Junior High, Intermediate, Middle School Education and Teaching Commons^™

Internationalizing Teacher Education: A Case Study Of A School Of Education, Florence Bromfield

Capstone Collection

Schools of Education across the US are some of the furthest behind in the race to internationalize departments across campuses in higher education. What does this mean for students in the K-12 classroom? The purpose of this case study is to explore the internationalization of teacher education within the context of a medium-sized state university in the South-East of the US. Working with the School of Education on this campus, qualitative interviews and surveys were administered to faculty and pre-service teachers to understand the extent of internationalization at the university, and the needs of the K-12 classroom. For this research, …

Implementando La Educación Sexual Integral En El Conurbano: Interpretaciones, Practicas, Y Dificultades De Los Docentes De La Esi En La Escuela Secundaria / Implementing Integral Sexual Education In Grand Buenos Aires: Interpretations, Practices, And Difficulties Of High School Sexual Education Teachers, Alexcia Chambers

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The enactment of Law 26, 150—Argentina’s national Integral Sexual Education (ESI) program—in 2006 gave all Argentine teachers the opportunity, and the responsibility, to teach sexual education in the classroom. Although it has been eight years since the passing of this national law, it has not been universally implemented, and high school teachers in Greater Buenos Aires have yet to receive training on the new curriculum. Analyzing the opinions and experiences of seven high school teachers in the Greater Buenos Aires area, this study seeks to show the reality of sexual education in the Argentine classroom today through the teacher’s eyes. …

Creating A Community Of Support: An Evaluation Of The Healing For Educational Achievement Resource Team, Ann M. Quintrell

Capstone Collection

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Healing for Educational Achievement Resource Team (H.E.A.R.T.). H.E.A.R.T. is a committee of staff at a middle school in Dorchester. Dorchester is a violence hotspot in Boston, MA, and students in such areas need to heal from traumas while meeting academic requirements. In order to meet their students’ needs and achieve their goals, schools need to practice trauma informed care. H.E.A.R.T. represents a staff-driven effort to meet student needs and establish trauma informed care. H.E.A.R.T.’s effectiveness was evaluated through surveys and interviews of committee members, interviews of the school’s …

Global Education In New York City High Schools: What We Can Learn, Emily Gifford

Capstone Collection

In an increasingly globalized world, where international issues affect local communities, it is important for students to learn about global topics. International education in colleges is becoming more ubiquitous, but many students do not go to college and need to be introduced earlier. Is global education being taught in high schools? How have educators incorporated international issues into their classrooms? In this study, I spoke to educators in New York City to examine what public high schools are doing to integrate global issues into their curricula.

The study examines what obstacles teachers and schools face, what helps teachers to be …

Class(Ed)Room: Individualized Student Disciplinary Policies As Ignoring The Current Economic Order, Nicole H. Awwad

Capstone Collection

Students are socialized into the institution of education at an early age. Obedience to authority is the objective of much of the learning done in school. Teacher expectations and perceptions of students affect student behavioral and academic performance within the context of school. Student economic and material conditions affect their availability for learning in the school setting. This research questions the application of discipline policies across a student body with diverse academic, economic and social histories. In this case study of one rural Vermont school - tracking, teacher expectations and student economic, academic and behavioral history are assessed for correlation. …

Motivating English Language Learners By Integrating Their L1 And C1, Badequnzhu Badequnzhu

MA TESOL Collection

The subject of this research paper is the use of first language (L1) and culture (C1) of the learners in the process of learning English in an EFL classroom in a specific teaching context. The researcher used different teaching methods and approaches in a Tibetan secondary school context: the Silent Way, Desuggetopedia, Cooperative Learning, Way of Council and Total Physical Response. Implications of this action research can be used in the classroom to raise learners’ motivation to lower affective filters allowing deeper and more profound input of the target language, thus to improve communication and comprehension of the target language …

“The Warm Heart Of Africa” Program Proposal For S.T.E.P Into The World, Adam Goldberg

Capstone Collection

This capstone paper introduces “The Warm Heart of Africa”, an education abroad program proposal for pre-service and in-service K-12 teachers designed for the newly formed organization, S.T.E.P (Supporting.Teachers.Educational.Progression) Into The World. “The Warm Heart of Africa” will offer a month-long intensive program in the African nation of Malawi during the summer of 2012 with the purpose of providing participants with training in intercultural communication alongside an unforgettable cultural immersion experience. With a base of experiential learning, “The Warm Heart of Africa” design focuses on providing participants with a strong foundation in cross-cultural competency and sensitivity as it combines service-learning projects, …

It’S All About M.E. (Motivation Through (Self) Evaluation), Wendy Pillars

MA TESOL Collection

Middle school is a paradox. Students want nothing more than autonomy, while classrooms become more structured and demanding. With the increased structure, however, are increased expectations for the students to determine what to do and when to do it, on their own. This rapid increase in personal responsibility creates confusion in an already tumultuous time in their lives, and a common retaliation, out of fear, apathy, or simply not knowing, is to do nothing. It is a given that students differ in their motivation to learn, and tapping each one of those sources becomes, in effect, a quest for the …

Movement, Rhythms, And Music: Active Curriculums For Teaching Foreign Languages To Beginning Learners, Patricia Guillemin Gregory

MA TESOL Collection

Our task as educators is to fit our teaching methods to our learners. Middle school students have specific characteristics that can seem to interfere with learning. Among these characteristics are a bounty of energy and restlessness. The key for the teacher is to channel this energy into learning activities.

To understand a class and develop a teaching strategy for that class, the teacher should analyze the learning styles of the students. From the results of this analysis, the teacher can build effective lesson plans which match the trends that appear in the class.

With this data in hand, the teacher …

Written Feedback In The Classroom And Beyond, Karen Gould Peltola

MA TESOL Collection

This paper is an in-depth look at the experimentation with and use of written feedback with middle school foreign language students and their parents. It includes my own learning about giving written feedback, the process by which I have trained my students to give written feedback, and finally the extensions of written feedback beyond the classroom, to the parents. Examples of written feedback forms and formats are included, as well as completed examples.

Motivating Adolescents To Be Active Participants In The Language Learning Process, Kier Merill

MA TESOL Collection

Motivating adolescents to be active participants in their own language learning process is a challenge faced by all middle and high school language teachers. This paper provides and overview of tone teacher’s experiences in the struggle to motivate her own students. it also supplies some useful ideas on activities that work to motivate students both inside and outside the classroom. The appendices include step by step plans to help guide other teachers in carrying out some of the activities in their own classes.

English Through Drama: Rationale And Description Of Materials Developed In An Esl Drama Project In Israel, Enid Carol Kumin

MA TESOL Collection

This paper examines the rationale and design of a series of skits which three others and I wrote and presented in Israel during the course of an "English-through-drama" program which we conducted in the public school system. The paper presents one skit, used for fourth - sixth grades, as an example of the work we produced and as a basis for clarifying the way our teaching assumptions and objectives were reflected in our materials. The skits are of interest because of the way in which they integrate various drama techniques to meet both affective and linguistic needs in the classroom, …

Communication Modules: Student-Generated Language Arts Projects For Bilingual Education, Annie Katherine Hawkinson

MA TESOL Collection

The materials consist of nine curriculum units designed for use with bilingual students at 4th, 5th, and 6th grade levels. Although originally developed for French-English bilingual students, they can be used with any language group, since the learning activities are themselves not language-specific. The language used for each communication project is collected from the students themselves: hence the units themselves can be used with any bilingual group.

The learning activities are also designed to be used in multilevel classes, i.e. classes where students' language proficiency may vary. They of course may also be used in classes where such variation does …