 sections and the Modern Languages Unit.

Resources to be used

Hostos & Martí 2003’s web page- SSD 1000 online course using the following resources:

·         Hostos’ biography

·         Hostos’ aphorisms ( Suggestions for SSD 1000 sections that  will not be offered online: ask students to purchase the ‘Hostos para todos los días’ book which presents Hostos’quotations by subject.)

·         A series of anecdotes compiled by the Department of Education of Puerto Rico (‘Semanario del Departmento de Instrucción, 1987) depicting Hostos in a very simple and personalized manner .

·         Excerpts from Hostos’ Diaries -Volume I & II.

Extending the lesson

In collaboration with other instructors of the SSD 1000 and the Modern Languages Unit, the students will be asked to work in sub-groups to develop skits discussing problems of our everyday life and how would Hostos react to the issue in question, i.e. plagiarism and Hostos’ ethics; women at Hostos C.C. facing partners that resent them coming to school and Hostos’ position regarding women’s rights to an education.

Student Outcomes/Assessment

·         Dialogues

·         Skits

Time required            Two to three class sessions via guided assignments

Skills used                               Historical analysis & interpretation

Making generalizations based on research

Critical thinking

                        Collaborative work

Internet research

Equipment/Technology Needed

Computer/ Internet access:

Hostos & Martí 2003’s web page- SSD 1000 online course

Other external links

Slide projector (if no Internet access is available for the Library website’s slide show) 

An Exploration of Eugenio Maria de Hostos’s Philosophy of Education

Professor Lewis Levine

Language and Cognition Department, ESL Reading & Conversation

Introduction:   This newly developed one-week module will form part of an already-existing six-week curricular unit entitled “Teaching, Learning and the Process of Education” that is taught in ESL 1384 and ESL 1388, the Reading and Conversation courses in the two Level II sequences (Level II-A and Level II-B) of the College’s ESL Intensive Program.  The Program incorporates a content-based approach to language acquisition in which students develop their language and critical thinking skills at the same that they learn the content of different academic disciplines. This curricular module asks students to explore a variety of educational topics and issues as a way to familiarize students with some of the opposing educational viewpoints in today’s society and to help students to form their own philosophy of education.

Learning Objectives: 

·         To understand Hostos’s philosophy of education and his contributions to education

·         To compare and contrast Hostos’s views on education with those of others educators,

       including Mortimer Adler, John Holt, E.D. Hirsch, Jr., and Howard Gardner

·         To develop students’ language skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening)

·         To develop students’ critical thinking skills

Guiding Questions:   Among the issues to be explored are the following:

·         The meaning of being “educated”

·         The purpose of education

·         The role of the teacher in the educational process and the qualities of an “ideal”      

       teacher

·         The role of the learner in the educational process and the qualities of an “ideal”

          learner

·         The relationship among language skills, thought and knowledge

·         The most effective ways to measure learning

·         The role of a university in a democratic society

Suggested Activities:  The curricular activities will include the following:

·         Use of the internet to gain background information on Hostos’s life and work

·         Reading of texts by Hostos in English translation and texts that discuss his educational philosophy

·         Small-group and whole-class discussion

·         Summary writing and written responses to teacher-prepared questions

·         Comparison and contrast of Hostos’s views on education with those of other

educators studied in this curricular unit

Resources to Be Used:  The following texts are being considered:

Claderon, Caridad Oyola de. Selected excerpts in English translation from the essay

   “La educacion integral segun Hostos,” pp. 285-305. In Hostos:Sentido y proyeccion

   de su obra en America, Lopez, Julio Cesar, (Ed.). San Juan de Puerto Rico: Instituto

   de Estudios Hostosianos-U.P.R., Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1995.

Hostos, Eugenio Maria de.  Selected excerpts in English translation from Obras

   Completas, Tomo XII, Vol. I, San Juan de Puerto Rico: Instituto de Puertorriquena,

   1969.

Hostos, Eugenio Maria de. Selected excerpts in English translation from the 1872 essay

    “La educacion cientifica de la mujer,” pp. 81-89. In Antologia de Textos Literarios,                            

    Alberty, Carlos and Vivian Auffart, Sofia Cardona y otros (Eds.). San Juan de Puerto

    Rico: Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1994.   

Jusino, Angel Villarini and Carlos Antonio. “Eugenio Maria de Hostos,” pp. 146-153.  In

   Fifty Major Thinkers on Education: From Confucius to Dewey, Palmer, Joy A.,

   (Ed.). New York: Routledge, 2001.

Extending the Lesson:

·         Students will create a chart of educational philosophies that highlight the various

topics and issues explored in the unit (see “Guiding Questions” above)

·         Students will write and act out skits in which the different educators debate their ideas

·         Students may choose to explore in greater depth Hostos’s philosophy of education in

the form of a mini-research project done individually or collaboratively

·         Students will write their own philosophy of education in a four-page essay in which

they bring to bear the philosophies of other educators, including Eugenio Maria de Hostos

Students Outcomes/Assessment:  Students’ work will be assessed in the following ways:

·         Evaluation of student-created chart of educational philosophies

·         Evaluation of mini-research project

·         Evaluation of skit on educators

·         Evaluation of essay of students’ philosophy of education

Time Required: 

·         Approximately one week for exploration of Hostos’s philosophy of education

·         Approximately five to six week for the curricular unit on “Teaching, Learning and

the Process of Education”

·         Approximately three to four weeks for individual and small-group research projects

Skills Used:

Language skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening

Critical thinking skills: analysis, synthesis, interpretation, comparison and contrast

Technology Needed:  

Access to internet

Plato and Hostos:  Conceptions of Reality and Knowledge. 

Professor Teresa Justicia

English Department Writing Class

In this project I’m working to set up a contrast between Plato and Hostos and their notions of reality and knowledge, within an already existing  unit on Illusion and Reality that I teach in my Intensive Level IIB Writing Class.

Introduction:

    Subject areas covered:

        Literature, Philosophy, History, Science

Learning Objectives:

 1.Students will learn what each thinker says about reality and knowledge.

 2.Students will be able to compare and contrast both thinkers’ ideas.

 3.Students will be able to manipulate what they have learned, both collaboratively in group projects and individually.

 4.Students will be able to manipulate literary and philosophical discourse with ease.

 5.Students will further develop critical thinking skills, fluency and clarity.

Guiding Questions:

  1.What does Plato say about reality and knowledge?

  2.What does Hostos say about reality and knowledge?

  3.According to Plato/Hostos, can we ever fully know the truth?

  4.According to Plato/Hostos, is truth (reality) absolute or relative?

  5.How are both thinkers similar? How are they different?

  6.What can we know? How do we know it?

Suggested Activities:

  1.Written personal responses

  2.Collaborative projects on each thinker

  3.Collaborative projects on both Plato and Hostos (Comparison/Contrast)

  4.Library group project on both thinkers

  5.Individual written comparison of both thinkers, also related to personal philosophical belief system

Resources to be used:

Plato: Allegory of the Cave

Hostos: Volume XIX: section 114 (pp. 96-100) Translated by Prof. Justicia

Borda de Sanz, Joann: Hostos: Philosophical System (Chapter III)

Palmer,Joy (ed.): Fifty Major Thinkers on Education (Chapters on Plato and Hostos)

Extending the Lesson:

Outside readings in the Library and online (books, articles about Plato and Hostos).  Students will be asked to attend two Information Literacy Workshops offered by the Library, followed by a course-integrated library workshop. This will all be in preparation of a library group project  on the two thinkers:  working in groups, students will prepare a guide that introduces information sources on Plato and Hostos, in relation

to their ideas on truth and reality.  This will be followed by group project contrasting both.

Student Outcomes /Assessment:                                                                   

1.Student will be able to write a well-developed, well-organized, correct essay (around 250-300 words) in class where he/she compares the ideas of both thinkers about reality and knowledge, and analyzes them in relation to his/her own beliefs.

2.Students will be able to write about both thinkers within the context of other works studied in the unit on Illusion and Reality.

Time Required:

 About two or three weeks

Skills used:

1.Responding to a text

2.Summarizing collaboratively

3.Close reading and analysis of text

4.Collaborative talk and writing

5.Writing expository essays

6.Comparing and Contrasting

7.Library research

8.Internet research

9.All of the above in order to facilitate and enhance critical thinking skills

Effective Communication

Sonia Maldonado

SSD 1000 College Orientation, Counseling Department

Subject areas covered:

            The SSD 1000 course is considered an interdisciplinary course in which different theories need to be applied in order to foster effective academic and personal skills. As mentioned in the College Catalog, the SSD 1000 class focus on how freshman can get the most out of their college experience. Throughout my counseling interventions at Hostos, I have seen the need to empower the students equipping them with effective communication skills and other necessary skills to navigate the university system. 

The lesson plan on Effective Communication will be developed taking into consideration the following theories:

• Information processing- information processing begins when a person receives a stimulus and responds to it. (Learning Theory)

• Effective Communication theory- the effective communication theory indicates the ways that people have learned to respond or to react to a particular situation. It also stipulates the effective ways to communicate without being aggressive or non-assertive but being assertive.   (Psychological Theory)

Learning Objectives:

The lesson on effective communication will:

·         Familiarize students with different ways of communication by giving them information about what an effective communication entails.

·         Provide an opportunity for students to explore their own communication style.

·         Allow students to make a comparison between their own ‘communication styles with the ones presented by Hostos and the President of Chile.

·         Promote critical thinking skills.

Suggested activities:

The SSD 1000 course will be delivered utilizing the Blackboard tool. As part of the course requirements students are expected to complete a series of assignments throughout the different resources provided by the Blackboard itself i.e., e-mail, discussion boards, etc. For the topic on Effective Communication students will be required to answer a series of guided questions that appear on the Discussion Board. Please refer to questions below.

Guiding Questions:

·         How many styles of communication were presented in the reading “Hostos y la Patria”? Do you think that they were effective?

·         What are the communication styles that Hostos used to deal with the President of Chile? Do you think that Hostos reacted in an appropriate manner, why?

·         What styles of communication did the President use? Do you think that the President of Chile reacted in an appropriate manner, why?

·         Which styles would you use in case you experience a similar situation?

Resources to be used:

·         Computer

·         Blackboard Tool

·         Reading: “Hostos y la Patria”

·         Reading: “ Effective Communication”

Extending Lesson:

• A series of skits will be developed in collaboration with other SSD 1000 instructors. These skits will focus on daily life problems.

• Shared with the Urban Health Unit my lesson plan on effective communication. This Unit offers an Interpersonal Relationship course that includes communication skills as part of the topics to be covered. The idea of having a team teaching between the Professor and myself could be explored.

Students Outcomes/Assessment:

At the end of the lesson students will present their reactions based on guided questions through the Discussion Board. This will allow me to identify students’ communication styles as well as helping them throughout the process of acquiring effective communication skills.

Time required:

Two class sessions.

Skills used:

• Information gathering

• Comparing and Contrasting

• Critical Thinking

• Internet

Equipment Technology needed:

• Computer

• Internet

Using Hostos Teachings for Impact Coaching

Carmen Alustiza-Mondesire

SSD 1000 College Orientation, Counseling Department

Introduction:  Only a small percentage of people accomplish great things in life.  It has been documented by college research that goal oriented individuals are able to separate themselves from the masses. 

The college orientation course (SSD 1000) offered to freshman students is intended to facilitate the acquisition of specific skills to achieve personal goals.  The integration of Eugenio María de Hostos’ legacy into the curriculum provides a factual powerhouse for instructors and students. 

Subject Areas Covered:

1.     Accomplish personal dreams by utilizing goal setting strategies,

2.      Management of personal life by using time management strategies

3.      Impact of attitude and self image on personal accomplishments

Learning Objectives:

1.       Awareness and appreciation of contributions made by Eugenio María de Hostos

2.       Stimulate a sense of pride for the college through the teachings of Hostos

3.       Stimulate a desire to learn more about Eugenio María de Hostos

4.       Promote an understanding of Eugenio María de Hostos legacy

5.       Encourage research, historical analysis and interpretation

6.       Become aware of the inequities of previous centuries and identify what still exists today

7.       Promote collaborative work

8.       Stimulate and provide opportunities for critical thinking and creative expressions

9.       Encourage comparison and contrast of their personal values, and vision

10.   To identify the personal attributes and skills of Eugenio María de Hostos

11.   Identify factors that lead a person to success

12.   For students to explore, identify and envision their own dreams

Guiding Questions:

1.       Who was Eugenio María de Hostos?

2.       How did he work towards his dreams? 

3.       What are dreams?  Is it important to have one?

4.       What is the difference between a dream and a goal?

5.       What were his dreams?  How did he dedicate his time?

6.       What resources and skills did he used to promote his dreams?

7.       What did he accomplish?

8.       What is your impression on Hostos’ personal attitude?

9.       What is the significance of his contributions?

10.   What contributions do you want to make to your family, community, and country?

11.   How do you achieve great things in life?

12.   How do you make your dreams come true?

13.   What memories do you have about your country?

14.   What is your definition of success?

Suggested Activities:

• Each class begins with a short reading from Hostos

• Reading selection from “Estímulos de vida para cada dia”.  Students will be encouraged to select the most appropriate one for their personal use

• Students will work in groups

• Impressions of Hostos teachings will be interpreted in an oral and in a written form.  These interpretations can be expressed in various artistic modes, e.g., poetry, songs, visual art.

• Use of dream building formula.  The dream formula consists of 10 steps, which will assist students to conceive-believe-achieve their goals and dreams.

• Use of contract to fulfill dreams (includes time management and goal setting).  This contract will help students to refine their dreams in four (4) areas.

Resources to be used: 

• Video:  Homenaje a Eugenio María de Hostos by Cimarrón.  Based on Prof. Justicia’s recommendation, this video and audio would be appropriate for the class.  Trust you are able to obtain this video.

• Reading:  “Los Rostros del Camino”, Anthology

• Reading, Books on aphorisms and thoughts: (1)  “Para Todos los Dias” and (2)  “Estímulos de Vida para cada dia”

Extending the Lesson:

            As a class project, an album summarizing the class experience.  It can include student’s creative expressions.   Another possible project can be letters students write to Hostos.  The project can be called:  “Letters to Hostos”.

Student Outcomes/Assessment:

            Student’s evaluation of the project will be developed.  In addition, the dream contract will provide feedback on student’s impressions and understanding of the importance of dreams, goals, attitude, and self-image.

Time Required:

            Three class sessions

Skills Used:

• Information gathering

• Critical thinking

• Collaborative work

• Analysis and interpretation

• Creative interpretation

Equipment/Technology Needed:

• Video/Audio Equipment

Visual and Performing Arts: Imaging and Re-imagining Hostos

Professor Magda Vasillov

Humanities Department, Visual and Performing Arts

Introduction                

Imaging and re-imagining Eugenio María de Hostos would take place in courses in the Visual and Performing Arts Unit of Humanities Department.  The module/lesson would provide students in digital photograph