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Full-Text Articles in Education
How Can Mentor Texts Be Used To Teach Students In A Second Grade Classroom?, Caroline Thorvig
How Can Mentor Texts Be Used To Teach Students In A Second Grade Classroom?, Caroline Thorvig
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Mentor texts is a popular term in the education world right now. This capstone defines mentor texts, how experts suggest selecting them, and how using mentor texts fits into best practices in literacy education. The use of mentor texts in reading, writing, and content areas is discussed. This capstone project gives examples of four mini-lessons taught with different mentor texts at a second grade level. Other possible mini-lessons are suggested to show the reader how one text can be used to teach many concepts.
Secondary Teachers Should Expose Rural Readers To Books That Are Culturally Different Than The Student's Personal Choice, Sarah Roiger
Secondary Teachers Should Expose Rural Readers To Books That Are Culturally Different Than The Student's Personal Choice, Sarah Roiger
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
This capstone addresses the research question, “How can secondary teachers expose rural readers to books that are culturally different than the student’s personal choice?” It documents one teacher’s creation of a book club that allows students a chance to read various novels that portray cultures that differ from the rural culture. It integrates differentiation of choice novels, reflections, and character comparisons. The author documents research from the literature review based on rural influence and motivation, classroom culture, and censorship by schools, parents, and librarians. This project includes the lists of books to use, the step-by-step layout, and the character comparison …
Building Comprehension In Fifth Grade Students Using Guided Reading, Erica Schiebel
Building Comprehension In Fifth Grade Students Using Guided Reading, Erica Schiebel
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Guided reading is a strategy used in reading instruction. This project aims to answer the question, what is the impact of comprehension strategies when they are incorporated into a guided reading lesson plan in fifth grade? The author describes their personal and professional experience that led them to this question. The research literature on guided reading, comprehension, metacognition and assessment explain the importance of each and how they can be implemented in a classroom. Then the curriculum project is explained. The curriculum includes guided reading lesson plans and assessments by using the Understanding by Design framework. This curriculum is intended …
Adult Education, Community Building, Environmental Studies, Special Education, Staff Development, Teachers/ Teaching, Jennifer Whelan
Adult Education, Community Building, Environmental Studies, Special Education, Staff Development, Teachers/ Teaching, Jennifer Whelan
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Language and culture are dynamically connected. The culture of a place refers to its people, traditions, beliefs and products such as music or food. Despite the body of evidence to support the importance of teaching about these cultural aspects, many world language teachers struggle to include cultural study alongside their language instruction. One engaging way to improve students’ linguistic and cultural competence is through read-alouds. Read-alouds are the foundation of early literacy and provide a number of benefits for young learners: they support a solid linguistic foundation for further study of the target language’s grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation; they engage …
An Exploration Of Portfolios As An Alternative Assessment To Standardized Testing, Carolyn Schmitz
An Exploration Of Portfolios As An Alternative Assessment To Standardized Testing, Carolyn Schmitz
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question addressed in this project was, How can portfolios be used as an assessment of Common Core reading standards in an eighth grade middle school classroom? As standardized testing continues to drive educational policy and decision-making, the author questions if traditional standardized tests are what is best for students, educators, or families. Researching through the lenses of attitudes toward standardized testing as well as the effectiveness of standardized testing, the author ultimately pursues the research of the use of portfolios as an alternative means of formally assessing students. An examination of the existing literature reveals that portfolios hold …
Implementing Tier I And Ii Fluency Based Interventions In An Elementary Classroom, Shelley Rhein
Implementing Tier I And Ii Fluency Based Interventions In An Elementary Classroom, Shelley Rhein
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question addressed in this project was, how do regular education classroom teachers best use fluency based interventions in the classroom to accelerate fluency skills and improve comprehension? The project is a reference guide that includes a compilation of fluency based strategies for elementary teachers to use when creating an intervention plan for students to address reading fluency needs. The project integrates learnings from the research of reading behaviors, definitions and examples, fluency strategies, and assessments. The author based the information in her project on the most heavily researched, proven strategies for effective fluency instruction specifically by Rasinski, Allington, …
Teaching English Language Learners In The Regular Education Classroom: A Professional Development Plan, Beth Hartokolis
Teaching English Language Learners In The Regular Education Classroom: A Professional Development Plan, Beth Hartokolis
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The Minnesota Legislature LEAPS Act in 2014 mandates professional development for all teachers of English Language Learners (ELL). Many regular education teachers feel inadequate to successfully meet the needs of ELL students who are in their classrooms for most of the day. This project shares the research of best practices strategies for teaching ELL students based on WIDA standards. It provides a year long professional development (PD) plan based on research that states teacher learning needs to be interactive and ongoing to be implemented successfully. The PD gives specific strategies with time to discuss and implement these strategies with coaching …
How To Assist Teachers And Students In The Creation And Use Of Learner Profiles To Support Struggling Readers At The Middle School Level, Kendra Willaby
How To Assist Teachers And Students In The Creation And Use Of Learner Profiles To Support Struggling Readers At The Middle School Level, Kendra Willaby
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question addressed in this project was, how to assist teachers and students in the creation and use of learner profiles to support struggling readers at the middle school level? It covers the topics of personalized learning, learner profiles and struggling readers. The project discusses components and elements of personalized learning as laid out by The Institute for Personalized Learning, while connecting the information to support for struggling readers. The core of the project is centered around learner profiles; what they are, information to include, as well as how to go about creating them. The project involves three parts, …
Visualization Techniques To Support Students’ Reading Comprehension, Jessica Will
Visualization Techniques To Support Students’ Reading Comprehension, Jessica Will
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question addressed in this project was, how do students respond to the integration of visualization techniques integrated into their reading/literacy instruction? It documents one teacher’s creation of ten lessons that instruct students on visualization techniques. It integrated lessons that increased with visualization and verbalization skills. The author documents the details of the lessons and uses research literature to show validity of the study. She describes how to implement the lesson with success and struggles and how the results show that visualization plays a large role in helping students learn how to increase their reading comprehension.
Visual Thinking Tools To Enhance Nonfiction Reading Comprehension In The Middle School, Anna Lund
Visual Thinking Tools To Enhance Nonfiction Reading Comprehension In The Middle School, Anna Lund
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
This capstone explores the question; How can visual thinking tools be used as a foundation for middle school student’s critical approach to understanding nonfiction texts? Although adolescent learners in the U.S. have greater literacy demands placed on them in the 21st century than ever before, some remain poorly prepared for the rigor of post-secondary education and many content area specific teachers lack instructional techniques to support student literacy in their field. As such, I was drawn towards visual learning tools as avenues to get my students thinking more critically about nonfiction text. Through these understandings, I have assembled a visual …
The Power Of One Good Book: Creating An Independent Reading Program In An Alternative School To Help Promote Literacy, John Forestell
The Power Of One Good Book: Creating An Independent Reading Program In An Alternative School To Help Promote Literacy, John Forestell
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question addressed in this project was, how can a self-selected reading or sustained, silent reading (SSR) program be implemented to improve its effectiveness and positively create a culture of independent readers? By looking at years of research surrounding SSR, and pragmatic practices, it outlines one teacher’s approach to revitalizing a stagnating independent reading program in a small alternative school setting. By using the foundational work of Pilgreen, Krashen, and others, he layed out a professional development series that called for systemic changes in the SSR initiative. This professional development is further carried into the school year through a …
How Teachers Can Best Use E-Books To Help Ell Students: A Web-Design Project, Paul Davis
How Teachers Can Best Use E-Books To Help Ell Students: A Web-Design Project, Paul Davis
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question addressed in this project is, How can teachers best use independent reading with E-Books to benefit elementary English language learner students? The author describes how hearing Stephen Krashen speak about the importance of independent reading made him curious about using E-Books with ELLs. In his review of literature, he describes how E-Books can best provide comprehensible input to help ELLs learn language, how E-Books can best meet the needs of emergent readers, how they can best use special text-tools, and how teachers can make sure independent reading is successful in their classrooms. With this information he makes …
Planning And Implementing An Effective Summer Reading Program, Kelsey Cullen
Planning And Implementing An Effective Summer Reading Program, Kelsey Cullen
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
This project was created to guide educators in answering the question, How can a summer reading program be implemented in order to most effectively close the achievement gap and allow students to maintain literacy skills over the summer months? It synthesizes current research related to summer reading loss, the achievement gap, and the relationship between the two. This project also explores the topics of book selection, student engagement, and parent involvement. Suggestions for addressing these elements within the design and implementation of a summer reading program are also provided.
Building Comprehension Skills With Cognitive Training, Mindy Oakley
Building Comprehension Skills With Cognitive Training, Mindy Oakley
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question addressed in this project was how does explicit instruction in executive functioning skills impact students’ ability to read and comprehend text at a deeper level? The continued rise in difficulties with reading comprehension and executive dysfunction among students was the focus of the author’s capstone question. The capstone paper focused on the topic of executive function in education and documents the author’s creation of a five-week curriculum that focuses on the use of cognitive training strategies. Executive functioning skills are defined, their presence in reading skills is described, and the possible ways to teach executive function skills …
Instructional Techniques For Improving Students’ Poetry Comprehension And Interpretation In Advanced Placement (Ap) English Literature & Composition, Sheila Stormont
Instructional Techniques For Improving Students’ Poetry Comprehension And Interpretation In Advanced Placement (Ap) English Literature & Composition, Sheila Stormont
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
This capstone seeks to answer the question: “What instructional techniques improve comprehension and interpretation of poetry for students in Advanced Placement (AP) English Literature & Composition?” Instructional techniques for both literacy and poetry were investigated, as was the role of poetry in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and classrooms, and course expectations set by The College Board. Research culminated in a two-week introductory unit for students in AP English Literature & Composition using Wiggins & McTighe’s Understanding by Design (UbD) framework. This unit is intended to provide a foundation for poetry study, which should continue throughout the rest of …
The Use Of A Culturally Responsive Text Set For Reinforcing Self-Regulation In Primary, Trauma-Affected Somali Students, Melinda Lomen
The Use Of A Culturally Responsive Text Set For Reinforcing Self-Regulation In Primary, Trauma-Affected Somali Students, Melinda Lomen
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question in this project was, How can the use of a culturally responsive and trauma-sensitive text set reinforce self-regulation in primary Somali students? It documents one teacher’s creation of a culturally responsive and trauma sensitive text set to accompany the selfregulation curriculum of The Zones of Regulation (Kuypers, 2011). The text set follows the Quad Text Set framework based on Lupo et al.’s (2018) research. The author documents the alignment of the resources in the text set to the nine major topics in the Zones of Regulation (Kuypers, 2011) curriculum. The author also explores how the project follows …
Creating A Data Structure Of Culturally Relevant Literature For Use In Middle School, Courtney Ramirez
Creating A Data Structure Of Culturally Relevant Literature For Use In Middle School, Courtney Ramirez
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question for this capstone is: What tools will help teachers and students access culturally relevant classroom materials for middle school students? It reports on the process of one teacher creating a web-based data structure for categorizing books based on the following categories: race/ethnicity, gender/sexual orientation, religion, socio-economic status, and nationality. The literature review explores Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP), especially as it relates to literacy, and the need for diversity in young adult literature. The project is heavily influenced by Ladson-Billings’ ideas about culturally relevant teaching practices and literature. The methods used for the creation of the project are …
Growth Mindset Instruction In A Traditional Literature Curriculum, Lea Corcoran
Growth Mindset Instruction In A Traditional Literature Curriculum, Lea Corcoran
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question addressed by this project is “Can growth mindset concepts be embedded into a middle school literature curriculum and instruction, while maintaining rigor and alignment with ELA standards?” The purpose of investigating this question was to determine if it is possible to merge growth mindset concepts with the current standards to help students engage in more relevant, critical thinking activities. Inspired by the research conducted by Carol Dweck, this project reviewed the studies of numerous experts in the field in order to create a supplemental curriculum that can be used with any middle school literature unit. The research …