Several of you are asking questions about the research/evidence-based teaching practice assignment, as it appears in the syllabus: Research/evidence-based strategy descriptions (2) with at least one research article per strategy containing the data indicating the strategy’s, method’s, material’s effectiveness in improving student learning.
Find two strategies that you might use when you are teaching in the classroom. Find a supporting article for each strategy to demonstrate its research base; i.e. the article includes the data thst showed improved student learning. Strategies and techniques that are referred to as “Best Practices” get that label because field testing data showed significant improvements in student learning.
Describe the strategy in detail and identify any materials the teacher would need. Next, attach the research article. Use APA style and APA reference citations (6th ed). You will be doing this as a paper with attached articles to be placed into a Drop Box for grading.
The big picture goal of this assignment is this: No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requires that teachers only use methods and materials in the classroom that are backed-up by solid research. Whatever you teach in the way of content, or model in the way of classroom management, needs to be a “Best Practice” because it is backed up by research. So, you need to know how to locate this kind of information to document why you teach and run your classroom the way you do. After all, that’s why a Board of Education hires you—to teach according to all federal, state and board policies—not as you may fantasize as the best ways or by “flying by the seat of your pants.” You are free to search any number of resources around the world, but for those of you who want some guidance to get started, I’d like to point you toward the website for the U.S. Department of Education and the research/evidence-based practices that they have compiled for your benefit.
They offer a great deal of support to teachers in implementing the principles of NCLB.
And then click on the “What Works Clearinghouse” link to start surfing. Just as an example of what you can find there, here’s a link to a specific article that you could download and save to a discussion board, hard drive, etc as support for how you teach reading. The title of the research report is: “ Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade”
readingcomp_pg_092810.pdf This one report supports several common teaching practices you can see in use in K-3 classrooms all over the country. After you find the articles that are helpful to you as a teacher of any K-12 content area or classroom management techniques, you can also show how those practices support your professional standards according to the Council for Exceptional Children. Just to repeat how to get to those
Think of this assignment as you producing written evidence that demonstrates that you know how to locate research/evidence-based practices that also meet the professional standards by which you are expected to abide. It should be the type of evidence that could stand up in court that shows you are aware of the law and your professional standards, and that you have a couple of examples that demonstrate this kind of integrity.
