Julia Lee Tash, ID portfolio

Navigation links: ETAP 623 Fall 2024 | Link to my mini-course front page

About Me

My name is Julia Lee Tash, I am a graduate of Illinois State University's Middle Level Education program. I am currently enrolled at The University at Albany, in the Instructional Design and Educational Technology, master's program. As an educator I strive to empower students with understanding about the world around them so that they may be critical members in their global community. With 4 years of educational experience and 19 years of stage theater, I find that imagination and critical thinking can take learning to new levels of understanding as we become the makers of change.

My Topic and Purpose

My mini-course will take a critical look at using fictional books on generative topics to analyze content specific standards. The example book for my mini course will be based on Micheal Crichton's novel, "Jurassic Park." The purpose of this mini-course is to show educators and learners how to relate content specific standards to the topics of fictional books. By theming standards to the topics of fiction, learners can work with content objectives in different ways and through different perspectives. My hope is to use the imaginative minds of young adolescents as a catalyst of intrinsic motivation when trying to understand new or abstract content.

Souces: Perkins & Blythe (1994), Larson and Lockee (2020)

Scope of Learning Outcomes and Content

-Educators will learn how to use generative topics from fiction books to teach academic standards

-Educators will be able to use fictional topics in parallel to academic standards and unit objectives

-Educators will be able to use fictional books and topics as analogies to help learners understand content standards

-Educators will be able to use fictitious scenarios to allow students work with content specific standards in an open ended format

The educational problem of bridging academic content with novels can be summarized by motivation and familiarity with fiction, science fiction, and non-fiction books.

• In today's society, people are more motivated to watch videos, listen to podcasts, and read summarized information than reading lengthy novels. This means that it may be difficult to catch learner's attention and motivation to read novels in school. But, aligning them with academic content can make novels more appealing in relation to mundane worksheets and textbook reading.
• Showing students that they can combine imagination and creativity with academic content through the lenses of various authors can be a catalyst to constructivist learning and pedagogy.
• Book academic levels must also be assessed so that pre-teaching of unfamiliar vocabulary can occur to ensure reader comprehension. This will help to grow student vocabulary and self confidence when reading novels that may be above grade level.
• The learners/participants involved include the academic learners, parents and guardians, team teachers, school administration and principles.
• Depending on the age and demographics of the learners, some may be unfamiliar with genres like fiction, science fiction, and non-fiction. Learner's will benefit from learning about what each genre means and what each can bring in the form of knowledge and entertainment.
• Intent statement: This mini course will help instructors to identify what types of books they can use to align different types of novels to academic content areas.

Analysis of the Learner and Context

Teachers across different content areas and ages can use novels to enhance the learning experience of their students. For example, the novel, "Jurassic Park," by Michael Crichton is being use to facilitate the study of 6th grade environmental science by aligning real NGSS Science standards with the genre of science fiction in a captivating manner that stimulates learner interest, imagination, and critical thinking about real world problems. Studies show that when learner's are intrinsically motivated and entertained then learning flow takes place more often and in a more authentic manner. Teachers can use this mini course in any subject, but it is especially beneficial in content heavy academia like science, social studies, and math. Students that may not be familiar with the subject's academic context will have another opportunity to relate with the subject in another way that may be more relevant and interesting to them.

Performance-Based Objectives

After completing this mini-course, learners will be able to:

1. Choose fiction, science fiction, or non fiction books that align with content area standards.
2. Align unit standards with specific sections of the book to create a parallel curriculum between the reading and course objectives.
3. Use events throughout the book to practice individual standards and objectives

Task and Content Analysis

In this course, teachers will learn how use fictional content and specific book chapters to align with specific NGSS standards that will help students make cross cutting connections in specific subject areas, fictional text, and real world events. Teachers will first set up a curriculum map that targets the standards and units of study that they will teach in a given academic year. In this course teachers will choose fiction books that align with standards that are required in their content area and tie sections of the book into each standard. After aligning the book to the curriculum map, teachers will pull vocabulary necessary for readers to know in order to be successful in reading comprehension. Teachers will supplement literacy circles once a week for students to become active readers. Teachers will create open ended questions that stimulate discourse between students about the book section; giving learners opportunities to make cross cutting connections between the book and content standards. Using online collaboration platforms, teachers can assess student understanding and connections.

Curriculum Map

References and Resources

• Perkins & Blythe (1994)
• Larson and Lockee (2020)
• "Jurassic Park," Micheal Chriton (1990)
• Bloom, B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives