Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons^™

A Study Of Home Emergent Literacy Experiences Of Young Latino English Learners, Guy Trainin, Stephanie Wessels, J. Ron Nelson, Patricia Vadasy

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This empirical study explored the home environment literacy practices of young Latino English learners and their families. The participants were 217 incoming Kindergarten Latino EL students and parents. The data collection included a completed HLEQ by the parents. In addition, children were administered the PPVT, the pre- LAS, the PALS-K screening, the Woodcock Reading Mastery assessment, and the Wide Range Achievement test. All of the literacy assessments given to the children provided the researchers with comprehensive look at their literacy knowledge base. The results of this study indicate that there were two significant paths for students’ achievement: availability of books …

Cultivating A Learner’S Stance For Engagement In Teacher-Inquiry: An Aim For Writing Pedagogy Education, Jessica Rivera-Mueller

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation argues that writing teacher educators (WTEs) can more purposefully advance their commitment to sponsoring inquiry-oriented teacher development by helping pre-service and practicing writing teachers examine how they are developing as inquirers. Building from scholarship in Composition and English Education and the findings from a narrative-based qualitative study that included four secondary and post-secondary teachers of writing, I have named this attention to how teachers learn and grow their inquiry processes a learner’s stance for engagement in teacher-inquiry. This stance is a readiness to see and engage professional work with an eye toward growing one’s ability to engage …

Perceptions Of Eighth Grade State Writing Assessment At A Nationally Recognized Middle School, Jillian M. Quandt

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

This study seeks to understand how one at-risk middle school in Nebraska is consistently beating eighth grade Nebraska State Writing Assessment (NESA-W) averages. The school has significant populations of Hispanic, special education, and low-income students. The study answers the following two research questions. What strategies does the at-risk school utilize to enable its students to exceed the Nebraska average on the NESA-W? What attitudes do the school’s writing teachers, administrators, students, and their parents hold about the NESA-W? Students and their parents answered a multiple-choice survey; teachers and administrators answered a longer, open-ended survey. The researcher used a combination of …

Representations Of Power: A Critical Multimodal Analysis Of U.S. Ceos, The Italian Mafia And Government In The Media, Theresa Catalano, Linda R. Waugh

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

In September 2008, the collapse of the bank Lehman Brothers led to a financial crisis and the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s, threatening the entire global financial system. Some of the effects of the crisis included evictions, foreclosures and high and prolonged unemployment. Despite the fact that bankers and corporate executives are widely known to bear much of the blame for the crisis (“The origins of the financial crisis,” 2013), very few have actually been convicted of any crime. In addition, recent investigations of the relationship between the New York Federal Reserve and banks such as …

Representing Teachers As Criminals In The News: A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis Of The Atlanta Schools’ “Cheating Scandal”, Theresa Catalano, Lauren Gatti

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

On April 1, 2015, 11 Atlanta teachers accused of changing answers on their students’ standardized tests were convicted of racketeering and sentenced to 5–20 years in prison. Despite ample news coverage, few sources investigated teachers’ motivations for altering students’ responses or explored what the consequences would have been if student scores had not been changed to passing. Moreover, the fact that the teachers’ actions resulted from systemic problems associated with working within a high-stakes testing environment is glossed over and all but lost in the reporting of the “Cheating Scandal” events. The authors conduct a critical multimodal analysis of how …

Three Reading-Intervention Teachers’ Identity Positioning And Practices To Motivate And Engage Emergent Bilinguals In An Urban Middle School, Jung-In Kim, Kara Mitchell Viesca

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This study investigated three urban middle-school teachers’ practices with respect to motivating and engaging emergent bilinguals in reading-intervention classrooms by exploring the teachers’ identity positioning. The three teachers’ sociocultural and sociopolitical positioning of their students (e.g. students as individuals, as monolithic learners, or as problems) was found to be related to their practices for motivating and engaging the students (e.g. hybrid, calibrated, or imposed practices). The teachers’ historical and current resources partially shaped how they positioned their students. The findings support that teachers should not only learn motivational practices but also reflect critically on positioning processes in the classroom.

A Global Endeavor: Honors Undergraduate Research, Mimi Killinger, Kate Spies, Daniella Runyambo

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Like many other universities of its kind, the University of Maine has a centralized body, the Center for Undergraduate Research (CUGR), charged with engaging motivated students in independent learning and in the creation of new knowledge. UMaine furthermore has an honors college that is likewise committed to fostering undergraduate research, particularly research that is rooted in active learning under the guidance of a faculty mentor (University of Maine Honors College Mission Statement). Consistent with national trends, UMaine highly values the work that both CUGR and the honors college do in promoting undergraduate research. UMaine’s current strategic plan lists the advancement …

Paradigm Shift: Sex Education, Mary Grayson-Pattar

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

With LGBTQ+ topics added to sex education at a young age, kids will learn that these topics are normal and cause a significant drop in bullying. Although some might say adding this would worsen the issue, it would teach students and faculty to be more accepting of these topics, and more accepting of LGBTQ+ people. Schools in Lincoln Public Schools and Omaha Public Schools have both been challenged with this topic recently, and reacted to them in different ways. Overall, the main issue of this topic is the current paradigm of our peers.

Inclusive sex education in classrooms is a …

Partners In The Parks: Field Guide To An Experiential Program In The National Parks (Second Edition), Heather Thiessen-Reily, Joan Digby

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs

Contents

Dedication: The National Park Service
Jerry Herron and Hallie Savage
Acknowledgments
About the Authors

Foreword
Heather Thiessen-Reily
Message from the Co-Chairs of the Partners in the Parks Committee
Kathleen King and Bill Atwill
King’s Canyon
Emily Blair

CHAPTER 1 A Ranger’s Welcome
Connie Rudd
Field Notes
Unexpected Discoveries at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison
National Park (Dana Reid)

CHAPTER 2 Origin and Evolution
Heather Thiessen-Reily and Joan Digby
Field Notes
Building for the Future (Dalton Dorrell)

CHAPTER 3 Stepping into the Wild
Heather Thiessen-Reily and Joan Digby
Field Notes
The Unexpected Wilderness of Sequoia National Park
(Johnny MacLean, …

Teacher Perspectives On Professional Development Needs For Better Serving Nebraska's Spanish Heritage Language Learners, Janet Marie Eckerson

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

A growing number of heritage language speakers of Spanish are enrolling in Spanish language courses during secondary school. Current scholarship has suggested that these heritage language learners (HLLs) have very different instructional needs than learners of second or foreign languages. Because Spanish language instruction in Nebraska secondary schools has been traditionally conceptualized only as foreign language instruction, classroom teachers may not be adequately prepared to meet the needs of HLLs. This dissertation examined the experiences of Nebraska secondary Spanish teachers who worked with HLLs in order to inform the creation of relevant professional learning experiences for pre- and in-service teachers. …

Imagination: Active In Teaching And Learning, Christopher Cunningham

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

This autoethnography tells the story of the author’s endeavor to examine my teaching during a sculpture lesson in three 2^nd grade art classes in a mid-western suburban Title I elementary school. I analyze my planning, teaching, reflecting through the lens of Stuart Richmond’s Characteristics of Imaginative Teaching as well as noted educational theorists’ conceptions of imagination and imaginative teaching and learning. These theorists include but are not limited to Maxine Greene, Kieran Egan, John Dewey, and The Lincoln Center Institute’s Capacities for Imaginative Learning. I conclude that imaginative teaching is an intentional act and that there is no …

Honoring Diversity In An Online Classroom: Approaches Used By Instructors Engaging Through An Lms, Jacob Petersen

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

This is an inquiry into how online instructors embrace the diversity of their student body while facing the inherent differences between a traditional face-to-face class and one that is taught online. Current research suggests that diversity in a traditional classroom is an asset if the instructor is sensitive to students’ backgrounds. This paper examines if such philosophies in traditional classrooms translate well into a distance education environment, where the student body may be even more diverse than a face-to-face class, but possibly unrecognizable because of the lack of physical cues. Research on the topic of multiculturalism in an online classroom …

One Foot In, One Foot Out: A Qualitative Study Of Frequently Truant Latino High School Graduates Who Nearly Dropped Out, Chandra Diaz-Debose

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

Given the continued growth of the Latino population in the United States and the long history of schools not serving Latino students, it would be hazardous for the education community to not address their needs. Under the premise that it can reveal, both obstacles and sources of resilience/perseverance, this research study will examine the schooling experiences of Latino graduates who nearly left high school or did leave but then returned to complete their diploma requirements. The data were collected during the summer of 2014. The purpose of this study was to better understand and acknowledge, from the graduates’ perspectives, what …

Climate Change Skeptics Teach Climate Literacy? A Content Analysis Of Children’S Books, Julie Thomas

Discipline-Based Education Research Group Speaker Series

This research focused on skeptical climate change literature designed for children and parents. The purpose of the research was to explore how these pseudo‐educational materials convey a logic of nonproblematicity about climate change (McCright & Dunlap, 2000). Using rhetorical analyses procedures developed from previous excavations in skeptical discourses, this study identified: (a) common forms of climate skepticism, (b) frames for climate change policy making, (c) areas of contested scientific knowledge, and (d) appeals for managing the uncertainty of climate change. The results suggest that the logic of non‐problematicity about environmental problems is bolstered by contradictory forms of climate change skepticism …

Diverse Perspectives Of Parents, Diverse Concepts Of Parent Involvement And Participation: Contrasts Between Italy And The United States, Carolyn P. Edwards, Traci S. Kutaka

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Diversity of experiences and perspectives, it is widely agreed, should be a source of strength in home-school partnerships, as in other aspects of educational endeavor. Yet often, in the literature, diversity is presented as a complication to be overcome. A limiting mindset often prevails, both in theory and practice, where diversity is regarded as an issue or barrier, even amidst the best of intentions to be inclusive. In this chapter, we argue that this limiting mindset on diversity may in fact derive in part from the conceptual frameworks with which we in the United States contemplate and conduct research on …

One Size Does Not Fit All: When Honors Housing May Not Work, Laura Feitzinger Brown

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

The gracious donor, the dean, and the other honors program director and I walk down the corridor of an old campus building needing repair but possessing a great deal of charm. While a science classroom building is being renovated, this hall houses temporary offices for displaced faculty. We look at the high ceilings in a room now used as a faculty break room and admire the way the morning sunlight plays on the walls. This room would make an amazing honors student lounge. Renovating the entire building would create a terrific honors dorm that could attract talented prospective students and …

It Came With Everything: A Baby Grand Piano, Hardwood Floors, Regular Flooding, 200 Honors Students, And A Live-In Scholar, Gloria Cox

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

When the University of North Texas (UNT) opened its new Honors Hall on a hot Sunday in late August 2007, it was a residence hall in which everyone took considerable pride. Students loved the many amenities that the building featured, and they took pride in being able to call Honors Hall home. From the perspective of the honors college, the most significant feature was an apartment in which a scholar would live—a scholar who would be involved in the life of the hall and would, therefore, be engaged with the students who lived there. At that time, no other residence …

Where Honors Lives: Results From A Survey Of The Structures And Spaces Of U.S. Honors Programs And Colleges, Linda Frost, Lisa W. Kay

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

The ninth item on the National Collegiate Honors Council’s (2014b) list of “Basic Characteristics of a Fully Developed Honors Program” reads:

The program is located in suitable, preferably prominent, quarters on campus that provide both access for the students and a focal point for honors activity. Those accommodations include space for honors administrative, faculty, and support staff functions as appropriate. They may include space for an honors lounge, library, reading rooms, and computer facilities. If the honors program has a significant residential component, the honors housing and residential life functions are designed to meet the academic and social needs of …

Living To Learn, Learning For Life: Housing Honors Classrooms And Offices In An Honors Residence Hall, Karen Lyons

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

I left the interview with high-hopes: being Assistant Director of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Honors Program sounded like an excellent fit for me. A full-time job, a real income, and no longer having to depend on year-to-year contracts as an adjunct were appealing. The opportunity to teach tied into my strengths, and since I had taught UNL honors classes previously, I knew the high quality of the students. I also knew the director and was excited about the prospect of working with him. As I wended my way, in heels and suit, through the extensive construction going on in the …

Building Community In Árbol De La Vida, Patricia Maccorquodale

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Building community has been part of the mission of the University of Arizona Honors College since its founding in 1962. In 2011, a new honors residence hall opened that epitomizes its community of scholars. This essay explores how an honors hall— through its design and programming—can build community, emphasize sustainability, facilitate learning, and encourage an outward focus. This housing experience reinforces the values and goals of honors education and contributes to a personalized, close-knit community in the context of a large, public university.

Honors Space: What To Do When There Isn’T Any, Joy Ochs

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

I direct a small honors program from my faculty office in the English Department at Mount Mercy University, which is an institution that is outgrowing its tiny campus. It is an exciting time, with new graduate programs and athletic facilities being added. But there is not enough space. At the end of May 2013, a memo from Academic Affairs made this request: “please contact your students to pack up any personal items they have left in the Honors Lounge, as we need to repurpose that room over the summer.” I have received a memo like this about every year or …

Life Of The Mind/Life Of The House: “This Place Matters”, Vicki Ohl

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

“This Place Matters,” the slogan of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, proclaims the importance of a physical property to the understanding of history, traditions, and values (“This place matters,” 2013). “This Place” may be a single room, a building, a neighborhood, or an entire city. The National Collegiate Honors Council has long recognized the power of place by dedicating an extended session at its annual meetings to the exploration of the host city, its popular City as Text™ explorations. Although a community is ultimately defined by its people, the location and architecture contribute to a setting and a history …

Anomalies And Ambiguities Of A Faculty-In-Residence, Paul Strom

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

The idea of housing faculty with college students on a campus can certainly be traced back centuries to the college structures within universities such as the University of Paris, Oxford University, and Cambridge University. To be a faculty-in-residence at a modern university requires a conscious decision to live in an ambiguous and sometimes anomalous space that connects housing operations and academics. I occupy such a space, along with my wife and dog, a Golden Retriever, at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

The Commonwealth Honors College Residential Community At The University Of Massachusetts Amherst, Melissa Woglom, Meredith Lind

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

This article provides a project overview of the newly constructed Commonwealth Honors College Residential Community, an historical context for the honors college at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a description of the facility design, information on the collaborative planning process, and a brief discussion of initial impacts on the operations and services of the honors college.

Icontact: The Digital Feedback Process In A University Setting, Kathleen M. Wilson, Laurie A. Friedrich

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This practitioner research in the form of a case study examined the digital feedback process related to teacher growth in learning and instruction. Graduate students fulfilled course requirements utilizing iPad applications to generate assignments, coach undergraduate preservice teachers, and tutor low performing readers. Course instructors provided online written feedback on all written assignments. An analysis of data through the perspective of the formative process allowed four themes to emerge: (a) teacher learning through iContact, (b) immediate digital feedback and enduring learning, (c) creating an affinity space, and (d) transfer with a ripple effect.

Do Your Homework First, And Then Go Play!, Larry Andrews

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

In the fall of 2006, after five years of planning, the Kent State University Honors College inaugurated in the heart of the campus a new honors center: two residence halls framing an office, library, and classroom space came to life. The new center overlooked the Commons, an open green space home to student games and student protests. The hill above the Commons was the site of the National Guard shootings of May 4, 1970, and the relationship of this tragedy to honors at KSU became an important part of the thinking about this new location.

The Kent State University Honors …

Honors Housing: Castle Or Prison?, Richard Badenhausen

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

In its “Basic Characteristics” of fully developed honors programs and colleges—lists that have become increasingly prescriptive over the years—the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) identifies “best practices that are common to successful” honors programs and colleges (2014a). One of those practices includes the establishing of separate honors residential opportunities for students, despite the fact that such dedicated space is a bad idea in many instances. In light of the old saying that “one man’s castle is another man’s prison,” I will lay out some of the reasons why honors housing is not a good in itself. I hope to complicate …

Pick Your Battles: It Is Possible To Have Belonging Without A Space To Belong To, Mariah Birgen

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

When Wartburg College began its new honors program 10 years ago, its architects thought they had done everything right. They sent a team to the National Collegiate Honors Council National Conference. They studied the “Basic Characteristics of a Fully Developed Honors Program” (National Collegiate Honors Council, 2014). They even decided to start small. Unfortunately, even meticulous preparation cannot overcome all difficulties. One of the characteristics, however, is to have a location to house the honors program. Wartburg’s 10-year saga of honors locations and lessons learned about honors space has produced this wisdom: honors directors and supporters should never give up …

We The Students: Surveying Spaces And Envisioning The Future, Tatiana Cody, Rachael Poe

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

To apprehend the panoply of spaces that house honors on a national scale requires input from administrators and faculty. Nevertheless, one of the most important and often overlooked perspectives is that of honors students themselves. Admittedly, students are transient. After four or five years, most complete their undergraduate degrees, leaving their campuses, clubs, and honors programs behind after graduation. Despite their relatively brief time on campus, however, no one has more firsthand experience concerning housing honors students than honors students themselves, and some current honors students will certainly become honors administrators and faculty in the future. In the fall of …

What We Talk About When We Talk About Housing Honors, Linda Frost

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

When I went to college in the early 1980s at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, I entered as a freshman in the honors program. I have very specific memories of those first classes I took as an honors student—a section of honors sociology in which I wrote a case study of my German immigrant grandfather; an honors seminar in 1930s avant garde theatre in which the students wrote and performed plays based on the dreams they recorded nightly in their dream journals; an honors marine biology lab that ended at the professor’s house with a dinner where the group …