Curriculum and Instruction

An English teacher in a secondary STEM school and her former English education professor collaborate on an article about their experience using music as a text to explore the concept of love in a secondary English classroom. Using the principles and practices of critical literacy and backwards design, the teachers broaden the notion of reading and writing to include non-print texts such as music to help students negotiate love and gender in Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" and popular music. Students used the essential question, How does love influence us? as a framework for their investigation. Once students studied love and gender in the play and in popular music, the students synthesized their new understandings into their own song lyrics. The authors found that when the students were given the chance to read and write music, "great and untapped creative potential simmering inside" was "let out and given a chance to thrive."

English Language Learners (ELLs) are often deprived of using English for academic purposes in meaningful and authentic contexts when pulled out of the classroom for English Language Development services. To tackle this issue, schools have increasingly integrated ELLs in the mainstream classroom through an inclusive model of co-teaching between one content and one language teacher. Through a case study approach, we explored two co-teachers’ practices that fostered writing development within one first grade linguistically diverse mainstream classroom. Through analysis of classroom interaction as well as teachers’ and researchers’ notes, findings revealed that in holding core shared practices, the two teachers achieved an enhanced ability to scaffold their teaching to support their students’ writing development. Core shared practices included a sensitive view of students’ academic language and writing development, modeling for conversations about writing, embedding specific scaffolds f...

English Language Learners (ELLs) are often deprived of using English for academic purposes in meaningful and authentic contexts when pulled out of the classroom for English Language Development services. To tackle this issue, schools have increasingly integrated ELLs in the mainstream classroom through an inclusive model of co-teaching between one content and one language teacher. Through a case study approach, we explored two co-teachers’ practices that fostered writing development within one first grade linguistically diverse mainstream classroom. Through analysis of classroom interaction as well as teachers’ and researchers’ notes, findings revealed that in holding core shared practices, the two teachers achieved an enhanced ability to scaffold their teaching to support their students’ writing development. Core shared practices included a sensitive view of students’ academic language and writing development, modeling for conversations about writing, embedding specific scaffolds f...

This paper explored the integration of science and language instruction during a unit on plate tectonics in a 7th grade transitional bilingual classroom. As not many studies have explored engaging bilingual learners in the Next Generation Science Standards practices of argumentation and explanation, we sought to analyze emergent bilinguals' construction and communication of scientific arguments and explanations in oral and written forms. We collected both classroom video data and student written work. We first analyzed student work associated with the unit's culminating task as evidence of the students' developing proficiency with science ideas, cognizant of what emergent bilinguals at varying levels of language proficiency are able to do with respect to producing the language functions of explain and argue. For video data, we created event maps of all classroom interaction and then narrowed our focus to key moments of interaction to shed light on the relationships among...

This paper explored the integration of science and language instruction during a unit on plate tectonics in a 7th grade transitional bilingual classroom. As not many studies have explored engaging bilingual learners in the Next Generation Science Standards practices of argumentation and explanation, we sought to analyze emergent bilinguals’ construction and communication of scientific arguments and explanations in oral and written forms.  We collected both classroom video data and student written work. We first analyzed student work associated with the unit’s culminating task as evidence of the students’ developing proficiency with science ideas, cognizant of what emergent bilinguals at varying levels of language proficiency are able to do with respect to producing the language functions of explain and argue.  For video data, we created event maps of all classroom interaction and then narrowed our focus to key moments of interaction to shed light on the relationships among classroom...

School climate is the quality and character of school life. It provides a shared sense of purpose, as well as norms and values that may serve to bind or tear apart the fabric and foundation of a school. In a broader sense, school culture is based on the partnership, cohesiveness and collaborations between "town and gown"-a colloquial term referring to the relationship between schools and communities, students, parents, faculty, administration and staff. Due to such a broad scope, it affects teaching, learning and organizational structures. Key factors affecting school culture may include, but are not limited to, perceptions of personal safety, interpersonal relationships, teaching, learning, as well as the external environment.

School climate is the quality and character of school life. It provides a shared sense of purpose, as well as norms and values that may serve to bind or tear apart the fabric and foundation of a school. In a broader sense, school culture is based on the partnership, cohesiveness and collaborations between "town and gown"-a colloquial term referring to the relationship between schools and communities, students, parents, faculty, administration and staff. Due to such a broad scope, it affects teaching, learning and organizational structures. Key factors affecting school culture may include, but are not limited to, perceptions of personal safety, interpersonal relationships, teaching, learning, as well as the external environment.

Hybrid and fully online studies and classrooms are no longer fringe elements of learning or knowledge acquisition; they have become integral part of learning in the 21st century. Like all modes and styles of learning, they depend on continuous research for best practices in order to remain relevant in terms of effectiveness and growth. This study is a collaboration between three professors. The courses and students we taught were in Special Education, Adolescence (Secondary) Education and Art Education. There were 35 females and 5 males in the study. Half of participants were graduate students and half-were undergraduate students, total N = 40. The participants answered 35 survey questions on their experiences in their hybrid classes at the end of the seminars via surveymonkey.com. The asynchronous hybrid classes utilized technology infused teaching, including online discussion forums, video projects, Power Points with narration and podcasts.

Parental expectations are various beliefs, assumptions, and aspirations that relate to, but are not limited to, the relationship of students to faculty, curriculum, discipline, culture, acculturation, and family composition as they contribute to children's school achievement. These beliefs and assumptions usually motivate parents to encourage their children's success in school (

Problem statement: Experiential education and service learning are interchangeable. They are defined as an approach to education that implicitly trusts the learner's ability to learn through experience, rather than a movement for change that seeks to challenge mainstream education. While literature, research, communities and schools recognize the importnce of experiential education, controversies exit as to their efficacies in learning processes. Approach: Experiential education and service learning are complimentary to formal education. They create communities and enables learners to interact with the world beyond the classroom. It was upon such community building and the belief that students would gain useful knowledge that would be life fulfilling that the "Project Period" was built. It started in a small community of a 300-student 9-12 secondary school in a village in New Hampshire, United States. Results: The projects were designed to allow students to engage with community, foster curiosity, ignite critical thoughts and enable students to see the world in multi-faceted dimensions. Conclusion: Studies on experiential learning tend to focus on environmental education and outdoor programs. As indicated, experiential education can be a part of K-College curricula and can focus on the big philosophical question, such as "How do historical periods affect the past, the present and the future"?