Digital Commons Network^™

A Model Reading Skills Guide For Secondary Teachers To Support Classes Across The Curriculum, Keith Edward Swanson

All Graduate Projects

The need for students to learn reading skills in each of their core subject areas was studied. A skills guide, supported by research on effective reading strategies and assessment tools, was then developed to help promote successful reading by secondary students across the curriculum. The guide offers teachers various pre-reading, duringreading, and post-reading activities to enhance the reading done by students in their classes. It also provides assessment tools to enable teachers and students to measure their progress.

A Handbook Of Activities For Inclusion Of At Risk Middle School Language Arts Students, Deana M. York

All Graduate Projects

A handbook oflanguage arts activities for at risk middle school students was developed for preservice and experienced teachers to utilize in general education classrooms. A review of current educational research and literature addresses the need for inclusive instructional practices to meet academic needs of students who are at risk for drop out and failure. The literature review supports evidence that educators provide necessary accommodations for a culturally diverse adolescent student population by adapting classroom curriculum and pedagogy.

Pre-Algebra And Algebra I Class Starters, Lois Martin Serns

Graduate Student Projects

Mathematics has always been important, but never more than today. Math curriculums have been revised throughout the United States to better prepare students for success. The math class of today must offer an environment in which students can work individually and in cooperative groups on meaningful, real-life problems. Teachers need to make the most of the class time they have. Using a math starter problem or activity can help achieve this goal. A wide variety of activities not only improve the quality of learning in the classroom, but will also capture the interest of the student in math class. These …

Learning As We G(R)O(W): Strategizing The Lessons Of A Fledgling Rhetoric And Writing Studies Department, Jane Hindman

Publications and Research

Published in one of the first collections to focus on independent writing programs, A Field of Dreams. The volume offers a complex picture of the experience of the stand-alone. Included here are narratives of individual programs from a wide range of institutions, exploring such issues as what institutional issues led to their independence, how independence solved or created administrative problems, how it changed the culture of the writing program and faculty sense of purpose, success, or failure.

Universal Design For Learning, Julie Hill

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the importance of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles, diverse learning styles, assistive technology/ tools for learning in the regular education classroom. This paper will focus on teachers reevaluating their current curricula and how they should start looking at the presentation of materials within their curriculum and consider the barriers their students might have to each of these presentation types. This paper will go into depth about universal access and how important it is in the planning and purchasing of new curriculum materials. It will also discuss the importance of assistive …

Phonics Or Whole Language : Choosing The Most Effective Approach To Teach Reading, Alisha Sue Jobe

Graduate Research Papers

This study examined the literature concerning the phonics reading approach and the whole language reading approach at the primary grade level. Benefits, as well as problems, associated with phonics and whole language were discussed. Guidelines were presented for teachers to use with the best reading approaches for children in the primary grades. Conclusions were drawn from the literature and recommendations were made for teaching reading successfully to primary-age children.

A Social Studies/Science Technology Project Manual For Upper Elementary Educators In The Dubuque Community School District, Jenny M. Kress

Graduate Research Papers

In the last five years, the Dubuque Community School District's technology infrastructure has grown tenfold. With the implementation of a district-wide networked computer system also came growing expectations for classroom teachers to provide technological opportunities for students (Dubuque Community School District, 2001). With the administration's eagerness to bring Dubuque's students into the information world, teachers have not been provided with any technology curriculum or manuals on how to incorporate computer projects into their lessons. This graduate research project was developed to give the classroom teacher a means to provide these technological opportunities in a very systematic and step-by-step manner. The …

What Parents And Teachers Want To Know About Schools And How Schools Can Advertise This Information Using Technology, Denise H. Krefting

Graduate Research Papers

Finding good teachers is becoming very competitive in our nation as a large number of teachers will be retiring and fewer people are entering the profession. Parents are now shopping for the school that they want their children to attend and then finding the home in that district. The possibility of school vouchers is encouraging this. Schools need to be able to advertise information to potential employees and parents of their school district.

The Waukee School district in Waukee, Iowa works to create an informational CD made available to parents and employees is used as an example of what information …

Using The Instructional Computing Design Process To Introduce And Incorporate The Boys Town Social Skills, Marcus R. Kurtz

Graduate Research Papers

The following paper takes an inside look on how to use the Instructional Computing Design process to create instructional software that focuses on the Boys Town Social Skills. Within the planning, designing, and development of this multimedia project, the paper will also concentrate on the projects standards, management of the project, and an ongoing evaluation of the project. A great amount of discussion in the paper focuses on how to develop software that is used to instruct and guide learners using the Boys Town Social Skills. Each step of the ICD process will be described to reveal how the Boys …

Designing A Web Page To Facilitate Communication, Lori B. Lee

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this action research project was to build a teacher-controlled web page that would facilitate communication between home, community, and school. The web site contained information about administration, athletics (including schedules), honor roll and awards, faculty and staff information, advisor/advisee programs, academic information with assignments, special events, and students of the week.

Twenty-three seventh grade parents volunteered to respond to surveys about their communication with the staff at the Nashua-Plainfield Middle School and the implementation of the middle school web site.

The response by the parents indicated that they liked the monthly news, information on assignments, and athletic …

The Effects Of A Mother's Incarceration On Her Children, Jane Elizabeth Mayer

Graduate Research Papers

This study examined the effects of a mother's incarceration on her children. Benefits, as well as problems, associated with facilitating a mother-child visitation program were discussed. Guidelines were presented for parents, caregivers, children, and prison staff on a successful mother-child visitation program. Conclusions were drawn from the literature and recommendations were made for the future facilitation of a mother-child visitation program.

Journal Selections: Let’S Support Our Students’ Futures, Eva Stowers, Lesley J. Johnson, Susan L. Meacham

Library Faculty Research

Dietetic educators concur that use of professional journals in the undergraduate curriculum promotes student reading skills, exposes students to current research, enhances computer skills and prepares dietetic students for the real world environment. Those of us in educational institutions are continually asked to review our university library holdings; prioritizing on the basis of department selections, cost, rate of inflation, use by faculty and students and availability through interlibrary loans and other document retrieval procedures. No doubt, those in industry and clinical and private practice are also watching their budgets and are asked to review expenses for professional publications.

Could It Be That It Does Make Sense? A Program Review Process For Integrating Activities, Terrel Rhodes

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This chapter presents a model for a comprehensive program review process that can be used on any campus. Faculty developers maintain a critical role in a campus-wide program review initiative. This model is based upon the development of institutional priorities that guide the development of goals and objectives far academic units across the campus. The program review process is based on a core of regularly produced institutional data that can be used by all units to inform decision-making. The review process is conducted on an annual or biannual basis with periodic major review coinciding with accreditation visits. The ultimate success …

Getting Started With Faculty Development, Nadia Cordero De Figueroa, Pedro A. Sandín-Fremaint

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

As a result of an academic senate decision to reconceptualize the baccalaureate, the Río Piedras Campus of the University of Puerto Rico began, in late 1994, a major transformational process that has led it to rethink itself as a community of learners. One of the principal instruments of change has been our Center for Academic Excellence, created in early 1998 as a result of the transformational process. This chapter discusses the process that led to the creation of the center, as well as its structure, activities, and vision for the future. We hope that our experience will be useful to …

Mandatory Faculty Development Works, Mona B. Kreaden

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This chapter tells the story of a successful, ongoing, mandatory faculty development program. It explains the historical reasons why a business school in a large, urban Research I institution felt the need to make their program mandatory, examines how it was developed, and the university faculty development program’s role in the process. The author makes the case that mandatory programs can be successful in faculty development when they are administered by an outside credible entity, are faculty driven, and guarantee confidentiality.

Harnessing The Potential Of Online Faculty Development: Challenges And Opportunities, Timothy P. Shea, Pamela D. Sherer, Eric V. Kristensen

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This chapter explores several issues regarding the current state of online faculty development resources. First, it describes the breadth and depth of today’s online teaching and learning resources. Then, it explains the benefits of designing an institutional teaching and learning center portal as a means for organizing and focusing resources. Finally, it discusses the importance of the faculty developer’s role in harnessing these resources for individual and institutional advantage. The online portal provides a powerful tool for institutional change on a scale heretofore impossible for most, and puts faculty development at the center of an institution’s mission.

The Millennial Learner: Challenges And Opportunities, Suandra Y. Mcguire, Dennis A. Williams

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Students enrolled in college today are, in many respects, quite different from students enrolled a few decades ago. Learners today seem more focused on being credentialed, and less concerned with obtaining a broad-based, liberal arts education. Today’s faculty may find it challenging to provide engaging learning activities for this generation of students. Millennial educators must instill in students a desire to think critically and provide them with strategies that will make them more efficient learners. Campus learning centers and faculty development centers can work together to foster an academic climate that helps all students to realize their full academic potential.

Overcoming Cultural Obstacles To New Ways Of Teaching: The Lilly Freshman Learning Project At Indiana University, Joan K. Middendorf, David Pace

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Evidence has been accumulating for over a decade that approaches such as collaborative and active learning have potential for creating real increases in student learning. Yet on many campuses these ideas are having little impact on what is actually happening in classes and in the formation of institutional practices. What are the cultural obstacles that are preventing the exploration of new ways of teaching and how can these be overcome? In this chapter we will describe cultural obstacles that prevent the adoption of new ways of teaching. After presenting a few opportunities created by the current sense of crisis in …

Colby College Catalogue 2002 - 2003, Colby College

Colby Catalogues

Colby College Catalogue: September 2002 - August 2003

G02-1476 Prairie Dogs And Their Control, Scott E. Hygnstrom, Dallas Virchow, John Hobbs

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

Black-tailed prairie dogs are stocky, burrowing rodents that are members of the squirrel family. They are the only species of prairie dog native to Nebraska and they live across the western three-fourths of the state. They cause problems, however, when they conflict with livestock ranching and other land uses, or cause a threat to human health and safety.

This NebGuide provides information on the life history and legal status of black-tailed prairie dogs and prevention and control of the damage they can cause.

Our Relationship....And Managing The Farm/Business, Kathy Bosch

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

When couples manage or own a farm, ranch or other business, they face many challenges. Often these challenges or obstacles are not anticipated.

Our Relationship....And Parenting Through Conflict, Kathy Bosch

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

Even the most compatible, passionate, energetic and loving couple will have conflict at times. Conflict itself is not bad.

Our Relationship....Making It Stronger, Kathy Bosch

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

Today, most individuals want respect, commitment, passion, friendship, companionship, sexual gratification and probably more from their marriage partner.

Our Relationship....And Parenting, Kathy Bosch

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

Your partner relationship should be considered the basis or center of your family. Therefore, during your parenting years, it is essential that you not neglect your marriage or partnership.

Nf556 Our Relationship....And Communicating Effectively, Kathy Bosch

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

This publication helps couples learn how to communicate with one another.

Nf507 Manure Testing: What To Request?, Charles Shapiro, Charles S. Wortmann, Richard Deloughery

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

Manure testing is necessary to make optimum use of manure while protecting water resources. This NebFact is a guide to providing information on a Manure Sample Submission Form for reliable interpretation of results.

Nf528 Parenting Your Child Effectively: Set A Good Example, Marilyn Fox

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

This publication discusses ways parents can communicate effectively with their children during emotional times.

Nf532 Parenting Your Child Effectively: Give Choices, Marilyn Fox

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

This publication is about giving your child choices.

Nf02-538 Protect Your Credit And Identity, Debra E. Schroeder, Rebecca L. Versch

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

This NebFact includes information on how you can protect your credit and your identity.

Nf02-494 Creating A Strong Family: Talking About Religion And Spirituality In Families, John Defrain

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

This NebFact is about creating a strong family by talking about religion and other spiritualy things with your family.