Course Projects

COURSE PROJECT OPTION #1: A CASE STUDY OF YOUR FOCAL LEARNER

Procedures for Conducting your Case Study
Rubric for Assessing Course Project #1
Links to Additional Ideas and Information Regarding the Conduct of a Case Study
Examples of Case Studies written by 3461 Students

COURSE PROJECT OPTION #2: YOUR EXPERIENCES AT CCHS

Rubric for Assessing Course Project #2
Examples of CCHS Experience Papers written by 3461 Students

COURSE PROJECT OPTION #3: MAINTAIN AN ONGOING BLOG ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCES AT CCHS

Rubric for Assessing Course Project #3
Examples of CCHS Blogs written by 3461 Students

Whichever course project you select, please consult the Writing Tips page and do your best to avoid the common writing errors listed there.

COMPUTING YOUR GRADE FOR THE SEMESTER

COURSE PROJECT OPTION #1: A CASE STUDY OF YOUR FOCAL LEARNER

For Service-Learning in Secondary English Education, you may elect to write a case study of the person whom you will be tutoring during the semester at Classic City High School. (If for some reason you end up tutoring more than one person, you can adapt your project to your new situation in consultation with me, or elect to do Course Project Option #2.) A case study is a detailed, contextualized analysis of a small number (often one) of people as they are engaged in some sort of cultural practice. Your case study will focus on your tutoring relationship, and will seek insights in three main areas:

Personality

What is the personality of the person with whom you are working, including his or her interests, hobbies, passions, demeanor, and other aspects of self?
How does this contrast with your own personality?

Cultural Background

What is the cultural background of the learner, including such social categories as race, ethnicity, gender, social class, and sexual orientation? How do these factors contribute to the person's ways of viewing and acting in the world?
How does this contrast with your own cultural background?

Educational Experiences

What are the educational experiences of the learner, including ability track placement, likes and dislikes about school, beliefs about teachers, beliefs about formal education, ability to apply personal strengths to school tasks, and other experiences that affect the learner's functioning in a school setting?
How does this contrast with your own educational experiences?

You will produce a case study of your tutoring relationship with a focus on the learner's literacy potential and the degree to which the school enables him or her to grow toward that potential. You should take into account the learner's personality, cultural background, and educational experiences and relate them to ideas that you gather from your Book Club readings and discussions. You will focus on the learner and use your own cultural background as the relief against which you present the case. Your final case study report will include the following:

A portrait of the learner that includes detailed attention to his or her personality, cultural background, and educational experiences as detailed above.
A comparison and contrast of this learner's characteristics as a student with those of people who are similar to you.
An account of the ways in which the learner's overall educational disposition does and does not fit with the expectations and routines of conventional schools.
With this third consideration in mind, an analysis of (1) how the learner would need to change in order to fit better with schooling as usually practiced, and (2) how schools would need to change in order to better fit with the strengths and needs of the learner.
A conclusion in which you synthesize your understandings from the semester and describe how you would teach students similar to your case study learner in your own classroom.

Note: Because these course projects are set in a school and are not being conducted for the purpose of publication, they are exempt from the Institutional Review Board's approval process.

Procedures for Conducting your Case Study

After each Tutoring Session, you will produce an entry in a teaching log in which you record your impressions regarding your focal learner's personality, cultural background, and educational experiences in light of the academic work covered during the session. As part of this entry, you will compare and contrast your focal learner's personality, cultural background, and educational experiences with your own and consider the consequences of teachers and students coming together with different worldviews, experiences, and socialization.
You will bring your log entries to class each week; they will serve as central texts in the discussions you have with your classmates.
Periodically, we will dedicate class time to identifying themes from your teaching log. A theme is a recurring pattern that you notice in your tutoring relationship. It might concern any of the following topics, or many others:

the student in relation to the teacher (e.g., the student has difficulty interpreting the teacher's instructions)
the student in relation to the school culture (e.g., the student is accustomed to working collaboratively but the teacher requires all work to be individual)
the student in relation to the subject matter (e.g., the student has difficulty understanding school grammar assignments)
the student in relation to the ways in which subject matter is taught (e.g., the student likes to read but does poorly on multiple-choice tests on reading)
the student in relation to peers (e.g., the student's friends apply pressure not to succeed in schoolwork)
the student in relation to school rules (e.g., the student and friends are loud and boisterous when together; such behavior gets disciplined in school)

Based on your attention to themes in your teaching log, you will develop a case description of your focal learner that covers the four areas outlined above. You may supplement this report with any artifacts that you collect from your tutoring experience (with the learner's permission): samples of school work, samples of literacy practices from outside school, photographs, scanned documents, etc. Your final product may come in a variety of media, including but not limited to:

conventional written report
web page
portfolio
documentary film
multi-genre project (i.e., one that combines elements from multiple forms)

Rubric for Assessing a Case Study

Your case study, regardless of which form you use, will be assessed according to the following criteria. You will receive 0-5 points in each of the following categories, with 0 being a lowest score and 5 being the highest.

Assessment Category

A clear account of the learner's personality, cultural background, and educational experiences
Identification of themes that follow from the account of the learner's personality, cultural background, and educational experiences
A comparison and contrast between the themes found in the case study and themes present in your own personality, cultural background, and educational experiences
A consideration of the ways in which the student's life and disposition are and are not in synch with the expectations for behavior and academic performance in school; and of what would need to change in order for school to be an arena for success for the student
Explicit referencing to each of the three books from your Book Club discussions in order to illuminate insights about your case study student
A concluding statement that details how you would teach this student and others like him or her in your own classroom in order to take the greatest possible advantage of the student's strengths and learning goals

Your grade for the case study will be calculated by adding your score for each category and matching to the total point values below:

A= 26-30 points
B= 21-25 points
C= 16-20 points
D= 11-15 points
F= 0-10 points

Links to Additional Ideas and Information Regarding the Conduct of a Case Study

The Case Study as a Research Method
Basics of Developing Case Studies
Reformating Reporting Methods for Case Studies

COURSE PROJECT OPTION #2: YOUR EXPERIENCES AT CCHS

Based on your observations and experiences working at CCHS, conduct a detailed report in which you consider all relevant factors from the following list. Keep in mind how these experiences might have been influenced or altered by the books you have read and classroom discussions. Make sure to indicate how these experiences might influence you as a future educator. You do not have to address every issue, but because each person's experiences at CCHS are unique, make sure you address the most relevant ideas to your experience at CCHS.

You may present your course project in any of the following media, or others that you see fit (please run any seemingly radical ideas past me before you get carried away):

A categorical presentation (i.e., a report in which you provide a separate section for each of the following major categories: the institution, the teachers and administrators, the students, you as a teacher)
A narrative in which you incorporate information into your story of the semester's experiences, without relying on categories but including information where relevant in your presentation.
A documentary film, animated feature, claymation or other form of stop-action film, or other technology-based presentation, in either categorical or narrative form.
A series of journal entries that involve some sort of organization of the material.
A work of fiction or epic poem that provides a verisimilitudinous account of your experiences as a tutor/mentor.

THE INSTITUTION

Consider the structure and format of Classic City High School-including the curriculum, structure, and set-up of the classroom and its environment-and discuss the implications for teaching and learning.

Compare this nontraditional format with the structure of your own high school.
Discuss how this structure of CCHS might benefit some students and not others?
Think about your initial reactions to CCHS and how some of your opinions changed or became confirmed with regard to classroom procedure or structure.
Analyze the usefulness of technology in regard to the student(s) you were working with.

THE TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS

Describe and evaluate your interactions with the faculty and staff of CCHS.
Analyze the impact of the teacher's decision to rely on direct instruction or technology and instructional software.
Evaluate the administrative role in serving as graduation coach and mentor to all the students at CCHS.

THE STUDENTS

Discuss the student(s) you worked with and your interactions with them in terms of the following factors:
Personality: What is the personality of the person with whom you are working, including his or her interests, hobbies, passions, demeanor, and other aspects of self? How does this contrast with your own personality?
Cultural Background: What is the cultural background of the learner, including such social categories as race, ethnicity, gender, social class, and sexual orientation? How do these factors contribute to the person's ways of viewing and acting in the world? How does this contrast with your own cultural background?
Educational Experiences: What are the educational experiences of the learner, including ability track placement, likes and dislikes about school, beliefs about teachers, beliefs about formal education, ability to apply personal strengths to school tasks, and other experiences that affect the learner's functioning in a school setting? How do his or her experiences contrast with your own educational experiences? You might consider any or all of the following factors:

the student in relation to the teacher (e.g., the student has difficulty interpreting the teacher's instructions)
the student in relation to the school culture (e.g., the student is accustomed to working collaboratively but the teacher requires all work to be individual)
the student in relation to the subject matter (e.g., the student has difficulty understanding school grammar assignments)
the student in relation to the ways in which subject matter is taught (e.g., the student likes to read but does poorly on multiple-choice tests on reading)
the student in relation to peers (e.g., the student's friends apply pressure not to succeed in schoolwork)
the student in relation to school rules (e.g., the student and friends are loud and boisterous when together; such behavior gets disciplined in school)

YOU AS A MENTOR, TUTOR, AND FUTURE EDUCATOR

Reflect on your role as a mentor: Do you feel you reached your student(s) at any level? What was your relationship like with this/these student(s)?
Reflect on your role as a tutor: Do you feel you made progress with your student(s)? Do you think they are a better student(s) because of your involvement with their academics? Did your role as their tutor get in the way of your relationship with them and/or your coexisting role as their mentor?
Reflect on your position as a future educator: How has your experience at CCHS impacted you as future educator? What can you do as a future educator that might eliminate some of the academic struggles the students face at CCHS?

Rubric for Assessing your Account of Experiences at CCHS

Assessment Category

A clear account of the institution and its characteristics, including its structure and the technology options
A clear account of the relevant teachers and administrators, including their relationships with students
A clear account of the students, including their personalities, cultural backgrounds, and educational experiences
A clear account of your role as a mentor and tutor and your prospects as a future educator.
Explicit referencing to each of the three books from your Book Club discussions in order to illuminate insights about your experiences at CCHS
A concluding statement that details how you would teach based on your experiences at CCHS

Your grade for your account of your experiences will be calculated by adding your score for each category and matching to the total point values below:

A= 26-30 points
B= 21-25 points
C= 16-20 points
D= 11-15 points
F= 0-10 points

COURSE PROJECT OPTION #3: MAINTAIN AN ONGOING BLOG ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCES AT CCHS

Create a blog or a journal that documents your time and experiences at CCHS. You will record your daily experiences on your blog or in your journal. Be sure to include:

your observations (of the classroom, students, teacher, etc.)
what you are learning (from your student(s), teacher, on your own, etc.)
your student's or students' progress
your own progress as a tutor and mentor
references to your book club books, as well as other groups' books and presentations (e.g., how you can apply them to what you're seeing in the classroom, how they helped you better understand something/handle something, things in the classroom and with your student(s) that support or question what was talked about, etc.)
your relationship with your student(s) (how it's growing/not growing, building trust, etc.)
your expectations v. the realities of the classroom
comparisons on how you learn and your experiences versus your student's or students' and CCHS
tactics and methods you use that both succeeded and failed, and reasons why

This assignment is a little more "bloggy" than the other 2 options. Be sure to document your time tutoring and mentoring after each time you go. For example, when you come home from CCHS, log on to your blog and write about your time there. Be very detailed.

At the end of your time at CCHS (or at the end of the semester), write a synopsis/conclusion on your experience, with attention to what you learned, what you will take away from your experience, what you could have done better, etc.

Have fun with it and take pride in your experience. You should learn just as much from your students as they are learning from you.

Rubric for Assessing your Blog of Experiences at CCHS

Your blog, regardless of which form you use, will be assessed according to the following criteria. You will receive 0-5 points in each of the following categories, with 0 being a lowest score and 5 being the highest.

Assessment Category

A clear account of the institution and its characteristics, including its structure and the technology options
A clear account of the relevant teachers and administrators, including their relationships with students
A clear account of the students, including their personalities, cultural backgrounds, and educational experiences
A clear account of your role as a mentor and tutor and your prospects as a future educator.
Explicit referencing to each of the three books from your Book Club discussions in order to illuminate insights about your experiences at CCHS
A concluding statement that details how you would teach based on your experiences at CCHS

Your grade for your account of your experiences will be calculated by adding your score for each category and matching to the total point values below:

A= 26-30 points
B= 21-25 points
C= 16-20 points
D= 11-15 points
F= 0-10 points

COMPUTING YOUR GRADE FOR THE SEMESTER

Your grade for the semester will be computed according to the following formula:

Tutoring Sessions 40%: You will receive 2 points for each of the 15 hours you spend tutoring. Tutoring beyond 15 hours can earn you additional points. You cannot pass the course, however, without producing in each of the three required areas (tutoring, book clubs, and project).
Class Sessions 30%: Your participation in class sessions, including the discussion you lead on your book club selections..
Course Project 30%

I will follow UGA's Grading System in calculating your letter grade for the course based on these points. Point values will be distributed as follows:

A = 94-100 pts
A- = 90-93 pts
B+ = 87-89 pts
B = 83-86 pts
B- = 80-82 pts
C += 77-79 pts
C = 73-76 pts
C- = 70-72 pts
D = 60-69 pts
F = 0-59 pts