Incorporating an ASL Curriculum for Students in Grades 1-6

Gianna Occhiuto, Verrazzano Class of 2024, completed major in SLS (1-6) and minor in ASL

When I was in fifth grade, a select few students took an American Sign Language class as an extracurricular activity. I never had the opportunity to join the class, but a lot of my classmates did, and they communicated with each other through sign language across the classroom. I was fascinated by how my classmates were communicating with each other without speaking. When I started as an undergraduate at CSI, I had the opportunity to take ASL as one of my major requirements and fell in love with it. I learned so much about the language, along with the culture.

As a childhood education (grades 1-6) major with a minor in American Sign Language (ASL), I was inspired to create a capstone project that would bridge these two areas. Throughout each of the ASL courses that I have taken, I have gained an appreciation for the language, culture, and community. The result was an ASL curriculum for childhood education, a tool that not only explores the benefits of teaching ASL to hearing students but also paves the way for its incorporation into my future classroom as a teacher. I worked with Russell Rosen, my professor for ASL 215 (level IV) and 220 (Deaf People, Community, and Culture). Professor Rosen provided great insight into what should be incorporated to create a successful curriculum for teaching ASL. There is a gap in previous studies, meaning there is no curriculum for grades 1-6; there are various curriculums that high schools and colleges use based on the state. An ASL curriculum should be aligned with state standards based on the grades the students are in.

Throughout my research, I learned a lot of valuable information that I will utilize when incorporating an ASL curriculum into my classroom. Teaching ASL as a second language has various benefits, such as cognition, memory, brain development, sight, comprehension, play, and movement. It also improves students' self-esteem, engagement, and enrichment.

While completing my project, I reflected on my experience as a student teacher. I decided that teaching each lesson of the curriculum should follow the workshop model (I Do, We Do, You Do) because I found it successful when teaching my students. In addition, it would be beneficial for English Language Learners (ELL) students to learn sign language to help them learn English.

Teaching ASL as a second language to students in grades 1-6 will create meaningful teaching moments that students will cherish in their educational careers. The curriculum will promote an inclusive, diverse, and equitable student classroom.

The Impact of Play-based Teacher Education Courses on Pre-service ECE Teachers

Sydney Saulino, Verrazzano Class of 2023, completed major in SLS (Birth-2) 

Through developing and completing my research project, I learned about the academic research process and gained a deeper understanding of my topic, which is the Play-Based Approach (PBA) in the field of Early Childhood Education (ECE).

PBA is the learning and teaching that takes place through play. As stated by educational thinker John Dewey, “Give the pupils something to do, not something to learn; and the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking; learning naturally results.” This quote applies directly to my research, as I acquired practical experience in the ECE field which in turn, deepened my understanding of play in ECE. I engaged in play-based activities, which were facilitated by my professors, to learn the involved steps.

I investigated how pre-service ECE teachers' understanding of PBA was impacted by their participation in a play-based teacher education course. I also learned how to evaluate data, formulate justified opinions about the data, analyze academic articles, and combine this information to write an academic research paper.

The skills I developed from the research process (e.g., time management, research, data collection, and writing concisely) will be extremely beneficial in my personal and professional life. Writing my research paper and analyzing the data was a complex process, but it helped me grow as a writer, student, researcher, and future ECE teacher.

After completing this project, I plan to publish my research and continue researching. I envision that the project could be developed further by analyzing how PBA affects student learning in comparison to other teaching methods in ECE settings. After taking the play-based teacher education course and learning the advantages of PBA, I was inspired to incorporate this pedagogical approach into my future classroom to meet the learning needs of my students.

Universal Design of Learning in the Classroom

Daniella Del Priore, Verrazzano Class of 2023, completed major in SLS (1-6)

My capstone centered around the Universal Design of Learning, which is also known as UDL. UDL is an approach to teaching and learning that gives all students equal opportunity to succeed. It should be used in all modern-day classrooms to help students prosper and reach their full potential.

This topic stood out to me when I learned about it in a Special Education course, as I hope to become a general or special education teacher. When I am a full-time teacher, I plan to introduce and use the Universal Design of Learning in my classroom, as I believe it would benefit my students greatly.

For my thesis, I wrote about why UDL is important in the classroom. When reflecting on this process of working on the project, it was not as tough as I expected it to be. As long as you manage your time, spread out your work, and remember your due dates, you should be okay. Do your best! I found myself working on my capstone early, which is your best bet, and would continue to work on it whenever I had any free time.

Working on this project was a pleasant experience. As a teacher, it was helpful to learn more about UDL, as I read about students’ varying learning styles and abilities. I was working on the project during my student teaching experience, and I was able to implement what I was learning through my research into my classroom, and to use what I was learning in real life. I also enjoyed working closely with my mentor, the professor of the Special Education course, as she sent me many interesting, detailed, and informative podcasts, videos, and research articles on the topic. This capstone also allowed me to obtain honors within my major, SLS 1-6 (Childhood Education) for graduation.

Overall, I enjoyed learning and writing about why UDL is important in the classroom. The entire process of working on the project taught me a lot of valuable information that is great to know as a future educator.

Incorporating Dewey's Law in the Classroom

Gianna Cerbone, Verrazzano Class of 2023, completed major in SLS (1-6), and minor in ASL

While developing my capstone project, I researched philosopher John Dewey’s theories on education and how to incorporate them into the classroom. Many teachers have struggled with getting their students excited and eager to learn or even show up to school. Using these theories, teachers can follow his ideas to achieve high success rates in the classroom and positive learning environment.

John Dewey’s theories can be put into simpler terms by creating a “formula” known as Dewey’s Law. This formula is made up of variables that allow teachers to measure what was successful in their teaching methods as well as what failed. Each variable describes the efficiency of teaching techniques, each affecting the overall outcome. This allows teachers to monitor and self-regulate their own learning in order to improve themselves for their students. The goal is to achieve a high score in all variables to achieve a successfully run class with excited students.

The first variable in this formula is interaction. When the students are engaged in conversations about their learning or clearly focusing on what the teacher or their peers are communicating, interaction is high. I learned about techniques to improve interaction within the class: movement breaks, ​​partner or group activities such as turn and talk, using fun attention grabbers to refocus the students, and playing objective driven games to teach and reinforce the lessons. By using various techniques and teaching strategies, teachers can ensure their students are actively engaged in their learning which results in a high score for the variable interaction.

The next variable I learned about is generative stocks of knowledge. This variable measures how well the lesson correlates with the students’ level of imaginative development. In order to keep the students’ imaginations flowing, the lessons they learn need to match their level of imaginative development. By focusing on the level of each student, it allows the educator to place themselves in their students' shoes and make the lesson memorable and relatable. These levels are based on age. By matching the students' generative knowledge and how they make meaning of what they learn, generative stocks of knowledge will be high.

Another variable is propositional stocks of knowledge. This will be high when the terms used in the lesson match the students’ understanding. I learned that if the vocabulary and terms used are too advanced, the students lose focus because their understanding of the topic progressively declines. This section includes vocabulary as well as all types of language used.

The next variables are internal and external curriculum coherence. I learned that internal curriculum coherence relates to how well the pieces of the curriculum fit together and support one another. This variable determines how well the learning is structured and if there are levels of support provided in the lesson to ensure success. This variable will be high if the teacher ensures the students know the background knowledge to certain topics before moving on, otherwise known as scaffolding. High external curriculum coherence relates to how well the lesson relates to the students’ lives outside of school. I learned that connecting curriculum to the student's lives allows them to understand the purpose of what they are learning and why they are learning it. Students are more motivated to be engaged in the lesson when they know it is relevant to their lives and it could be useful to them.

All of these variables will help teachers achieve the dependent variable known as a high educational energy classroom. Educational energy represents the entire lesson as a whole and how well the students understood, engaged in, and enjoyed the lesson. This is what the students take from the lessons they learn in school. This variable should be considered as an epistemic emotion. This means that emotion plays a strong role in learning which is once again supported by Dewey. I learned that because both teachers and students have feelings towards the material, if students have multiple times where they experience positive short-term feelings about school and what they learned, those short-term feelings will turn into positive long term feelings about school.

This project could have been developed further by researching more about how educational energy could be considered an epistemic emotion. This also could have been further researched by focusing on how cognitive and emotional neural systems are connected and the implications that has on learning. This topic could then develop further by supporting social emotional learning that is taught in some schools.

This research project allowed me to learn more about my career and learn ways to better myself as an aspiring teacher. I now have various techniques and methods to ensure my students are excited to learn and would want to come to class. I can use this knowledge of Dewey’s Law to measure what goes successful and what fails in my own classroom. By using Dewey’s theories of education, I can better myself as a teacher not only for myself, but for my students as well.

The Decline on Teaching Social Studies in Elementary Schools

 Grace Lefkowitz, Verrazzano Class of 2021, completed major in SLS (1-6)

While working on my capstone and gathering research/data from schools nationwide, I learned a great deal about our education system in the United States. Over the years, standardized testing in Mathematics and English have become a priority to the elementary school curriculum, and the teaching of Social Studies has been on a decline.

It is unfortunate that Social Studies is being neglected in elementary schools. Throughout my research and evidence, it is clear that teachers acknowledge the importance of this topic, and I wonder if teachers try to integrate this subject area within other disciplines when they teach.

In my master’s program, I hope to further study the role of Social Studies in the school system and how or if teachers address the NYS Social Studies standards.

After completing my capstone, I feel that the elementary school curriculum needs to improve for the sake of our future generations. Social Studies needs to be taught equally to that of Mathematics and English.