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Anxiety Disorders In Elementary Students: Interventions For Classroom Use, Jillian Maloney
Anxiety Disorders In Elementary Students: Interventions For Classroom Use, Jillian Maloney
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Many elementary students suffer from anxiety disorders. There are various types of anxiety disorders, risk factors, and effects on elementary students. The disorders described include generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, specific phobia, social phobia, separation anxiety disorder, and selective mutism. These can be influenced by interpersonal and environmental factors, leading to academic, social, emotional, and physiological effects.Research shows that educators can provide accommodations and classroom strategies to support students. The capstone project developed as a result of this research is a website that serves as a resource for educators. It explains the different types of anxiety disorders, their …
Critical Literacy And Independent Learning Routines With Opportunity Youth, Natalie Seger
Critical Literacy And Independent Learning Routines With Opportunity Youth, Natalie Seger
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The nation’s population of opportunity youth, those aged 16–24 and disconnected from school and work, has increased since the pandemic. Many of these young people lack a high school diploma or GED. Due to past school experiences, many opportunity youth have not had the same instruction and time necessary to develop their literacy skills when compared to peers with uninterrupted education. This project addresses the research question: How can a high school equivalency curriculum based in critical literacy and independent learning strategies engage opportunity youth and empower them as self-directed learners? Building a classroom curriculum utilizing critical literacy and developing …
Preparing Trauma Informed Teachers And Utilizing Trauma Responsive Systems To Increase Educational Success For Elementary Age Students, Kate Jordal
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Research suggests that trauma informed teaching practices benefit all students, regardless of whether or not they have experienced trauma. The professional development created for this project is informed by the work of Danielle Theis’ Teach to Heal and Performing Tracking System (2022), Nicholas Long’s Life Space Crisis Intervention (2021), the scholarship of Ross Greene (2014), and the educational framework Universal Design for Learning (2022). Trauma informed teaching practices include at its core: role definition for adults, common language, and explicit teaching of social emotional skills. The professional development will help teachers create a trauma responsive classroom which will be beneficial …
English Language Learners: Closing The Achievement Gap, Silyvanus Juma
English Language Learners: Closing The Achievement Gap, Silyvanus Juma
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The purpose of this research is to investigate the best practices and effective teaching strategies that teachers and other educators can use with English Language Learners (ELLs) to close the achievement gap. The research intends to illustrate that English language proficiency requirements should not in any way be a barrier to the academic performance and achievement of English Language Learners. ELLs are continuously lagging behind their native English speaking peers academically. Various reports indicate that ELLs continue to under-perform in state tests, course grades, and college placements tests. They face numerous challenges including lack of interaction with native speakers of …
Subverting The Academic Language Hegemony: Implementing Language Architecture And Similar Pedagogies, Viviana Chavez Garcia
Subverting The Academic Language Hegemony: Implementing Language Architecture And Similar Pedagogies, Viviana Chavez Garcia
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The field of English language teaching is continually evolving in order for teachers to best serve the students. The field’s connected history with colonization and racism must be acknowledged in order to confront the reasons why academic English is valued higher than all other forms of English and other languages. Under the current framework, teachers are asking multilingual students to change their language in order to reverse their own oppression. According to language architecture, the languages that students bring to class are already sufficiently cognitively sophisticated to achieve content standards and participate in academic activities. This is where the foundation …
A Menu About Me: A Next Generation Science Standards Aligned 9-12 Life Science Curriculum Adapted For Students With Limited Or Interrupted Formal Education, Madeline Carras
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
In order to face the challenges of a rapidly changing world, it is imperative that thinkers with diverse backgrounds and perspectives are supported in the development of their scientific skills and voice. However, very few, if any, high school life science curricular resources are available that are specifically adapted with the assets and needs of students with limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE) in mind. The widely adopted Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are uniquely designed to center the learner’s authentic thought process and pre-existing funds of knowledge–a framework which also happens to be aligned with the strengths of SLIFE …
Best Practices To Improve English Language Acquisition For High School El Students Who Have Experienced Trauma, Hannah Sundermeyer
Best Practices To Improve English Language Acquisition For High School El Students Who Have Experienced Trauma, Hannah Sundermeyer
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
English Learner students are a rapidly growing subset of the U.S. student population with unique strengths and needs compared to their monolingual peers. My experiences as an EL teacher with secondary EL students who have experienced trauma led to my capstone question: what best practices can be used for high school EL students who have been impacted by trauma to build their English language acquisition? While there is a plethora of research on EL students and on trauma, there is little research connecting the two topics. However, research demonstrates a number of proven strategies to help EL students and students …
Developing A Deep Understanding Of Multiplication And A Growth Mindset In 5th Grade Students From Marginalized Groups, Rachael Johnson
Developing A Deep Understanding Of Multiplication And A Growth Mindset In 5th Grade Students From Marginalized Groups, Rachael Johnson
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Traditionally mathematics has been taught with a focus of rote memorization of basic facts and procedures. Research has found that this often leaves students without the conceptual understanding behind procedures. This can prevent students from making the connections necessary to transfer their knowledge to other situations. It has also become clear that students from marginalized groups often score much lower on high stakes tests than their white counterparts. This project involved creating a multiplication unit that uses number talks, strategies from cognitively guided instruction as well as ideas on culturally relevant teaching. The goal of this project was for students …
Facilitating Awareness Of Trauma For All Staff In An Educational Environment, Kelly Rygh
Facilitating Awareness Of Trauma For All Staff In An Educational Environment, Kelly Rygh
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
It is important to address the effects of trauma in the K-12 education system because those effects can have crippling effects on how students succeed academically and in life. The research uncovered in this review of literature pointed to the fact that there are inconsistencies in even defining trauma. There are multiple versions of how to categorize trauma and various ways they manifest, with only some of them being observable. The methods used for addressing trauma have their positives and negatives, however, those methods are inconsistent. This makes it confusing and difficult to evaluate their effectiveness. The capstone project sought …
Raising The Awareness Of Somali Families: The Positive Impact Of Dual Language Education On Student Success, Khaleef Warsame
Raising The Awareness Of Somali Families: The Positive Impact Of Dual Language Education On Student Success, Khaleef Warsame
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Studies have found that dual language education is powerful for all learners and particularly essential for the success of first- and second-generation immigrant learners in the United States. The learning model enhances students’ academic achievement, school participation, and healthy identity development. Students proficient in both their heritage language and culture and their new homeland’s dominant culture and language are also more likely to gain higher upward mobility and enjoy advanced cognitive development. While the benefits of dual language education (DLE) are explicitly illustrated in the literature, there are currently no Somali dual language programs found to be existing in Minnesota …
Teaching Primary Aged Students Impacted By Trauma Through Interactive Read Alouds, Amelia Wykes
Teaching Primary Aged Students Impacted By Trauma Through Interactive Read Alouds, Amelia Wykes
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question investigated in this project was: How can read-alouds support the learning of primary-aged students who have been affected by early childhood trauma? The experiences of teaching students affected by trauma without a social-emotional curriculum led the author to research how interactive read alouds help students become familiar with social-emotional skills. The research showed how social-emotional learning linked with interactive read alouds can be successful in assisting students in regulating their emotions. The author created ten interactive read-aloud lessons that introduce key social-emotional skills. The topics included in the lessons are self-awareness and self-management. There are six subskills …
Foundational Literacy For Slife, Allison Knutson
Foundational Literacy For Slife, Allison Knutson
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Students with limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE) are a subset of English learners who may have no previous schooling, limited schooling, or interrupted prior schooling; they have had at least two fewer years of schooling than their peers. They not only lack English proficiency but also tend to have limited or no first language literacy (DeCapua & Marshall, 2015). This project looks to address English literacy instruction for SLIFE, knowing current practices are not meeting the needs of this population, as evidenced by SLIFE having some of the highest high school dropout rates (DeCapua et al., 2007). The research …
Teaching Mindfulness In High School Settings, Gena Roisum
Teaching Mindfulness In High School Settings, Gena Roisum
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Roisum, G. (2021). Teaching Mindfulness in High School Settings. This capstone project addresses the following research question: How can engaging in mindfulness lessons impact high school student and educator stress levels? Research suggests that mindfulness practice is linked to, among other benefits, statistically significant decreases in student and teacher stress in diverse educational settings. The mindfulness curriculum created for this project is intended for implementation in high school settings, including content area classrooms, case management settings, and other educational programs. Key concepts include stress, trauma, and mental health; mindfulness; social-emotional learning (SEL); and teacher self-efficacy. The lessons are trauma-informed in …
Virtual Distance Learning: How Teachers And Parents/Guardians Can Help Increase Elementary School Students’ Engagement, Joceline Rita
Virtual Distance Learning: How Teachers And Parents/Guardians Can Help Increase Elementary School Students’ Engagement, Joceline Rita
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Although distance learning has existed since the 1700s, it was not until the COVID-19 pandemic that the general public was introduced to it. UNESCO (2020) estimated that there are 290.5 million elementary and secondary students in 184 countries whose education was derailed as a result of school closures caused by the pandemic. Due to the suddenness of the situation, teachers along with parents/guardians had to find tools and resources in order to make sure that students could get a high-quality education during virtual distance learning. The key to achieving that is student engagement. Now that the general public has been …
The School To Prison Pipeline And The Importance Of Its Recognition And Understanding By Professional Educators, Ericka Yang
The School To Prison Pipeline And The Importance Of Its Recognition And Understanding By Professional Educators, Ericka Yang
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The school to prison pipeline is an important topic in the field of education and has been an up and coming topic for discussion. A problem that the school to prison pipeline has created is the influx of students being funneled into the mass incarceration system. Researchers have found that students with certain demographic characteristics, such as race, disability, socio-economic status, may pose a greater risk for becoming victims to the school to prison pipeline. There has not been as much effort into understanding how educators can mitigate the issue of the school to prison pipeline. The purpose of this …
Culturally Relevant Small-Group Strategies To Increase Engagement In African-American Students, Kimberly Haley
Culturally Relevant Small-Group Strategies To Increase Engagement In African-American Students, Kimberly Haley
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Minority groups of students are oftentimes expected to convert to the eurocentrism set up of education. However, the demographics of students in education continues to grow and evolve. Teachers are expected to keep up with this evolution of change, but aren’t necessarily provided with the correct resources. Due to this, educators are seeing reduced levels of engagement, particularly in African American students. This capstone is a professional development for staff showcasing some culturally responsive strategies created by Dr. Sharroky Hollie. These strategies can easily be placed into lessons in order to support the different rings of cultures within students, while …
How Can Teachers Empower Students With Learning Differences Towards An Equitable Education?, Samuel Ryan
How Can Teachers Empower Students With Learning Differences Towards An Equitable Education?, Samuel Ryan
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Students with learning differences and disabilities in today’s schools face numerous challenges towards an equitable learning experience. Educators and scholars have also developed mindsets and pedagogical approaches that aim to disrupt inequitable experiences for students with learning differences. This capstone examines the nature of challenges facing students with learning differences. It also shares ways teachers may empower students with learning differences despite the challenges they face. A presentation, resource guide, and reflective questions crafted for teachers’ professional development are included in this project to support teachers in learning how to empower students with learning differences.
Implementing Growth Mindset Learning In The Special Education English Language Arts Classroom, Jody Brenteson
Implementing Growth Mindset Learning In The Special Education English Language Arts Classroom, Jody Brenteson
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The capstone question investigated in this project was, how can a growth mindset curriculum be successfully integrated in a special education English language arts classroom? It catalogues one teacher’s formation of an English Language Arts growth mindset curriculum intended for use in small group, special education ELA classrooms. The curriculum was designed by the author with the objective of developing a growth mindset in the guiding audience. Described herein is the proposed use of the curriculum as well as measurements of effectiveness and future implications on a teacher’s career, classroom development, and educational progress of her socioeconomically disadvantaged students.
How To Improve High-Risk High School Student Achievement And Well-Being Through Using Best Practices, Particularly In An Alternative Setting, Laura Lopez Dahl
How To Improve High-Risk High School Student Achievement And Well-Being Through Using Best Practices, Particularly In An Alternative Setting, Laura Lopez Dahl
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Many high-risk students struggle in education and find it difficult to be successful in mainstream educational settings. Alternative educational programs (AEP) are used as an intervention for students who are struggling in the mainstream setting and are at risk for failure. Students in AEP programs have an opportunity to overcome their barriers and achieve graduation as opposed to dropping out or getting their general education diploma (GED). Many of the students in these programs struggle with adverse childhood experiences (ACE) and have had negative educational experiences. This capstone project addresses the research question: How to improve high-risk high school achievement …
Using English Language Arts As An Outlet For Addressing And Defining Student’S Past Trauma, Dalton J. Pieske
Using English Language Arts As An Outlet For Addressing And Defining Student’S Past Trauma, Dalton J. Pieske
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Research supports the notion that trauma can have a list of negative social, psychological, neurophysiological, emotional and physical ramifications on at-risk adolescents. Research has also shown that trauma-occurrence is affected based on racial demographics and geographical location. Therefore, this capstone project intends to answer the question: How can ELA teachers use their classes as an outlet for addressing and defining ethno-racial minority and U.S. born student’s trauma? There has been an increase in mental health professionals in schools to address increasing student trauma but this project argues the English Language Arts classroom can provide students an outlet for building skills …
Creating A Nature-Based Environmental Connection To At-Risk Ebd Students In A Self-Contained Classroom, Timothy L. Thayer
Creating A Nature-Based Environmental Connection To At-Risk Ebd Students In A Self-Contained Classroom, Timothy L. Thayer
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Research has shown that most students in conventional classrooms lack exposure to the natural world in the midst of the complete school day. Looking more specifically at students who have Emotional Behavior Disorders and being in a self-contained classroom can prevent ideal opportunities for the therapeutic benefits of exposure to what the outside environment can provide. The driving focus for this project is creating a nature-based environmental connection to at-risk EBD students in a self-contained classroom. Relying on the influence of biophilic design, this project utilizes many aspects of how natural features can benefit the students both emotionally and educationally. …
A Culturally Relevant Earth Science Curriculum: Engaging Students In Socioscientific Issues Through Socratic Seminars, Colin Matthew Gettle
A Culturally Relevant Earth Science Curriculum: Engaging Students In Socioscientific Issues Through Socratic Seminars, Colin Matthew Gettle
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question addressed in this capstone project is: How can Socratic seminars be used as a culturally relevant tool to increase student engagement and science literacy? This capstone project is based largely off the work of Gloria Ladson-Billings, who promoted the critical idea of culturally responsive teaching in all classrooms to promote equity and social engagement. Through the lens of culturally responsive pedagogy, this project aims to address the large engagement gaps that exist in many diverse academic settings. Specifically, the project is a set of three 8th grade Earth science units. Each unit addresses Minnesota State Eighth Grade …
A Coaching Framework: Supporting Mainstream Teachers In Incorporating Academic-Language Development For English Learners, Sarah K. Holty
A Coaching Framework: Supporting Mainstream Teachers In Incorporating Academic-Language Development For English Learners, Sarah K. Holty
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
It is challenging to meet the linguistic needs of English learners in mainstream classrooms, even for experienced and trained English-language-development teachers, and many mainstream teachers are minimally equipped to address language needs in the context of content instruction. Because English learner success in the mainstream classroom depends upon mastery of content together with proficiency in academic English, mainstream teachers need further professional development, tools, and resources in order to support English learners in their classrooms. This project proposes embedded professional development within a coaching structure focused on implementing academic-language development in mainstream instruction. Research shows that an instructional coaching model …
Social-Emotional Learning For The Alternative High School, Lindsay A. Bednar
Social-Emotional Learning For The Alternative High School, Lindsay A. Bednar
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The purpose of this capstone is to provide social-emotional learning (SEL) strategies for educational professionals to use with high-school students in the alternative high school. Included in this capstone is a detailed description of SEL as well as an analysis of the need for SEL offering in alternative high schools. The project provides three succinct strategies that educators and professionals can implement within an alternative education setting to best support the high needs of their students. Adapted from Nancy Hellander Pung’s UpCoaching framework, the three strategies focus on deepening questions that allow students to realize their values, their intentions, and …
A Montessori Reading Intervention For Nonliterate First Grade Children, Benjamin Dorer
A Montessori Reading Intervention For Nonliterate First Grade Children, Benjamin Dorer
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
This capstone paper seeks to address the question, How could traditional literacy interventions be integrated into an authentic Montessori classroom in order to help public Montessori teachers address the specific needs of nonliterate first grade students? The literature review explores the topics of authentic Montessori, Montessori literacy curriculum, traditional reading interventions, school readiness and teacher challenges. The researcher was influenced by the works of M. Montessori, C. Anderson, R. Ungerer, National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS), and B. Goldsbrough. The researcher produced a project to address the specific needs of nonliterate first grade children in Montessori classrooms. The project created for …
Do Believe The Hype: Teaching Literacy To Urban Students In A Secondary Social Studies Classroom With Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, Jeffrey Engelen
Do Believe The Hype: Teaching Literacy To Urban Students In A Secondary Social Studies Classroom With Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, Jeffrey Engelen
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Statistics indicate that urban students often underperform in testing for literacy competency and educators have argued that literacy is crucial to narrowing the achievement gap. This project was guided by the research question: What is a more effective approach for delivering literacy strategies and content instruction to urban students in a secondary social studies classroom? Research has shown that the more effective teachers of urban students build positive classroom environments based on restorative behavioral practices, asset perspectives and strong relationships. To answer the guiding question, three areas of focus drove the research: literacy comprehension, culturally relevant pedagogy and authentic social …
A Trauma-Informed Devised Theater Curriculum, Christopher Michael
A Trauma-Informed Devised Theater Curriculum, Christopher Michael
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
This project seeks to understand how trauma affects the brain in order to inform more effective approaches for engaging high-school aged survivors of trauma in devising theater. By understanding how the brain responds in unfamiliar situations, a teacher can be more informed on how to prevent triggering the natural flight, fight, or freeze responses common to post-traumatic stress disorder. The realization that many trauma survivors need additional exercises and time to transition from survival mode to their more cognitive processes informs the processes necessary for creating theater from scratch. Planning for this results in a more carefully selected scaffolding of …
Improving Attention And Emotional Regulation For Middle School Students Through The Use Of Mindfulness Practices, Sean Mattner
Improving Attention And Emotional Regulation For Middle School Students Through The Use Of Mindfulness Practices, Sean Mattner
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Mattner, S. Improving Attention and Emotional Regulation for Middle School Students Through the Use of Mindfulness Practices. (2019) Research has demonstrated that establishing a mindfulness practice has a range of mental, emotional, social, and educational benefits. The curriculum designed for this project focuses on using mindfulness techniques for 6th-8th grade students to improve attention, concentration, and emotional regulation. Mindfulness practices have been implemented in a number of settings, from hospitals to work environments for decades, but implementing it within the classroom, especially for children, is limited. The project involved creating a diverse curriculum that engages students with mindfulness through activities …
The Lost Boys: An Exploration Of The Male Gender Gap And Its Causes, Derek Swart
The Lost Boys: An Exploration Of The Male Gender Gap And Its Causes, Derek Swart
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The male gender gap refers to a discrepancy between achievement and investment levels of male and female students. Demonstrated through a variety of metrics such as graduation rates, grade point average, enrollment in Advanced Placement courses, special education identification, and behavioral intervention, male students demonstrate lower levels of academic success than female students. Factors influencing this gap appear to include social factors such as male disinclination to orient peer relationships around academic topics, internal factors such as lower measured time spent on study or homework in males, and different academic expectations for males and females from their teachers. This project …
What Advantages Can Be Leveraged By Offering A Spanish For Heritage Learners Class As An Elective To Spanish Speaking Long-Term English Language Learners In Middle School?, Claire Milne
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
There is increasing evidence of academic underachievement in school-age Spanish speaking emerging bilingual students - the largest second language speaking group in the USA. Research in the field of heritage language learning has been ongoing since the 1970s. Most research has been concentrated at the elementary school level. This capstone seeks to answer the question of what advantages can be leveraged by offering a Spanish for Heritage Learners class as an elective to Spanish speaking long-term English language learners in middle school. Research is reviewed on themes of long-term English language learners, bilingual literacy, academic self concept and cultural identity. …