Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Professional Portfolios : Creating A Framework For Teacher Accountability Portfolios, Stephany K. Messer

Graduate Research Papers

Educators are being held accountable for their actions in the classroom by their states and local districts. In Iowa teachers are required to demonstrate competency for eight different standards that include 42 criteria. One form of meeting this requirement is by creating a professional portfolio. A problem that many educators face is the lack of direction provided to create this portfolio.

The purpose of this project was to design a framework for creating a professional portfolio. Instruction on this framework will be provided through seven professional development sessions targeted for novice teachers. At the completion of the professional development sessions …

Emphasizing Ekphrasis: Linking Visual Arts And Language Arts Curriculum Standards Through Museum Pre- And Post-Visit Activities For Upper Elementary School Students, S. Stephen Alsa

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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A Practical Approach To Building Web Sites In The Classroom, William Robertson

Departmental Papers (TE)

The five-phased process for building Web sites in the classroom may be useful in helping educators facilitate the process of integrating computer technology and the Internet into instruction and curriculum design. The method described is a synthesis of a personal process of discovery, teaching, and learning that has come from practical experience with teachers and students. To effectively utilize this five-phased approach, the instructor must ascertain the final goal, whether it is a curriculum product, Web site, oral presentation, or some other form of demonstration of learning. The identified phases are a set of guiding principles that at any time …

Science Education On The U.S./Mexico Border: Field-Based Studies For Future Teachers In Bilingual/Binational Schools, William Robertson, Judith Munter, Claudia Garcia

Departmental Papers (TE)

The University of Texas at El Paso’s field-based program of studies for future teachers provides opportunities for powerful learning through a dialectical union of reflection and action. Methods courses in academic disciplines are linked with seminars and coursework on community partnerships, critical pedagogy and culturally responsive education. This article illustrates the processes of planning, implementation and evaluation of this approach, highlighting the impacts of community service learning. Parents, students and future teachers interact in workshops that center on validating native language literacy, increasing parental involvement and providing conceptually correct science education. The project indicates that two-way dual language programs with …

Exploring Animal-Assisted Therapy As A Reading Intervention Strategy, Maria S. Kaymen

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

This study is an examination of animal-assisted therapy in an attempt to explore the ways it may serve as reading intervention program for struggling readers. Due to the low rate of literacy in the U.S., children are often put into reading intervention programs where they are required to read to an adult; potentially creating anxiety that may act as a deterrent to reading regularly, and thus contributing to the condition of aliteracy, that is, possessing the basic skills to read yet having no desire to do so. The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the ways in which …

Kindergarten Readiness: Using Age Or Skills In Assessing A Child’S Readiness, Leslie Barden Smith

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

Currently, age is the primary indicator of kindergarten readiness. A concise list of readiness skills to guide parents and teachers when deciding if a child is ready for kindergarten is lacking. The literature reveals that older age kindergarten entrance is not a predictor of academic success, nor is age an accurate indicator of readiness. In this study, responses from approximately 22 kindergarten teachers to a readiness questionnaire identify and develop a succinct list of the skills these professionals view as most significant for kindergarten readiness. According to the teachers in this study, the ability to sit and listen for approximately …

Teaching Today's Diverse Student Population In Schools, Elizabeth F. Hurdle

Theses & Honors Papers

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate teacher candidates' attitude and knowledge level toward the adequacy of their teacher training for meeting the needs of a diversified school population and to make recommendations for any restructuring in a University teacher training program. A survey research method using a convenience sample size of (N = 240) was used to collect data for this study. The sample of 240 participants included graduate and undergraduate teacher candidates who had completed student teaching and alumni from the last five years. A self-developed questionnaire with 35 Likert-type questions and four open-ended questions was …

Cultivating Alliances With Other Helping Professionals: Interprofessional Training With The Curriculum, Dr. Jill D. Duba, Susan B. Paez

Counseling & Student Affairs Faculty Publications

Counselor educations are called to provide some kind of interprofessional training so that students are better equipped at working with other helping professionals on various client cases. This article provides several other reasons why interprofessional training is relevant in counselor education. In addition, several interprofessional training strategies are addressed.

Volume 17, Number 01, G. William Hill Editor, Linda M. Noble Editor

Reaching Through Teaching

Full text of Volume 17, Number 01 of Reaching Through Teaching.

Why Are School Districts Abandoning The Core-Plus Mathematics Curriculum, Amber Rae Richgels

Mathematics Graduate Theses

In this paper, the author establishes that high schools are abandoning the Core-Plus Mathematics curriculum and determines the need for curricular reform and the motivation to develop such standards-based programs. She discovers that although Core- Plus is a nationally recognized, exemplary mathematics curriculum, school districts are deciding to discontinue the curricular option of Core-Plus. The author reviewed literature and interviewed teachers from schools that have recently decided to abandon Core-Plus in attempt to determine factors leading to these decisions. This paper discusses those interviews, provides suggestions for the future adoption of Core-Plus, and concludes with recommendations that further study be …

Implementation Of Problem-Based Learning In Senior Engineering Design-I (Ece 485w), Fawaz Muzaffer Hussain

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Problem-Based Learning is an approach where knowledge is acquired in the context of the problem. Students are provided with the problem specifications and resources that might prove to be helpful in solving the problem. They attack these real world problems in groups, analogous to the practice in the professional engineering world. This mode of teaching was adopted to deliver the Senior Engineering Design — I course (ECE 485W), offered to freshman engineering undergraduate students in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Old Dominion University, Norfolk. This thesis documents the various pedagogical methods implemented into the course, which were introduced …

Wisdom, Intelligence, And Creativity Synthesized., Susan Daniels

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

Wisdom, as explored by Sternberg is the application of successful intelligence and creativity. For thirty years, Dr. Sternberg has been a vocal critic of narrow conceptions of intelligence. In this recent work, he argues that a more comprehensive view of intelligence must go beyond the psychometrically based, IQ-driven views predominant in the last century.

High-Stakes Testing And Special Populations, Gary H. Sherwin, Todd Jennings

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

This opinion paper critically examines the use of high-stakes testing on special populations. Without appropriate accommodations, standardized exams are not valid for some students with special needs. Unfortunately, many classroom teachers who must initiate testing accommodations lack knowledge of appropriate accommodations and regularly fail to provide the necessary testing accommodations. The deficit understanding of testing accommodations makes comparisons between classrooms, schools, and districts invalid since some scores loose validity. Solutions specific to standardized testing and students with special needs are offered and a more encompassing solution to the problems incurred from these tests when used for high-stakes is suggested.

High-Stakes Testing And Assessment: One Is Not The Other, Enrique Murillo, Alayne Sullivan

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

Since the institution of the common school and the advent of universal education, Americans have placed tremendous faith in public schools. Public education cultivates an informed citizenry, one of the pillars of a liberal democracy. But more importantly, schools are a repository for our common dreams of human potential and individual self-actualization. Because they so thoroughly shape the lives and life-chances of our youth, school issues are freighted with an emotional charge. Education remains the last fully public American institution, one in which millions of students cast their common lot daily and strive to become better readers, better citizens, better …

To Wonder, Wander, And Linger In The World Of Standardized Testing, Randall Wright, Alayne Sullivan

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

The standards movement began as a nobly-intended effort to establish a core curriculum—a template of knowledge and skills that would guide teaching and learning across the K-12 curriculum. Our attempts to standardize curriculum may have unintended and deleterious side-effect: The atrophying of the mind’s natural tendencies for exploratory play and inherently imaginative dimensions. This paper engages us in a critical remembering of our pedagogical relationships with children. It reminds us of children’s ways of being and asks how we might engage them in a rigorous appreciation of curricular literacies without thwarting their wonderful wanderings. Ultimately, we worry about the place …

Volume 16, Number 02, G. William Hill Editor, Linda M. Noble Editor

Reaching Through Teaching

Full text of Volume 16, Number 02 of Reaching Through Teaching.

A Qualitative Study Of Instructional Teams In An Elementary School, Rebecca Courtney Lane

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Working in teams is common throughout all areas of American society and research by Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, and Smith (1994), Bensimon and Neumann (1993), Buckley (2000), DiPardo (1999), Erb (1997), and others have described its use in business and secondary schools. Since the implementation of Public Law 221 in Indiana, general education teachers and special education teachers have been working together to better instruct students with Individual Education Plans (Gable & Manning, 1999; Gately & Gately, 2001). However, very little has been written on the elementary instructional team and the interaction of its teammates. Analyzing data collected during the …

Phases Of Web Based Curriculum Development, William Robertson

Selected Works Temporary Series

The Phases of Curriculum Development may be useful in helping educators facilitate this process of integrating computer technology and the Internet into classroom instruction and curriculum design. The method described is a synthesis of a personal process of discovery, teaching, and learning that has come from practical experience with teachers and students. To effectively utilize this five-phased approach, the instructor must first identify the final goal, whether it is a curriculum product, Web site, oral presentation, or some other form of demonstration of learning. Also, the basic concepts that are to be covered must be identified first and matched to …

Nsu Fischler School Of Education And Human Services (Fsehs) Catalog 2005-2006: Addendum March 2006, Nova Southeastern University

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice College Archive

No abstract provided.

Phases Of Web Based Curriculum Development, William Robertson

Departmental Papers (TE)

The Phases of Curriculum Development may be useful in helping educators facilitate this process of integrating computer technology and the Internet into classroom instruction and curriculum design. The method described is a synthesis of a personal process of discovery, teaching, and learning that has come from practical experience with teachers and students. To effectively utilize this five-phased approach, the instructor must first identify the final goal, whether it is a curriculum product, Web site, oral presentation, or some other form of demonstration of learning. Also, the basic concepts that are to be covered must be identified first and matched to …

Inside Unlv, Erin O'Donnell, Carol C. Harter, Holly Ivy De Vore, Diane Russell

Inside UNLV

No abstract provided.

Collaborating With Colleagues To Improve Student Learning Using The Connected Mathematics Project, Margaret D. Seifer

Graduate Student Independent Studies

I am a teacher of mathematics at Millburn Middle School, Millburn, New Jersey. During my nine years at Millburn, I have taught using the Connected Mathematics Program (CMP) for seven years to eighth graders and before that, I taught CMP in it's pilot stage to sixth graders.

This guide is a result of my thinking and learning during my time at Bank Street College. The guide is based on a journey through my learning as a professional developer. It is a tool which, I hope, will be of some use to other CMP leaders. It is hoped that if such …

When Children Have Children: Teenage Pregnancy, Atsuko Kawamata, Rodney Roundtree

Perspectives In Learning

Because teenage pregnancy affects so many people, it is receiving a great deal of attention in the United States as well as in other leading nations. Teaching young people that sex before marriage is not acceptable does not prevent pregnancy. Recognizing that teen’s sexual behavior is a crucial part of their development will lead to honest and accurate information about sex. This will help teens express their sexuality in safe and healthy way. Therefore, prevention strategies should be created that address the needs of sexually active teens. Males should also be included in prevention strategies. Young males are often overlooked …

Spicing Up Motor Skill Performance For All, Scott M. Ronspies

Faculty Research and Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

Spicing Up Motor Skill Performance For All, Scott Ronspies

Faculty Research and Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

The Committee On Diversity's Plan Of Action, Rochelle P. Ripple, Jose' Villavicencio

Perspectives In Learning

Recent work of the College of Education’s Committee on Diversity has included plans to provide a curriculum and experiences aimed at increasing all education candidates’ knowledge of, sensitivity to, and strategies and techniques for teaching diverse P-12 students. This comprehensive plan was initiated in the 2002- 2003 academic year with a workshop conducted for faculty, administration, and staff of the COE. The workshop raised awareness of the diverse nature of P-12 students (and connected this awareness with bringing these students to higher levels of learning). Diversity was also defined more broadly to include race, gender, cultural background, religion, geographical area …

Validity, Research, And Reality: Student Ratings Of Instruction At The Crossroads, Jennifer Franklin

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

This essay explores how student ratings of instruction can address the rise of new paradigms of instruction such as active learning strategies and web-based delivery modes.

A Roadmap To Part-Time Faculty Success, Terri A. Tarr

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

This essay offers practical strategies to help part-time faculty navigate the twists and turns of teaching part-time, enhance their teaching effectiveness, and make their roles more personally satisfying.

Teaching Bioethics Through Participation And Policy-Making, Karey A. Harwood

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

The teaching of bioethics calls for a balance between conceptual analysis and the use of concrete cases in order to further students’ ability to reason critically and develop the traits of engaged citizens.

Why Knowing About Disciplinary Differences Can Mean More Effective Teaching, Michele Marinkovich, Jack Prostko

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

This essay explores some of the latest research on how disciplinary differences affect faculty’s teaching in subtle and often unconscious ways.