Blog

Sociocultural Diversity in Education

Introduction In recent decades, the U.S. student population has become more diverse in terms of race, ethnicity, language, and other axes of difference (Pew Research Center, 2014; NCES, 2017). For example, from 2003 to 2013, the proportion of PK-12 students who identify as Hispanic/Latinx rose from 19 to 25 percent, while those who identify as … Continue reading Sociocultural Diversity in Education →

Sociocultural Diversity – Discrimination in PK-12 Education

Although numerous laws have been passed to ensure the rights of all students, discrimination remains prevalent within our education system. Here, I provide examples of the types of discrimination that occur in schools and the ways that discriminatory practices impact students’ well-being and outcomes.   Discriminatory Practices Eurocentric Curricula. Despite beliefs about the widespread multicultural … Continue reading Sociocultural Diversity – Discrimination in PK-12 Education →

Sociocultural Diversity – An Introduction to Key Terminology

Sociocultural diversity encompasses a wide array of human differences. However, as it would be difficult to address all relevant terminology, I have chosen to highlight seven aspects of sociocultural diversity which are relevant to PK-12 education: culture, ethnicity, gender, language, race, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status. Culture. Santrock (2018) defines culture as "behavior patterns, beliefs … Continue reading Sociocultural Diversity – An Introduction to Key Terminology →

Lesson Plan for a Text-Based Socratic Seminar (Part Two)

To help prospective secondary teachers (PSTs) integrate literacy skills into their content-area lessons, I planned and facilitated a two-part lesson on secondary literacy instruction. As described in my previous post, the first part of the lesson sought to provide PSTs with an understanding of two important concepts: content-area literacy and disciplinary literacy. In the second … Continue reading Lesson Plan for a Text-Based Socratic Seminar (Part Two) →

Lesson Plan for a Text-Based Socratic Seminar (Part One)

To prepare prospective English and Social Studies teachers to address important literacy skills, I planned and facilitated a two-part lesson on secondary literacy instruction. In this post, I share details concerning the first half of the lesson, which sought to provide prospective secondary teachers (PSTs) with the background necessary for participating in a text-based Socratic … Continue reading Lesson Plan for a Text-Based Socratic Seminar (Part One) →

Checklist for Planning a Text-Based Socratic Seminar

In this post, I provide a checklist that teachers can use to plan a text-based Socratic Seminar. This iteration of a Socratic seminar supports the development of content knowledge, literacy skills, and higher order thinking through a versatile four-part approach: (1) Learning/Reviewing, (2) Reading, (3) Discussing, and (4) Writing. Although it can be tailored for … Continue reading Checklist for Planning a Text-Based Socratic Seminar →

Planning an Effective Text-Based Socratic Seminar

Five years ago, I observed as a novice teacher implemented a Fishbowl Socratic Seminar--a complex and engaging collaborative technique--for the first time. I was inspired by her implementation of the technique and felt confident that the prospective secondary teachers (PSTs) in my methods course would be too. Since showing PSTs a video of the seminar … Continue reading Planning an Effective Text-Based Socratic Seminar →

Lesson Intro Dos and Don’ts (Part Three)

  The problem in this post, which I jokingly refer to as Not to Change the Subject, involves the omission of an important statement. Although this omission may seem like nothing more than an abrupt change of subject, it actually represents a missed opportunity to connect what students already know (i.e. prior knowledge) to the … Continue reading Lesson Intro Dos and Don’ts (Part Three) →