EDS 3170 - Building Humanizing and Culturally Sustaining School Ecosystems

Credits: 3

Prerequisite(s): At least sophomore status; Formal or Provisional Admission to the School of Education

Corequisite(s): EDS 3130

Description: EDS 3170 prepares future teachers to design and sustain inclusive classroom ecosystems that honor diversity as central to meaningful learning in middle and high school. Grounded in the Colorado Teacher Quality Standards (TQS), candidates examine how their cultural backgrounds shape beliefs about student conduct, learning, and development while exploring how psychology and learning sciences inform equitable practice. Emphasizing the distinctions between discipline, management, and community-building, the course centers humanizing approaches that cultivate student voice, agency, and belonging while framing schools as dynamic, relational ecosystems. With a 45-hour embedded field experience, candidates collaborate with mentors, administrators, families, and students to develop a philosophy of classroom leadership that fosters justice, care, and collective flourishing.