Author: colrac07

The Evergreen State College

MiT Master Paper Presentations

March 14, 2014

9:00am - 3:30pm

Presentations

9-9:40

Jessica Cohoe, Nick Morais & Christina Vernon

Differentiated Instruction: Supporting Students with Specific Learning Needs

This review of the literature focuses on effective strategies for differentiating instruction for students with specific learning needs in the general education classroom. For students to succeed academically and socially in the classroom and beyond, we need to incorporate strategies that result in greater access and equality for all learners.

9:40-10:20

Victoria Maratas, Claudia Marin, Amanda McGall,
&Justine Valdez

A Review of Transfer: Questions of Neuroscience, Diversity, Metacognition, & Assessment

Four teachers contemplated four questions related to the practice of teaching for transfer. These questions attended to transfer in the brain, for English Language Learners (ELL), metacognition, and assessment. Supporting transfer is important to us as future teachers because we want our students to be able to use the information and understandings we teach them in alternate contexts. Transfer is not an automatic process, so we must take steps to put into place practices that help our individual students transfer their understandings.

BREAK 10:20-10:35

Presentations

10:35-11:15

Emily Newton, Brie Dignan, Dan Moskin,
Josie Cullinane & Eliza Alexander

Engaging Students Funds of Knowledge Through Personal, Family and Community Connections

This literature review explores the various domains in which teachers, students, families, and communities can collaborate to engage students’ funds of knowledge in order to best support students’ academic achievement. Funds of Knowledge (FoK) is a pedagogical term that refers to all of the skills, abilities, practices, ideas, experiences, and domains of knowledge that a student acquires and can access throughout their lives outside of school.

11:15-11:55

Kelly Lovall–Jones, Krystal Smith & Kristine Boisen

Utilizing Assessments to Inform Differentiation Decisions

This literature review of twenty articles is an effort to respond to the following questions: “What are strategies for utilizing assessments to appropriately differentiate in ways that will guide students toward attainment of learning goals?” “What are the most effective formative assessment strategies that track student learning, inform curriculum planning and guide instructional practice?” “What are effective strategies for giving appropriate feedback to students after assessments to increase learning in a differentiated classroom?” “How can assessment be used in order to get to know students as learners?”

LUNCH 11:55-12:40

Presentations

12:40-1:20

Dan Farr, Paul Neet & Lisa Laughlin

Student-Centered Instruction: Purpose, Challenges,
and Principles

Student-centered instruction (SCI) is a set of practices that focus on the student as a learner instead of the teacher. Student-centered practices may have positive effects in the classroom and meet the needs of a changing society. We conducted a peer group exploration of the literature around the topic of SCI with three areas of focus. We explored the theoretical reasoning behind SCI, some barriers to implementation, and good practices in the context of secondary classrooms.

Christopher Foes, Kelly Shaffstall,
Andrea Thompson– Benton & Christy Turnbow

What are Effective Strategies for Democratic Classrooms?

Our investigation focused on whether teaching practices through student-teacher collaboration and student decision making affect student outcomes. We focused on a few main areas in our literature review: effectiveness of democratic classroom strategies, classroom management, student knowledge gain, student course completion, teacher burnout, and the different processes students engage in that demonstrate classroom democracy. Our guiding research question was: what are effective strategies for student-centered, democratic classrooms?

BREAK 2:00– 2:10

1:20-2:00

Presentations

2:10-2:50

Adam Wooten, Marisa Bateman & Michael Crouch

Differentiating Instruction for English Language Learners and Unmotivated Students

Our research focused on strategies for differentiating instruction, curriculum, and assessments to best support English Language Learners (ELL) and unmotivated students. This topic is important because students of all abilities are in general education classes. As classrooms have become more diverse and inclusive, differentiated instruction has become a necessity.

2:50–3:30

Matthew Fraiser, Sarah Gese & Kat Vanek

Instructional Planning Around Assessment and Feedback and Their Relation to Self-Regulated Learning

It is the role of the teacher to build classroom supports for student learning. This paper discusses a variety of points related to instructional planning and how those points support student development towards becoming self-regulated learners. This thematic review presents studies and articles on the role of assessment design, learning environment, the structure of feedback cycles, and self-efficacy and their impact on the development and use of self-regulated learning strategies.

END 3:30

Thank You!
MiT 2012- 2014 Faculty: Sonja Wiedenhaupt, Anita Lenges and Kelly Foster
A big thanks to our friends, family and colleagues for supporting this process.
To the Evergreen State College Master in Teaching
Program for this opportunity.