Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Future Historiographers: A Unit Plan For Progressive History Classrooms, Holli Sommerfeld

Honors Theses

It is this unit plans goal to introduce middle school students to historiography, which is the history of how history has been written across time. Within this unit plan, students are placed in an inquiry-based environment to dissect varying source materials; during this process, students will focus on three central components that are essential to understanding how history is told, these being content, perspective, and form of writing. Though this subject matter is rarely introduced to students at this age, through the use of an interdisciplinary approach incorporating the strengths of both English and History, careful scaffolding, a collaborative learning …

Adoption And Integration Of Best Practice Methods In Secondary English Teaching, Gretchen Rumohr-Voskuil

Dissertations

Commencing with a critical examination of the history and rhetorical force of the term "best practice," this dissertation undertakes a qualitative study of three secondary English teachers, considering their adoption and integration of best practice methods. The subjects, represented by urban, suburban and rural secondary schools, were National Writing Project participants identified as "exemplary teachers" by a NWP site director. "Best practice" methods analyzed included the process model for the teaching of writing and literature, student decision-making, and a low-risk writing environment. Factors that were found to influence the adoption of best practice methods included undergraduate and preservice experiences, intern …

Marginalized Literature In The English Classroom Working With Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel And Dimed, Noelle Carpenter

Honors Theses

Literature in the English classroom should give students the opportunity to explore the voices of a diverse range of people, especially in a school system that is becoming increasingly diverse itself. By exposing students to literature that engages them in important social issues, students become aware of a world beyond their own. Marginalized literature shows students different perspectives that exist in the world in which they live. Ehrenreich's autoethnography Nickel and Dimed is a window into the lives of the working poor based on her own personal experiences and research during a time when the views surrounding those in poverty …

Electronic Literacy: Teaching Literary Reading Through The Digital Medium, Robert Adams Rozema

Dissertations

Over the last decade, digital technology has become an increasingly important part of education. In the discipline of English language arts, digital technology has been enlisted to teach writing, as the word processor and more recently, the World Wide Web, have provided new tools and new publishing opportunities for student writers. The presence of digital technology is less pronounced, however, in literature instruction in secondary schools. In both theoretical and practical discussions of digital technology and literature, the two mediums have been conceived as radically different. This dissertation argues that the digital medium, and more specifically the World Wide Web, …

How Does It Mean? Literary Theory As Metacognitive Reading Strategy In The High School English Classroom, Lisa J. Schade

Dissertations

In the last two decades, serious scholarly attention has been paid both to theories of teaching reading and to theories of literary interpretation. These potentially related fields have been treated as separate, focused either on teaching reading in the elementary grades or on teaching interpretation to advanced college literature students. Until very recently the relevance of either reading theory or literary theory to middle school or high school pedagogy has remained unexamined. My research, as a reflective practitioner, addresses this important gap. I focus on the teaching of literary theory in the high school English classroom as a strategy to …

Factors Affecting The Educational Attainment Of African-American Males: An Observational Analysis, Chauncey Williams

Masters Theses

African-American males participation in higher education has declined due to low academic achievement. The research suggests that this low achievement is caused by racism, academic preparation, self-esteem, teacher expectation, and goals. Although I agree with most of the research, I have concluded that along with teacher's expectations, four other factors greatly impact academic achievement. These other four factors are (1) school demographics, (2) curriculum, (3) parental involvement, and (4) peer pressure. These factors were observed through casual conversations with African-American male high school students in a large midwestern area. The observational analysis suggests that improvement in these areas will help …

Cognitive Levels Of Thinking For Religious Training Materials And Infusion Across The Curriculum, Patrick Low

Masters Theses

The major accomplishment of this project was the creation of cognitive levels of questions spanning Bloom's (1964) taxonomy of learning, fostering religious training in nontraditional class settings at Kalamazoo Christian High School, Kalamazoo, Michigan. Classes involved were business mathematics, health, and physical education.

Descriptors, i.e., key terms, were developed from teachers' goals and objectives. Descriptors were then checked in a concordance to help develop Scripture reference for question development. Weekly or biweekly, participating teachers and the curriculum committee were supplied draft sections of the project; they gave feedback relative to usefulness and acceptability.

The results have been termed "very useful" …