Education Commons^™

Teaching Students With Adverse Childhood Experiences, Kelsey Bundrick

Senior Honors Theses

Students in every school and at every grade level have had, or continue to have, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), which may be considered traumatic. These experiences inevitably interfere with students’ brain development and learning processes. First, it is important that teachers are informed of the effects that these experiences may have on the lives of their students. Awareness of the problem is the first step toward solving any issue. Second, with knowledge of these findings, teachers must find methods to reach these students. All students deserve an equal chance at a quality education. The purpose of this study is to …

Oral History: A Tool For The Elementary And Middle Classroom, Jessica Keiser

Senior Honors Theses

Modern historical instruction requires educators to cover broad expanses of history and prepare students for standardized testing. In the push to meet state standards and cover the vast curriculum in short periods of time, many educators have begun to teach to the textbook. Much to the detriment of students, this educational practice has favored periodization and content quantity over the development of crucial historical skills. Rather than adhering to popular education trends, teachers can consider implementing oral history projects within their elementary and middle school classrooms. Oral history is a methodology that employs first-hand accounts to teach about key historical …

"Read It Again!": Storytelling To Imitate The Great Teacher, Kate Whatley

Senior Honors Theses

The student’s mind is bent on stories, asking mothers around the world to ‘read it again’. These stories preserve information and emotions for centuries. In the classroom, stories enliven motivation and empathy in ways that result in higher academic achievement and social awareness. Learning to use stories as a key instructional strategy will allow for more equitable opportunities in classrooms, encourage mental health and truth telling for the teacher and the student collectively, and allow the academic community to imitate Christ by contributing to the bigger story taking place across time. In application of using stories as teachers, this thesis …

Poetry Beyond The Page: A Case For Spoken Word Poetry In Florida's Secondary Classrooms, Sarah Matherly

Senior Honors Theses

Florida’s B.E.S.T. Standards, Florida’s most recent K-12 educational standards to promote literacy, lack the rising art of Spoken Word Poetry. However, Florida’s Department of Education should integrate Spoken Word into Florida’s Secondary curriculum. Spoken Word Poetry, by its definition, holds researched benefits that align with the B.E.S.T. Standard’s poetry recommendations and literacy-centered goals. In light of such benefits, Florida’s Department of Education should consider various Spoken Word poets and poems to include in Florida’s Secondary Curriculum, as well as explore the resources and integration methods included in this thesis for both teachers and students.

E & I Academics - A Business Plan, Rosalyn Mccoy

Senior Honors Theses

Starting a school presents many difficulties, but a business plan provides a method by which to work through many of these issues. The following business plan for Encourage & Inspire Academics, hereafter referred to as E & I Academics, explains many aspects of the proposed business from operations to competition to target market. E & I Academics is a proposed business that will offer both afterschool tutoring and homeschool tutoring services to families who wish to invest in a quality education for their children. E & I Academics will offer more personalized services than a typical public school and will …

From Common Core To Charter: The Economic Remedy To Nc Education, Hunter B. Winstead

Senior Honors Theses

Although numerous factors contribute to the decline of North Carolina’s economic prosperity, one of the most prevalent is the waste that occurs through the ineffective funding of education. In the last century, this system has become progressively centralized and bureaucratized which restricts the presence of diversity and hinders economic choice. The purest evidence of this movement is demonstrated through the state’s adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), an initiative designed to serve as a basis for federal entanglement in education. Proponents of CCSS claimed that the system would accomplish a variety of rigorous educational goals; however, none of …

Education Individualized Through Technology, Rachel M. Leers

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis will overview technology in the classroom and the impact as well as the potential that is has individualizing instruction in order to meet the needs of every kind of student. The thesis will consist of thorough research on the subject matter. Technology is a great tool to use for individualizing instruction as it consists of many recourses, it increases communication, increases discussion, has high availability, it is affordable, and consists of a variety of lesson plan ideas to meet the needs of each student. Individualized learning is especially important in the classroom as it increases student achievement, provides …

Bibliotherapy: An Approach To Treating Mental Illness In The Classroom, Erin M. Curry

Senior Honors Theses

The prevalence of adolescent mental illness has increased at an alarming rate over the past two decades. Due to a lack of accessible mental health care and the stigmatization of mental illness, parents of children with these disorders are often reluctant to seek help. These children often resort to negative self-coping methods among which include substance abuse, violence, and suicide. These negative self-coping methods have a harmful, lasting impact on the individual as well as the surrounding community.

Bibliotherapy, which harnesses the meditative power of books, can teach helpful coping skills to students with mental illness. When effectively utilized in …

Math Education At Its Prime?, Natalie Benet

Senior Honors Theses

Three main problems with current math education are negative mindsets toward math, the lagging comparison with advanced education in other countries, and ill-equipped teachers and school systems. The consequences of these problems have impacted math education by convincing students that they do not need to try at math, filling countless classrooms with ill-qualified teachers, and overall lowering the quality of U.S. math education compared to the education of rest of the world. In order to correct these problems and reverse the present and future consequences, the quality of math education must be increased. This can be done by changing the …

To Read Or Not To Read: The Influence Of Literature On Behavior Management, Katherine E. Ray

Senior Honors Theses

Perhaps one of the most discussed issues in American education is that of classroom management. This is not simply an elementary-level problem either, as would be expected due to the younger student’s short attention spans, but an issue that affects the middle and high schools as well. More and more, behavioral issues are becoming a problem because they cause disruption in the classroom and restrict the students from reaching their full learning potential. But are these problems only due to the special needs of students, such as ADD or ADHD, or does the issue lie deeper? Perhaps reviewing the literature …

To Read Or Not To Read: A Comprehensive Study Of Effective Reading And Methods Of Teaching Reading, Morgan Decker

Senior Honors Theses

The ability to read written language proficiently is an important skill in modern society; however, reading seems to be a lost art in many ways. In order to correct this problem, educators must determine the most effective method for teaching reading to elementary students. The most prominent methods include the whole language method, the phonetic method, and the balanced method. Research on the techniques, advantages, disadvantages, and case studies associated with each method indicates that the most effective method for teaching reading to elementary students is the balanced method.