Supporting Reading Instruction of High School Students with Learning Disabilities by Using Wynn Software

The purpose of this project was to create a student/teacher handbook, which contained information for the successful integration of the WYNN computer software into the general and special education classroom. Students with learning disabilities struggle with the general education curriculum and new technology provides an individualized approach to the accommodation of their needs. Research concerning learning disabilities and how the use of computers can support these students in the classroom was included

The effectiveness of teaching vocabulary items through contextualization for form 1 students at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Sungai Tiang Pendang district

The study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of teaching vocabulary items through contextualization for Form One students at SMK Sungai Tiang Pendang District. Systematic vocabulary instruction is one of the most important and powerful tools we have for raising achievement and learning. So, this study focused on how the students acquired vocabulary through contextualization. Participants of the study were the Form 1 students from one of the FELDA schools in Northern Zone in Kedah. The study was conducted within two to three months. The subjects were assigned to two almost homogeneous groups, based on their scores on a general test which had been standardized and validated before. All the students came from the same linguistic background and the teacher and teaching materials were the same for the two groups. The experimental group received different treatments. In experimental class vocabulary items were used in contexts and model sentences. In the control group, the new words were presented through definitions and synonyms using the traditional methods. The treatment of the study took 10 sessions using 10 lessons. Before starting the treatment, two similar tests were prepared as the pretest and posttest. Each of them consisted of 45 multiple-choice items of vocabulary. At the first session, the pretest was administered to determine if there was any significant differences between the two groups. By utilizing one-way ANOVA technique, it was revealed that the two groups were almost homogeneous. At the end of the term, the post test was administered. Then, the statistical techniques of one-way ANOVA and t-test were utilized to analyze the collected data. Analysis of the results in the posttest revealed significant differences between control and context group. The results showed that the context enhanced vocabulary development of the learners Then, the student' essays were assessed by the experienced inter-raters. The statistical data had been analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) 12.0 version. The result of the study will be the yard stick for assessing the effectiveness of the strategy in teaching vocabulary successfully and it was proven that teaching vocabulary through contextualization was an effective strategy in helping the students to learn vocabulary in the classroom contexts

A Comparison of Language and Graphic Products of Students From Kindergarten Classrooms Differing in Developmental Appropriateness of Instruction.

This study examines the ways in which kindergartners from more and less developmentally appropriate classrooms negotiate the process of graphic communication. Both quantitative and qualitative aspects of this process are examined. Eighty-one kindergarten children from four classrooms were asked to tell a story both verbally and graphically. They were encouraged to include drawing, writing, or both on their paper. Then they were asked to tell the story that they had produced graphically. The children were students in one of four classrooms from a single school system that were identified as: (a) most developmentally appropriate beliefs and practices; (b) developmentally appropriate in belief, but not in practice; (c) both developmentally appropriate and developmentally inappropriate beliefs and practices; and (d) least developmentally appropriate beliefs and practices. No statistically significant differences were found in the level of drawing of the children in the four classrooms. On the writing scale, significant differences were found for girls favoring the classroom that was both developmentally appropriate and developmentally inappropriate when mean scores were used for analysis. Analysis of highest writing scores for each child also showed statistically significant differences for girls favoring the classroom with both appropriate and inappropriate teaching methods. No significant differences were found between classrooms in the areas of writing or storytelling when each child\u27s first session scores were analyzed. For the storytelling scale, significant differences were found favoring the least developmentally appropriate classrooms when mean scores were analyzed. An investigation of the differences in the use of peer and private speech by the children as they produced their stories on paper was attempted. It was not successful due to whispered speech by some of the children. This speech was difficult to impossible to transcribe, causing transcriptions to be incomplete and therefore not analyzable. Qualitative analysis provided further insight into the problem

An Ethnographic Study of Kindergarten Children\u27s Literacy Skills and Stress-Related Behaviors Before and After Teacher Demonstration.

The purpose of this ethnographic research was to study kindergarten students\u27 literacy skills and stress-related behaviors and a teacher\u27s instructional behavior before and after demonstrations in appropriate bookreading strategies. A lower socio-economic setting, which previously had been identified by Burts, Hart, Charlesworth, and Kirk (1990a) as a developmentally inappropriate instructional environment, was selected for observation as one which might be amenable to change. The demonstrations included bookreading strategies that the kindergarten teacher could implement to promote the acquisition of literacy in ways that do not contribute to stress. Ethnographic data collection consisted of three months of participant observation in one kindergarten classroom. The observation was conducted before, during, and after demonstrations in appropriate bookreading strategies. These strategies included interacting with children about the meaning of print as opposed to drilling on isolated skills. The foundation of this ethnography was the descriptive field notes gained from long-term fieldwork. Analysis of the field notes was inductive in that the recurring patterns emerged out of the data rather than being imposed on the data prior to data collection and analysis. Using a coding procedure, three judges represented their observations of behavior. Additionally, interviews and researcher-designed instruments were used to triangulate the data collected in the form of field notes. The study was conducted in a school located in a metropolitan area of approximately 450,000 people. The kindergarten population in this study consisted of a Black female teacher, age 55, and twelve Black children, six boys and six girls ranging in age from 4.10 to 6.2 years. The findings of this study are threefold: First, by providing a descriptive account of classroom behavior in the context of literacy acquisition, this study offers an in-depth portrayal of how children from lower socio-economic backgrounds, where stressors exist both in and outside the home, acquire literacy skills. Second, it suggests that children from such backgrounds progress rapidly in acquiring literacy skills when taught in developmentally appropriate ways and that teachers adopt appropriate bookreading strategies when involved in the planning. Third, the study indicates that a decrease in the frequency of children\u27s classroom stress behaviors may occur during bookreading

Literary Types: How Literature Helped Inspire Healing and Joy in my Classroom and Beyond, a Narrative

This manuscript examines the role of bibliotherapy, specifically the utilization of literature in the form of books, to address and treat emotional and psychological distress. The document offers a concise historical overview of bibliotherapy, in addition to 29 chapters presenting contemporary accounts illustrating the successful application of bibliotherapy in the lives of both adolescents and adults. Extensive research supports the notion that bibliotherapy constitutes a rational and practical approach to assisting individuals of all ages, with a particular emphasis on adolescents, in overcoming emotional trauma and initiating the healing process. Specifically, a seminal study conducted in the Netherlands by Tijms, J., Stoop, M. A., & Polleck, J. N. (2018) serves as a foundation for the research presented in this manuscript. By incorporating brief narrative chapters containing practical applications, this dissertation aims to contextualize the principles derived from the research conducted in this field

A Critical Review of the Literature of Social Media’s Affordances in the Classroom

Even though the use of social media in education is a now widely-studied topic, there still does not seem to be a general consensus for what social media may afford students or how best to use them in the classroom. In this article, I aim critically discuss some of the most prominent qualitative studies that explore the use of social media in the classroom. I critically consider some of the claims for affordances that social media can offer in the classroom, in particular the affordances of the interactive features that are unique to social media, the affordances for authoring to a wider, interactive audience, and the opportunity for increased student creativity. I then discuss how contemporary scholars have used social media as a platform for learning and literacies. The article some scholars’ findings for incorporating social media into the classroom and the limitations for social media in education. The article concludes with a discussion of some potential steps for future research