Writing Question

Part 1

Overview

Imagine you’ve been thinking about how to make gains in student achievement in your educational setting. Your students are from diverse backgrounds, so your strategies will need to account for that diversity. To find new ideas, you’ve been researching evidence-based strategies other countries have used to increase achievement. You’ve come across a couple of ideas you think might really work well in your setting. However, the trick is convincing others. You’re meeting with your grade-level chair, building administrator, and curriculum team to show them that these are policies worth implementing and investing in. What information do you need to share? You’ll want to start with some research.

For this activity, you can imagine either your current education setting or one you picture for yourself in the future.

Preparation

Continue your search, using the Capella Library, to find scholarly sources (peer-reviewed articles, books, websites, and dissertations) with evidence to support the educational strategies you want to write about. You’ll need to include at least three sources. If you haven’t already, you can use the ED5010 Assignment Guide: Getting StartedLinks to an external site. to help you get going.

Instructions

Research and write a paper you might share with and present to school stakeholders that argues for the appropriateness of two strategies that have been used outside the U.S.

• Describe two evidence-based strategies that other countries are using to show significant gains in student achievement. Be sure they align to your specialization.
• How would these strategies be applicable in the United States and your setting, in particular in a setting of diverse, multicultural students and parents?
• What challenges or barriers might occur during implementation? To answer this question be sure to analyze the larger political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context influencing student success and that would need to be accounted for in the implementation of your two chosen strategies.
• Include scholarly evidence and key points providing the necessary support to convince your stakeholders/school officials to let you try such a policy or approach.

Additional Requirements

Your assignment should also meet the following requirements:

• Written communication: Make sure your writing is succinct and clear, and is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
• APA formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to current APA style and formatting guidelines. Refer to Evidence and APALinks to an external site. page on Campus for guidance.
• Resources: Include a minimum of three current scholarly sources (peer-reviewed articles, books, websites, and dissertations) to support your case.
• Length: 3–4 double-spaced pages, not counting title and reference pages.
• Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.

Competencies Measured

By successfully completing this assignment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and scoring guide criteria:

• Competency 1: Apply theories, strategies, and resources that facilitate professional and inclusive relationships with diverse, multicultural stakeholders.
  • Describe how strategies are applicable in a US educational setting, including a set of diverse, multicultural students and parents.
• Competency 2: Analyze how the larger political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context potentially influences student success and may impact the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
  • Analyze the key contextual issues influencing student success, including barriers to the implementation of select strategies.
• Competency 3: Apply information literacy skills to locate scholarly data, theories, and research.
  • Describe evidence-based strategies that have shown significant gains in student achievement in other countries.
  • Support main points, assertions, arguments, conclusions, or recommendations with relevant and credible evidence.
• Competency 5: Communicate with colleagues and stakeholders in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and appropriate to the purpose.
  • Write concisely and directly, using active voice.

Part 2

Overview

You’ve already connected with your administration about some new strategies you’re excited about. But you need to connect with your students and their parents about who you are as a teacher. There’s an open house coming up. It’s time to put together a brochure or newsletter that lets them know what they can expect from you.

Again, for this activity, you can imagine either your current education setting or one you picture for yourself in the future.

Preparation

Continue the research you started. If you’re currently not in the classroom, you can still create your brochure or newsletter based on information you find in the library. Also, if you haven’t done so already, identify what graphic design features you’ll use as part of your brochure or newsletter.

Instructions

Create a brochure or newsletter you would share with parents and students at an open house. The brochure or newsletter should share your professional and personal dispositions, including your approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

• Share your educational philosophy and why it matters to you.
• What are some strategies you use in your classroom, and what activities do you use to engage students?
• How do you celebrate the diversity of your classroom and beyond? How does your learning environment reflect diversity, equity, and inclusion? Give examples.
• Use your creativity in making the brochure or newsletter visually appealing.

Remember, you will only submit one—a brochure or newsletter—not both.

Additional Requirements

Your assignment should also meet the following requirements:

• Written communication: Make sure your writing is succinct and clear and is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
• APA formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to current APA style and formatting guidelines. Refer to Evidence and APALinks to an external site. page on Campus for guidance.
• Resources: Include a minimum of three current scholarly sources (peer-reviewed articles, books, websites, and dissertations) to support your case.
• Length: 2–3 pages single-spaced.
• Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.

Competencies Measured

By successfully completing this assignment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and scoring guide criteria:

• Competency 1: Apply theories, strategies, and resources that facilitate professional and inclusive relationships with diverse, multicultural stakeholders.
  • Explain strategies used in one’s classroom to engage students.
  • Provide examples of how a learning environment reflects diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Competency 4: Reflect on personal and professional dispositions to identify areas of focus for learning and growth.
  • Describe one’s educational philosophy and why it matters.
• Competency 5: Communicate with colleagues and stakeholders in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and appropriate to the purpose.
  • Write concisely and directly, using active voice.
  • Use appropriate visuals and an inviting design.

View Rubric

Part 3

Overview

Imagine you’ve had your open house, and you’re reflecting on what you’ve heard from parents and students. But you’ve also learned more in this course too, and you’ll continue to read and reflect as a professional. You’re refining your educational philosophy and connecting it to the bigger educational picture as a part of your process of lifelong learning.

You’ll start by finding a theory that most reflects your philosophy. Share your reflection through a presentation.

Preparation

This assignment requires you to use Kaltura, a Capella-supported recording tool, or a similar software that produces an mp4 file. You’ll also need presentation software like PowerPoint. Finally, you’ll need to have access to a webcam and microphone for recording your video. For more information, see Using Kaltura and the PowerPoint Presentations Library GuideLinks to an external site..

If you haven’t already found one, continue your search for an educational theory that aligns with your educational philosophy. Feel free to also make use of the Library HelpLinks to an external site. page, with e-mail, phone, and chat help options.

Instructions

Create a presentation to share your reflection. Describe an educational theory that most aligns with your philosophy. Include:

• Why you selected the educational theory. What about it most reflects your philosophy?
• Explain how the theory takes into consideration some of the larger political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context you’re concerned about.
• Explain and give examples of how the educational theory aligns with dispositions of accrediting bodies most closely associated with your specialization. For example, Week 9: Reflection PresentationLinks to an external site. reading list.
• Explain how the theory and the specialization standards support your professional and personal dispositions.
• How has your philosophy changed as you’ve learned and grown as an educator? Describe where you see opportunities for future growth.
• Make sure the audio and visual quality of your presentation are what you’d expect in a professional video conference setting.

In completing this assignment, be sure to incorporate the feedback you’ve received from your instructor so far on your other assignments. Refer back to yourWriting Feedback Worksheet [DOCX] Download Writing Feedback Worksheet [DOCX]if you’ve been using it to track feedback.

Additional Requirements

Your assignment should also meet the following requirements:

• Length of recorded presentation: 5-7 minutes.
• Speaker notes: Submit both your recorded presentation and your PowerPoint (or similar file)and include your speaker notes in your PowerPoint.
• Tools and technology: You may use PowerPoint or other presentation software of your choice. Record the presentation using Kaltura or similar software. Refer to Audio and Video in this Course under Tools and Resources for instructions as necessary. See the Resource Toolbox for information about using PowerPoint and recording video.
• Design quality: Audio and visual quality should approximate that of a properly functioning video conference. Employ effective design strategies to visually organize the information. Avoid colored slide backgrounds and backgrounds with texture, as they have the effect of reducing viewer comprehension. Use graphics to call attention to, highlight, and clarify information for the viewer. Graphics that do not directly support specific content on your slide are distracting and reduce viewer comprehension.
• Written communication: Make sure your writing is succinct and clear, is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
• APA formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to current APA style and formatting guidelines. Refer to Evidence and APALinks to an external site. page on Campus for guidance.
• Resources: Include a minimum of three current scholarly sources (peer-reviewed articles, books, websites, and dissertations) to support your case.

Competencies Measured

By successfully completing this assignment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and scoring guide criteria:

• Competency 1: Apply theories, strategies, and resources that facilitate professional and inclusive relationships with diverse, multicultural stakeholders.
  • Describe an educational theory and how it aligns with one’s philosophy.
• Competency 2: Analyze how the larger political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context potentially influences student success and may impact the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
  • Explain how a theory reflects key contextual issues influencing student success.
• Competency 3: Apply information literacy skills to locate scholarly data, theories, and research.
  • Support main points, assertions, arguments, conclusions, or recommendations with relevant and credible evidence.
• Competency 4: Reflect on personal and professional dispositions to identify areas of focus for learning and growth.
  • Provide examples of how a theory aligns with dispositions of accrediting bodies.
  • Explain how a theory and specialization standards support one’s professional and personal dispositions.
  • Describe how one’s philosophy has changed and one’s opportunities for future growth.
• Competency 5: Communicate with colleagues and stakeholders in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and appropriate to the purpose.
  • Write concisely and directly, using active voice.
  • Use audio and visual technology in a way that approximates that of a properly functioning video conference, employing effective design strategies to visually organize the information.

Part 4

This week, discuss your motivation for pursuing a career in education, current trends in education, and challenges related to teaching diverse student groups. Here are some ideas to get you started. You can pick one of these, or post something else related:

• Have your reasons for becoming a teacher changed over time? If so, what caused the change or changes? What might be most likely to change your motivation in the future?
• Imagine a Friday afternoon, nearing the end of a particularly long and stressful work week. An unusually high number of students have been acting out. The school’s computers are down, and you have had to hand-write tests during the lunch period. What you thought would be a partial evening off has been replaced by several staff meetings scheduled on short notice. You’ll be grading tests until midnight no doubt. Your nerves are shot! How will you deal with this stress?
• Do you believe that the trends in teacher education identified in this week’s textbook reading are desirable? Why or why not?
• What do you think might make teaching a more attractive career option for today’s college students, both minority and nonminority?

Part 5

In Week 1, you discussed with your colleagues your motivation for pursuing a career in education and current trends in education. This week, share and discuss trends that suggest teaching is moving toward a full-fledged profession, along with the goals and benefits of professional and specialized organizations that align with your degree program.

Here are some ideas to get you started. You can pick one of these, or post something else related:

• What potential hardships might occur when each state sets its own certification requirements?
• In your opinion, is teaching a profession or not? What changes might make teaching a true profession? What does teacher professionalism mean to you?
• Review the list of specialized professionals’ organizations in Overview 2.2 of your reading, and select two or three that most interest you. How do these organizations strengthen the beliefs that teaching is a profession?
• After viewing the Unions and Collective Bargaining video, what are your feelings on collective bargaining? Does your state participate in collective bargaining? How can you find out?

Part 6

This week share and discuss how various educational philosophies from around the world shaped our educational system. Here are some ideas to get you started. You can pick one of these, or post something else related:

• Throughout most of history, the teacher’s role was to maintain cultural continuity by transmitting the heritage, especially a particular group’s language, knowledge, beliefs, and values. What is your reaction to the teacher as an agent of cultural continuity and transmitter of culture?
• Arabic scholars deliberately borrowed knowledge from other cultures, whereas the Ancient Chinese resisted cultural borrowing. Identify some contemporary examples of borrowing educational ideas and methods from other countries. Do you favor or oppose such borrowing in American education?
• Reflect on how Renaissance humanists saw themselves as cultural and educational critics. Have you observed teachers or administrators acting as cultural critics? Do you favor or oppose this kind of role for educators?

Part 7

This week, discuss how the pioneers of education advocate for child-centered approaches to make schools more humane and equitable.

Here are some ideas to get you started. You can pick one of these, or post something else related:

• Would it be possible to integrate educational practices from Froebel and Montessori in a contemporary elementary school? If so, describe what it would look like.
• Can you find examples of Pestalozzi’s emphasis on educating the whole child, mentally, physically, and emotionally, in your own education and in local schools in your community?
• What are the similarities and differences between Jane Addams’ work with immigrant children at Hull-House and contemporary multicultural education?
• Proponents of Freire’s educational theory argue it can empower dispossessed and marginalized people, while critics contend that it politicizes schools and generates class conflict. What is your opinion, and why?

Part 8

In Weeks 3 and 4 you discussed how educational philosophies from around the world shaped our educational system, and how pioneers of education advocate for child-centered approaches to make schools more humane and equitable.

This week, continue to share about the various educational philosophies that have shaped our educational system, including how they relate to your personal and professional experiences. Here are some ideas to get you started. You can pick one of these, or post something else related:

• Do you think American schools have been influenced more by existentialism, realism, post-modernism, essentialism, or progressivism? Give examples from your personal or professional experiences.
• What do you think the relationship should be between teachers and students? Should it be based on teaching academic skills and subjects, students’ interests, problems, or changing society?
• Why do critical theorists want teachers to use a site-based philosophy rather than a universalizing one?
• What educational philosophies appeal to you as a current or future educator? What elements of those philosophies would you like to incorporate into your philosophy of education?

Part 9

This week share and discuss the educational experiences of various people groups and the controversy surrounding multicultural education.

Here are some ideas to get you started. You can pick one of these, or post something else related:

• In your opinion, do you believe that multicultural education is a reaction against the policies of assimilation and Americanization that once dominated American public education? Why or why not?
• Imagine that you have been hired as a new teacher in a school with a racial, economic, and linguistic composition quite unlike your own background. What can you do to improve your chances of success, and whom might you ask for assistance?
• To what extent would you be willing to contact parents of low-achieving students when you become a teacher? Do you think this should be part of the classroom teacher’s responsibilities?
• After reviewing the Women Working 1800-1930 resource, describe any surprises (aha moments) you uncovered. How did your understanding of women’s roles in education change as a result?

Part 10

In Week 6, you shared and discussed the educational experiences of various people groups and the controversy surrounding multicultural education. This week, discuss the origins of ethnic, racial, language, and cultural pluralism in society and education.

Here are some ideas to get you started. You can pick one of these, or post something else related:

• Reflect on the educational experiences of the racial and ethnic groups discussed in this week’s textbook reading. Has this history been similar or different for the various groups in the 21st century?
• After reading the McCoy, Villeneuve resource, what is your opinion of the U.S. attempt to use schooling to assimilate Native American children?
• After reading the Rodriques et.al., article, describe any surprises (aha moments) you uncovered. How might you incorporate photovoice methods in your current or future classroom?

Part 11

In Week 6, you discussed the educational experiences of various people groups and the controversy surrounding multi-cultural education. Last week you discussed the origins of ethnic, racial, language, and cultural pluralism in society and education.

This week, share and discuss various instructional approaches and challenges related to curriculum development.

Here are some ideas to get you started. You can pick one of these, or post something else related:

• You are on the curriculum development committee for a new school in the district. You believe that schools should focus on cultivating the intellect, instilling timeless values, and presenting the classics. There are some of your colleagues who are against this. How would you convince them to support your ideas?
• Which of the instructional approaches discussed in this week’s textbook chapter best fit your current or future teaching style? How do these instructional approaches support your educational philosophy?
• In your opinion, how do the skills of innovation, and the freedom to “draw outside of the lines,” support the development of a curriculum that meets the needs of diverse learners?

Part 12

Last week you discussed various instructional approaches and challenges related to curriculum development. This week, share and discuss educational trends from around the world.

Here are some ideas to get you started. You can pick one of these, or post something else related:

• Examine one or more international studies of educational achievement (such as the ones cited in this week’s textbook chapter) to determine how far the United States ranks from the top or bottom. Has the U.S.’s position been improving or declining? Why do you think that is?
• In many classrooms, the student-to-teacher ratio is over 30:1 and climbing. Discuss strategies concerning student management and teacher stress when the class is such a large size.
• Describe the most pressing problems or issues you think face world educators today, and explain why you think they are important. What do you think can be done about these problems, and what role might the United States play in addressing the issues?
• Use Internet resources to find sources on early childhood education in other counties. What practices elsewhere might be useful in the United States? What kinds of change would be involved to implement them?

Part 13

In our final week together, share and discuss the role you play in school effectiveness and educational reform.

Here are some ideas to get you started. You can pick one of these, or post something else related:

• Why is school effectiveness so dependent on what happens in the school as a whole, not just in individual classrooms? What are the most important actions you could take to help improve school effectiveness?
• Would you be willing to work in a high-poverty school even though teaching there might be more difficult than in a middle-class school? What philosophical commitments might be important in undertaking this assignment?
• Have you ever heard of the KIPP approach? Do you have any KIPP schools in your state or district? What are your thoughts on this approach? Why do you think it is working?
• List some characteristics that you think teachers and school leaders need to successfully achieve significant reform in classrooms and schools. What role do you think you will play in efforts to improve education?