Teacher Education Projects

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Track 12A - Presentations

As teachers, the presenters have worked with children with various backgrounds and history within their classrooms. The children include ones who have experienced trauma. Working with children who have experienced trauma can be tricky, so it is important for teachers to understand exactly how trauma affects children and any struggles they may face. Teachers need to have an understanding about what exactly trauma is and how it is caused. After that baseline of knowledge is set, teachers need to explore strategies that can help. Every child is different, therefore teachers need to recognize the differences in cognitive development and brain structure surrounding children who have been affected. What struggles are they going to face with their social/emotional development and how will their physical and mental health be impacted from their experiences? Having this understanding will help teachers move forward in providing children with helpful strategies and resources.

This presentation will explore the different effects that the physical act of writing has on students and their overall literacy level. The presenter will speak about the time she spent with a selected student and this student’s experiences as well as struggles with handwriting. The presenter will also explain how these handwriting struggles have impacted the student’s overall growth in literacy and outlook on literacy as a whole. During this presentation the presenter will have the audience complete an activity that helps them visualize how difficulties with the physical act of writing are directly related to a child’s literacy level. The presenter will then give the audience practical ways to differentiate lessons in order to attend to students who struggle with literacy due to issues with the physical act of writing.

The purpose for this presentation is to discuss emerging literacy skills in children ages birth-6. The presenter will share ways parents can help enhance their child’s literacy skills. Finally, several books will be available to view that are appropriate for each of these developmental levels. The motivation to pursue this project is to highlight the importance of emergent literacy skills, particularly to parents, and how parents and educators can encourage these early skills. This presentation will also discuss the idea that all children are distinct in their development of literacy skills by using information the presenter has gathered from his Emergent Literacy class. Much of the background information that will be covered will be information about milestones of language and literacy, how to talk with children about literacy, appropriate books for each stage of development, skills that reinforce children’s learning, and how to identify delays in emergent skills.

This presentation will focus on Emotional and Behavioral Disorders caused by trauma. The presenter will reflect on the causes of different types of childhood trauma. The presentation will also provide tips to support teachers, faculty, and anyone who has interactions with children who have experienced trauma. The presentation will also include an interactive activity which will allow audience members to practice Trauma Informed Care before using the new skills with children. In our society today, countless children deal with different types of trauma. This presentation will help ensure that we are supporting young students in every way possible.

This presentation will educate the audience on the effectiveness and uses of sensory tools in the classroom. The presenter will review what sensory tools are, some different forms they come in, and diverse needs they each meet. The presenter will share what was observed during a 2-hour period of time in a classroom with a student with ADHD, and what types of other students can benefit from these tools. Ultimately, the audience will learn how important it is to keep sensory tools in the classroom for students who have special needs, have a learning disability, and those who just need a little extra support during the school day.

This presentation will discuss students who have a hearing impairment, and important issues teachers need to consider. The presenter will discuss what kinds of things that students go through on a daily basis, what accommodations or modifications they may need, and what teachers and peers can do to make learning as successful as possible. The main concept of this presentation is to understand the hearing impairment disability and to know how to accommodate students in a classroom setting.

This presentation will explore students who are diagnosed as Twice Exceptional. The presenter will share a variety of different aspects regarding students with this label. This presentation will include explaining what it means to be Twice Exceptional, as well as strengths and difficulties students may experience. The presenter will be discussing the many ways that a student can be considered Twice Exceptional, but the main focus will be on gifted students who have autism. In this presentation, experiences working with a gifted student who has an autism diagnosis will be discussed. The presentation will include an activity that helps stimulate discussion around the topic. Finally, the presenter will give strategies that will help educators work with students who are Twice Exceptional.

Track 12B - Oral Presentation

This presentation is about what Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder is, and the difference between ADD and ADHD. This presentation will also share strategies a teacher can use to help students with the disorder learn in the best way possible. The motivation to present this topic is that all students learn differently, and it is essential to use different teaching techniques to help all students learn. This presentation will give the audience a further understanding of what ADHD is and how teachers can best teach students with this label. During the presentation, there will be an activity helping the audience understand the difference between Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder.

This presentation will educate the audience on the relevance of challenging behaviors and the way these behaviors can manifest themselves in the classroom. The presenter will discuss risk factors that can contribute to challenging behaviors, as well as strategies that educators can implement in the classroom to prevent and respond to these behaviors. The presentation will include a small activity for the audience to partake in. They will be asked, through a made-up scenario, to evaluate a student who is exhibiting certain challenging behaviors and decide on a course of action, using strategies introduced in the presentation. With this presentation, the presenter hopes that the audience is encouraged to approach students who exhibit challenging behaviors with understanding, grace, and kindness.

In early childhood education, children are often told to ‚quit moving around‚ and to ‚sit still‚ after being in the classroom all day long, which can take a dramatic toll on their physical and emotional health. Children in childcare in the US only spend about 27 minutes doing moderate to vigorous physical activity each day, which is nearly five times less than the recommended 120 minutes according to the US National Health Standards. Children who experience physical activity are at lower risk of anxiety, depression, and sleeping problems, and their social and emotional skills are positively influenced. Through this action research, we will explore the benefits of additional physical activity every day. We will compare current behavior with limited physical activity to behavior after increased activity over a couple of weeks.

In the presentation Dysgraphia, this learning disability will be addressed. What is dysgraphia and how will it look to a student or a teacher? These questions will be answered through an investigation in current research. Something that is important for any teacher to know is how this learning disability can affect a student learning everyday in the classroom. To help students with dysgraphia there are steps and activities to create less stress on a student. From a special pencil grip to computer skills so the student can still get the same amount of knowledge as other students in the classroom; many effective supports will be discussed. An activity will also be part of this presentation that will illustrate how dysgraphia feels to a student and characteristics to look out for. The activity will give knowledge to those who wonder what dysgraphia really is, and the feeling students get when having dysgraphia.

Many people have heard of traumatic events happening to children via different media sources, but when looking at the statistics involving childhood trauma it happens more than one might think. According to The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration ‚More than two thirds of children reported at least 1 traumatic event by age 16. When people think about this topic the major focus is on the way‚ trauma can affect children and their behavior. There is not much information on how to help these kids as they are recovering. Childcare providers need effective and appropriate strategies to help these students in the classroom. This presentation will identify some signs of trauma and abuse observed in students through documentation of their behaviors. The presentation will then follow 3 young children who have experience some kind of trauma, along with what strategies their team uses to assist them. Included will be a firsthand interview with an early childhood professional about what teachers, and caregivers can do to help these children have happy and successful lives.

As Early Childhood Special Education majors, the presenters have gained knowledge about effective teaching strategies to implement during an era that is expanding the use of technology. The presenters want to share this information with others so they can incorporate technology into their classrooms in a beneficial way. The presenters plan to take the audience through the foundation of technology in education (International Society for Technology in Education), using and implementing learning management systems, give a background on cyber bullying, and share some tools that can build engagement and enhance online learning. The hope is to have the audience leave with an expansion on their knowledge of the use of technology in classrooms and open a door to the many different ways online education can amplify learning.

In this presentation the audience will be informed on racial disproportionality in students with ADHD. This presentation will go into how learning disabilities such as ADHD might be overlooked in many students from particular races due to a various number of reasons. Sometimes it might be difficult for some people to identify what learning disabilities look like in children because of the education they have been given and also the resources they have around them to help the children with learning disabilities. This presentation will also go into depth about how to seek out those students with ADHD and give them the support and resources they need to be able to work with their learning disability. There will also be an interactive activity that will put the audience in the shoes of a student with ADHD and not being given the support and resources they need to succeed. This interactive activity is to give the audience a better inside look of a day in the life of a student in this situation.

This presentation will explore students who have been diagnosed with dyslexia. The presenter will teach a variety of different concepts about children with dyslexia. The presentation will include what dyslexia is and common signs that develop in children. The main focus of this presentation will be addressing teaching strategies for children with dyslexia in the classroom. The presentation will conclude with an opportunity for the audience to have hands-on experience practicing, identifying, and brainstorming the best strategies to help support children with dyslexia.

Track 12C - Poster Presentations

Being an educator means being a life-long learner with a curious soul: when was the last time you remember being taught how to set goals? As adults, there is a constant race against the clock, for students it is the same. Every learner is different, and it is common for some students to struggle with the speed teachers are expected to go resulting in a learning gap. Students may feel overwhelmed by the classroom’s academic expectations. A way that teachers can minimize this feeling for students is to allow them to become familiar with individual goal-setting so they feel accomplished with every step they take in school. Use of goal setting for primary students is encouraged but not always practiced. The aim of this project is to find the best process to help primary students set goals to improve learning. 
This project will address student work with the intention to set goals to see the impact goal setting has on their work. Allowing students to take ownership of their learning through goal setting will not only show their success and growth as learners, but they will also be practicing a skill that will follow them through life.

Research shows that it is important that teachers document and analyze the work of their students to gain better knowledge and insight about what students understand about what they are learning. Throughout history, spelling assessments and tests have been a hot topic in education. Many people believe many different things on how and if spelling should be taught and assessed within the classroom. Spelling can give teachers a lot of information on how students are reading and writing and what concepts they are and are not understanding. What spelling assessment will give teachers the most knowledge and information about their students’ literacy skills? Throughout a project, a series of assessments that the presenters will be giving to students will be compiled and analyzed to see what formative and informative assessments tell teachers the most about their students’ knowledge of spelling. The presenters will be giving the students several different assessments ranging from traditional spelling tests, spelling analysis, spelling inventories, and the students’ weekly word work activities. Throughout the project, the data will show the presenters what spelling assessment or series of spelling assessments are the best and give the most information about students’ knowledge and conceptual understanding of spelling.

As a teacher, providing students with appropriate feedback is a vital aspect of effective teaching. With the variety of diverse learners that teachers will encounter in their classrooms, they must be prepared to decide which type of feedback will be the most helpful for each individual student. All students learn differently and respond to feedback differently, so being properly equipped with ways to relay information to students is a necessity. Research has shown that providing students with immediate, positive, structured feedback gives students their best chance at making meaningful connections between what they have worked on and the feedback to improve their work. In this project, the presenter will try to determine which form of feedback will be the most effective on the majority of students’ writing. The growth of student writing after feedback has been given will determine which method is most effective. Students want to excel and feel proud of the work they have accomplished. A teacher’s feedback is the tool to make that happen.

Teacher observations will be made to determine if oral or written feedback would be more beneficial for student growth in their writing while observing fourth grade students. Feedback will be given to the students through one-on-one conferencing and having the students determine what they need to work on for future work. When conferencing with the students, the first three weeks will only be oral feedback. The last three weeks of conferencing, the teacher will be giving written feedback of what the students think they need to work on for the next week. The teacher is then going to assess if students are applying the feedback, and if so, was the verbal or written feedback more beneficial for improvement in their writing. In the feedback, the student will decide on one of the four concepts: capitalization, appearance, punctuation, or spelling (CAPS), to focus on in future work. Research shows that oral feedback is more beneficial when students struggle with reading. In the end, the presenter will evaluate her hypothesis that written feedback will show more growth in their writing instead of oral feedback only because the students have something to refer back to instead of having to memorize the feedback.

This presentation will discuss Autism Spectrum Disorder, also known as ASD. The inspiration for this project comes from working as a behavioral technician in applied behavioral analysis for children with ASD. The presenter believes more people need to learn about ASD and the various forms of therapy and help centered around it. This presentation will both touch on characteristics of ASD, and applied behavior analysis as an effective intervention strategy.

Giving and receiving feedback is important in elementary classrooms when students’ minds are like sponges and absorb information and grow rapidly. Feedback needs to be given when it comes to student writing so that they know what they are doing well and what they need to improve on. This project will be focusing on the question: Is written or oral feedback more beneficial for student writing growth? This question will be answered through research and through a case study in a fourth-grade classroom. The teacher will look at three students’ writing samples and give feedback focusing on capitals, appearance, punctuation, and spelling (CAPS). The teacher will look at a different writing sample every week and see if the students have made any improvements. This will be done over a six-week period. The first three weeks, written feedback will be given and the last three weeks, oral feedback will be given. At the end of the six-week period, the writing samples will be looked at and compared. The students will also be given a survey of whether they preferred written or oral feedback and whether or not they feel like they have improved in their writing.

Assessments are a huge part of what teachers do in the classroom; teachers normally give assessments throughout every school day. Assessments are not always just giving tests at the end of a unit to see what students have learned. They allow teachers to discover students’ strengths, developmental needs, and see what they need to change to meet students’ needs. For this project, the focus is on the portion of assessment that happens specifically at the beginning of the year. The purpose of this project is to discover how pre-assessments are used to plan for instruction in the classroom. The question that is trying to be answered is: How do pre-assessments help teachers determine students’ background knowledge, especially reading ability, and affect beginning of the year planning/instruction? As part of a class assignment, random sampling of 10 to 12 students will be pulled from a second-grade class, and they will be given a running record as a pre-assessment. Then, based on the results, students will be put into small groups. The second part of the project is looking at areas that need to be focused on with small groups. This project is trying to simulate what assessments are like at the beginning of the year.

Having a disability is something that not only affects a person’s life and well-being but also affects his/her education, especially a child. Every disability is going to be different and affect everyone in a different way. Even if two students have the same disability label, they are going to learn in a different way and have different needs. The presenter will first introduce the disability autism, including what it is and the characteristics of someone who has autism. The presenter will discuss how autism affects a child’s learning abilities as well as his/her social skills. Knowing a child has autism and knowing his/her needs are key when planning how to teach students who have autism. This presentation will offer strategies and techniques teachers can use to teach students who have autism as well as how teachers can recognize the characteristics of a student who has autism. Whether a student has a disability or not, everyone learns differently and has different needs. It is a teacher’s job to know the needs of her/his students and provide them with the resources they need in order to help them learn to the best of each student’s ability.

Track 12D - Graduate - Oral Presentations

Teachers want to provide the best learning environment for their students. The question is how does a teacher construct that learning environment in the context of a classroom that serves students with Severe Needs Autism (SNA)? Teachers strive to provide opportunities for their students to be successful and active learners. The use of Learning Centers have been found as an effective way to contribute to that desired learning environment teachers strive for every day. Learning Centers allow students with autism to participate in educational activities with 1 on 1 assistance. The activities that are set up at each center are tailored to the students’ skill levels and will meet the needs of the students’ Individualized Education Plans. Educating students with autism through the use of Learning Centers allows students the opportunity of being a continuous learner in an environment that is best suited to their strengths.

Students who attend college with the added challenges of undiagnosed brain processing issues can experience an unexpected financial impact. Having a tremendous work ethic, grit, and perseverance is oftentimes not enough to overcome the learning challenges these students face. Failing classes not only results in extra time to complete a degree, but extra expenses to re-take classes. A specific type of brain processing issue, Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome or Irlen Syndrome, is so common that research shows it impacts between 10-15% of the general population. Irlen Syndrome causes visual perceptual processing difficulties and the impact increases to approximately 46% for students who have been previously identified with reading or academic challenges. This disorder can be inexpensively identified and accommodations can be implemented to minimize the impact on student academic performance. This presentation addresses the following questions: What are the visual perceptual processing issues caused by Irlen Syndrome? What is the projected economic impact on university students with Irlen Syndrome when this disorder is not identified? Case study historical data will provide information as to how this disorder affects student learning and the direct financial impact to students with undiagnosed Irlen Syndrome.