MEdia Forms in Use [7th grade]

Advanced Contemporary Literacy is a new course at NEISD where each grade level\u27s curriculum is designed around a different focus for the year to meet the needs of students who require or desire a challenge and change of pace from the traditional reading class. In seventh grade, the focus is Media Literacy, the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and create media in a variety of forms-from print to video to the Internet. Media Literacy is essential to today\u27s adolescents because, according the the Center for Media Literacy, it builds an understanding of the role of media in society as well as essential skills of inquiry and self-expression necessary for citizens of a democracy. This unit is designed to introduce students to the concept of media literacy as well as the methods the course uses to allow for inquiry and self-expression, mainly through Socratic Circles and Shared Inquiry in less formal group work. The course should meet the needs of Gift and Talented students who require choice and peer interaction, which is offered in daily group work and the final assessment, where students have the option of producing a presentation that reflects on how their pastimes and hobbies exemplify their Multiple Intelligence, and how their uniqueness can contribute to a successful classroom setting. Students will have the opportunity to express who they are and in the media form of their choice. They will understand the benefits of working together and how to conduct themselves while working in groups to create understanding of topics in media that do not always have a specific answer. To lead up to the assessment piece, students will learn what to expect from the rest of the year as the daily lessons are a sampling of more in depth lessons to come

THE EFFECTS OF INVASIVE BORDER SECURITY POLICIES ON VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES TODAY

The following literature review is grounded in a case of a Syrian/Canadian man of the name Maher Arar who was wrongly convicted of having associations with the terrorist group Al-Qaeda.5 The purpose of the case is to highlight flaws within counterterrorism policies and strategies. Despite the government’s attempts at protecting innocent civilians, it has also created many challenges for those in office with respect to protecting civil and human rights. As previously mentioned, in an attempt to overcome such challenges it is essential to implement safeguards within practices, and policies to ensure the protection of the most vulnerable

Theater of Witness: The Patient Experience of Dementia Shared through Testimonial Performance

Introduction: Dementia is a condition that modern medicine is ill-equipped to address, and to which art may have much to offer. This project combines reflective and creative processes in a theater collaboration between patients, caregivers, and healthcare students. The goal was to explore the ways in which theater can heal, and to better understand the patient experience of dementia. Methods: I worked with Teya Sepinuck on this project. We met with participants individually to conduct interviews about personal stories and held group workshops to explore our collective story. We worked with a percussionist and composer to explore accompanying music. We have been collaborating with participants to write scripts and develop choreography. We will perform the final piece in mid-September 2019. Results: This project has brought healing to its participants in different ways. As a group, we noticed unexpected connections between each other’s stories. Music became a powerful shared language, growing into a cornerstone of the project. Finally, every participant seemed to find catharsis in sharing their story, even if they were sharing of suffering, and vulnerability made way for love and healing. Discussion: Working on this piece has taught me lessons that I will carry on my path towards practicing medicine. Most notably, reflecting on my own story helped me notice connections between my life and the lives of other participants. This helped me empathize with people who were of different generations and cultures. I will remember the importance of knowing my own story and asking others about their stories

Picking the college for you [7th-8th grade]

The goal of this unit is to combine several of the AVID curriculum essentials and provide more experiences for students to practice the AVID strategies for success. The curriculum blends College and Career planning with the “7 Habits of Highly Effective Students” in a research project. In order to conduct the research, students use AVID strategies for success such as planning and organization skills, reading and annotating strategies, Costa’s questions, note taking and essay writing. Essentially, students should discover that the ideal way to attain success is by setting a goal, creating a plan, and working hard to accomplish that goal. This method of achievement can be replicated for both academic and personal challenges

Compare and Contrast Your Way to Better Judgment [7th grade]

We should evaluate of both sides of a story (or situation) before choosing which is better or worse. Fact and opinion are both vital to choosing preference. The choices we make have significant effects on our lives. (cause and effect) Fables are genre of short fiction stories with inferred morals to learn from

Rollout of a Digital Comprehensive Safety Management System in a Large Public Agency: A Case Study with Kentucky Transportation Cabinet

It’s understood that construction is extremely dangerous and highway construction has an added risk that comes from the presence of traffic. Many steps and prevention measures can be taken to reduce the risks to workers’ safety in highway work zones. Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) realized they had room for improvement and wanted to have a database that would allow for analysis of the common causes of incidents. The new software KYTC wanted to implement is called Origami Risk. Origami Risk is a cloud-based safety management system (SMS) software that offers a huge range of customizable risk management, RMIS, environmental health & safety, and data analytics tools in a single platform that is accessible via web browser and mobile app. To better understand how to implement a SMS in a public agency a literature review was done to review other Department of Transportation’s implementation process and what they learned from the experience. Researchers also held focus groups with KYTC to understand the expectations and concerns of the employees who will be using or administering the SMS. All this information was collected and distributed to KYTC to assist with developing an effective implementation process for a new digital comprehensive SMS