One of the hardest parts about teaching through the Virginia Standards of Learning is finding the right balance between two subjects. Within our middle school classroom, Ben and I have been working towards a collaborative project that incorporates the disciplines of English and Political Science. As an English major I find English very flexible in that it can be applied to nearly any subject or context. However, the Political Science side of this proposed project has proven more difficult for me to connect towards in a way that makes sense to eighth graders. One blog article that I have found particularly helpful in tying the two subjects together inside the classroom is “Politics and English Language Teaching.” Inside this brief blog post, the author addresses the issues that modern teachers face when teaching curriculum that involves these two subjects. While applying any form of politics into the classroom may sound intimidating, especially under today’s sensitive political climate, this article argues that “politics is already there” inside the classroom. Every textbook, teacher, and classroom environment has a political stance which in turn influences the student. No matter how hard school systems try to be politically neutral, it’s simply not possible. And while some classrooms do incorporate the use of political curriculum, this material is often extremely black and white; the author refers to these as “bland topics.” In order to truly learn about politics and themselves, the student’s ideas need to be challenged. Rather than presenting students with more ‘bland’ or ‘sanitized’ politics, this author suggests controversial topics such as “corporation tax, abortion, the death penalty, atheism, and NAFTA.”

You may be asking yourself now how all of this also applies to English?

In order to best accompany the introduction of political learning, students should also be presented with the right tools to analyze material and express themselves professionally. Knowing how to formulate arguments and engage in civil discourse is an essential skill in the outside world. While Ben and I understand that our eighth grade students probably won’t grow up to be the next senator or congressman, we want to build a foundation for future success. Through this project Ben and I want to give our students the confidence to speak out, to have a voice, and to most importantly to think for themselves. This collaborative project will not only build towards these goals, but also falls in line with the Virginia Standards of Learning model.

https://malingual.blogspot.com/2018/06/politics-and-english-language-teaching.html

Expeditionary Learning as whole can seem like there are many moving parts, and could get a bit much. Nonetheless, the result from this unique type of learning delivers a positive impact. In a case study by Emily Klein and Meg Riordan Wearing The Student Hat, we uncover how transitioning from a listening classroom into a constructive classroom proves the success of expeditionary learning. In specific, Klein and Riordan provides an example of how to kickstart the professional development teachers need to lead their students. The two start off by explaining how before students can engage in the real world academic investigations, teachers must first groom themselves out of the traditional ways in which they were taught. The Outward Bound Process Model serves as a baseline for teacher’s idea of what the student role should be.  “A learner is placed into a unique physical or social environment, then given a problem solving task that creates a state of adaptive dissonance, leading to mastery which then leads to reorganization of the meaning of the experience”(39). The case study was conducted with this model in mind. It took place in the New York school system and eight teachers were selected. These eight teachers were observed for “twenty days of professional development and networking activities through the year”(42). From this observation they came to the conclusion that the success of expeditionary learning was dependent on four things. These included “immersion in student experience, initiation into discourse communities and networking, reflection of those experiences as a teacher, and acquisition of general strategies through specific content”(43). Immersion in student experience means for teachers to involve themselves in a version of the expedition. By doing this, they are able to adapt to obstacles as the students preformed them on their own. The initiation into discourse communities involves teachers using and understanding the same type of language when discussing experiences. By doing this , teachers are able to communicate with other expeditionary learning teachers and learn from each other without a gap of misunderstanding. Reflection on professional development is vital because misunderstandings applied to the classroom environment can create a multitude of problems. An acquisition of general strategies through specific content means that skill building is most effective when applied to real life context. After following these key components, the eight teachers saw an improved response by their students to expeditionary learning. I think it would be beneficial for all teachers that are using this type of learning to adapt the four focal points and it may improve the guidance of your students.

Klein, Emily J., and Meg Riordan. “Wearing the ‘Student Hat’: Experiential Professional Development in Expeditionary Learning Schools.” Journal of Experiential Education, vol. 34, no. 1, July 2011, pp. 35–54. EBSCOhost, doi:10.5193/JEE34.1.35.

Casey Marchant

ERH- 411w

4/1/2020

HR: See works cited. Citation from Taylor Francis group (the sight where I accessed the article)

Blog Post #5

The source that I looked at is Media and Moral Education: A Philosophy of Critical Engagement by Laura D’Olimpio. This text essentially sets out to show that an education in philosophy is essential to education, and more specifically how we treat other. These is increasingly important as the mediums of communication are growing in ability and accessibility. In the abstract of the introduction D’Olimpio writes “Media and moral education: A philosophy of critical engagement addresses this oversight by demonstrating that the study of philosophy can be used to enhance critical thinking skills that are sorely needed in today’s technological age.” The text argues the importance of a specific responsibility to provide a moral and ethical philosophy regarding technology and information.

The information and ideas provided in this text are massively important for the world today. Not only does it explain that philosophy needs to keep up with the changing world but also why it does. This is key as while philosophy has a plethora of ideas regarding ethics and morality the world is changing so much and the amount of information and disinformation is so incredible that it can become easy to be overwhelmed and loose sight of basic ethical and moral principles in the world which is so complicated due to the aforementioned overload of material. This texts offers information and ideas where these basic ideas can handle the firehose of complex situations that we are exposed to because of technology and growth of the world. These ideas could stop or at least fight in the war against the moral degradation of the world caused by the issues brought on by technology.

The best way to share this information with teachers is to simply to expose the problems which society is facing from the explosion of technology. This is key as if the problem is not made clear then we cannot start to solve it. Once the problem is identified we can start crafting the solution. The solution must be simple since the problem is so complex. The solution is found in the text that I have reviewed. So we supply the text and start to implement the teaching of philosophy into the current educational model. Not only must we teach the philosophical concepts we must also show how to apply them. This is best done by including as an element of project based learning and directly showing the application.

Works Cited:

D’Olimpio, L. (2018). Media and Moral Education. London: Routledge, https://doi-org.vmiezproxy.vmi.edu/10.4324/9781315265452

Reginald Leon Green’s research article, “Nurturing Characteristics in Schools Related to Discipline, Attendance, and Eighth Grade Proficiency Test Scores,” explores the importance of educational environments possessing nurturing characteristics and provides lessons that build off of Boss and Larmer’s recommendations for managing activities in Project-Based Teaching (2018). Green references various studies that analyzes different schools in all different environments, to include urban, rural, and suburban. He wants to find evidence that supports that the new school reforms, with the onset of concepts like Expeditionary Learning and Project Based Learning, miss out on emphasizing the importance of nurturing in a student’s learning development.

Green found schools that possessed an environment that students and teachers deem more nurturing, tended to perform better on standardized testing and student behavior. Specifically, the studies assessed nurturing through looking at the relationship between students and teachers, the surrounding environment, the professionalism of the administration and faculty, and the student’s feelings about themselves. And those schools that scored well in each of these categories, from 1 to 4, seemed to serve as more productive educational environments. In the end, An analysis of the data comparing the five most nurturing schools with the five least nurturing, utilizing the measurements referred to previously, revealed a significant difference between the two groups of schools on their ranked proficiency test scores, however, not in terms of student behavior.

In conclusion, Green’s research emphasizes the importance of nurturing in today’s evolving educational environment. He provides suggestions for each characteristic as well. Explicitly, past research shows that in order to develop a positive relationship between student and teacher, the teacher must establish trust with the student. For the surrounding environment, the teacher should stay persistent in getting to know the students and providing the administration ways to mold the environment in ways that may enhance each student’s learning. Additionally, constant professionalism is required in all interaction in order to set an example for students, which assists in developing mutual respect. Lastly, ensure to create a solid balance between pushing and rewarding students throughout the learning process to mediate any feelings of failure or discouragement in students. Teachers may want to ask themselves on a daily basis, am I engaging to the best of my ability with my students? No teacher is perfect, however, constant self reminders for a teacher may end up making all the difference in the educational journey of a young student.

Work Cited:

Green, Reginald Leon. “Nurturing Characteristics In Schools Related to Discipline, Attendance, and Eighth Grade Proficiency Test Scores.” American Secondary Education 26, no. 4 (1998): 7-14.

In an ever-changing teaching environment, one thing stands out for many educators today: getting students involved in projects that have a meaningful impact on the society that they live in, while at the same time meeting established core curriculum and educational goals. In their article “Environmental Eduction in Action: How Expeditionary Learning Schools Support Classroom Teachers in Tackling Issues of Sustainability,” Meg Riordan and Emily Klein note the view of environmental education  as a ‘”creative and dynamic process in which pupils and teachers are engaged together in a search for solutions to environmental problems”‘ (120) and that teachers as well as students must be supported in this process. In addition, they note that this support comes in the form of professional development in areas such as “interdisciplinary planning, active investigation of local issues, and robust participation-with students- in activities around environmental improvement” (120).

In support of this model of teaching and teacher support, Riordan and Klein note two case studies in which this type of teacher support was offered, and how it effected student’s learning. One case study, conducted in a 7th grade class, looks at a class asking the question ‘”what sustains us?”‘ while the second case study, conducted in a 9th grade class, examines a class considering ‘”the value of resources”‘ (124). In both case studies, multiple teachers across various educational disciplines play a role in guiding the students to their ultimate objective, as “expeditions involve other teachers as an ‘integral part of it'” (125). Because of challenges such as these, and the ever changing dynamics of a modern day classroom, Riordan and Klein draw several conclusions from the case studies. First is the “importance of real world experiences” (129) and exposing both teachers and students to this type of learning. Additionally, “the content knowledge and instruction strategies needed to be an effective science teacher are not static” (130), and because of this, teachers must continually undergo professional development to ensure both they and their course are relevant. Finally, “research suggests that teacher professional development should involve participants ‘in the active investigation and amelioration of the real world problems of relevance to the communities in which they teach”‘ (132). If all of this is taken into mind, Riordan and Klein argue, teachers can provide, and continue to provide, “rich inquiry based experiences” (135) to their students for years to come.

Ma’am this article I found is really interesting and fascinating. The reason for the high remarks is that I have been studying project-based teaching during this entire fieldwork class and the idea of project-based teaching is extremely interesting to me due to the fact that I didn’t have many projects when I was in middle school. I know what you are doing is important and I believe this article will help add to collection of knowledge you have on the topic.

To begin the title of the article is “A qualitative study using project-based learning (PBL) in a mainstream middle school.” It is a study conducted by Scott Wurdinger, Jean Haar, Robert Hugg and Jennifer Bezon all from Minnesota State University. This article begins with identifying a problem with mainstream middle schools and the dropout rate in high school. A lot of the high schoolers who drop out have the grades to pass they are just bored with what they are learning. As this problem is identified by the authors it then proceeds to a solution that some schools mainly charter schools have identified a possible solution to reengage middle school students and that is with project-based teaching. Once it introduces the project-based teaching theory, the authors then proceeded to define the components of PBL, this idea has four steps that the teacher must know and understand in order for the learning process to work correctly. One quote I found most interesting is “Teachers should be cognizant of this inquiry process and attempt to guide students through all four steps; however, learning may be hindered if teachers inform students of the four-step process” (Wurdinger, 151-152). This I believe is a great tip to know as a teacher and ever further down the article I am sure there are more hints and tips that will improve a teacher’s knowledge of PBL. As the article continues it goes into a main theme of methods of PBL highlighting on, problem solving, scope, culture, Project process, and obstacles. Lastly the article dives into the study’s findings and discussion of those findings. The conclusion is that “teachers accepted the project-based approach and that students were highly engaged in the process; however, this approach presents teachers with a unique set of problems” (Wurdinger, 159).

Ma’am I believe this is a perfect article to add to the tool box of knowledge and help sharpen that knowledge to dive into teaching the bright young minds of the future.

Citations:

Wurdinger, Scott, et al. “A Qualitative Study Using Project-Based Learning in a Mainstream Middle School.” Improving Schools, vol. 10, no. 2, 2007, pp. 150–161., doi:10.1177/1365480207078048.

-Jingle

Shamus Bartmess

V., Thomas, et al. “Writing a Research Article: Advice to Beginners.” OUP Academic, Oxford University Press, 1 June 2004, academic.oup.com/intqhc/article/16/3/191/1814554.

This article would serve the class well because it is all about writing a research paper for beginners. It goes through and lays down all the issues you may come in contact with, while also solving those. In effect, creating its own research paper whilst still talking about how to write a research paper. It starts out talking about the aspects of which the paper should touch on. It also talks about three ideas which make the research paper, a research paper and not something else entirely. These are: “specificity… originality…. General relevance to a broad scientific community” (Thomas). This is good and all but the article goes into even greater detail. It gets into how the paper should be structured. It states that the structure should be, “the sequence of Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion (sometimes abbreviated as IMRAD).” (Thomas). It also tells how the author should format the beginning of the paper, and the body of the paragraph. It does this for every paragraph in the paper. It provides a table which makes it easy to follow when setting up the paper and how to set it up. Almost, cheating because it simplifies the process so much, but would make the process easy to understand for a beginner. It also provides a list of common mistakes that people make when writing a research paper. This should help the author to not make these mistakes. All in all, this is a very good source which should be used by teachers and students because it makes the process of writing a research paper so much easier. It also is produced by Oxford University which is something to be noted. Oxford is one of the oldest and most recognized schools in the world; making this article trustworthy.

Tahvon Davis

Derntl, Micheal. “Basics of Research Paper Writing and Publishing.” RWTH Aachen University, swsu.ru/sbornik-statey/pdf/paperwriting.pdf. Accessed 1 Apr. 2020.

It is my opinion that the following resource would be a beneficial writing guide for the children at the High School. The article is by Michael Derntl a gentleman from a German university RWTH Aachen University. He was a senior staff member for the Advanced Community Information Systems (ACIS) and is the author of Basics of Research Paper Writing and Publishing. I believe that this article is beneficial to our lesson and to the students because it covers the fundamentals of research paper writing which include structuring, thesis’ and conclusions. He helps aid the reader in writing with visual representations of how a thorough work should be written and provides detailed explanations of why his methods are imperative when writing a strong research paper. The article also covers the editorial process and the steps that should be taken before submitting a final paper. His work fits our needs in my opinion because it addresses one of the more difficult concepts when writing. The concept that I feel should be stressed is the importance of narrowing down a topic to encompass a specific exigence that belongs to a larger category. This fact is shown by Derntl when he says, “The introduction leads the reader from general motivations and a broad subject to a particular research question…” (Page 107) The article draws references from many scholarly sources that study and evaluate the most efficient ways of writing. Due to it’s relevance, I think that this work will create an excellent base for our students and our lesson plan along with the article mentioned by my partner above.

Works Cited:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RWTH_Aachen_University

http://dbis.rwth-aachen.de/cms/staff/derntl

My entire life I have been blessed to find inspiration in many different role models that helped paint an early picture of success for me. The individual that carried a great deal of influence in my life was my director: Reginald Purvis. He was an incredible instrumentalist and even better teacher that helped me strive to greatness. As I progressed through High School, my director pushed fundamentals and different skills into my playing style and set precedent for how multiple instruments should be played for the rest of my life. During my Junior year, Purvis gave me personal training and criticism that helped me audition for and make the lower level band in my district. A chance to try out for all state band followed from this achievement that was performed in my senior year. I will forever be thankful to him for influencing a professional and enchanting sound that increased my personal relevance as a musician. I am also grateful for his constant mentorship that created a lifetime of joyful playing and employment. I currently play saxophone at the Virginia Military Institute and play for many church organizations for a living when I am home. EL Education states that “Teachers and specialist articulate and enhance the scaffolding or extensions for students who require more challenge, English language learners, or students with disabilities.” I personally believe that Purvis served as the teacher that enhanced my craft and provided that vital scaffolding when learning about music. Purvis, when I needed more of a challenge, stepped up and provided discomfort and the need for constant improvement to be successful. EL education also mentions that teachers support college and career readiness. Mr. Purvis always encouraged me to think about careers and stressed the importance of continuing music in whatever avenue I pursued. Although I did not pursue a career in music, I maintained my playing and used it as a part time job to continue playing during my college career. Regarding actual careers, he taught me to try my hardest and be competitive which is two important qualities of an individual entering the workforce.

In my own experience in learning, I believe that one must have some type of social aspect in order to learn. Whether this be from classmates, teachers, or friends. Yes learning is important but in order for a student to comprehend you must have the social aspect of an assignment. Make it something that the kid will be able to understand and interact with. John Dewy the father of our education system hits the nail with the hammer on some of his ideas on education.
In “My Pedagogic Creed” Dewy goes off his idea for a younger person’s way of learning. He considers the idea that the psychological and the social and how important it is for helping a child to learn. He believes that the education consists of these two sides and that neither is bigger than the other but that they go hand in hand with one another. Of the two Dewy states that “the psychological is the basis.” (Dewy 93) What he means by this is the child’s own instincts and powers give way to all education. Dewy believes that the school serves as a social institution.
Dewey’s idea of the psychological and the social aspect goes hand in hand and follows the core practices of education. EL’s education design principle of self-discovery follows Dewey’s method. “People discover their abilities, values, passions, and responsibilities in situations that offer adventure and the unexpected.” (EL 6) That through adventure or discovery a student is able to find his abilities. This could be through the process of talking with peers and collaborating to find something new. The social aspect goes well with the psychological If the student is engaged in his social aspects than it will translate to the classroom. Through innate skills that he will develop overtime and learn. This is interesting because I believe as well that you need these traits in order to learn and be able to understand things. In my own experience I learned at a very early age that you must rely on these social skills or you will not succeed in the classroom. I struggled as a student until I put both aspects together.