Education Commons^™

Beginnings: 3 Examples (And Why They Work), Julie Patterson

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Our writer-in-residence helps us look closely at the beginnings of three short stories.

Hold Readers At A Climax, Julie Patterson

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Our writer-in-residence says: A climax is long. In fact, it's a place to hold readers.

The Trouble With Beginning, Middle & End, Julie Patterson

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I recently helped judge a story writing contest, and one of the criteria on the assessment form I was provided was: Does the story have a beginning, middle and end? As I began reading the entries, I quickly discovered that this was not useful assessment criteria.

Enhancing The Academic And Social Learning Of Irish Undergraduates Through Emotional And Social Skills Development., Aiden Carthy, Celesta Mccann, Sinead Mcgilloway, Colm Mcguinness

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This paper considers the potential merits of emotional competency coaching for undergraduate students. We outline the findings from our previous work which showed, for example, that a sample of First Year undergraduate students failed to engage with coaching primarily because it was not a mandatory aspect of the curricula. An analysis of the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) - which details the specific learning outcomes that must be achieved by all Irish academic syllabi found that this framework makes scant reference to the development of social and emotional skills. Therefore, a revised working model of the NFQ is proposed, which …

4 Craft Strategies To Notice In The Leaving Morning (And Why), Julie Patterson

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What can you learn about writing from a picture book? Lots!

How To Read A Poem, Julie Patterson

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Our writer-in-residence offers some insight into how to read a poem.

4 Things To Know About Reading, Libby Duggan

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Parents often ask me what they can do at home to support and encourage reading. I find myself repeating four main ideas, things that reading workshop teachers know that every parent, grandparent, babysitter, school volunteer, policymaker — well, everyone — should know, too.

Exploring Supports Provided For Student Eportfolio Development In A Professional Development Context, Muireann Okeeffe

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This small scale study aimed to explore and establish if support strategies implemented to enhance student ePortfolios were helpful to students and to identify useful ways of supporting ePortfolio development with future cohorts of students. This action research study was informed through focus group discussion and individual interviews with students.

The importance of reflection for the development professional practice and of creative abilities is discussed. The substantial benefits of creativity within education are investigated and characteristics of creativity that might be developed with students’ ePortfolios are revealed. Specifically this paper seeks to foster Crafts (2011) four characteristics of creativity, pluralities, …

Supporting Professionalism In Educational Development In Irish Higher Education, Muireann Okeeffe

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Higher education, in Ireland and globally, is undergoing profound change influenced by a variety of factors. In conjunction with these changes many initiatives to improve teaching and learning and the quality of graduates in higher education have been introduced in recent years. The changes and expansions in the sector has enabled growth of new roles in higher education described as ‘third space’ professionals by Whitchurch (2008).

This paper describes the struggle of those in third space professions, such as academic development, to establish a professional identity in higher education. The benefits of these contemporary roles to higher education are …

Interactive Bulletin Boards That Support Writing, Julie Patterson

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Great writing instruction = student created bulletin boards. Here are some ideas.

I Don't Know You, But I Hate You: Building Better Relationships Through Literature And Writing, Brandon Warren

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Brandon Warren explains how he has used books to transform his classroom community.

Assessing A Young Writer’S Story, Julie Patterson

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Now that's a story! Find out what this 1st grader is doing well and what our writer-in-residence would teach next.

Great Supplies For Your Primary Grade Writing Workshop, Libby Duggan

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The right supplies can help you launch a writing workshop and establish the kind of habits and practices that will make the workshop easy to manage all year long. You may even want to stock up before the back-to-school sales end. Here are the "must-have" supplies I have used in my primary grade workshop.

5 Things Writing Workshop Teachers Want Parents To Know, Libby Duggan

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When I was teaching, I wanted parents to know how to support the work that we were doing in the classroom. Perhaps most importantly, I wanted to be sure that what students were told about their writing at home was consistent with what I taught in the classroom. So with that in mind, I've assembled an article that you can share with families: "5 Things Writing Workshop Teachers Want Parents to Know."

Feed Your Writer’S Notebook This Summer, Julie Patterson

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Summer is a great time to tend to your writer's notebook. You can "stock up" on notebook entries that will support your mini-lessons during the school year. Not sure what to write? Here are some notebook strategies to help fuel your inspiration.

Must-Have Books: Critical Reading For Your Classroom Library, Jane Leeth

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Visiting Scholar Katherine Bomer shared more than four dozen books with teachers at our 2012 Winter Workshop, helping us envision Critical Reading and Writing for Social Action units for our own classrooms. If you missed the workshop or didn’t get to see all of Katherine’s 50+ books, IPYW reading workshop coach Jane Leeth can help. Here, Jane presents her “must-have” recommendations from Katherine’s stack—including grade levels and story descriptions.

Tpack Development In Teacher Education: A Longitudinal Study Of Preservice Teachers In A Secondary M.A.Ed. Program, Mark J. Hofer, Neal Grandgenett

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How does preservice teachers' knowledge for technology integration develop during their teacher preparation program? Which areas of their knowledge develop most naturally, and which areas require more scaffolding? In this mixed-methods, descriptive study of preservice teachers enrolled in an 11-month M.A.Ed. program, we sought to trace the development of participants' technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) over time. Comparisons of self-report surveys, structured reflections, and instructional plans at multiple data points spanning the three-semester program revealed significant development of the participants' technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK) and technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK), but only limited growth in technological content knowledge (TCK).

What's New On Jane's Bookshelf?, Jane Leeth

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When I’m not teaching, I’m scouring bookstores and websites for interesting new releases in children’s and young adult literature. My dogs don’t even bark anymore when the UPS man shows up at the front door with a box of books; he’s sort of become part of our family.

I’ve listed here a handful of books that recently piqued my interest—whether I was intrigued by the topic, the aesthetic post-modern appearance, and/or what I can do with the text in the classroom.

Julie's 5 Most Frequently Used Notebook Strategies, Julie Patterson

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People always ask, “How do you come up with ideas for writing?” So I analyzed my writer’s notebook and identified my most frequently used strategies for recording, nurturing and thinking about story content.

6 Ways To Celebrate Student Writing, Susan C. Adamson

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Susan Adamson, executive director of the Indiana Partnership for Young Writers, shares a few of her favorite strategies for celebrating student writing at the end of a unit of study.

Why Writing Workshop?, Indiana Partnership For Young Writers

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We believe writing workshop is the instructional framework that best supports all students. Through rigorous teaching, students learn to write with clear vision and skillful intention, positioning them well for lifelong academic and workplace success.

Interaction Analysis In A ‘Learning By Doing’ Problem-Based Professional Development Context, Roisin Donnelly

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This paper explores the concept and practice of interaction within a blended problem-based learning (PBL) module for academic professional development in higher education. A qualitative study spanning two years of the lived experiences of 17 academic staff in a blended PBL module was considered likely to provide a much needed analysis of current thinking and practice on the potential of interaction. Relevant constructivist theories are applied to face-to-face PBL tutorials, online discussions, focus group interviews and reflective papers. For designers and tutors in blended PBL, it is important to seek best practices for how to combine instructional strategies in classroom …

Implicit Theories Of Ability Of Grade 6 Science Students: Relation To Epistemological Beliefs And Academic Motivation And Achievement In Science, Jason Chen, Frank Pajares

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We investigated (a) the associations of implicit theories and epistemological beliefs and their effects on the academic motivation and achievement of students in Grade 6 science and (b) the mean differences of implicit theories, epistemological beliefs, and academic motivation and achievement as a function of gender and race/ethnicity (N = 508). Path analysis revealed that an incremental view of ability had direct and indirect effects on adaptive motivational factors, whereas fixed entity views had direct and indirect effects on maladaptive factors. Epistemological beliefs mediated the influence of implicit theories of ability on achievement goal orientations, self-efficacy, and science achievement. Results …

Phenomenological Views And Analysis Of Culinary Arts Student Attitudes To National And International Internships: The “Nature Of Being” Before, During, And After International Internship, Frank Cullen

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This article presents the results of research conducted between 2006 and 2007 as part of a 4-year study on culinary internships. The article explores what can be described as the culinary life, developing a picture of working in a kitchen. It then compares and contrasts the work of key writers in the area of internship. Phenomenological views are provided and quantitative data analyzed from the 2006 and 2007 cohorts of students studying for a bachelor of arts in culinary arts to establish their attitudes toward international internships. The research found that gaps existed between the attitudes of the 2006 and …

Exporting Legal Education: Lessons Learned From Efforts In Transition Countries, Ronald A. Brand

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A convergence of inward and outward-looking processes in US law schools creates both risk and potential reward in the development of legal education. As law faculties engage in the current process of changing the traditional law school curriculum, they should carefully coordinate a desire for internal goals with an understanding of external impact, realizing that this process is likely to affect not just US law schools, but legal education across the globe. Changes in the curriculum at US law schools should be responsive, not only to concerns about the legal marketplace in the United States, but also to the impact …

Examples: What Teachers Are Doing With Poetry, Penny Miller, Sarah Duffer, Carole Damin, Libby Duggan

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In November, 112 teachers from across Indiana attended a full-day professional development workshop with renowned poet Georgia Heard. Here is a sampling of the things these teachers are now doing in their schools and classrooms as a result of that workshop.

Supporting Teacher Education Through A Combined Model Of Philosophical, Collaborative And Experiential Learning, Roisin Donnelly

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This paper provides insights into teaching and learning based on the analysis of an accredited professional development program, entitled the Postgraduate Certificate in Third Level Learning and Teaching, aimed at lecturing staff/faculty in Irish higher education. The program has its theoretical basis in the Kolb Experiential Learning Cycle (Kolb, 1983), combined with principles of collaborative learning and a philosophical understanding of teaching in higher education. An action research study was conducted to investigate the lecturers’ perceptions of the program, with a particular focus on how support could be provided to them through a combined model of learning. As a core …

Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge In Action: A Case Study Of A Middle School Digital Documentary Project, Mark J. Hofer, Kathleen Owings Swan

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In recent years researchers in educational technology have begun to look closely at the complexity of integrating technology in K-12 classrooms. The development of the notion of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK) provides a useful theoretical framework to explore the requisite forms of teacher knowledge required to effectively integrate technology in classroom work. This case study explores the three domains of teacher knowledge and their intersections in a sixth grade digital documentary project. On the surface, the setting for the work (particularly the skilled teachers with whom we worked) seemed to be the "best-case scenario" for technology integration, and yet, …

The Historical Scene Investigation (Hsi) Project: Examining The Use Of Case Based Historical Instruction In The Fifth Grade Social Studies Classroom, Kathleen Owings Swan, Mark J. Hofer, David Locascio

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The Historical Scene Investigation (HSI) project is designed to help teachers integrate historical investigations into their K-12 history instruction. The HSI project materials provide streamlined and aesthetically engaging Web-based historical investigation exercises. Each case exercise engages students in a historical investigation using rich and varied historical primary sources scaffolded by document-study prompts and activities requiring specific analytical skills and processes. The HSI project, originally developed in 2001 by the principal investigators of this study, has undergone numerous revisions in efforts to extend topical coverage and more explicitly align online materials with state content standards for history. In addition, revisions focused …

Encouraging Student Creativity In Higher Education, Roisin Donnelly, Terry Barrett

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This chapter focuses on how teachers encourage the development of creative states of flow in their students and in themselves. The chapter aims to stimulate educators in higher education to think freshly about creativity and to widen their range of strategies for encouraging student creativity.