Teacher Education

Mandy Church

Extra! Extra! Read All About It: Publishing in the Elementary School

Attention all teachers, parents and students! Are you looking for an alternate way to help strengthen the reading and writing process? This session will explore how publishing affects reading and writing. What I am going to focus on is why publication is an important part of learning to read and write. The presentation also focuses on the steps of revising and editing and how publishing may promote higher level thinking.

Session A - 8:45 a.m. - Room 350.

Rachelle Doublet, Carol Cherian and Jungeun O

Ethnic Marriage

Our research question asks what the purpose of marriage is among Catholic Indians, Catholic Filipinos and Koreans. The purpose of marriage is to create the foundation for family and also to legitimately have kids. The sacrament of marriage is so important that divorce is highly frowned upon. The rituals of marriage have as their basis, symbolic meanings that underlie the unity of husband and wife. Also, the roles between the husband and wife in the marriage have changed since our parents' generation. Today, the husband and wife have more equitable roles and are truly partners in their family's life.

Session B - 10:30 a.m. - Room 352.

Jennifer K. Harb

A Lesson Learned: Integrating Literature into the Content Areas

Our goal as future educators is to promote effective and enjoyable learning for all students. The integration of literature into the content area curriculum can help us to achieve it. When chosen and presented with care, literature can aid in student comprehension, motivation, and literacy. Students find learning more meaningful when it is related to their lives, and literature provides many real world connections and applications. It is also accessible to students of varied backgrounds, learning styles, and abilities.

Session C - 11:45 a.m. - Room 301.

Jennifer Marie Hartley

Effective Before, During and After Reading Strategies

In order to efficiently succeed in today's society, being a literate individual is fundamental. To be literate can be interpreted through a variety of spectrums including development of literacy applicable to technology, reading and writing. Integration of literacy goals in early elementary and throughout all levels of education is fundamental. The integration of literacy outcomes in core subject areas while incorporating effective before, during and after-reading strategies paves the path for students to achieve literacy. These strategies effectively demonstrate the essentials of reading and interpreting a variety of texts to encoding and decoding vocabulary and comprehending valuable information.

Session B - 10:30 a.m. - Room 350.

Thomas Kennedy

Look at the Time: A Comprehensive Investigation of the Influences and Stimuli That Impact How Time is Measured and Experienced

Learning the aspects of time measurement (e.g., minutes, weeks, months) is a part of most children's early elementary experience. This unit plan takes a comprehensive approach, exploring the social and scientific influences of calendars. By examining multiple calendars the students will not only gain a deep understanding and comfort with their own calendar, but they will also acquire enduring concepts about why and how social norms are developed, as well as an appreciation of diversity.

Session C - 12:15 p.m. - Room 350.

Brigit Locke

Reading the World: The Importance of Teaching Content Knowledge Through Trade Books

Nonfiction is a forgotten genre in the elementary curriculum. Students are often not introduced to expository text until fourth grade, at which time they may receive developmentally inappropriate textbooks. This deficit in exposure and quality impairs students' ability to independently manage text, while the use of nonfiction trade books provides students with engaging and authentic instruction. This presentation reviews current research on trade book use and offers suggestions for incorporating such materials into the classroom.

Session A - 8:30 a.m. - Room 350.

Pamela Parkinson

An Alphabet Book for Nicholas: A Personalized Alphabet Book for a Struggling Reader

Field experiences present us with interesting challenges. In a field experience, I tutored a first grader who had trouble with alphabet identification. As a pre-service reading teacher, I wrestled with how to help my student secure this most basic skill. Research says that students like to "see" aspects of their own self, reflected in the pages of books. Taking this idea one step further, I designed my student "his own" alpha-book.

Session A - 8:30 a.m. - Auditorium.

Rebecca Seres

Catching the Rainbow: Identifying Colors Through a Performance-Based Assessment

Assessment is an essential tool for educators that provides insight into curriculum development and organization. A variety of testing methods can be implemented, but they may not accurately depict the child's achievement and progress. Performance-based assessment is an ongoing form of assessment that allows the child to demonstrate his or her knowledge in a variety of ways. Today's presentation will illustrate a performance-based assessment game intended to assess the color recognition skills of three- and four-year-olds.

Session A - 9 a.m. - Room 350.

John P. Guthrie III

Are Children Learning?

Children learn through engaging in various activities that are of interest to them. The quandary for a teacher is determining what the child has learned and to what extent. This presentation will show some typical activities children are engaged in, what they learn while they do these activities and how the learning is documented using assessment techniques.

Group 1 - 8:30 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. - Room 310A/B .

Stephanie Kozlowski, Derrick Miller and Ryan King

Can We Teach Toward Social Justice?

Kevin Kumashiro's book, Against Common Sense, analyses different ways in which oppressive education appears in schools and offers possible suggestions to alleviate the problem. Using this book and results from a survey, we compared the awareness of education students at Eastern Michigan University and current elementary teachers in regard to oppressive practices in the classroom.

Group 2 - 10:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.- Room 310A/B .