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School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

2020

Reflective Practice

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Full-Text Articles in Education

The Importance Of Social And Emotional Learning In The Classroom, Kayla Bilotta Oct 2020

The Importance Of Social And Emotional Learning In The Classroom, Kayla Bilotta

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Life changes on a daily basis and that includes the lives of students in the classrooms. Many students seem to be struggling with social and emotional skills that help them be successful in learning and in life. I created this capstone with the purpose of learning how the implementation of social and emotional learning (SEL) can benefit and impact students, with an end focus on students at the elementary school level. I created a professional development presentation for elementary educators that provided the same information I collected during my research stage. My project also includes an example of ten free-standing …


How Can Educators Use Multicultural Materials To Create A More Inclusive Classroom Community?, Jenna Urick Oct 2020

How Can Educators Use Multicultural Materials To Create A More Inclusive Classroom Community?, Jenna Urick

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

A common goal among educators is to create a classroom environment where students feel welcomed, seen, and heard. This Capstone Project provides a resource guide of multicultural materials that teachers can use in order to create a more inclusive learning environment. The resource guide includes literature, games, technology, and community resources. The project and review of literature helped to answer the research question: How can educators use multicultural materials to create a more inclusive classroom community? Research concludes that students are more engaged and more likely to be successful at school if they feel they are represented in their curriculum.


Redefining Maine: Grade 3 Maine Studies Curricular Unit, Margaret Hutchison Jul 2020

Redefining Maine: Grade 3 Maine Studies Curricular Unit, Margaret Hutchison

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Social Studies is considered an essential element of American public education as an academic discipline that cultivates essential knowledge and skills for meaningful participation in democratic society but has become marginalized in recent decades at the elementary level. The current-day state of Maine passed LD291 in 2001 to require K-12 teachers to include Maine Native Americans in all Social Studies instruction. The full implementation of this vision has not yet been achieved due to various barriers and limitations. Yet this work is more critical than ever in current-day Maine, the Whitest state in the nation and a place where the …


Culturally Relevant Small-Group Strategies To Increase Engagement In African-American Students, Kimberly Haley Apr 2020

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 …


Integrating Mindfulness Strategies And English As A Second Language Instruction, Samuel Trojan Apr 2020

Integrating Mindfulness Strategies And English As A Second Language Instruction, Samuel Trojan

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The guiding question addressed for this capstone project is: how can mindfulness be integrated into English Language Learner (ELL) curriculum in a way that promotes social, emotional and academic development? The motivation for this project was born out of a desire to address academic, emotional and social growth concurrently for ELLs in a way that addresses the specific needs of that population. To address these, mindfulness techniques are integrated into curriculum design. The rationale for this is that mindfulness techniques can have certain mental health benefits, social benefits, improve focus and create greater awareness in regards to academic, social and …


Equity In Social And Emotional Learning In The Elementary Classroom: An Introduction For Educators, Kirsten Hoffer Apr 2020

Equity In Social And Emotional Learning In The Elementary Classroom: An Introduction For Educators, Kirsten Hoffer

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Research has demonstrated that social and emotional learning is key in early elementary education, and that a lack of social and emotional skills has many negative implications for the lives of students in the future. It is also widely accepted that the education system in the United States has a great deal of work to do in regards to equity. The course designed for this project pulls together texts that encourage educators to examine their own teaching practice through a lens of equity, to identify places where white supremacy culture is prevalent in their subtle messages to and actions toward …


Implementing An Effective Instructional Coaching Program To Benefit The Teacher As A Learner, Amber Bentley Apr 2020

Implementing An Effective Instructional Coaching Program To Benefit The Teacher As A Learner, Amber Bentley

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Professional development opportunities are not created equally, especially in their ability to achieve sustainable growth in both teachers and students. This paper examines the benefits of an effective instructional coaching program for teachers as the learner and develops the idea that instructional coaching is the best form of differentiated professional development that is built upon a culture of conversation and reflection. Chapter one of this paper provides the author’s investment into the topic of instructional coaching and the need for a differentiated approach to professional development in order to reach the needs of an adult learner. Chapter two explores the …


Using The Process Approach To Create An Effective And Efficient Secondary Writing Curriculum For Students And Teachers, Adam Koehler Apr 2020

Using The Process Approach To Create An Effective And Efficient Secondary Writing Curriculum For Students And Teachers, Adam Koehler

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The process approach to writing instruction has become widely used; however, writing assessment practices that emphasize summative feedback may not utilize the strengths of the process approach to instruction. This capstone project answers the question: How can writing instruction and assessment practices be used to create an effective and efficient writing curriculum? The result of the research shows that the instruction methods of specific writing strategies, mentor text analysis, collaborative writing, and sentence combination can be effectively integrated. Research-informed curricula were developed with an emphasis on student-centered formative assessment practices such as writing conferences and peer/self-assessment. These practices effectively support …


Co-Teaching Strategies For Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Learners In Middle School English Language Arts, Adena Berg Apr 2020

Co-Teaching Strategies For Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Learners In Middle School English Language Arts, Adena Berg

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question addressed in this project is: What are the most effective co-teaching strategies for teaching literacy skills in a middle school English Language Arts class that is culturally and linguistically diverse? It documents one teacher’s creation of an ELA-based curriculum that includes strategies for ELD co-teaching, learning activities to increase middle school literacy skills and supports for culturally and linguistically diverse learners. Designing the curriculum using the Understanding by Design framework, it is for use when teaching Free? Stories Celebrating Human Rights ( Morpurgo et al., 2015) in a co-taught sixth grade classroom. The overall goal of the …