THE PATRIOT POST

Partly Cloudy 68/45 *Tomorrow Rainstorms 56/52 MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2018 George Mason University

Graduate Students Finish Self-Study

FROM WRITING TO SPEAKING:
SCAFFOLDING STUDENT DISCUSSIONS
Tragedy at Stoneman Douglass High School: Catalyst for
Government Teacher to have students engage in a dialogue on
reaching political common ground and applicable solutions.
By: Humera Sheikh, Social Studies Teacher
The students stood in the cold, conversations per a study conduct-
eyes fiercely determined sharing the ed by Diana Hess, a Professor at
story of what happened in Parkland, University Wisconsin-Madison.
Florida a month ago. They are hud- These same difficulties were reflect-
dled in concentric circles. The entire ed in the Government classroom.
student body is buzzing with activity. Their teacher, Humera Sheikh,
Some are engaged in sharing infor- struggled to find a way to make the
mation; others create a wall of sticky classroom a space where all students
notes with their demands for gun could feel represented, but also a
control or write personal letters to place for them to vocalize informa-
the victims of SDHS. The juniors and tion learned. At the time, she had
seniors who are a part of the school’s just completed the unit on Found-
Government class are natural leaders, ing Documents and wanted the U.S.
but they did not always know how to Constitution to be something that
amplify this voice but they did not al- was alive and a source of conflict.
ways know how to amplify this voice. Her students were less than engaged
The class was divided between when it came to the document and
those who spoke and those who saw it as something that was only
did not. One student declared that used by politicians and judges not
she spoke because, “her class was teenagers. To overcome the plethora
quiet and that she always found the of challenges that presented itself.
space to speak her mind.” While The teacher prepared a series of ac-
PLACING THE PAST INTO THE PRESENT: another stated that, “she would tivities for her students to participate
USING CURRENT EVENTS TO ENRICH UNDERSTANDING often just shout out answers and in, first, in writing then in speaking.
AND APPLICATION OF SOCIAL STUDIES VOCABULARY that it seemed to push people away.” Students read and responded
Peer judgement, teacher judge- to the mass shooting in Flor-
The importance of representation and religious tolerance lends Social ment, and discomfort with content ida with words such as, “sad”,
Studies teacher the opportunity to use newspaper articles related to a faith are all reasons why students tend “scared”, “worried”, and “angry.”
under fire: Islam. not to participate in classroom Continued on page 2
By: Rebecca Sponga, Social Studies Teacher
A teacher candidate was apprehensive had never done class activities related to The teacher candidate, Rebecca Spon- Luckily, her efforts paid off. She dis-
when the time came to use current events controversial topics before. The group ga, refused to call it quits. If anything, she covered two articles applicable to class:
in a World History I course at a school of ninth graders were accustomed to the had achieved emmetropia since she saw Pittsburgh Effort Creates Hijabs for Dolls
known for its diversity in Northern Vir- routine of answering warm up questions, what she wanted to accomplish more and Muslim and Jewish students Feel
ginia. As she searched Newsela, a website reviewing the answers, writing down than ever. It could not be a coincidence Left Out by Scheduling of School Holi-
that offers differentiated readings, for notes, and completing an extension activity that the young girl who struggled to learn days. The theme evident in both articles
articles that could be used in the Mus- to reinforce class material from the lesson. how to read would one day conduct a focused on religious tolerance and the
lim Empire Unit, her nerves increased. There was no time to introduce class- self-study on how to develop vocabulary importance of representation to create
The only news related to Islam included room expectations for controversial for students with newspaper articles. Her a society where differences are valued
President Donald Trump’s Travel Ban topics and set up rules for classroom appreciation for words took on a new and rather than shamed. Ironically, these ar-
and hate crimes towards Muslims, Jews, discussions. Without the current invigorating purpose. She was determined ticles proved effective since they related
and LGBTs rising in the United States. event articles, the research being con- to make course content more relative to to one another based on two factors:
The teacher candidate needed to ducted would fall through. There was the lives of students. She did not want her the style of writing and the content. In
avoid topics like these since the 27 no time to change her research ques- students to view the current event articles as a study conducted 1986, Kyongho and
students she would be working with tion for a second time. This was it. a floccinaucinihilipilification assignment. Nation successfully proved that reading
Continued on page 2
The Assignments over the Spring 2018 Semester
Jan. 22nd Jan. 29th Feb. 5th Feb. 19th Feb. 26th Mar. 29th Apr. 9th Apr.23rd

Teacher Artifact: Life History: Research Literature Method Draft 1: Draft 2: Collaborative
Students created How did each Question & Review: Chart: Students conducted Students revised and Teacher Impact
visuals represent- person become Rationale: Students dove Students their research put edited their first draft Presentation:
ing their teaching a teacher? Curiosities into peer designed their their findings into for the eyes of the Critical friends
practice. Students told transformed into reviewed articles plan of action words. Critical friends Yoga-Loving, worked together
their stories purpose. What to see what oth- with new gave important Mindful-Educating, to create a final
here. made each stu- ers have done pedagogies feedback to help make Dr. Azevedo. product of their
dent dig deep to for their topic. to use in the the rough draft of the professional
create a research You could say it classroom! research paper not so development.
topic? was...LIT. rough. Page 1
Current events and vocabulary continued
that reading stories, or events, related to each
other help decrease the vocabulary load on
students. Their findings showed that English
Language Learners primarily needed to look
up definitions while reading the first article
but their understanding of unfamiliar words
was reinforced as they continued reading ar-
ticles related to one another. This concept
could be applied to any person identifying
an unknown word and learning its meaning:
including secondary social studies students.
As Sponga began differentiating the mentioned
articles, she kept three things in mind: her stu-
dents, the relevance of the words, and the amount
of times students would see the identified words
over the course of the unit. She deliberated over
which vocabulary words were most significant
towards her study, which somehow became a
logomachy with herself. The targeted words
used for pre- and post-assessment included
revelation, Islam, hajj, Ramadan, Five Pillars, con-
vert, Muslim, Qur’an, and prophet. However, she
also used other class related vocabulary within the
articles such as Allah, monotheistic, Imam, alms,
and Eid. These were also the terms that could be
inserted into the adapted current event articles.
Though Sponga was not expecting to in-
clude a classroom discussion related to the
currentevents, two occurred within one class
period. There was a moment when Sponga
and her mentor teacher, Kelly Morris, realized
they only had enough copies of the first arti-
cle for half class.As Morris absquatulated the
room to make more, Sponga asked students,
“Can someone tell me what a current event is?”
Classroom Discussion continued
The classroom overwhelmingly agreed that this
should not have happened and that it made them,
as students themselves, feel threatened. Addi-
tionally, students wrote that actions needed to be
taken. This is where their consensus split. Some
students believed that people needed to continue
protesting and organizing while others called for
the complete repeal of the second amendment.
Details of how and why were scarce. Students ob-
viously needed more information regarding the
control violence debate, but Sheikh had finally
found their catalyst of engagement. She would
use the second amendment to breathe life into the
document that her students dreaded analyzing.
Over the next couple of weeks, her students
scoured the internet by evening, reflecting and
writing out their thoughts about the aftermath
of the tragedy and the history and laws that
were in place revolving around gun violence.
Students were surprised that most shootings
were conducted by those who worked alone
and that the number of school related shoot-
ings were the highest in America compared to
any of the other developed countries globally.
By day, students created their own discus-
sion rules. Stating that the most important rule
for discussions was to “keep an open mind.” After
co-creating rules, students practiced using the
rules and sentence stems to respond to ques-
tions revolving around a concept from their unit.
Students, depending on the role they received,
were encouraged to use the stems to respond to
the question in a matter of three minutes. Stu-
dent chuckled at the comical names, such as,
the needler. This role required students to play
devil’s advocate. Or the sweeper, which asked
students to summarize the discussion before
moving on to the next question. Overall, students
stated that while they enjoyed being able to try
new roles, they found the language of the stems
unnatural and difficult to use in conversation.
This led to the silent journal activity. Stu-
dents were paired up and given a side to respond
to the question, “Is America ready for gun con-
trol?” Students had several minutes to use notes
to write their responses and rebuttals. A pleth-
ora of ideas sprung about from the linguistics
of the second amendment, the current events,
or the historical research. Students had finally
become confident enough to pull information
they were learning in written form. It was time
to conduct the class dialogue on gun control.
Pictured: R. Sponga leading a vocab activity. Courtesy of: K. Morris
One student announced, “the Florida Shooting?”
Sponga clarified that was an example of a current
event but needed someone to tell her what current
events are. One student piped up that they are events
taking place in the world right now. Sponga then
continued to ask questions about where students
see current events. “Snap Chat! Twitter! The News!”
Yet, Sponga kept pushing. She was waiting for some-
one to say, “Newspapers!” When someone finally
did, another student incredulously asked, “People
still read those?” Morris had walked in at that exact
moment. Sponga smiled and said, “You’re about to!”
Since the article focused on Muslim women wearing
hijabs, it was easy for students to make a real-world
connection. One bright, outgoing student wore a hijab
every day to class. Prior to the class reading the article,
Sponga asked the student if she wouldn’t mind
answering questions if her peers had any for
her. The student, though nervous, agreed.
As the class reached the end of the article,
As the clock ticked down to 10:17 am. Students
quietly filed back into school in a solemn mood. Later
that day, the Government students return to see their
classroom transformed into two circles, one right
behind the other. They commented on how they dis-
liked how the room had transformed. They were used
to their normal seating and already had a discussion
gone wrong in an earlier class. Sensing a need to quell
the discontent, Sheikh reminded the students that this
was an honest and open dialogue that would revolve
around the rules that they had made and agreed on
earlier that month. Students reviewed their notes
and the guiding questions before getting started.
Sheikh sat as part of the circle, a part, but not the
defining feature of the discussion. There were awk-
ward pauses, blank stares, and giggles in the conver-
sation, but as the conversation continued these be-
haviors slowly melted away. Students who were quiet,
saw the pauses as opportunities for them state their
opinion or spring off others.tudents who were quiet,
saw the pauses as opportunities for them state their
opinion or spring off others. The students asked each
other clarifying questions covering how they felt that
they needed alternate forms of security in their own
school. Analyzing the types of guns that were be-
ing sold and how differentiating which types could
or could not be sold. The conversation lasted longer
than anyone expected without heated debates and
arguments until one student known for dominating
conversations, used her sweeping role to declare, “I
know we disagreed about certain things, but I think
we all agreed that although we may not be able to get
rid of guns completely. Certain types of guns should
be banned and that students deserve to be protect-
ed.”At this point, students began to pack up and
slowly head out of the door as the bell rang. Sheikh
remained seated long after she said good bye to the
class. Scribbling down notes in pink notebook, trying
Pictured: H. Sheikh’s journal of her reflections. Courtesy of: H. Sheikh
a couple students blurted out, “Why do you wear
the hijab?” and “Why every day?” Sponga could
tell they were excited but needed them to give
their classmate the chance to speak. When she
did, she happily answered each question and gave
a personal insight as to what the hijab meant to
her. After class, the young lady rushed to Mor-
ris and said, “Mrs. Morris, Mrs. Morris, did you
hear me? Did you hear what I said?” She was
grinning from ear to ear and later thanked Spon-
ga for the opportunity to share with her peers.
There was one moment during the self-study
research that showed their authenticity of their
thinking. At one point Sponga asked her stu-
dents, “Why would I have you do this activity?”
She posed the question on a whim too see if
students could connect why she had them read
current events. Four out of the 25 present that
day made the connection between using current
events to practice and enrich vocabulary. One
student identified how the purpose of the activity
was to relate past events to today! Since students
had never done this before, Sponga was amazed!
Especially since students within the lower ac-
ademic learning tier made real world connec-
tions. This displayed that students these students
were capable of reaching higher order think-
ing – they just needed an opportunity to do so.
In the end, Sponga reflected over the process
of her self-study as a eucatastrophe. This self-
study brought to light how vocabulary develop-
ment is an integral part of Sponga’s pedagogy.
Sponga hopes to one day continue using current
events so her students may develop a strong
vocabulary to discuss global affairs and grow into
conscientious citizens ready to influence change.
to remember certain things to keep and
change. Wondering if she could have
changed something to help students ver-
balize more evidence instead of opinion.
Through the corner of her eye, she noticed a stu-
dent waiting for her to stop and notice her, unsure
if she should break her teacher’s pointed train of
thought. She was the same student who had asked
the clarifying questions throughout the conversa-
tion. She said, “I loved how the discussion went. I
really learned a lot and I never really had a chance
to speak and listen like that!” Sheikh thanked the
student as she proceeded to exit the now emp-
ty room, returned to her desk documenting her
student’s words and slowly closed the notebook.
This was what both she and her students need-
ed. They had found how to use their voices, the
beginning of what they were learning to do.
TECHNOLOGY & ASSESSMENT:
PAPER VERSUS COMPUTER
A question many have  wondered is observed: the
What difference do mediums have on student
success for summative assessments?
By: catherine ahn, chemistry teacher
“P
lease take out your laptop. We are tak-
ing our test on E-cart,” said Catherine Ahn, a
chemistry teacher at a school in Northern Vir-
ginia. One by one, students take out their laptop.
“It’s taking forever,” groans one student. “Why
can’t we just take it on paper?” said another stu-
dent. “Because we don’t want to kill thousands of
trees just for one Chemistry class,” Ahn replied.
Since many are becoming more aware of the en-
vironment, it’s true that people use technology to
save paper. There are many reasons behind using
technology in classroom. It seems that using tech-
nology or “integrating” technology into classroom
is very “in” these days. Due to this trend, more
and more teachers are incorporating technology
into their classroom - especially for assessments.
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Paper versus computer test continued
The use of technology for assessments provides better input for stu-
dents’ learning. Online tests are easily created and accessable. The best TEACHER ARTIFACTS
part is teachers get the results quickly and can determine which test ques-
tions were most missed. However, does incorporating technology into
assessments make the lives of the students better? Studies have shown
that there was no difference in performance when students took the as-
sessments on paper or computer. However, there is one thing that edu-
cators are neglecting. Are they considering the opinions of the students?
Currently, all state standardize tests are on completed on a computer.
Students are required to take common assessments for Math, Science, So-
cial Studies, and English. Many teachers, especially in science and math,
encourage students to use scratch paper or write the process out when solv-
ing problems. Although scratch paper is given during the standardize tests,
to students, taking tests on computers totally different than a paper test.
When students grow accustomed to taking the test on paper, a computer- Top left: Humera Sheikh described how her
ized test becomes strenuous. Ahn asked students whether they preferred classes came to love this object. For her, it represent the
paper-based or computer-based tests; 58.5 % of her students select pa- expansion of knowledge. The idea of using the small
picture to enlarge the bigger one began her thinking
per-based tests and 64.7% said that they had a higher grade when they took on what she wanted to research at the start of term.
test on paper. If students feel they are doing well and feel more comfortable
on paper-based tests, isn’t this the next goal for the current and future teach- Bottom Left: Catherine Ahn selected an image of a smart
ers? How can we integrate more technology into our classroom in order for to depict how much technology is used on a day to day
basis. This gave her a foundation for her research question.
students to feel more comfortable using the technology? What can we do
to prepare students for technology based state standardized assessments? Top Right: Rebecca Sponga explained how the concept
In the future, there will be another generation totally different of time has always fasinated her. For her, time is a tool
than today’s. How can we as teachers prepare for the children who that she cannot function without. It led her to think
about the way the past is always in our present and future.
were raised taking computerized tests? This challenge will contin-
ue to be a mountaing for current and future educators to climb.

THE COMICS: GRADUATE STUDENT STYLE

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