Department of
Educational Studies

 RISING TIDE

Volume 5 – Summer 2012

 

In our fifth volume, interns explore a variety of topics related to their instruction and the well-being of their students.  Some chose to analyze the effectiveness of teaching strategies that they had fine-tuned for their particular teaching context.  One such strategy utilized by interns in several areas was to increase the perceived relevance of course material by connecting it to the lives and interests of their students.  Other instructional emphases tended to be specific to certain subject areas. These included emphases on assessing student understanding in mathematics, increasing student engagement in social studies, and improving literacy skills in music and language arts.

Another theme, reflected in many of the articles in this volume, had to do with the well-being of the students. For example, many interns focused on understanding and improving the lives of students who were “at-risk” in some regard. Others focused on enhancing students’ self-beliefs and motivation, with the hope that doing so might also increase their achievement. Another common emphasis had to do with establishing a cohesive, respectful, and productive classroom environment. Finally, and in keeping with the mission of the department, some interns chose to examine the extent to which they could successfully foster a sense of equity and concern for social justice in their classrooms.

Aiming for Equity

Carla Bacon, Implementing Social Justice in Math in the Standards Based Era

Greg Robison, Instituting a Glorious Student’s Revolution for Social Justice

Sarah Shipley, Teaching Advocacy, Respect, and Support: One Teacher’s Reflection on her Lesbian Identity

 

Making Instruction Relevant

Emily Davis, “It’s All About Me”: Making Art Relevant

Lindsey Hunter, Blogging With Friends: A French Class Pen Pal Project

Jane Kim, True Colors of the Educational World: Multicultural Literature in an Elementary Setting

Stephen Warner, Culturally Relevant History: Effects on Academic Achievement and Affect in World History

 

Improving Students’ Motivation and Self-Beliefs

Lela Dantrassy, Mathematical Comprehension and Motivation through Arts Integration

Heather DeLauder, The Effects of Choice on Student Motivation, Interest, and Participation in Language Arts

Blair Lusby, Gaining Confidence in Mathematics

 

Fostering a Healthy Classroom Environment

Rachel Burnside, Stepping into Someone Else’s Shoes: The Effects of Empathy Development on Student Behavior

Courtney Tyra, Bringing Books to Life: Teaching Character Education Through Children’s Literature

Stefanie Wells, Moving Through the Curriculum: The Effects of Movement on Student Learning, Behavior, and Attitude

 

Meeting the Needs of “At-Risk” Students

Jessica Garner, Proud and At-Risk: Discovering the Student Behind the Label

Jessica Morgan, A Love Letter to Paulo Freire: The Effects of Problem-Posing Pedagogy on Learned Helplessness in the Classroom

Taren Parsons, Not Again!  The Attitude of the Repeater Student Towards Math

 

Improving Literacy Skills in Music and Language Arts

Stephanie Gonzalez, Pedagogical strategies to Increase Students’ Reading Comprehension: Analyzing Student Choice, Individual and Collaborative Reading Tasks 

Allie Skiest, Improving Language Skills for All: The Application of the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol and Inquiry-Based Instruction in a Fourth Grade Classroom

Diana Stellway, The Singing Orchestra: Music Education Practices

Kelly Stoeckle, Page Turning and Mouse Clicking: A Comparison of EBooks and an Adult Reader on Comprehension Measures

Amanda Williams, The Missing LINC of Vocabulary Acquisition

 

Assessing Understanding in Mathematics

Chris Adams, Teaching Problem Solving Skills in Math by Engaging Higher Order Thinking

Melissa Murphy, Product versus Process: Understanding Student’s Mathematical Thinking

Jessica Christopher, Implementing New Strategies: How Do Teachers and Students React?

 

Engaging Students in Social Studies

Kenneth Benjes, Making History Not Boring Via Multicultural Education

Pat Carr, Increasing Social Studies Interest and Engagement: Project Based Learning

Katharine Sheehan, Redefining Secondary Social Studies Pedagogy