Final Presentations: Applied Technology Projects

& Proposal-Writing Projects

(This is available on my website: http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~mmj34

>Courses>ENG 581

Why Choose the Technology Option?

You can use it as a link on your professional web site, which always impresses employers

You can practice your own technological literacy

You can have fun with design You can create something that will be useful

for your future teaching

Applied Technology Projects

Here is an all-around resource for teachers integrating technology: http://www.4teachers.org/

Build a Unit http://4teachers.org/projectbased/

Applied Technology Projects

Create a personal web site in which you offer expert advice to others about a topic/problemhttp://www.mathpower.com/index.htm

Design a semester-long course– http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/%7Engb3/English570/welc

ome.html (example from Dr. Nancy Barron)

Why Choose the Proposal Option?

Why choose the proposal option?– Writing a proposal does not require a polished

and finished product– It allows you to imagine and design a project to

do/study something that interests you– It allows you to imagine and immerse yourself in

the process, without sweating the product (yet!)

Basics of Proposals: Title

Should be catchy, though this isn’t absolutely necessary as long as it’s accurate

If it’s long, try to sub-divide using colons Example: Autobiographical Narratives in

Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Classrooms: How Narratives in Teaching Impact Student Discourse, Classroom Ecology, and Literacy Learning at the Middle Level (my most recent proposal)

Basics of Proposals: Table of Contents

This should be the first page, after the cover page (Title)

You can design it however you think will be most readable

Basics of Proposals: Project Summary

Summarize your project in 500 words or less (keep it to one single-spaced page, though).

Be sure to indicate the scope of the project, goals and objectives, and significance

This can be the most important page of the entire proposal!

Basics of Proposals: Project Description

Statement of Problem/Question– This is where you describe the problem and the

question you will be tackling with your project – State the question, in a sub-section of its own, as

early as possible in this section– Make a case for why this problem is important to

investigate.

Basics of Proposals: Project Description

Background– This section situates the project, and the problem

you are studying, in relevant research literature– This should be more than a list of other people’s

work: it should be an argument about how your proposed project fits into this existing body of work

– Describe, situate, and make a case for your theoretical framework for approaching the problem

Basics of Proposals:Project Description

Goals and Objectives– If possible, articulate the hypothesis you will

examine or the outcomes you anticipate– State clearly the goals of the project– Break down the broad goals into concrete,

observable objectives (e.g., I will examine the amount and quality of one

student’s talk during peer conferences, over a six-week period of time)

Basics of Proposals: Method

This section elaborates how you will carry out the project.

Describe, step-by-step what you will do in order to learn about/address the problem you have laid out.

Be precise Use vivid verbs Include a timeline (tables work well for this)

Basics of Proposals: Significance

This section elaborates the significance of this project

Who will benefit from it? Why? Why this project now?

Basics of Proposals: Dissemination

Explain how you will let others know about this project—spreading the good news!

Some possibilities: local newspapers, newsletters, web sites, conference presentations, journal articles, books, workshops for other teachers, etc.

Basics of Proposals: References

You should have a significant reference page (try to keep it to one page, single-spaced, if possible) accompanying your proposal.

Use APA or MLA format You can single-space the reference page, in

a departure from these formats

General Proposal-Writing Tips

Use abbreviations whenever possible– e.g., If your title is “Literacy in Action,” use LA

after the first usage in the paper instead of restating the title over and over again. This is a potentially powerful nominalization.

Don’t be modest! Proposal-writing is a marketing effort, and you must sell yourself and your idea to the folks with money and influence.

General Proposal-Writing Tips

Try to keep the scope of the project manageable

Research the organization you are trying to get money from, and tailor your proposal to their foci and interests

For the purposes of this class, I request that your proposal—including all its parts—be between 15 and 25 pages.

Example: A Recent Proposal

Table of Contents Abstract 1 Project Description 2-7 Letter of Support (Dr. Susan Fitzmaurice) 8-9 Letter of Support (Dr. Martin Nystrand) 10 Budget Form 11 Budget Narrative 12 Curriculum Vitae Dr. Mary Juzwik 13-14

Dr. Martin Nystrand 15-16

Example

AbstractAutobiographical Narratives in Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Classrooms:

How Narratives in Teaching Impact Student Discourse, Classroom Ecology, and Literacy Learning at the Middle LevelThe project I propose, Autobiographical Narratives in Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Classrooms (ANLCDC), will explore how

autobiographical narratives in teaching discourse impact learning outcomes, student discourse, and the overall classroom ecology of one literacy classroom. ANLCDC extends previous research on narratives in classrooms to examine such discourse in a linguistically and culturally diverse classroom, taught by a teacher of color.

The following research questions will focus the study: a) What kind of ethos does autobiographical narrative construct for this teacher? b) What impacts on student discourse do such narratives have, over time, in the classroom? c) What impact on the overall classroom ecology do these narratives have? d) How do these narratives impact students’ learning in a literature unit?

This project responds to these questions by examining the following possibilities about autobiographical discourse in the context of a middle-level literature unit: e) that it positions the teacher culturally and ethnically in communities of practice outside the classroom, and thereby constructs an ethos for the teacher as a person of color, f) that it invites students to voice narrative responses to literature in terms of their own ethnic identities and cultural experiences beyond the classroom, g) that it results in dialogic classroom discourse about literature, and consequently h) that it is positively correlated to high student achievement in the English Language Arts.

A data set for this analysis has already been generated: funding for this project will go toward time-consuming data analysis procedures as well as dissemination of results. Data analysis will require my time during the summer, the employment of two undergraduate research assistants in the summer, the purchase of audio/visual equipment, and consultation with a collaborator outside of NAU. Requested support for dissemination primarily involves expenses incurred traveling to give conference presentations about the research.

The processes and results of this study have potential significance for students at NAU, the NAU faculty, the English department, NAU as a university, and most generally for the field of English education. Relative to the students of NAU, the most immediate effects of this study will be on the undergraduate assistants hired to collaborate on the data preparation and analysis work. Perhaps more importantly, however, the results of this study may have a number of important effects on undergraduate and graduate students in English Education, as well as students and faculty at NAU generally. This project will support the department’s new and growing M.A. program in the area of English Education, at the same time that it supports NAU’s Strategic Plan Goal of building a national reputation for excellence in professional programs. In English education, this project will explore a previously unstudied phenomenon—the relationships among teacher narratives, dialogic classroom discourse, and students’ learning. This research will provide both educational researchers and literacy educators with a model for understanding narrative form as it relates to cultural and linguistic diversity in classrooms.

Example: Background

Background InformationA central question in the field of educational research asks, “How can teachers and schools best deliver a high-

quality education in linguistically and culturally diverse contexts?” This question is particularly relevant for educators in the state of Arizona, at both the K-12 and post-secondary levels, where the diversity of classroom populations is growing. While recent federal policies have responded by emphasizing in-depth knowledge of content at the middle and secondary levels (e.g., U.S. Department of Education, 2002), some educational researchers have focused on understanding the interactional practices of high quality teachers in linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms (e.g., Dyson, 2002). A growing body of research in literacy education is following this latter course. For example Nystrand and his colleagues (1997, 2003) explored the correlation between classroom discussion and student achievement in English language arts. Similarly, both Cazden (2001) and Rex and McEachon (1999) compared the linguistic patterns teachers used in communicating with students from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds and the literacy learning of these students. Yet scholars of language and literacy, who seriously consider the impact that social and interactional contexts of classrooms have on learning, are only beginning to study the impact of narratives in particular on classroom environments and student achievement.

Recent work on classroom discourse in English Education, including my own (Juzwik, 2003, March; Juzwik, 2003, April; Juzwik 2003), has begun to uncover, describe, and analyze how narratives in classroom teaching can influence the motivation and achievement of students in literacy learning. For example, I have examined how one teacher deployed narratives of vicarious experience (Labov, 1972) in her middle-level lesson about the Holocaust to poetically frame and implicate events such as Kristallnacht as moral lessons for students to identify with their own lives (Juzwik, 2003, April). A central concept driving the broader project was the Aristotelian notion of ethos—defined as the rhetorical construction and transformation of one’s identity for persuasive purposes (Juzwik, 2003, March). Using this rhetorical framework, my project revealed how one teacher’s ethos, enacted through improvised narratives performed in her teaching, shaped a classroom ecology (Nystrand & Graff, 1999) in which heightened engagement and full participation were valued and increased (Juzwik, 2003).

In connection, the work of Rex et al. (2002) has shown that narrative discourse can establish motivating expectations for what students should learn in the high school English classroom. Rex et al. moreover found that narratives could provide a bridge between students from a diversity of backgrounds and the course content and goals. Yet very little of this work has explored the relationship between narratives in teaching and the literacy learning outcomes of culturally and linguistically diverse students.

Example: Goals/Objectives

Goals and ObjectivesThe project I propose, Autobiographical Narratives in Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Classrooms (ANLCDC) will

explore how autobiographical narratives in teaching discourse impact literacy learning outcomes, student discourse, and the overall classroom ecology in a middle-level literature unit. ANLCDC extends previous research on narratives in classrooms to examine such discourse in a linguistically and culturally diverse classroom, taught by a teacher of color. The following research questions will focus the study: a) What kind of ethos does autobiographical narrative construct for one teacher of

color? b) What impacts on student discourse do such narratives have, over time, in the classroom? c) What impact on the overall classroom ecology do these narratives have? d) How do these narratives impact students’ literacy learning in a literature unit?

This project responds to these questions by examining the following possibilities about autobiographical discourse: e) that it positions the teacher culturally and ethnically in communities of practice outside the classroom, and thereby constructs an ethos for the teacher as a “person of color,” f) that it invites students to voice narrative responses to literature in terms of their own ethnic identities and cultural experiences beyond the classroom, g) that it results in dialogic classroom discourse about literature, and consequentlyh) that it is positively correlated to high student achievement in the English

Language Arts. ANLCDC builds upon the research agenda that commenced with my dissertation study. It draws on the theories and

methods developed in that project to explore at a micro-level how classroom interaction influences the classroom environment, as well as learning outcomes, for culturally and linguistically diverse students. I anticipate this proposed study to be the second in a series of three studies of narratives in teaching, the first being the dissertation. The subsequent project I have planned will examine the relationship between narrative in teaching and students’ analytical writing development in a classroom with a significant population of Native American students. This proposal will be sent to the Small Grants Program at the Spencer Foundation.

When put together, these three case studies will allow me to generate broader hypotheses about narrative classroom discourse in a book-length work. After the current proposed project and the following project—about teacher narrative and student writing—are under way, I plan to apply to the Improving Teacher Quality (ITQ) Grant Program, funded by the Arizona Board of Regents, for support to conduct teacher development work that will extend the findings of this work into improved middle and secondary teaching practice in the state of Arizona.

Having the support of the Intramural Grant Program at NAU would provide an opportunity for continued mentoring from Dr. Martin Nystrand, a senior researcher who has made significant contributions to the study of classroom discourse in education. This award would also strengthen my planned application to the Spencer Foundation for a third phase of studying narratives in teaching and to the ITQ program for a teacher development project based on all three phases of this research on narrative in teaching.

Example: Methodology

Methodology and Plan for Research.A data set for this analysis has already been generated: I am seeking funding for the time-consuming data

analysis procedures as well as for the dissemination of results, including conference presentations and journal publications as detailed in the final section.

Research TeamWhile I will be the principal investigator on this project, my collaborators will include two undergraduate student

research assistants working 20 hours per week at NAU, as well as Dr. Martin Nystrand, who will perform the quantitative part of the analysis and consult with me on the integration of the qualitative and quantitative analyses.

Description of Data This analysis will be based on video data (twelve 60-minute tapes) that I generated over a four-week period in

Spring 2003, during a middle-level literature unit in a culturally and linguistically diverse urban classroom. The analysis will also be based on test data that were generated during the 2002-2003 school year in that same classroom. Included among the twenty-three students in that classroom were white students, Latina/o students, Hmong students, and African American students. Five of these students (over 20 % of the class) were identified as English Language Learners. The teacher in this classroom was a Latina woman with fifteen years of classroom teaching experience in that community. These particular data were generated for analysis first because this teacher, due to her extensive use of autobiographical narrative discourse, provided an ideal case study to illuminate the focal phenomenon of narrative. Second, because these data captured the narrative discourse of a teacher of color in a culturally and linguistically diverse classroom, they provided an ideal opportunity for exploring the relationships among diversity, narrative, and students’ learning. Thus, these data were generated in a classroom that, in its diversity, is reasonably representative of the population in our nation’s middle schools today.

Example: Methodology

Data analysis This analysis will incorporate both qualitative and quantitative analysis of the discourse data described above.

The primary instruments for data analysis will be a) the qualitative transcription of all narratives in the unit, b) CLASS program files, and c) a literature test, designed to measure students’ learning. The first apparatus, the transcribed narratives, will follow the procedures described in Juzwik (2003). In brief, this time-intensive method involves reviewing all video data and manually transcribing the narratives that are found using a technique that notes pauses, intonation, and pitch. The second apparatus, the CLASS program, was developed by Dr. Nystrand for the in-class analysis of classroom discourse (Nystrand et al., 1997; Nystrand et al., 2003; O’Connor & Juzwik, 2002). Essentially, this analytical tool accounts for the activities (e.g., seatwork, lecture, group work) and the quality of interactions (e.g., authentic vs. inauthentic questions, higher vs. lower level thinking tasks) that are occurring throughout Language Arts class periods. Because of its micro-level attention to interaction embedded in classroom activity, as unfolding in time, the CLASS program provides a measure for determining the emergence of dialogic discourse in the classroom, a phenomenon that previous studies by Dr. Nystrand and his colleagues have shown to correlate with increased achievement in the English Language Arts (e.g., Nystrand et al, 1997). Finally, a literature test, as described in Nystrand et al. (1997) will be used to measure students’ learning and achievement in the classroom.

While generating the video data described in the “Data Description” sub-section above, I also generated a CLASS computer file—in real-time—for each class period. The files, however, are raw and need to be edited in order to triangulate the codings of classroom discourse and activities that were initially made. Research assistants are needed to edit these computer files in the CLASS program, as well as to transcribe narratives in the videotaped classroom discourse.

The undergraduate research assistants and I, at NAU, will do the transcription work and edit the CLASS program files. I will conduct the qualitative analysis, examining the transcribed narratives to determine first the themes of the narratives (e.g., Juzwik, forthcoming) and secondly the teaching ethos constructed through these narratives (e.g., Juzwik, 2003, March). The quantitative analysis, to be performed by Dr. Nystrand, will examine the edited CLASS files to quantify the degree to which dialogic discourse emerged in the classroom talk. Next, Dr. Nystrand will consult with me as I use the qualitative narrative analysis to elaborate the quantitative CLASS program findings. Our emphasis will be on a fine-grained examination of how, when, and to what extent the narrative discourse patterns correlate to both narratives performed by students and the emergence of dialogic discourse more generally. Finally, we will score the outcomes of the literature test in order to measure students’ learning, following the procedures used in Nystrand et al. (1997). We will use comparative data from a bigger study (of which this classroom was part) to define “high” achievement.

Example: Methodology

TimetableThe timetable for completing this project is outlined in Table 1. Timetable for Project Completion.

Table 1. Timetable for Project Completion

Date TaskJuly 1-2, 2004 10 hours of Training for 2 undergraduate Research AssistantsJuly 5-23, 2004 Narrative transcription and CLASS editing work completed by Dr. Juzwik

& 2 research assistants at NAUJuly 26-30, 2004 Dr. Juzwik performs qualitative analysis of narratives & Dr. Nystrand

performs quantitative analysis of edited CLASS filesAug. 2-13, 2004 Dr. Juzwik, in consultation with Dr. Nystrand, conducts comparative

analysis of narratives, CLASS program outcomes, and test data.Oct. 15-16, 2004 Dr. Juzwik presents findings at the annual meeting of the Arizona

English Teachers Association.Nov. 18-23, 2004 Dr. Juzwik presents findings at the National Council of Teachers of

English (NCTE) annual meeting in Indianapolis, INApr. 11-15, 2005 Dr. Juzwik presents findings at the annual meeting of the American Educational

Research AssociationSept., 2004-Apr., 2005 Journal articles prepared and submitted by Dr. Juzwik & Dr. Nystrand.

Example: Dissemination

Dissemination and Expected OutcomesThis project will allow us to explore, in fine-grained detail, how autobiographical narratives function in one

diverse classroom context. We expect to learn more about how, using narrative, this teacher positions herself culturally and ethnically in communities of practice outside the classroom; about the extent to which students, in their discourse, respond to these autobiographical narratives and to the literature they are studying, especially in terms of their own ethnic identities and cultural experiences beyond the classroom; about the relationship between narrative discourse in teaching literature and the emergence of dialogic classroom discourse; and finally about the relationship between autobiographical discourse in teaching and high student achievement in the English Language arts. This case study will allow us to generate new hypotheses, for further study, about narrative discourse and its impact on learning in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms.

At the local level, I will make special efforts to make these findings available to students and faculty at NAU. I will present findings at brown bag presentations in the English department for faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates. I will also share the findings of the research with pre-service undergraduate and graduate students in English Education, through my teaching in the English department and through my supervision of pre-service teachers. At the statewide level, I plan to submit a proposal to the annual meeting of the Arizona English Teachers Association, as the first step in disseminating findings to teachers in Arizona. If external support based on this project becomes available (for example, through the ITQ Grant Program), I also aim to prepare a teacher development workshop for secondary teachers in the state of Arizona, based on the findings of this and my prior study of narrative in teaching.

In keeping with the goal of bringing the English Education program at NAU to greater national prominence, a proposal based on findings from this project will also be submitted to the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) annual meeting, which is predominantly attended by secondary English teachers. In order to bring this research to the community of educational researchers, a proposal based on it will also be submitted to the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. Following up on these presentations, we plan to publish findings from the research in appropriate practitioner and research journals.

Example: References

ReferencesCazden, C. (2001). The language of teaching and learning. New Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.Dyson, A. H. (2003). The brothers and the sisters learn to write: Popular literacies in childhood and school cultures. New York: Teachers College

Press.Juzwik, M. M. (2003, March). Enacting history: Narrative and ethos in pedagogical discourse. Paper presented at the annual Conference on

College Composition and Communication. New York, NY. Juzwik, M. M. (2003, April). Verbal art as teaching method: Identification through oral narrative genres in middle-level Holocaust pedagogy. Paper

presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. Chicago, IL. Juzwik, M. M. (2003). Towards a rhetoric of teaching: An investigation of pedagogy as performance in a middle-level Holocaust unit. Doctoral

Dissertation. University of Wisconsin-Madison. Juzwik, M. M. (forthcoming). Voices of remembering the Holocaust: A cultural historical analysis of narrative performances in a middle-level

Holocaust unit. Paper to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. San Diego, CA.Labov, W. (1972). Language in the inner city. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Nystrand, M., A. Gamoran, R. Kachur, C. Prendergast. (1997). Opening dialogue: Understanding the dynamics of language and learning in the

English classroom. New York: Teachers College Press.Nystrand, M., & Graff, N. (2001). Report in argument’s clothing: An ecological perspective on writing instruction. The Elementary School Journal,

101, 470-493.Nystrand, M., Wu, L. L., Gamoran, A., Zeiser, S., & Long, D. A. (2003). Questions in time: Investigating the structure and dynamics of unfolding

classroom discourse. Discourse processes 35 (2), 135-198.O’Connor, K. & Juzwik, M. M. (2002, March). Video data and language in education research. Paper presented at the University of Pennsylvania

Ethnography Forum, Philadelphia, PA. Rex, L. & McEachen, D. (1999). “If anything is odd, inappropriate, confusing, or boring, it’s probably important”: The emergence of inclusive

classroom literacy through English classroom discussion practices. Research in the Teaching of English, 34, 66-130.Rex, L. A., Murnen, T. J., Hobbs, J., McEachen, D. (2002). Teachers’ pedagogical stories and the shaping of classroom participation: “The

Dancer” and “Graveyard Shift at the 7-11.” American Educational Research Journal 39 (3), 765-796.U.S. Department of Education. (2002). No Child Left Behind. http://www.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml. Viewed January 4, 2004.