January 23, 2012
Second Language Acquisition in the Study of Science
I have often heard the complaints of many students crying that they are “just not good at science” or “science is so hard” as I walk into a science classroom. As heartbreaking as this is since at the heart of my education philosophy is the belief that anyone is a scientist, especially our young students, I can completely sympathize with their frustration.
Traditionally science content has been placed as one of the most difficult disciplines for good reason: it can be tough stuff to master. In many ways science itself has its own very particular language and discourse; and sometimes the terms alone can be challenging to understand. Continue reading 'Second Language Acquisition and the Study of Science'»
Shelbi Burnett
ED 498-Dr. Brooks
April 12, 2013
ATLAS Protocol
Introduction
Through working with, and observing English language learning (ELL) students during tutoring hours in addition to our class activities in ED 498, we have come to understand that these students have specific needs in the classroom. Often these diverse needs demand activities which are structured differently from those only designed for native English speaking students; however, these needs are not entirely different to students who struggle in content area vocabulary development. In fact some of the activities we can design and implement to aide ELL students, can help all students in content area classrooms with stringent vocabulary demands. Continue reading 'Using the ATLAS Protocol to Assess Student Work'»
Reflection 10
This week was my last week at North Central. Upon arriving, I found Sun again looking for some help with another speech. This time, he was working on a debate, the topic of which was minors being tried as adults in murder cases. He told me he had to argue against this situation and that he was in a group of five other students all collaborating on the SMELF protocol. I looked at the instruction sheet which said the debate would last between 20 and 30 minutes total. The instructions also included a sample of the sheet the teacher wanted the students to fill out for their sections of the debate. Sun, who had the ‘S’ of SMELF meaning safety, had a sheet broken into two repeated sections for argument, explanation, evidence, and related value. The directions modeled what the teacher expected these filled out sections to look like, as well as little instructions for what was to fill each section. Continue reading 'Reflection: Field Experience 10'»
Reflection 9
This was the second to last time I attended North Central to help tutor students. When I arrived, two students I had never seen before came over and asked if I could help with a health assignment. They explained their assignment to me saying they had to give a presentation about illegal drugs to the class and provide a handout. I noticed both of them had fairly competent conversational language skills. I introduced myself to them, and they introduced themselves to me as Ahmeir and Muhammad. A little later in the session, I found out that Muhammad was from Jordan and Ahmeir was from Iran. Unfamiliar with the two languages spoken in those countries, I wondered if the two of them would be able to collaborate using a common native language the way Sun and Bo did the week before–I did not hold out hope for this though. Continue reading 'Reflection: Field Experience 9'»
4/8/13
Today, I worked again with Sun Light. I was less concerned this time about working with a student on science homework after my interesting experience helping Sun on his speech project. He told me as we went over to the computer stations that he was still working on his speech from the previous week and he would be delivering it on Friday to the class. Continue reading 'Reflection: Field Experience 7'»
4/1/13
I began my sixth field experience at North Central not as excited as my fifth experience the week before in which I worked with La Erb on his science and English homework. In that experience, I had begun the session happy to be working in science again. However, this week Ms. McCarthy introduced me to a student named Sun Light who was working on a speech for his speech class. She described Sun as being a strong student and said this would be a fun assignment to help with but I remained skeptical. I would not consider speech to be one of my strengths, but I set about helping Sun as best I could. Continue reading 'Reflection: Field Experience 6'»
3/18/13
For my fifth field experience, I had the opportunity to work with a student named La Erb on his science homework. I was excited for the opportunity to work on something in science because during the past few experiences I had to work outside of my content area, and as a result, somewhat outside of my comfort zone. Continue reading 'Reflection: Field Experience 5'»
3/4/13
For my fourth field experience Ms. McCarthy introduced me to a student named Lee and explained that he had been given an assignment to outline a speech. While English is not my content area, I decided I would try to help as much as I could with the assignment. Continue reading 'Reflection: Field Experience 4'»
2/27/13
In my third field experience at North Central, I arrived and met Ms. McCarthy at the top of the stairs. Saying she had to run off to a meeting, she directed me down the stairs where a student named Shaw Mo would meet me. Ms. McCarthy explained quickly that Shaw Mo was working on a business plan for a class and the assignment required significant creativity. So I made my way down the steps to find Shaw Mo as Ms. McCarthy headed to her meeting. Continue reading 'Reflection: Field Experience 3'»
2/11/13
This was my first experience in North Central, and although I am from Indianapolis and had many track meets at the school, I had never actually been inside the building before. But despite my initial trepidation, I was very excited for my first field experience and to meet the students I would hopefully be working with throughout the semester.
Continue reading 'Reflection: Field Experience 1'»
Novel Resource Guide
Our task in ED 420 this semester was to create a plan to teach a unit using a novel. Because my content area is science, I was hesitant to use a science fiction novel so I used the historical science book of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. By accessing the link, the viewer has access to all of the information necessary to teach a unit using the book, from discussion questions to in class activities, and assessments.
Craft and Structure (9-10), ED 420 Content Literacy, Integration of Knowledge and Ideas (9-10), Key Ideas and Details (9-10), Lesson Plans, Range of Reading (9-10), Standard #1: Learner Development., Standard #2: Learning Differences., Standard #5: Innovative Applications of Content., Standard #6: Assessment, Standard #7: Planning for Instruction., Standard #8: Instructional Strategies., Standard 2: Nature of Science, Standard 4: Issues, Standard 7: Science in the Community, Standard 8: Assessment
During the 2012 spring semester, we completed several visits to Pike Township school New Augusta North Public Academy. We shadowed a teacher in our content area and worked with a particular student to examine how content literacy impacted the student and learning in the classroom. At the completion of the semester, we documented the experience in a Case-Study report in which we outlined our observations and experiences with the student. Continue reading 'Case-Study Report'»
All Posts, ED 228: Content Literacy, Standard #1: Learner Development., Standard #3: Learning Environments., Standard #9: Reflection and Continuous Growth.
| 
Case Study, Content Literacy, Developmental History, Image of a learner, Poverty, Ruby Payne, Student Focus
Teachers must understand and appreciate the diverse backgrounds of each of their students, this simple reading is a great resource for techniques in understanding and being sympathetic to culture in the classroom to create a safe, fun, and balanced learning environment!
Understanding Culture
Prompt:
Using instructor provided materials, students will create an artifact to symbolically represent your ideal image of a learner as it has formed over the course of the semester. A written articulation of the image will be required along with the artifact that demonstrates an understanding of the developmental attributes and diverse learning styles of today’s students. You should consider carefully if your “ideal” imagine aligns with your “real” imagine. Is this how you want kids to be or is this how you actually perceive them? What are the implications of a disconnect between our “ideal” and “real” image? What are the negative implications of your image? Continue reading 'Image of a Learner'»
Prompt:
The purpose of this assignment is to have you re-enter a day in the life of adolescents carrying with you the knowledge you have now about developmental needs, school organization philosophy, and curriculum demands. You need to create a framing question so that you enter the shadow study with “something to look for” in regard to answering a question you have about student development or how schools meet/or fail to meet student needs. As you spend time with your student, consider what you did for the YA Book Reflection as a “practice” run. Identify the developmental characteristics of your student and address the following prompts:
- Using the developmental attributes domains, how would you describe this student?
- How does school life seem to fit into this student’s life?
- Based on your observation, how does this student’s engagement/disengagement manifest itself in the behaviors and actions of the student in different classes?
- What factors can you identify as contributing to the differences/commonalities in this student’s behavior over the course of the school day?
- This is a real student. In what ways are his/her needs being met or not?
- What have you learned from this experience?
Continue reading 'Shadow Study'»
Prompt:
Considering what we have read in Vatterott, Wood and Van Hoose et. all about the philosophy of creating middle schools and high schools that reflect responsiveness to students’ developmental needs, think about your impressions of Shortridge’s attempts to live a student-centered philosophy. With a digital camera, document images of Shortridges “philosophy in action.” What does the image say about this school’s, teacher’s, club’s, etc. image of a learner? Provide 2-3 images and 2-3 counter images. For the reflection component, provide a caption explaining the context of each image. Then, provide a reflective rationale to address the prompt.
Continue reading 'Instructional Patterns and Strategies for Student Focused Schools'»
All Posts, ED 227: Introduction to Middle Secondary Education, Standard #1: Learner Development., Standard #2: Learning Differences., Standard #3: Learning Environments., Standard #4: Content Knowledge., Standard #5: Innovative Applications of Content., Standard #6: Assessment
| Classroom Management, learning environment, needs, Student Focus
My best friend’s mother was the technology director at our high school. She was a lovely lady responsible for web design as well as blocking all the sites deemed inappropriate by the administration. Not unlike many high schools and districts around the nation, we had a whole host of blocked sites. Most often these were social networking sites, image collection sites, and sites involving lewd material.
The idea of blocking content is a controversial idea close to the heart of many media moguls and technology directors. There is something to be said for protecting children from the copious amounts of material available on the World Wide Web. But at what point does this become a detriment to learning. Certainly children need to learn to fend for themselves, after all, once students reach the collegiate level, they have unsolicited access to the internet. Continue reading 'Computers as a Distraction?'»
Prompt:
Technology Redesign in the Classroom.
Continue reading 'Redesign'»
2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments, 3. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning, All Posts, ED 245: Intro Computers and Education, Standard #1: Learner Development., Standard #3: Learning Environments., Standard #5: Innovative Applications of Content., Standard #8: Instructional Strategies.
| computers, Dropbox, learning environment, Mindtools, supplement
Prompt:
Comment on the first two articles and how they relate. What effect does technology have on student learning? What implications are there for educational techology leaders? Continue reading 'Effect of Technology on Learning'»
Comments Off on Second Language Acquisition and the Study of Science 
Themocracy