Offered by the University of Chicago Urban Teacher Education Program (UTEP), this Human Development and Learning (UTEP 35502) syllabus is a part of a three-quarter sequence called the Foundations of Education Seminar. The seminar is composed of three integrated pedagogical strands that are key to the development of teaching and learning: Academic, Soul, and Fieldwork. The strands emphasize content, social-emotional learning, culturally responsive practice, and Chicago communities and schools.

This course considers children’s cognitive and psychosocial development and the role that schools and teachers can play in expanding students’ opportunities and well-being. This course includes a self-study that pushes candidates to explore identity formation based on markers such as race, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and ability. A series of guest speakers are brought in to guide teacher candidates through an exploration of human development in the context of urban space. The culminating assessment is an autoethnography assignment where candidates tell their story to demonstrate what life experiences have influenced their decision to be a teacher.