Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Best Practices In Writing Assessment, Robert C. Calfee, Roxanne Greitz Miller

Education Faculty Books and Book Chapters

Our assignment in this chapter is to discuss best practices in writing assessment, a task that poses a twofold challenge for teachers-first, the task of providing authentic opportunities for students to acquire skill in writing while covering an ever-increasing array of other curriculum demands; second, the overriding pressures to ensure that students perform well on the standardized tests that have become the primary accountability index. As we complete this chapter, few state testing systems rely to any significant degree on performance tests for measuring student achievement. Multiple-choice tests dominate, and on-demand writing tests (including the SAT) generally contravene the counsel …

Jaepl, Vol. 13, Winter 2007-2008, Kristie S. Fleckenstein, Linda T. Calendrillo

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Essays

Bell Hooks. Writing for Reconciliation: A Musing

Devan Cook. The Value of Mutual Respect: What We Learn from Student Complaints .

This essay discusses the emotional labor of teaching and the ways writing programs can support that work.

Elizabeth Gardner, Patricia Calderwood, and Roben Toroysan. Dangerous Pedagogy

Using data primarily drawn from undergraduate psychology classes, we reflect upon what humane but "dangerous" pedagogy illustrates about our teaching and our students' learning.

Karen Surman Paley. Applying "Men and Women for Others" to Writing about Archeology.

This essay explores one archeology professor's pedagogy of caring during a summer field study …

The Value Of Mutual Respect: What We Learn From Student Complaints, Devan Cook

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

This essay discusses the emotional labor of teaching and the ways writing programs can support that work.

Applying “Men And Women For Others” To Writing About Archeology, Karen Surman Paley

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

This essay explores one archeology professor's pedagogy of caring during a summer field study of a former state school and orphanage.

The “Not Trying” Of Writing, Rachel Forrester

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

A very spiritual "not trying," or non-work, is at the heart of composition.

Front Matter

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Editors' Message

Whitman writes in "Reconciliation":

For my enemy is dead, a man divine as myself is dead, I look where he lies, white-faced and still, in the coffin—I draw near, Bend down and touch lightly with my lips the white face in the coffin.

For Whitman, reconciliation is the "Word over all, beautiful as the sky," the deed that washes the world clean of the carnage of conflict. Without the act of reconciliation—the bringing together of that which …

Writing For Reconciliation: A Musing, Bell Hooks

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

This musing grew out of the AEPL Summer Conference in Berea, Kentucky, June 2006, at which bell hooks was the keynote speaker.

Connecting, Helen Walker, Steven Degeorge, Johanna Rodgers, Jeremiah Conway

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Helen Walker. Connecting.

Steven DeGeorge —The Things They Bring to School .

Johanna Rodgers —Translating Authority

Jeremiah Conway —Emily's Cave

Dangerous Pedagogy, Elizabeth B. Gardner, Patricia E. Calderwood, Roben Torosyan

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Using data primarily drawn from undergraduate psychology classes, we reflect upon what humane but "dangerous" pedagogy illustrates about our teaching and our students' learning.

Reading Othello In Kentucky, Elizabeth Oakes, Heather Adkins, Maggie Brown, Carrie Carman, Gary Crump, Cle'shea Crain, Amanda Hayes, Tara Koger, Mike Sobiech, Chuck Williamson

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Members of a graduate Shakespeare class at Western Kentucky University discuss Otherness in the context of Othello and national perceptions of Kentucky.

The Other End Of The Kaleidoscope: Configuring Circles Of Teaching And Learning, Eudora Watson, Jennifer Mitchell, Victoria Levitt

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

To reflect on and participate in reconsideration of convention in academic discourse, this essay presents three voices in three genres.

Back Matter

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

No abstract provided.

Age-Appropriate Programs: Best Practice: Effective Programs Are Designed To Match The Developmental Stages Of The Learner, Daphne Sewing, Allison Brody

Education about the Environment

Children and adults learn in completely different ways. Too often, however, children’s programs are developed from an adult’s perspective, rather than that of a child. The best children’s environmental education programs are designed with children’s abilities, developmental needs, interests, and learning styles in mind. Different programs should be created to appropriately meet the needs of different age groups and their respective cognitive development, attention spans, coordination abilities, interests, and ways of interacting with nature.

Assessment Of Forever Earth Curriculum 2006/2007: Final Report, Lori Olafson, Gregory Schraw, Michelle L. Weibel

Reports (FE)

Forever Earth is a floating environmental laboratory and learning center at Lake Mead National Recreation Area that provides hands-on science experiences for students in the Clark County School District. The Forever Earth program was brought about through the efforts of numerous partners including Forever Resorts, a division of Forever Learning, LLD: the National Park Service, Lake Mead National Recreation Area; Outside Las Vegas Foundation; and UNLV’s Public Lands Institute. In 2005, a formal written agreement was reached between Fun Country Marine Industries and UNLV’s Public Lands Institute to operate and manage the Forever Earth houseboat for the purpose of enhancing …

Discover Mojave Outdoor World Activity Unit Curriculum, Daphne Sewing, Jennell M. Miller, Allison Brody

Curriculum materials (DM)

This document provides suggested activity outlines for each recreational unit as well as available resources, pertinent contacts, checklists, and activity assessments. Each unit is correlated with the themes identified by the Southern Nevada Agency Partnership Conservation Education and Interpretation Team.

The Discover Mojave Outdoor World program introduces urban youth, ages 8-12, to outdoor recreation and environmental education. The program promotes the belief that outdoor recreation plays an important and positive role in the health and fitness of America’s youth.

The program is patterned after the national Wonderful Outdoor World (WOW) program. WOW introduces urban youth and families to the outdoors …

Assessing “Discover Mojave”, Year Two: Final Report, Lori Olafson, Gregory Schraw, Michelle L. Weibel

Reports (DM)

Discover Mojave Outdoor World is a hands-on outdoor recreation program for urban, economically disadvantaged youth. In Year One of the program, knowledge, attitude, and performance assessments were developed to document the effectiveness of program events over the duration of the program. Year One findings revealed that knowledge, attitudes, and performance increased substantially as a result of participating in the outdoor recreation events. The assessment plan was modified in Year Two by creating assessments for teachers and parents, as well as a developing a structured interview protocol. Changes were made to existing assessments and two new assessment tools were implemented. Findings …

From The Co-Editors

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

No abstract provided.

Synecdoche And Surprise: Transdisciplinary Knowledge Production, Anne Dalke, Elizabeth Mccormack

Literatures in English Faculty Research and Scholarship

Using contemporary insights from feminist critical theory and the literary device of synecdoche, we argue that transdisciplinary knowledge is productive because it maximizes serendipity. We draw on student learning experiences in a course on “Gender and Science” to illustrate how the dichotomous frameworks and part-whole correspondences that are predominant in much disciplinary discourse must be dismantled for innovative intellectual work to take place. In such a process, disciplinary presumptions interrogate and unsettle one another to produce novel questions and answers.

Introduction: Centering On The Edge, Anne Dalke, Elizabeth Mccormack

Literatures in English Faculty Research and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Using Technology To Develop Preservice Teachers' Reflective Thinking, Charles Dittrich, Divonna M. Stebick, Jonelle Pool, Lindsay Mccoy

Education Faculty Publications

Developing high-level reflection skills proves troublesome for some preservice teachers. To examine the potential of an online environment for increasing productive reflection, students in three sequential undergraduate education classes responded to regular online prompts. We coded student comments for productive and unproductive reflection, knowledge integration, and analysis of the four aspects of teaching (learners and learning, subject matter knowledge, assessment and instruction ) as described by Davis, Bain, & Harrington (2001). We adapted a scoring approach recommended by Davis & Linn, (2000); Davis (2003) to analyze what aspects of teaching preservice teachers included, emphasized, and integrated when they reflected on …

A Descriptive Analysis Of The Perceived Importance And Use Of Scientific Research-Based Instructional Strategies Among West Virginia Teachers, Cheryl D. Belcher

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This study was designed to examine the perceived importance and extent of use of scientific research-based instructional strategies among West Virginia teachers. Specifically, the study investigated the extent to which perceived importance and frequency of use of scientific research-based instructional strategies differ between highly qualified teachers and non-highly qualified teachers. The core of the research was focused on ten scientific research-based instructional strategies identified by the MidContinental Regional Educational Laboratory. Participants were asked to complete a researcher-designed survey, the Instructional Strategies Inventory, to rate perceived importance and frequency of use for each of the ten strategies. The population for this …

Technology Follows Technique: Refocusing The Observational Lens, Anton Brinckwirth, Elizabeth M. Kissling, Kathryn Murphy-Judy, Carlos Valencia

Latin American, Latino and Iberian Studies Faculty Publications

Digital video is being applied to teacher training, development, and evaluation. This chapter evokes theories and practices of performance observation and improvement. It demonstrates facilitative media used in the design and implementation of a current interinstitutional project by the authors. Simultaneously, the implications of teaching evaluation techniques caught in the lens of digital observation technologies lead to considerations of their personal and social impact on the field of world language teacher training and professional development in the 21st Century. A more communal and non-hierarchical approach, called peer coaching, is advanced with a value-added digital video and e-community twist.

Incorporating Course-Level Evidence Of Student Learning Into Program Assessment, Nancy Simpson, Laurel Willingham-Mclain

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Assessment works well when it draws on faculty expertise and is integrated into students’ daily learning experiences. This essay argues for course-embedded assessment and outlines sound practices, practical steps, and examples.

Reviews, Kabi Hartman, Caleb Corkery, Joel Kline, Terri Pullen Guezzar

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Reviews

Kabi Hartman. Writing With, Through and Beyond the Text: An Ecology of Language. (Rebecca Luce-Kapler, 2004)

Caleb Corkery. African American Literacies Unleashed: Vernacular English and the Composition Classroom. (Arnetha F. Ball and Ted Lardner, 2005)

Joel Kline . Race, Rhetoric, and Technology: Searching for Higher Ground. (Adam J. Banks, 2006)

Terri Pullen Guezzar. Why Is Corporate America Bashing Our Public Schools? (Kathy Emery and Susan Ohanian, 2004)

Bridging The Abyss, Marianina Demetri Olcott

Faculty Publications

This paper seeks to explain the epistemological bases for the two cultures and to show why this disciplinary divide continues to plague American academic culture. Next, we discuss strategies for bridging the two cultures through general education curricula which promote mutual understanding of the two cultures while educating students in basic skills. Evidence is presented which shows the efficacy of these integrative, interdisciplinary curricula. In conclusion, we briefly mention some collaborative research efforts which indicate the enduring effects that such an education may have.

Design And Implementation Of Interactive Tutorials For Data Structures, Lewis Barnett Iii

Department of Math & Statistics Faculty Publications

The Tutorial Generation Toolkit (TGT) is a set of Java classes that supports authoring interactive tutorial applications. This paper describes extensions to the capabilities of the TGT to support styles of interaction identified as effective in recent research. Several new tutorials aimed at the data structures course built using the enhanced toolkit are also described.

An Examination Of Time Use Patterns Influence On Academic Achievement Among African American And Hispanic Male High School Stude, Keith Riley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this investigation is to contribute to the body of knowledge in the area of effective time management skills among African American and Hispanic male student athletes and their academic achievement utilizing the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS: 2002) Base year thru the First follow-up database. The researcher has assessed indicators (socioeconomic status, time use patterns, sports participation, and race) within the construct of academic achievement among African American and Hispanic male high school student athletes. Their contribution to the main effects revealed that statistically significant differences exist between the non-sports participant and sports participant groups. After …

Diabetic Child In The Elementary Classroom, Thomas Knestrict Ed. D.

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

Efficiently managing the blood glucose levels of the diabetic child in the elementary classroom is essential in maintaining the overall health of the whole child. There are well documented academic, behavioral and health related consequences related to poor care of the diabetic child The teacher needs to become aware of the nature of the disease and the elements of care in order to effectively manage the Blood Glucose Levels (BGL) of the child. Maintaining desired BGL (between 70- 140) is the ‘lynch pin’ of ensuring the long and short-term health of the diabetic child.

Learning Issues Of Sexuality, Race, And Power In The Classroom, Loshini Naidoo Ph.D.

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

The notion that all people should have equal access to human rights, dignity, protection, and opportunities, contextualizes the problems of sexual diversity in a wide range of discourses that marginalize those bodies, or individuals that are perceived to be sexually alternative. ‘Gay, lesbian, bisexual, homosexual, and transgendered students, who do not identify with heterosexual norms are often ostracized, harassed, and excluded from and within the educational safety net, and feel betrayed by a system that positions the ‘other’ as deviant (Loutzenheiser & MacIntosh, 2004). In view of current socio-cultural contexts, sexuality, figures into the milieu as a critical location of …

Out Of "Dark Backrooms And Sheds", Marguerite Maher M.Ed

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

Commitment to a single, inclusive education system has been the aspiration of reform in education in a democratic South Africa as articulated in White Paper 6: Special needs education: Building an inclusive education and training system (Department of Education, 2001, referred to hereafter as White Paper 6). Within a ‘barriers to learning’ approach to inclusive education, progress is being made with improved facilities and the implementation of AIDS awareness programmes. Managing the transition towards an inclusive education system has proved challenging in some areas, however, and the specific provision in policy documents directed towards children with disabilities is behind schedule. …