Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

P17 Black Male Summit, Brandon Jackson

Black Male Summit

Tale of Two African American Males and Their Journey to Ivy League Schools: A Case Study

How do we get more African American males to show their GREATNESS and academic prowess? Can Black Males attend Ivy League schools? How do we prepare our Black Male Scholars for college and career readiness to maximize their education?

P18 Black Male Summit, Brandon Jackson

Black Male Summit

GRAB “A Hands-On Approach to Student Engagement and Academic Performance for African American Males”

Can a handful of words change the trajectory of a persons’ life? Can this acronym G.R.A.B. lead to enhanced college and career readiness in addition enhance their quality of life?

The Positive Impact Of Project-Based Learning On Attendance Of An Economically Disadvantaged Student Population: A Multiyear Study, Casey Creghan, Kathleen Adair-Creghan

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

Students who do not regularly attend high school are at an increased risk of failure in the classroom and may eventually contribute to a higher dropout rate. More specifically, the attendance rates of students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds have traditionally been lower than those with average means. Therefore, the purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the effects of a project-based learning (PjBL) environment on economically disadvantaged high school students in regard to their attendance rates. Data were collected in order to compare attendance rates of a school utilizing traditional teaching methodologies with a school using PjBL as the …

Table Talk: Empowering Alive Conversations, Jeanine Judd, Beverly Anne Richardson

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

Are the skills of conversation becoming lost in today's fast-paced and technology-enhanced world? Table Talk is an instructional framework created to teach elementary students how to communicate and collaborate effectively. Just as technology's ubiquitousness and society's rapidness have sustained, Table Talk seeks to empower students to overcome barriers to successful and productive adult lives.

When All Hope Is Gone, Trust Then Believe: “At Risk” Or “At Potential"?, Erica C. Pooler, Barbara Kirby-Bentley Dr.

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

The Cards of Life, when all hope is gone; trust then believe forces educators to view students differently. The notion that we can’t teach students until we truly begin to know them and they begin to trust us is challenged. The fact that our actions have to align with our words and meaningful conversations and relationships must be established in the classroom. At Risk or At Potential? Every school across the nation have students that struggle, academically, socially or behaviorally. There are a variety of reasons as to why? We can no longer ignore these students and pad the numbers …

Modifying Science Texts To Accommodate The Needs Of Struggling Readers And English Language Learners, Regina Suriel, Crystal Randolph

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

Students with learning differences, including English language learners, experience difficulties with reading classroom textbooks. This presentation, intended for educators and parents, will discuss and provide practice in the identification of readability levels of science texts discuss the importance of integration of visual stimuli in science texts, and explain culturally-relevant approaches to science curricula.

Reading And Math Strategies For Struggling Students, Tonya Hiers, Arlene Berry, Kim Trepanier

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

This presentation will provide Common Core based strategies for teachers to use with students at risk of failure. Participants will engage in tasks that will allow them to experience Close reading, constructed response, and math problem solving. These cross curricular strategies will address literary, informational, and problem solving standards.

Expect The Unexpected When Teaching Probability, Karen Koellner, Mary Pittman, Jonathan L. Brendefur

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Probability has recently made its way into many textbook series and standards documents (NCTM, 2000; NGA, 2010). When students engage in probability problem solving many unexpected situations can arise due to the counterintuitive nature of probability concepts. These situations can be difficult for students and challenging for teachers to analyse during teaching. Recently, as facilitators of a Mathematics Science Partnership grant workshop on probability, we had the opportunity to engage middle school teachers in professional development workshops as well as in their classrooms. In this article, we discuss a rich probability task used with these teachers along with two scenarios …

Towards An Understanding Of The Use Of Digital Media To Facilitate The Inclusion Of Children With Learning Disabilities In Mainstream Primary School Classrooms, Róisín Garvey

Masters

Inclusion, or the integration into mainstream classrooms of students with learning difficulties, should strive to make the students’ education sufficiently challenging while also making considerations for their particular capabilities and needs. A key aspect of inclusion is the requirement for appropriate support services and additional aids for both students and teachers. Digital media can be effective in helping to facilitate learning and can provide opportunities for engagement, peer learning, curriculum support and assessment. It can also promote collaborative and cooperative learning when the educational content is tailored to the capabilities of individual students. Finding teaching strategies that are suitable for …

Breathing Life Into Information Literacy Skills: Results Of A Faculty-Librarian Collaboration, Divonna M. Stebick, Janelle L. Wertzberger, Margaret E. Flora, Joseph W. Miller

Education Faculty Publications

When an education professor and a reference librarian sought to improve the quality of undergraduate student research, their partnership led to a new focus on assessing the research process in addition to the product. In this study, we reflect on our collaborative experience introducing information literacy as the foundation for undergraduate teacher education research. We examine the outcomes of this collaboration, focusing on the assessment of the process. Using a mixed methods approach, we found that direct instruction supporting effective research strategies positively impacted student projects. Our data also suggest that undergraduate students benefit from not only sound research strategies, …

Instructional Coaching: An Essential Element For Building And Maintaining Instructional Capacity, Alison Hawley

Dissertations

The focus of this study is to explore the role of the school leader, specifically the principal, in leading instructional change and supporting teachers throughout the change process. Building instructional capacity across a school building is an essential role for a school leader, but also requires ownership and agency on the part of teachers to be active partners in realizing change. The process of full-scale change impacts members of the school community in different ways. Identifying the predictable patterns of adult responses often associated with change can help the instructional leader anticipate the supports necessary to keep the change moving …

Session E-7: Is There An App For That?, Ed Caster

Professional Learning Day

This presentation will show a variety of different apps for tablets, smart phones, etc. that have educational uses. A number will be presented and demonstrated. Teachers who attend will also be asked to share apps that they use have found valuable, or simply ones that they like.

Session E-6: Aerodynamic Wing Design, Carmela Minaya, Aziza Darwish, Heather Richardson

Professional Learning Day

Teachers will walk away with an activity for their students that will utilize materials readily available for students to experiment with various aspects of aerodynamic wing design.

Session E-4: Developing Middle School Science Activities, Ron Hurlbut

Professional Learning Day

This “hands on” session will equip Middle School Teachers to develop activities for their students which will produce high quality data that will be used to reveal Newton’s laws of motion by using inexpensive materials and equipment such as stop watches and a meter stick.

Session E-3: Constructivist Science Vocabulary, Brian Grublesky

Professional Learning Day

Instructors often grapple with the teaching of vocabulary. Well, in this dynamic session, participants will learn the constructivist approach to teaching science vocabulary. Session participants will walk away with new teaching strategies along with deeper appreciation for constructivist learning.

Session C-2: Dbq Writing In Your World History Curriculum, George Haldaman

Professional Learning Day

This session will present the historical pedagogy behind DBQ's and explain its importance to common core. Then we will examine examples of DBQ's and places for educators to find them. Finally, we delve into the writing process on constructing the DBQ essay.

Session F-2: Is It All Just Random?, Nicole Ross

Professional Learning Day

Students in middle school often learn basic genetics and gain experience using a Punnett Square analysis to determine probable genotype and phenotype outcomes for a family. What students may not learn is how these probabilities relate to the overall population. Probability is an integral part of genetics and heredity. Understanding what is meant by “probability” and how it applies to genetics is an important focus in the CCSS. One way to teach these concepts is to tap into popular literature. In this session, we will explore the genetics and probability behind the character, Auggie, in the book, Wonder, by R.J. …

Session D-7: Exploration Of Factors That Motivate Students To Engage In Stem, Adrienne Coleman

Professional Learning Day

Join in on the discussion of an exploration into factors that motivate gifted and talented Black and Latino students and programs being created to engage those populations in STEM fields.

Session D-6: Strong Structure By Design, Carmela Minaya, Aziza Darwish, Heather Richardson

Professional Learning Day

Strengthen your pedagogy by learning how the monolithic dome, inspired by the shape of an egg, is one of the strongest existing architectural structures. They will go back to their schools with an inexpensive activity challenging student to make a 3D structure from a 2D picture, then combining several 3D structures to create a monolithic dome.

Session D-5: You Are My Density, Brian Grublesky, Elizabeth Martinez

Professional Learning Day

Teachers will explore the topic of density through a student-centered, constructivist approach that can be tailored to multiple grade levels. Discussion will include how to take a science activity and change it for different grade levels and abilities. Finally, we will discuss how to look at this through an interdisciplinary perspective.

Session D-4: Particle Physics, Peter Dong

Professional Learning Day

Particle physics is generally seen as far too difficult, too abstract and mathematical, to teach at the high school level — which is a pity, since particle physics is most likely to get students interested in the subject (witness the response to the discovery of the Higgs boson). However, the day-to-day work of experimental particle physicists is remarkably understandable, even for high school students willing to do a little work. We will examine assignments given at IMSA in this vein, including a class-wide analysis that simulated the search for a super symmetric Higgs boson, and discuss how they worked. Attendees …

Session D-1: Building Stonehenge, Patrick Young

Professional Learning Day

Building Stonehenge is a series of problem centered activities in which students use simple machines to construct a scale replica of a Stonehenge Trilithon. Using only materials available to Neolithic engineers and a scaled quantity of force, students must devise a way to lift heavy stones into the proper position without ever touching them with their hands. Problem-centered activities are a great way to integrate multiple STEM concepts and practices into an enjoyable learning experience.

Session F-4: Quadratic Functions: As Simple As A, B, C, Lindsey Herlehy, Karen Togliatti

Professional Learning Day

Participants will engage in several hands-on, minds-on activities that demystify applications of quadratic functions. By exploring simple, yet interactive exercises, student will understand that this function is more than just a formula of a, b, and c. Participants will walk away with several lessons that can be easily adapted to any classroom. This session is appropriate for Grades 8-10.

Session B-1: Pipelines And Oil Spills!, Patrick Young

Professional Learning Day

Don’t miss this hands-on approach to middle school math. Participants will construct an actual pipeline from inexpensive materials and record evidence of leakage. They will then conduct an experiment and create a model relating liquid volume and spill area. They will apply their model to determine how much liquid leaked from their pipeline.

Session B-7: 3d Printing For The Next Generation Learners, Britta Mckenna, Lawrence Bergie

Professional Learning Day

Are you thinking about creating a Maker Space or purchasing a 3D printer for your school or classroom? Or are you just interested in seeing new technology up close and personal with the ability to ask questions to a maker space rookie and her sidekick the techno geek? Check out this lively session where we'll 3D scan something (or somebody) and print it out on our 3D printer, doodle with our 3D pens and ask all the practical questions (like how much does all this cost?) We'll share examples of how we are introducing new technology to our students, faculty …

Session B-6: The Power Of Water, Dhruti Patel

Professional Learning Day

Get energized and quench your knowledge in this dynamic session which will include the basic introduction to hydro power generation! Participants will become knowledgeable about the concept of basic fluid dynamics and the potential energy stored in water, which converts to kinetic energy to mechanical energy to electrical energy.

Session B-5: Mentor Matching Engine, Jackie Naughton, Carl Heine

Professional Learning Day

Participants will tour the Mentor Matching Engine (MME), a robust platform available to Illinois high school students for conducting research with assistance from online mentors. IMSA, in partnership with the Illinois Science and Technology Coalition and Northwestern University, administer MME as part of the state's R&D Learning Exchange. In addition, participants will discover powerful models of personalized learning and the outstanding results.

Session B-3: Mathematical Games, Puzzles, And Diversions, Steven M. Condie

Professional Learning Day

Delve into the exciting world of math through games, puzzles and other sources! Participants shall try their luck and test their skill at these diversions. Participants will leave this session with a wealth of mathematical activities appropriate for students of all ages.

Session B-4: Foods Of The Future, Carmela Minaya, Aziza Darwish, Heather Richardson

Professional Learning Day

Teachers will learn the simple science behind the most recent culinary rage, Molecular Gastronomy. They will have a cost effective example to bring back into their classroom with students.

Session B-2: The “Roll” Of Statistics In Modeling - It All Adds Up, Richard Stalmack, Janice Krouse

Professional Learning Day

The common core practice standards ask us to teach students to propose mathematical models and test their viability. Participants will do an experiment, collect data and use technological tools to combine modeling, analysis and basic statistics. Participants should bring a laptop, if possible; otherwise, bring a graphing calculator.