Course Details

922: Teaching About Communities

February 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
11:45 AM - 1:15 PM
Online

This course concerns what we should teach PreK-12 students about the basics of community life and how to engage in strengthening our communities. 

  • Day 1. The building blocks of healthy communities: housing, infrastructure, food and health care, work, education
  • Day 2. Individualism and community.  How are they in tension?  How do they work together?
  • Day 3. The big players in our communities: local government, the private sector, the nonprofit sector, citizens
  • Day 4. What is a “good” citizen and how should citizens interact with their communities in a democracy?
  • Day 5. Pick your topic and present a community exercise in which a K-12 student can engage. Discuss as a group

Class Type: Lecture and Discussion

Class Format: TBA

Hours of Reading: No reading

Study Group Leader(s):

Katharine Kravetz

Katharine Kravetz is an emerita faculty member at American University. She worked from 1991 until 2017 in AU’s Washington Semester Program, where she developed the Transforming Communities and Public Policy seminar. She also served as Director of American University’s study abroad program for four years. She has taught and written on the subjects of community and teaching about community. Before coming to the Washington Semester Program, Professor Kravetz taught in the Department of Justice, Law and Society in AU’s School of Public Affairs, where she was awarded the Adjunct Faculty Teaching Award. She is by training a lawyer who practiced privately and as a staff attorney with the District of Columbia Public Defender Service. Professor Kravetz has a BA from Harvard University and a JD from Georgetown University.