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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 …
Writing To Learn Across Content Areas, Melissa Bertsch
Writing To Learn Across Content Areas, Melissa Bertsch
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Writing has predominantly been the relegated to literacy blocks at the elementary level and English language arts classes at the secondary level. Research shows that students need to write more, not only to improve their writing skills, but to improve their learning in all disciplines. This capstone traces the development of the write to learn movement, examines the connection between writing and the psychological processes of cognition and metacognition, as well as highlighting the sociocultural aspects of writing. This research shows that writing improves learning. The research then proceeds to highlight researchbased best practices in relation to write to learn …
Movement And Mindfulness In The Kindergarten Classroom, Kylie Rosenthal
Movement And Mindfulness In The Kindergarten Classroom, Kylie Rosenthal
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question addressed in this project was: How will intentional movement and mindfulness opportunities in a kindergarten classroom impact the classroom environment, student behavior, and student achievement? The stress, emotional and behavioral management, self-regulation skills, and mental health of the students in her classroom led the author to research topics of the brain and movement, classroom environment and student wellbeing, the effects movement has on student achievement, examples of schools implementing movement and mindfulness, and yoga and mindfulness programs and curriculums. The research showed that movement and mindfulness provide many benefits to students’ emotional wellbeing, behavior, regulation, and academic …
Strategies To Build The Academic Language Of English Language Students, Jill Wilsey
Strategies To Build The Academic Language Of English Language Students, Jill Wilsey
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The demographics of classrooms all around the United States are steadily changing. Thus, educational practices must shift to meet the increasingly diverse needs of students entering the classroom. English Learners (ELs) require additional language support in mainstream classrooms to meet the rigorous Common Core standards, but many teachers feel ill-equipped to meet these needs. A review of the current literature concludes that strategies such as total physical response, accountable talk, think, pair and share, revoicing, sentence frames, reciprocal teaching, and thinking maps will increase ELs ability to use academic language effectively. This capstone provides lesson plans using the Making Meaning …
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 …
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, …
How Does The Language Used In Literacy Coaching Conversations Impact Teacher Self-Efficacy?, Nicole Cahill
How Does The Language Used In Literacy Coaching Conversations Impact Teacher Self-Efficacy?, Nicole Cahill
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
This action research study explored the language used by the researcher during literacy coaching sessions with six elementary school teachers. The research question addressed in this capstone is, how does the language used in literacy coaching conversations impact teacher self-efficacy? The author reviewed relevant research regarding self-efficacy, the components of effective coaching conversations, and a social constructivist view of language. Key findings from the literature review were used to develop a list of language prompts in order to increase teacher self-efficacy during coaching dialogues. Each research participant engaged in an individual coaching cycle that included a modeling session, two sessions …
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 …
A Curriculum For Teaching Elementary-Aged Spanish-Speaking Students To Read In Spanish, Kelly Kum
A Curriculum For Teaching Elementary-Aged Spanish-Speaking Students To Read In Spanish, Kelly Kum
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The purpose of this capstone project was to develop a heritage language curriculum that teaches Spanish literacy skills to Spanish-speaking students in second and third grade. This project was based on research that supports the importance of students maintaining their first language and developing reading skills in their first language to help them improve their reading abilities in English and improve their test scores. The creator based the curriculum on WIDA’s Spanish Language Arts Standards and used the Understanding by Design framework to develop the curriculum. The main focus of the curriculum is to teach decoding and phonics skills to …
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.
Adapting Project-Based Learning For English-Language Learners In Middle-School Social Studies, Maria May
Adapting Project-Based Learning For English-Language Learners In Middle-School Social Studies, Maria May
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
This research project addresses the question, how can Project-Based Learning (PBL) be adapted to enhance middle school social studies lessons and learning outcomes for English Language Learners and other struggling students? It reviews theory and practice for middle-school social studies teachers to invite ELLs and others reading below grade level into authentic PBL. Supports for PBL should include effective language acquisition scaffolds like Guided Language Acquisition Design (GLAD) and content engagement through non-text, multimedia strategies like Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) to invite students into deeper critical thinking and rigorous collaborative projects. Research connections are made to constructivist theories of Dewey …
Teaching Social Studies Content Vocabulary Words To Middle-School English Learners: Vocabulary Strategies For Sheltered Instruction And Mainstream Classroom, Bradley Storm
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Research on reading indicates that vocabulary knowledge plays a significant role in comprehension and content learning. Textbooks remain the primary instructional medium in most social studies classrooms, but are rarely written with supports that allow struggling readers to comprehend the text independently. Because typical textbooks do not contain adequate guidance or materials for effective vocabulary instruction, social studies teachers must incorporate these features into their curriculum. This is especially important for teachers of English learners. In order to learn grade-level content, English learners who lack a sufficient background in content vocabulary require rigorous vocabulary instruction that draws on established best …
The Most Effective Methods Of Small Group Reading Instruction In Upper Elementary Grades, Nicole Snoberger
The Most Effective Methods Of Small Group Reading Instruction In Upper Elementary Grades, Nicole Snoberger
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
The research question addressed in this thesis was, what is the most effective way to group students for reading instruction in the upper elementary classroom? This work documents one teacher's experience of grouping students in two main ways, trying to determine if one way is more effective than another. Students were grouped based on reading level using a common text during part of the research. Students were also grouped based on their reading strategy need, using self-selected books during the remaining research time. The goal was to determine if one grouping method was more effective. While the research and data …
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 …
Mentor Texts To Teach Grammar And Mechanics: A Curriculum, Beth Hillerns
Mentor Texts To Teach Grammar And Mechanics: A Curriculum, Beth Hillerns
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Mentor texts are texts that teachers can use with students to model author’s craft - how a text is written. This project addresses the research question, how can mentor texts be used to effectively teach grammar and mechanics in an elementary classroom? The literature review explores the history of grammar instruction, mentor texts in the context of writing workshop, and rubrics for writing assessment. Then the author outlines the development of a curriculum project that utilizes mentor texts to address several third and fourth grade standards from the Language strand of the Common Core State Standards. The paper concludes with …
How Can Fluency Instruction Using Readers' Theater And Paired Reading Impact Reading Comprehension In The Third Grade Classroom?, Angela Koski
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
The research question addressed in this capstone was, how can fluency instruction using readers’ theater and paired reading impact reading comprehension in the third grade classroom? It documents one teacher’s experience of implementing Readers’ Theater and Paired Reading in an attempt to increase fluency which can impact comprehension. The project integrates whole group, small group, and partner activities with a third grade class. The author details her review of best practices in reading instruction, implementation of Readers’ Theater and Paired Reading for fluency instruction, and the results seen from adding explicit fluency instruction. She describes the successes seen in teacher …
A Curriculum And Instruction Resource For Teachers Of Low-Literacy Adult English Language Learners: Incorporating Reading Standards Foundational Skills For Low-Literacy Esl, Mya Shaftel
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question addressed in this project was, how does a teacher of non-literate and low-literacy adult English language learners align instruction with college and career-readiness standards? The author analyzed the Reading Standards Foundational Skills from the College and Career Readiness Standards (USDE, 2013). Through the lens of SLA theory, the author took into consideration how native language literacy, age, and trauma factor into learning for non-literate and low-literacy adult ESL learners. Similarly, the author relied on existing research in instructional strategies for low-literacy adults to inform curriculum and instruction. This project implements systematic and sequential classroom activities around the …
Creating An Engaging, Reading Curriculum For Fifth Grade, Megan Huus
Creating An Engaging, Reading Curriculum For Fifth Grade, Megan Huus
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question addressed in this project was: what is the most effective literacy curriculum for developing adolescents? It documents one teacher’s creation of a whole novel literacy curriculum that focuses on the influence of adolescence. In particular, adolescents need the scaffolding to develop a sense of autonomy and promote positive social interactions. This curriculum focuses on three entire novel units that progressively reduces teacher control and promotes student independence. The author included three novels in the unit plan. This included Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson, Wonder by R.J. Palacio, and an independent novel unit study. She concluded from …
The Impact Of Newsela On Disciplinary Content Area Literacy To Improve Vocabulary Instruction, Nicole Anderson
The Impact Of Newsela On Disciplinary Content Area Literacy To Improve Vocabulary Instruction, Nicole Anderson
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question addressed in this project was, what is the impact of Newsela on developing disciplinary content area literacies to improve vocabulary instruction? The author describes the process of researching and creating a literacy action plan developed for the purpose of providing secondary schools with the timeline and implementation tasks for engaging students in authentic literacy experiences in all content areas. Research around effective literacy plans, specifically by Irvin, Meltzer, and Dukes assisted in development of goals, implementation tasks, and criteria for success. The author defines the key components of this plan, detailing new learnings and struggles throughout the …
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 …
Utilizing Nwea Map Data To Create Scaffolded And Differentiated Instruction That Advances Student Mastery Of Literary Standards And Deepens Student Understanding Of Literary Texts, Jane Reinhardt
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question addressed in this project was, how can NWEA MAP data be utilized to create scaffolded and differentiated instruction that advances student mastery of literary standards and deepens student understanding of literary text? This question was addressed by creating a literary unit that aligns to the NWEA MAP learning continuum. The unit integrates differentiation strategies and scaffolding techniques to help students of all levels successfully master literary standards and deepen their understanding of literary texts. The author documents the related research literature used to construct the unit and describes the details of the unit. Additionally, the author describes …
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 …
The Effects Of Using Morphemic Analysis On Comprehension Of Unknown Academic Vocabulary, Jon Avery
The Effects Of Using Morphemic Analysis On Comprehension Of Unknown Academic Vocabulary, Jon Avery
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
Despite the vast amount of research on morphemes and literacy, examination of how morphemic analysis affects secondary language learners is limited. Morphemic analysis is the process of using common Latin and Greek prefixes, roots and suffixes to hypothesize the meaning of unknown vocabulary. The primary purpose of the research is to determine how morphemic analysis affects English learners ability to determine the meaning of unknown academic vocabulary in their high school advanced placement geography class. The secondary purpose of the study is to provide secondary teachers a tool to do something about the vocabulary gap they observe between native speakers …
From Orality To Literacy: Funds Of Knowledge Of Somali Newcomers, Charity Kroeker Calubayan
From Orality To Literacy: Funds Of Knowledge Of Somali Newcomers, Charity Kroeker Calubayan
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
This study addresses the following questions: What funds of knowledge do newcomer students from oral cultures, specifically Somali students, possess? How does this knowledge relate to orality and literacy? Through open-ended interviews with three Somali newcomer families and a Somali outreach worker, four areas of funds of knowledge emerge: the ability to process detailed information mentally; poetry as an oral art; caring for the household through familial roles; and caring for others through fostering relationships. Each of these areas is linked to the oral, concrete, and communal way of life inherent to oral cultures and contrasted with the print-based, abstract, …