Spring 2024 Final Project Directions
We have been working this semester on practicing professional development talks. For your final project, we will have a roundtable discussion where you will each present a reading strategy or response activity based on our work with our pedagogy texts:
- Unearthing Joy by Gholdy Muhammad
- Deepening Comprehension with Action Strategies by Jeffery D Wilhelm
- Young Adult Literature and the Digital World: Textual Engagement Through Visual Literacy by Jennifer S. Dail, Shelbie, Witte, Steven T. Bickmore
- Ink and Ideas: Sketchnotes for Engagement, Comprehension, and Thinking by Tanny McGregor
Steps
1. You will research your chosen strategy to find at least 3 additional scholarly peer-reviewed sources that support the strategy. To be up-to-date, sources should be published within the last 10 years, preferably within the last 5 years.
2. You will design a handout or infographic about the strategy with each of the following sections:
- An introduction that defines and describes the reading strategy, when and how it is used, and for what purpose
- A rationale for the strategy explaining the research that supports the use of the strategy and citing at least 3 sources outside of our textbooks that tout the effectiveness of the strategy
- A hands-on activity for us to try out the strategy and see how to implement it in our own teaching
- A bibliography of your scholarly sources
3. During the exam time, we will host a research roundtable where we will have an informal discussion of teaching literature and reading in middle and secondary schools. You will each have 15 minutes to present your work. We will have 10 minutes at the end for questions and general comments.
Guidelines/Evaluation
This assignment addresses NCTE Standard 5: Candidates reflect on their ELA practice, use knowledge and theoretical perspectives to collaborate with educational community members, and demonstrate readiness for leadership, professional learning, and advocacy.
To demonstrate accomplishment of this standard, you will do the following:
- Participate in a roundtable discussion as a form of collaboration and professional development
- Arrive prepared to deliver your talk and participate in peers’ demonstrations
- Inform the group about a reading strategy to support students’ learning about literature and reading in middle and secondary schools
- Include sufficient description of the strategy
- Present scholarly research to support the use of the strategy
- Develop a rationale for using the strategy through current relevant research
- Lead a hands-on activity to demonstrate the use of the strategy
