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Effective Teaching of Embedded Phonics Instruction in a Middle School Special Education Resource Room
Get PDFThis capstone addresses a gap in middle school instruction for students identified for special education services in reading. In Minnesota’s state standards, phonics instruction is only required through 5th grade (Minnesota Department of Education, 2011). However, students in middle school and beyond still may be learning to read past 5th grade. This research question is: What is the most effective way to integrate phonics instruction into reading lessons in a middle school, resource room special education classroom? This paper introduces what phonics is, the reason phonics should be integrated into reading instruction, a framework for embedded phonics, a description of special education and other identities students may hold, and how it all relates to Minnesota state standards. The project is an integrated phonics curriculum unit using the story When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed (2020) and NewsELA articles related to refugees around the world. The phonics curriculum integrates short and long vowel sounds using words from the articles and book. Students must read and write words with the long and short vowel sounds. The project is intended for use with middle school students who are behind grade level in reading but could be used with students older and younger than middle school level depending on need. The project was designed using the backward design framework of Understanding by Design from Wiggins and McTighe (2011). The lessons themselves follow a framework adapted from both Fountas and Pinnell (2017) and Tanock (1994)
Songs And Salamanders: Investigating The Relationship Between Music And Environmental Education
Get PDFEnvironmental education and creative arts such as music have complemented each other for many years. This capstone project investigates the relationship between the two disciplines by asking the question: How can environmental educators use music to increase students’ understanding of the natural world? Focusing on the professional development of environmental educators and other informal educators is important because these individuals will have many opportunities to promote connection between students and the natural world throughout their careers. Musicians and songwriters such as the Banana Slug String Band and Joe Reilly provide invaluable examples of musical experiences that both inform and entertain their audience. The literature review reveals similarities between students’ experiences with nature and music; the growth of social emotional learning and compassion for both the environment and their peers are particularly notable. Research methods used during the course of this project were primarily qualitative, focusing on contemporary theories in music education, environmental education, and the integration between the two fields. The culmination of this research and project development includes a living resource manual of songs and activities that educators may explore, expand, and share with students
Peer Review and Feedback in the Middle School English Learner Classroom
Get PDFThe development of writing skills is a necessity when it comes to teaching English Language Learners (ELLs). Middle school ELLs should be taught in a different manner compared to their older and younger peers. Research has shown that implementing peer review and feedback in a middle school ELL classroom can improve students’ writing skills. This capstone helps to answer the research question, How can I integrate peer review and feedback activities into instruction in order to improve the writing skills of middle school English language learners? This capstone project provides a curriculum unit that scaffolds lessons and activities in a way that can support teachers to improve the writing skills of their students. In this unit, cooperative learning is emphasized to practice peer review and feedback and increase student motivation
Developing A Deep Understanding Of Multiplication And A Growth Mindset In 5th Grade Students From Marginalized Groups
Get PDFTraditionally mathematics has been taught with a focus of rote memorization of basic facts and procedures. Research has found that this often leaves students without the conceptual understanding behind procedures. This can prevent students from making the connections necessary to transfer their knowledge to other situations. It has also become clear that students from marginalized groups often score much lower on high stakes tests than their white counterparts. This project involved creating a multiplication unit that uses number talks, strategies from cognitively guided instruction as well as ideas on culturally relevant teaching. The goal of this project was for students to explore the creativity and flexibility within mathematics, increasing student voice and collaboration in order to develop a growth mindset in students as well as develop a deep understanding of mathematical concepts around multiplication
Trauma in the Elementary Classroom
Get PDFTrauma is endemic to American society, with one in six people undergoing multiple adverse childhood experiences in their lifetime. These experiences leave children vulnerable to a host of debilitating neurological, cognitive and emotional changes, which in turn may produce explosive, unpredictable and/or violent behaviors. These behaviors are detrimental to their learning environment. Teachers are often unprepared to meet traumatized students’ unique needs, but refusing to address trauma within the classroom is impossible. This project is a professional development curriculum meant to support teachers in meeting the needs of their current classroom. It includes a literature review on multiple aspects of trauma, including its impact on the body and brain, strategies for supporting traumatized students, the effect students’ trauma may have on school communities, and the relationship between trauma-informed practices and culturally responsive teaching. By reading this review, any teacher can become knowledgeable about trauma, and will be qualified to implement this professional development curriculum at their school. The curriculum consists of four sessions to be implemented over four months, and includes lesson plans, visual aids, and interactive activities. Over the course of these sessions, teachers will develop their background knowledge of trauma, and see multiple trauma informed practices modeled for them. They will also embark on a process of inquiry where they diagnose the needs of their classroom, brainstorm a trauma-informed intervention, implement it, and reflect on the results
Using a Text Set of Diverse Media to Teach Alternative Perspectives to Third Grade Students
Get PDFThis capstone project is centered on the question, how can a text set made of diverse books be used to teach alternative perspectives to third grade students? The author documents their experience both personally and professionally as well as their research that led them to create a fifteen lesson third grade literacy unit that teaches the critical literacy skill of alternative perspectives. This literacy unit focuses on students being able to distinguish their perspective from that of an author or character. Through the creation of this project, the author discovered important things about the topics of critical literacy, diverse books, text sets, and literacy curriculum. First, that the use of a backwards design when creating curriculum can have a major impact on student understanding. Second, that the definition of diversity in literature goes beyond racial diversity. Third, critical literacy principles state that every person brings their own unique interpretation of text to any reading experience. Finally, text sets can be used to expose students to as many authentic pieces of literature as possible, regardless of reading ability
A Toolkit For Mainstream Teachers Of Multilingual Learners In International Schools
Get PDFInternational schools date back to the early 20th century, just after the end of World War II. Today, they can still act as a kind of “island of English” in countries where English is not the language spoken by the majority of residents. English learner programs in international schools tend to reflect an English-advantaged mindset which can be detrimental to multilingual learners. This is especially problematic in the international school setting, where English learners are not immigrants, but rather are in the school for a short time (2-4 years), and will likely return to their home countries and home languages. In order to meet the needs of multilingual learners, both international and domestic schools have moved more and more to models of collaboration, where an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher co-teaches in a content classroom. This can be beneficial for all parties only if both teachers are fully engaged in what Honigsfeld and Dove have identified as a cycle of co-planning, co-teaching, and co-assessing. This is often not the case, and the result can be ineffective lessons and the ESL teacher’s skills not being fully utilized, leading to an overall perception that the ESL teacher’s role is a minimal one. My project aims to educate teachers about these issues and to give them a toolkit for engaging in effective and rewarding collaboration, while using models of instruction that have been shown through research to be highly effective for multilingual learners, such as CALLA, Critical Inquiry, and the Prism Model
Helping Primary School Students Exposed To Stress Or Trauma To Learn In The Language Classroom
Get PDFPerhaps, every teacher would like to see their students thrive academically and succeed in their future careers. However, some learners face challenges which are not related neither to their individual characteristics, nor to aptitude, but to stressful and traumatic experiences in their lives, which represent huge barriers on the way to success. Therefore, the question addressed in this project was how can English as foreign language teachers in Russia mitigate the impact of stress and trauma on primary school learners to facilitate learning in the language classroom? Extensive literature review concludes that the effects of stress and trauma at a young age may become an irreparable damage extending to adulthood. Fortunately, teachers may help alleviate the consequences of trauma or sometimes even eliminate them by applying stress and trauma mitigation strategies in their classrooms, which are presented in this project
Yo Soy Mi Idioma: Latinx Bilinguals’ Journeys To Two-way Immersion Education
Get PDFThis study examined how the lived experiences of Latinx bilingual teachers influenced their path toward two-way immersion (TWI) programs and informed the development of their beliefs about education. This research was designed as a qualitative multiple case study, with triangulated data points including surveys, dialogues, and journals. The results were analyzed using pattern matching and cross-case analysis. Underpinned by Critical Race Theory (CRT), both LatCrit and Counter-Storytelling were utilized to add dimension to the Latinx experience, which not only takes into consideration experiences of migration, immigration status, language, and ethnic identities, but also rejects the notion that there is a linear uplift and improvement of racial progress in the United States (Corbado, 2011). The findings revealed that Latinx bilingual teachers\u27 lived experiences informed their decision to become teachers as well as the development of their beliefs about education. In particular, it revealed a desire to position themselves as role models con ganas (Urrieta, 2007) in their practice, which demonstrates a commitment to improve the educational experiences of Latinx students
Figuring-it-out: Fostering Independence Through Transferable Problem-solving Competence
Get PDFWhen faced with unknowns, there are those who wait and those who figure-it-out. For middle school students to be happy, healthy, and successful, they need to be able to independently navigate the unknown—to figure-it-out, no matter what it is. Figuring-it-out refers to a person’s ability to independently solve problems or determine a workable solution through their capacity to regulate, cope, apply strategies, and take action. This capstone project uses a five-part professional development series for educators to answer the question, how might the explicit teaching of figuring-it-out combined with sustained practice help students to become more independent? The series emboldens teachers with the background knowledge and savvy they need to explicitly teach and sustain the practice of the transferable problem solving competence skills of figuring-it-out. In the series, these skills are explored and practiced using an andragogical and transformational approach. Time for self-reflection, collaborative work, and future planning is embedded