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Healing Students’ Collective Trauma and Growing with School Gardens
Get PDFThis paper examines the potential of school garden projects as a therapeutic intervention for addressing collective trauma among students. It investigates how such gardens can help students recognize, work through, and heal from trauma or PTSD, and explores the benefits of using a therapeutic garden as a setting for learning, healing, and personal growth. The significance of this work lies in its demonstration of how building, implementing, and maintaining a school garden can benefit educational institutions, families, and the broader community. It highlights how school gardens can integrate with existing curricula and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) to enhance social-emotional learning (SEL) attributes. The paper synthesizes data from various sources, including websites, organizations, and academic articles, to design a resource website aimed at assisting schools in developing therapeutic garden projects. The findings suggest that school gardens are a highly effective resource that can offer substantial benefits, particularly when designed to address mental health issues, thus serving as a powerful tool for student healing and growth
Using Zombie Literature To Build Skills In Responding To Real Events For High School Students
Get PDFThis project seeks to enhance student engagement in English language arts through zombie literature, bridging fiction and reality by exploring the question How can zombie literature be used in high school language arts curriculum to discuss and process real-world issues and events? It examines research on fiction\u27s societal impact and horror\u27s ability to boost student interest. The curriculum, adaptable for all high school levels, guides students in connecting fictional narratives to real-life experiences. By exploring the intersection of zombies, literature, and society, the project aims to create a more engaging and relatable learning experience for students
Integrating Environmental Education into the 4th-grade Classroom
Get PDFThe growing awareness of the effects of climate change on our planet and the need for solutions that slow, stop, or potentially reverse these effects have led to the desire to increase environmental education in our youth. Research shows that building environmental literacy and stewardship helps create citizens with pro-environmental behaviors. Since the Tbilisi Declaration in 1977, there has been significant growth in environmental education programs in non-traditional education settings. However, despite the need for environmental education, it struggles to gain a strong footing in the traditional classroom. This is due to multiple reasons, with educator preparedness and resources being two major factors. This capstone project aimed to research effective instructional strategies and their impact on one’s environmental literacy and stewardship to create a unit of study that would fit into a traditional classroom setting. My research found that several key strategies apply to effective classroom instruction and beneficial environmental education programs. Utilizing these key strategies as well as state science curriculum and environmental literacy standards, my unit of study was designed to teach fourth-grade standards while incorporating a local environmental issue with the goal of increasing the environmental literacy of my students. The unit of study designed for this capstone project serves as an example of how general education can be leveraged to increase environmental literacy and stewardship in today’s youth
Creating a Community Garden to Enhance Environmental Education and Action in 10th-12th Grade Boys
Get PDFThe purpose of this capstone is to understand how making community connections through the creation of a community garden will emphasize environmental education and action from students. The guiding question of this project is: How can creating a community garden enhance environmental education and action for 10th-12th grade boys in a science elective? Throughout this project, I explore how 10th-12th grade boys\u27 perceptions and feelings on environmental education and action develop and change through the process of creating, designing, and maintaining a community garden and making community connections through their school. Throughout this project, a multitude of major learnings occurred for me and the students participating. Three takeaways stood out to me the most; giving students the lead on the project created deeper enthusiasm and engagement throughout the community garden, students found greater enjoyment working outside than being inside of the classroom, students interacted more and created deeper relationships through the creation and design of the community garden. Each of these major learnings shaped the whole experience and taught the entire student as a person for an enriching learning experience. Completing this capstone project has given me new insights into the field of environmental education and action with teenage boys, something I hope to share with others in similar professions. I believe this project can benefit others by encouraging more instances of outdoor education and experiential learning. The learnings from this capstone can not only benefit science educators but anyone who works with teenage boys and anyone willing to bring the learning outdoors
Changing the Way We Grade: How Teachers Can Use Research to Implement Standards-Based Grading Practices
Get PDFAs schools have shifted to become more standards focused, many are shifting to a standards-based grading and reporting system to more closely align these practices with the academic standards. The shift to a new grading system isn’t an easy or quick change to make in any school system, and many schools that attempt this change do not fully consider all of the elements needed for a change of this magnitude. The result is often inconsistent implementation that leads to further confusion about what grades mean. This capstone project examines the research around standards-based grading and how teaching teams are successful at switching from traditional methods of planning and assessment to a standards-based approach. The research conducted for this project sought to answer the question: How can an English PLC use research to guide implementation of standards-based assessment practices? The resources presented within this capstone project are intended to provide guidance to teachers who are making the change to a standards-based method of teaching and assessment
Integrating Content and Language Standards to Support English Learners
Get PDFEnglish Learners need academic language support to reach proficiency in both language and content standards. In a school where there is a high number of English Learner (EL) students, considerations for teaching language and content simultaneously throughout the school day need to be made. Co-teaching with EL teachers as well as creating academic language objectives across the curriculum and building an understanding of the WIDA 2020 language standards for all teachers can help EL students make progress toward grade level standards. This capstone poses the question, How can content and language standards be integrated throughout the curriculum to maximize EL student achievement in all subject areas? The capstone project that resulted from research into this question is a series of three professional development sessions focusing on co-teaching and writing academic language objectives to accompany content objectives
Examining Elementary English Language Teachers’ Professional Development of Dispositions, Knowledge, and Skills
Get PDFThe purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine how professional development contributed to the dispositions, knowledge, and skills of elementary English language (EL) teachers. Historically, EL teachers received little professional development and ongoing support within their discipline of English as a Second Language, which led to inconsistencies with how EL teachers perceived their role as a language development expert. Although the literature review identified the necessary dispositions, knowledge, and skills of EL teachers, there was little research about how EL teachers accessed professional development to engage in continuous growth in their field. As part of the study, professional development was facilitated among two cohorts of elementary EL teachers. The content consisted of components from the 2020 edition of the WIDA English Language Development (ELD) Standards Framework, the adopted framework for ELD standards in Minnesota. After professional development, the participants were invited to take part in a retrospective survey to self-assess where they identified their knowledge prior to and after the professional development, which served as the quantitative data for the study. Six EL teachers from the survey population participated in qualitative focal interviews to reflect on their dispositions and skills. The purpose of the interviews was to allow for more nuanced responses beyond what was collected in the survey. The findings from this study revealed the areas that elementary EL teachers increased in knowledge as a result of the professional development and how they were supported in their professional growth. Several recommendations for policymakers, district and school leaders, and EL teachers are also included
What are Rural Minnesota Elementary Teachers’ Views Regarding Their Preparedness to Teach Environmental Education
Get PDFOdegaard, B. (2024). What are rural Minnesota elementary teachers’ views regarding their preparedness to teach environmental education. Research has been done on how environmental education (EE) is a positive for students, but not a lot of research has been done on how well the teachers understand EE. Specifically there has been little to no research on rural Minnesota elementary teachers. This thesis takes a look at how well prepared these teachers think they are when it comes to teaching EE in their classrooms. A survey was made using a mixed methods approach. Most of the questions in the survey consisted of two parts that had a yes/no question followed up by an open-ended text box for further explanation. Data collected from this research showed that teachers\u27 perceptions about EE didn’t always translate into being knowledgeable about EE or being capable of teaching it. Some of the respondents were very prepared to teach EE, some could teach EE, and others lacked the skill set to teach EE. The findings also showed that those with more education in EE and those who had the proper resources around them had a larger chance of incorporating EE into their curriculum. Every answer is different because of how EE is perceived by each individual and what training and support they have. The goal of this thesis is to understand how rural Minnesota elementary teachers understand and use EE in their classrooms. It is also used to understand what may or may not help the development of EE for rural Minnesota elementary teachers
Spanish-Speaking English Learners’ Experience in Spanish/English Dual Language Immersion Schools
Get PDFResearch has demonstrated that dual language immersion (DLI) schools provide one of the most viable pathways for students of families who speak a language other than English to maintain and develop their home language proficiencies while also learning and improving their proficiencies in English. The professional development (PD) designed for this project focuses on maximizing the English instruction time in Spanish/English dual language immersion schools. Across the United States, the number of DLI programs has increased dramatically in the past few decades yet often the educators employed in the programs have little or no specific training in teaching English as a second language. The project involved creating PD of a sustained duration for educators in DLI programs that included active learning, coaching and expert support, and time for feedback and reflection as suggested by Darling-Hammond and colleagues in their working paper on effective teacher development. The PD will primarily be used in elementary schools that have Spanish/English DLI programs, but is adaptable to DLI programs that teach in other languages and DLI programming in secondary grades. The goal of the project is to help educators in DLI programs create meaningful and authentic learning experiences in English for their English learner students
Culturally Responsive Professional Development: Facilitating Transformational Learning Experiences
Get PDFNon Profit Organizations that engage culturally diverse populations as volunteers need support in delivering volunteer training that meets the learning needs of culturally diverse adults. Due to lack of staff capacity, non profit organizations often rely on cohorts of volunteers to train their peers in executing responsibilities of the volunteer roles. These volunteers often do not have background in adult learning nor do they have tools related to engaging culturally diverse groups of adult learners. This capstone aims to answer the question: How can adult educators and trainers use culturally responsive engagement strategies and emerging frameworks to effectively facilitate professional development opportunities? To support the volunteer trainers in engaging their peers during learning opportunities, this capstone project features a Train The Trainer course covering adult learning principles, culturally responsive engagement strategies, and approaches to transformational learning. This course for volunteers is designed using a blended learning format and consists of four online lessons as prerequisites to a synchronous session. Designed based on best practice in adult learning and professional development, the project materials include the following: a link to interactive online lessons, synchronous session outline with facilitator script, synchronous session presentation slides, course handouts and a professional development plan for sustained learning. The course is heavily focused on culturally responsive engagement for adult learning and incorporates tenets of this approach in the course delivery