Running Head: SYLLABUS ASSIGNMENT

Syllabus Assignment
Carlos Octavio Ballinas
ELPS 430: Curriculum Development in Higher Education
Loyola University

Part I. Course Syllabus

Northeastern Illinois University | College of Arts and Sciences
The Latin American and Latino Studies Program

SYLLABUS ASSIGNMENT
LATINO 203: Mexican Chicago An Exploration of Chicagos Mexican
Community
FALL 2016
Instructor: Carlos Octavio Ballinas, Ph.D Office Location: Arts Bldg.,
Room 123
Time: Mondays, 12:00 - 3:00 PM
Class Location: Arts Bldg.,
Room 234
Email: cballinas@luc.edu
Phone: 773.321.1234
Office Hours: Wednesdays 12:00 1:00 PM, or by appointment
COURSE MATERIAL:
The following are the required books for this course. These books will
be made available within the campus book store. You can also find all
three books on www.amazon.com. If you have difficulty in obtaining
any of these books please contact me for assistance.
Required Course Texts:
1. Cisneros, S. (1991). The House on Mango Street. New York:
Vintage Books.
2. Fernandez, L. (2013). Brown in the Windy City. University of
Chicago Press.
3. Gonzalez, N., Pallares, A. (2011). Marcha: Latino Chicago and the
Immigrant Rights Movement (Latinos in Chicago and Midwest).
University of Illinois Press.
4. Ramirez, L. (2011). Chicanas of 18th Street: Narratives of a
Movement from Latino Chicago. University of Illinois Press.

COURSE INTRODUCTION AND DESCRIPTION:

Chicago has historically been an entry point for countless immigrants.
Today, Chicago is comprised of a diverse group of Latinos that have
become a vital part of the citys economic, political, and cultural life.
Among them are Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Central and
South Americans
Through this course we will engage in the history of the formation and
evolution of Mexican communities in the City of Chicago. You will learn
about the Mexican communities struggles and social justice battles.
You will also learn about its various victories and the ways in which this
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SYLLABUS ASSIGNMENT
community continues to strive for a better tomorrow. You will analyze
the issues that this community has faced in regards to political
empowerment, employment, education, housing, and social justice. It
is the goal of this course that, through all of its activities, you will
become well versed in the Chicago Mexican Community Experience.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
Foundational Knowledge Objective:
Students will be able to articulate how the city of Chicagos
various Mexican neighborhoods came to be developed.
Application Objective:
Students will be able to critically think about the various factors
which have and continue to influence the social development of
Mexican communities in the City of Chicago.
Integration:
Students will be able to identify the connection between the
current socioeconomic challenges of Mexican communities to
that of other prominent Latino communities living in the City of
Chicago.
Human Dimension:
For you: Students will be able to produce questions about their
familys ethnic migration narrative within the larger context of
Latino Migration to the City of Chicago.

For Your Community: Students will be able to develop a more

profound knowledge and appreciation regarding the formation of
Mexican neighborhoods in the city of Chicago.

Caring:
Students will be able to better value the expansive history of the
formation of Mexican communities within the City of Chicago.
Students will get excited about interacting with the various
Mexican Neighborhoods in the City of Chicago.
Learning how to Learn:
Students will be able to formulate valuable questions regarding
the future of Mexican communities in the City of Chicago.
Specifically, when it comes to the future of Mexican community
housing, and education. Given the historic and current trends of
these communities, students will be able to identify the societal
structures that affect the future of Mexican Chicago.

SYLLABUS ASSIGNMENT

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
Participation (Attendance and Tardiness): This course will meet
only once a week, which makes attendance absolutely essential. You
must be present to engage fully in the various learning activities that
will be planned during the course of the semester. Should you miss a
class, arrive late, or leave early, you are responsible for identifying and
obtaining missed material from your fellow classmates. Please notify
me via email prior to the start of the class should you need to be
absent. Any absence will result in the loss of participation points for
that day. Routinely arriving late or leaving early will result in the loss of
participation points as well.
Class Lead Discussion 15%: You will be assigned to lead class
discussion with 2 to 3 of your fellow learners one time during the
semester. During this discussion it is your groups responsibility to read
the material assigned for that week and provide an external artifact /
resource (i.e. news article, or historical document) to the rest of the
class that can more deeply contextualize the central themes of that
weeks topics. You have free reign to lead the discussion in whichever
way you would like and are encouraged to make it as interactive and
experiential as possible. This experience will help you in further
developing the way in which you learn about the subject matter of this
class. There will be a sign up sheet on the first day of class so that you
can choose the date and topic you want to cover. Time allotted to lead
discussion: 90 Minutes.
Case Study Assignment 15%t: To cover Mexican communities in
Chicago means to cover a vast and broad subject matter. For there are
many Mexican neighborhoods in the city and all are populated with
people who identify as Mexican but do so with different circumstances.
Some are migrants from Mexico that now live in Chicago, some are 1st
generation Mexican Americans, and some are 2nd generation Mexican
American. With this, through this assignment, it is your responsibility
to interview one person of Mexican descent and explore that
individuals experiential knowledge about being Mexican while living in
Chicago. Specifically, you are to find out why that persons family came
here, where they settled, how they would describe their experience,
what their thoughts are on the state of their community (regarding:
education, housing, health care, and employment.), and where they
see the Mexican community in Chicago progressing toward in the
future. You are to record and transcribe your interview. With the
4

SYLLABUS ASSIGNMENT
interview, you are to relate to the content of our course. I want you to
attempt to place the person you interview within the larger historical
narrative of Mexicans in Chicago. You will do this through a 5 to 7 page
paper.
Knowledge Application Project 20%: Through this assignment it
is your responsibility to explore and choose a specific subject within a
Mexican neighborhood in the City of Chicago. It could be anything from
a convenience store, to a food vendor, to a local community clinic, to
an after school center, to anything else that I have not mentioned.
Once that subject is selected, it is your responsibility to engage it, to
interact with it, to study it, and to relate it to our course content.
Specifically, I want you to write a 5 7 page paper on what the
neighborhood your chose, the subject you chose within that
neighborhood, why you chose it, what your exploratory findings where
about it, and the types of connections you were able to establish
between the subject and broader themes of our course.
Weekly Reflection and Response Essays 20%: It is important
that as you begin to engage the assigned readings that you purposely
attempt to make connections between the knowledge you gain, and
your personal opinions and/or experiences with Mexican and Puerto
Rican communities and neighborhoods. With this, every week before
the beginning of class, you are required to submit (through email) a
two to three page reflection essay concerning the assigned materials.
It is my expectation that you attempt to connect the course readings to
current events or challenges currently facing these communities, to
your relationship with these communities, and to evaluate if and how
your perception of these communities has evolved. Due Date: There
will be a total of 8 reflection and response essays for the duration of
the course. Each will be worth 2.5% of your grade totaling 20% of your
entire course grade.
Group Community Project 30%: The best way to learn about and
explore Mexican Chicago is to engage some of the active community
organizations that are currently serving the various Mexican
neighborhoods in the city. Instead of having a final exam or essay, you
will be required to engage in a semester long community project in one
of three designated community centers. The centers are as follows:
1. Casa Aztlan is a cultural space for the Pilsen neighborhood that
works toward nurturing Cultural heritage, and providing outlets
for cultural expression to the youth and elderly of the community.

SYLLABUS ASSIGNMENT
2. El Valor is a community and empowerment space which
provides programs for special needs children and adults in the
Little Village neighborhood.
3. El Centro de Hidalgo Estube is a cultural space/youth center
in the Back of the Yards neighborhood that serves as a space for
reflection for Mexican and other Latino youth. It seeks to create
meaningful linkages between universities and the community,
based on grassroots activism.
You will choose one of these centers for your group project. Once each
group is formed you will all be responsible for physically engaging your
Center on a weekly basis. In your engagement you will develop a
relationship with the people who work and volunteer at the center as
well as with the people who the center serve. The major requirement of
this project is that your assist in the creation of a program/event for
the center before the end of class. You will first observe, work with
leadership and develop something that can greatly serve this
community. From this, you will create a presentation for class that will
reflect your experiences, how you found the Center benefited the
community, and that will showcase the program / event that you
created.
EVALUATION & GRADING:
It is your responsibility to complete and turn in assignments by the
time specified in the course syllabus and in the manner specified in the
directions provided. Assignments are expected to be turned in on time,
so please plan appropriately to avoid unnecessary penalties. Students
are encouraged to consult with the instructor regarding any questions
associated with assignments.
All due dates for assignments are firm. No late assignments will be
accepted.
GRADE DISTRIBUTION:

Class Lead Discussion:

Case Study Assignment:
Knowledge Application Project
Weekly Reflection and Response Essays:
Group Community Project:

GRADING SCALE for LATINO 203

15%
15%
20%
20%
30%

SYLLABUS ASSIGNMENT
A: 90 - 100
B: 80 - 89
C: 70 - 79

D: 60 69
F: 59 or below

COURSE OUTLINE: You are responsible for all material listed

below.
Dat
e

Topics/Theme
s & KEY
Teaching &
Learning
Activities

Aug.
25th

Class Overview

Sept
. 1st

History of Mex.
Migration to
Chicago

Sept
. 8th

Emigration /
Migration

Sept
.
15th

Neighborhoods

Sept
.
22nd

Housing

Sept
.
29th
Oct.
6th

Readings
Overview of 3
Assigned Books.
Overview:
Syllabus.
Fernandez (2013),
Ch. 1 - 2 + Sup.
Artifact.
Fernandez (2013),
Ch. 3 - 4 + Sup.
Artifact.
Fernandez (2013),
Ch. 6 - 8. /
Cisneros (1991),
Pg. 1 60. + Sup.
Artifact.
Cisneros (1991)
Pg. 61 End +
Sup. Artifact.

Assignments and In-Class activities

Reflection: On your experience with Mexican

Chicago.
Overview: Of class structure.
Due: Weekly Reflection and Response Essay
Interactive Group Disc.: Lead by Group
Due: Weekly Reflection and Response Essay
Interactive Group Disc.: Lead by Group
Due: Weekly Reflection and Response Essay
Interactive Group Disc.: Lead by Group
Guest Speaker: Representative from Each
Community Center to be represented in
Community Project.
Due: Weekly Reflection and Response Essay
Interactive Group Disc.: Lead by Group
Film Screening and Workshop: Past &
Future of Little Village and Pilsen

No Class Meeting: Utilize time to work on community center project

Education

Ramirez (2011),
Ch. 1 3 + Sup.
Artifact.

Due: Weekly Reflection and Response Essay

Interactive Group Disc.: Lead by Group
Group: Group Project Work Time

Oct.
13th

Health Care
and Access

Oct.
20th

Employment &
Economy

Oct.
27th

Community
Leaders

Nov.
3rd

Activism

Nov.
10th

Political Climate

Nov.
17th

Future of
Mexican
Chicago /
Future
Learning

Nov.
24th
Dec.
1st

Fernandez
(2013), Ch. 5 +
Sup. Artifact.
Fernandez (2013),
Ch. 9 - 10 + Sup.
Artifact.
Gonzales, Pallares
(2011), Ch. 1 & 6
+ Sup. Artifact.
Ramirez (2011),
Ch. 3 6 + Sup.
Artifact.
Gonzales, Pallares
(2011), Ch. 3 & 5
+ Sup. Artifact.

No Assigned
Reading

Due: Weekly Reflection and Response Essay

Interactive Group Disc.: Lead by Group
Group: Group Project Work Time
Due: Knowledge Application Project
Discuss: Experience of Knowledge Application
Project.
Interactive Group Disc.: Lead by Group
Group: Group Project Work Time
Due: Weekly Reflection and Response Essay
Interactive Group Disc.: Lead by Group
Group: Group Project Work Time
Due: Weekly Reflection and Response Essay
Interactive Group Disc.: Lead by Group
Group: Group Project Work Time
Due: Case Study Assignment
Discuss: Experience of Case Study
Assignment.
Interactive Group Disc.: Lead by Group
Group: Group Project Work Time
Activity: We are going to develop questions that
intrigue us
about the future the Chicago Mexican Community. With
these questions, we will develop a learning plan to
execute
the answering of the question.

Thanksgiving Day Break - No Class

Final Group Presentations on Community Projects

ACADEMIC HONESTY
Academic honesty is an expression of interpersonal justice,
responsibility and care, applicable to Northeastern Illinois University
faculty, students, and staff, which demands that the pursuit of
knowledge in the university community be carried out with sincerity
and integrity. The College of Arts and Science Policy on Academic
Integrity can be found at: http://www.neiu.edu/universitylife/sites/neiu.edu.universitylife/files/documents/tfneumei/conductCode.pdf/
ACCESSIBILITY
Students who have disabilities which they believe entitle them to
accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act should
register with the Students with Disabilities Services (SDS) office. To
request accommodations, students must schedule an appointment
with an SDS coordinator. Students should contact SDS at least five
weeks before their first semester or term at NEIU. Returning students
should schedule an appointment within the first two weeks of the
semester or term. The University policy on accommodations and

participation in courses is available at: http://www.neiu.edu/universitylife/student-disability-services

CLASSROOM DECORUM:
The college of arts and sciences has explicit dispositions that it expects
all students to develop and demonstrate. These dispositions,
Professionalism, Fairness, and the Belief that All Students Can Learn,
are indicators of growth for across our programs. Full transparency is
critical to ensure that candidates are able to meet the expectations in
this area. Furthermore, Learning is a shared and communal process of
dialogue. Within this learning community, I expect us all to respect the
diversity of knowledge assets experiential, intellectual, and cultural
present and represented.
EMAIL:
Email will be used as the primary mode of correspondence for this
course. As such, it is imperative that you activate your NEIU email
account and check it daily. Please also check your NEIU spam mail and
mail foundry to ensure course related messages are not misdirected.
CURRICULAR REQUIREMENTS SATISFIED THROUGH THIS
COURSE:
This course serves satisfies one of the 5 social science requirements
for the Latin American Studies Major. It can also satisfy the elective
requirement for any major within the School of Arts and Sciences.

BIOGRAPHY:
To find out more about my education background and teaching
credentials as a lecturer, you can visit my faculty profile at:
www.neiu.edu/carlos.ballinas
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY:
My role as a processor in this class will be to be a good point guard; to
be initiator of a learning community a community of scholars -- we
are co-teachers and co-learners in this community. My goal is to take
you through readings, exercises. Ultimately your educational
experience in this course hinges upon your participation, your reading
of the texts, your engagement in discussions, and your reflection on
your learning and development throughout the semester. It is my
expectation that we create and learn together.

SYLLABUS DISCLAIMER:
The above schedule, policies, procedures, and assignments in this
course are subject to change in the event of extenuating
circumstances by mutual agreement, and/or to ensure better student
learning.

Part II. Articulation/Description

To best articulate my process for designing my syllabus, I will describe
the following steps I engaged in order to create the syllabus: First was to
consider and create the situational factors that would affect my course
syllabus. Second was utilizing a criteria of good design which focused on
learning objectives, teaching and learning activities, and feedback and
assessment. Third was to utilize chapter three of Nilson (2010), the Complete
Syllabus, as a guide to practically create my syllabus. That chapter provides

what it states to be appropriate syllabus items. Every item it indicates

appropriate, I utilized in the creation of my syllabus.
First: Situational Factors
Before the course is designed, Fink (2003) indicates that it is important
to take situational factors into account. With this, it was my desire to create a
course / syllabus which focused on the Latino experience in the city of
Chicago for undergraduate students. In order for the course to be best
experienced, the community of scholars taking the course need to come into
the course with some lived familiarity of Chicago, and of the Latino
community in the city. It is important for my course that students coming in
already have an experiential knowledge with the city, its neighborhoods, and
its Latino community.
My initial inclination was that my course syllabus would be created as a
Loyola University course. Yet, I am still learning the demographics and the
culture of the campus and its students. I know that Loyola attracts students
from all over the country and the world. The chance of the course being
populated by students who did not grow up in the city and/or are not familiar
with the city was too great.
As a result, I decided to place my course and design my syllabus for
Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU). NEIU is a Hispanic Serving Institution
(HSI) whose student population is made up of over 25% Latino students. It is
a commuter school that serves students who live in the city of Chicago and
surrounding suburbs. The possibility of my course being populated by
students who grew up with and/or are familiar with the city of Chicago and its
Latino community is far greater at NIEU than it would be at Loyola.

Along with the deciding what institutions my course should be taught

at, I also took into consideration the meeting structure, and enrollment limit. I
wanted to make sure that the class met once per week. The major
assignment for this course (which will be touching on multiple learning
objectives from Finks taxonomy of learning) is a group project that will have
the students engage a community center in a Latino neighborhood on a
weekly basis for the majority of the semester. I felt it important that our class
not meet multiple times a week in order to give students more structured
time to engage in the group community project outside of class during the
week.
The course enrollment limit is capped at 15 students. I capped the
course to 15 students because I felt it best to have a smaller learning
community. This will allow us to more intimately engage in the subject matter
during class. It will also allow me to evenly divide the groups for the
community project into three groups.
Second: More of the Initial Phase
With situational factors accounted for, I next attempted the
implementation and integration of significant learning goals, teaching and
learning activities, and tools for feedback and assessment (Fink, 2003).
Utilizing Finks Criteria for good design, I made sure to create a Learning
Objective for each of the goals in Finks Taxonomy of Significant Learning. This
was quite challenging. I found it very hard to create learning objectives for
each goal beyond the foundational knowledge goal. Ill be honest that even at
this point in my syllabus, I am not comfortable with all of my goals. I believe
that each objective I created speaks to the heart of Finks goals, yet I found

difficulty in making each of my goals more specific. I also felt that some of my
goals overlapped with other goals.
I felt the same way about the learning activities and assessment
activities. I thought it important to have clear and distinguishable assessment
and learning activities for each learning outcome, yet I found that they all
over lapped. Thinking about my assessment activities, I felt that the class
lead discussion touched on the integration objectives; the case study
assignment touched on the application, and both human dimension
objectives; the knowledge application project touched on the learning how to
learn objective; the weekly response and reflection essays touched on the
foundational knowledge, human dimension, caring, and learning how to learn
objective, and that the group community project touched on every single one
of them. I feel there needs to be more specificity in my assessment activities
so that each of them can clearly make it a point to accomplish one specific
learning objective, but for many that was not the case. Yet, I feel that through
all of them and through all of the out-of-class and in class activities, all
learning objectives are engaged.
Third: The Intermediate Phase
The Intermediate Phase in Finks (2013) Integrated Course Design was
assembling my components into a coherent whole. This means creating a
thematic structure, establishing a teaching strategy, and developing an
overall theme of learning activities. This was the most challenging part of this
process. I was happy in the topic I selected for my course, yet I am not an
expert in the subject. In fact, I am not an expert on any subject I would like to
teach. It was quite difficult to create a reading list, an activity list, developing

phases / subjects to focus on, and to distribute all of them over the course of
16 weeks.
This portion of the syllabus creation process forced me to change the
subject of my course. I had initially decided to focus on the migration
patterns of various Latino groups to the city of Chicago. Yet when it came
time to develop topics, I felt lost. I did not know how to fill in my sixteen-week
schedule. As a result, I decided to change my topic again to just Mexicans
and Puerto Ricans in Chicago and the history of the formation of their
neighborhoods. I felt that I had more of an experiential knowledge with these
two groups and that it would be easier to develop important themes to
discuss. Yet, I could not muster anything past one to two major topics. I finally
decided to only focus on Mexican Communities/Neighborhoods in the City of
Chicago. By focusing on just one group I feel that the content I assigned
would not run the risk of being too broad.
Doing this allowed me to focus on specific themes I feel are important
to the history and current state of the Mexican community in the City of
Chicago. Things like, education, housing, health care, politics, and the future
of this community are all major topics of the course. Regarding the structure,
I felt it important to start with the history of Mexican communities in Chicago
in order to engage my foundational knowledge objective and to end with
thinking about the future of the Mexican communities in Chicago so that I can
focus a learning activity on my Learning How to Learn objective. Between
those two beginning and ending pillars I included the aforementioned topics.
Regarding the topics I chose, my process and decision to choose each
of them came from similar patterns I found in three books I own that speak on

the Mexican experience in Chicago. It is not something that I was quite

comfortable doing, but it was really the process which I felt most comfortable
with in utilizing for the creation of my sixteen-week schedule. Those three
books which I utilized to help me in the content for the course are also
assigned as required course reading for the class.
Fourth: The Third Phase and Utilizing the Complete Syllabus
After engaging this process in the intermediate phase, I moved onto
developing the grading system and finishing other important tasks the third
phase in Finks integrated course design (Fink 2013). Regarding the grading
system, the process of establishing the grading system was coupled with the
process of establishing assessment activities. I went back and forth on the
types of assessment activities I should include and how much weight each
activity should have when it came to grading. I ultimately chose to give the
most weight to the community project as this would be an activity the the
class would be engaging in for the majority of the semester. This is the task I
felt would require the most time consumption of the the students. I then
decided to assign grading percentages to the remaining activities based on
the amount of time and effort each task would take.
When it came time to write out the actual syllabus, I utilized chapter 3
of our assigned Nilson, The Complete Syllabus (2010), reading as a guide.
Except for giving information about lab requirements, I made sure to develop
each and every portion of his suggested syllabus. This was a great and
practical guide in helping me to develop my syllabus. The majority of the part
which I included were created by me, when it came to including information
on academic dishonesty, disabilities, decorum, internet, and other similar

factors, I chose to imitate portions of the syllabus for our Curriculum course
and / or to grab the information straight from Northeastern Illinois
Universitys website (NEIU.edu).
Part III. Reflection
This project went from being very challenging and frustrating to
illuminating and enjoyable.
The biggest challenge I encountered in the creation of the syllabus was
my lack of knowledge on the topic I selected for my course. As I stated
earlier, I was very happy with the topic(s) I selected, but found that I had not
expert knowledge on any of them. I found myself not being confident that the
course content and required reading materials are significant enough to best
engage the topic. The lack of knowledge on the course topic also made it
difficult to develop learning objectives. My initial thought was: How can I
develop learning objectives on an area that I am not an expert in? As I stated
before, I feel that my objectives do a good job of touching on and getting to
the heart of each of Finks goals in the Taxonomy of Significant Learning. Yet, I
feel that if I had a more profound knowledge on the subject matter, that I
would be able to develop even more specific goals.
It was also challenging in finding the right balance of learning activities
within the classroom. The majority of this courses classroom activities
revolved around the student led group discussion. I placed the responsibility
of leading class on a group of student for each class. In my instructions I try
to indicate that they are to bring at least one external resource about
Mexican in Chicago that is not assigned in class that can help us to further
engage in the topic of the week. I ask that they make the experience as

interactive as possible. Beyond the student lead discussions, I have

scheduled a guest speaker from each of the three community centers that
will be participating in our group project, and a film. Though it is not written
in the syllabus, it is my expectation of myself to not just regurgitate readings
during class time, but to expand on them and to engage in learning activities
and discussions.
There was nothing easy about this project, but as the structure of my syllabus
started to come together it was fun to think about different assessment
activities. I really like the idea of student interviewing somebody, of doing a
physical case study of a subject, and of engaging a community center within
the Latino community for the whole semester. I think that in some ways, all
three of these assessment activities will engage the students in all aspects of
Finks Taxonomy of learning. I think so because it requires them to physically
engage with the community they are studying. It forces them to touch, feel,
smell, and see the communities. I think this develops foundational knowledge
from the very people who have lived experiences in these communities. It
helps them to apply the knowledge gained to actual people. It helps them to
integrate the knowledge they have to their lived experiences and to how they
think about and engage these communities. It helps them to humanize their
own experiences if they are Latinos, and to better humanize the experiences
of the Latino community around them. Engaging with other human beings in
a more intimate way, will help them to be more caring about those human
beings. Finally, these assessment experiences, will help them to think about
the future of the communities. It will help them to develop new questions, to
think of potential challenges, and to be part of developing the answers and

solutions.

References
Fink, L.D. (2003). Creating significant learning experiences: An
integrated approach to
developing college courses. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Nilson, L.B. (2010). Teaching at Its Best: A Research-Based Resource for
College
Instructors. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.