WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW  ON YOUTUBE  THE CHALLENGER SHUTTLE EXPLOSION AND EXPLAIN WHAT HAPPENED AND WHERE THE COMMUNICATION WENT WRONG.    FIRST EXPLAIN WHAT HAPPEN   SECOND WHERE THE COMMUNICATION WHEN WRONG.     YOU CAN ALSO JUST GOOGLE THE VIDEO.             Space Shuttle Challenger Explosion LIVE TV – YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSTrmJtHLFU                  

Log on to the IRIS center home page (http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/pow/chalcycle.htm) and complete the online module titled Improving Writing Performance: A Strategy for Writing Persuasive Essays.  Answer the questions on the “assessment” page of the module.  Write about your experience.  Tell what you learned, any surprises, how you can use the information in your future classroom.

Assignment 2: Field Observation (25 points): Due no later than 11:55p ET on Sunday of Week 5 Purpose: The purpose of this two-step exercise is for you to conduct inductive and deductive research using qualitative methods.  Note: it is important that you conduct the observations as two distinct events during this class; ‘recalling’ past observations is not the same as purposefully observing your surroundings from a sociological perspective, and applying two different types of reasoning to one observation will not be ‘truthful’ or successful. The purpose of this exercise if for you to observe one social setting or social artifact to begin to detect patterns in human behavior – observance of norms and potentially behaviors that deviate from the norm.  This week’s exercise includes two parts.  First, without any prep work, you will need to go to one public place (or conduct content analysis with your social artifact) and observe the people/artifact for 25 minutes.  Social Setting: Note people’s behavior, their demeanor, their reactions/interactions to/with each other.  Social artifact: from second to second (for TV), or page to page (for print), Note themes, sounds (i.. music), texture of page (i.e. ads in magazine), etc.  Second, you will develop a research design with research problem, hypothesis and operational definitions for variables; then you will conduct another 25 minutes of observations. Disclaimer Originality of attachments will be verified by Turnitin. Both you and your instructor will receive the results.   Part 1 1)      Choose whether or not you will be conducting non-participant observation in a social setting, or content analysis of a social artifact a.       Social setting: this should be a public place such as a park, mall, restaurant, etc. b.      Social artifact: this may be ads in a particular magazine; one television show, a time-block of commercials, etc. 2)      For your inductive approach, you will simply choose a time and location/artifact for where you are going to conduct your observations 3)        a.       Social Setting: Go to the specified location and proceed with your observations.                                                                i.      You must be a keen social observer; a ‘peeping Tom’ in the sociological sense.  Take handwritten (recommended) and/or mental notes of:  1.      details about your chosen location (time of day, lighting, furniture, plants, sounds, temperature, smell, vibe/energy, etc) 2.      the people around you, not only their behavior but general information about their sociodemographic characteristics (age, race/ethnicity, gender, SES, etc); 3.      your thoughts and feelings while making observations Social Artifact: At a specified time (i.e. when a particular show is), carefully observe your social artifact                                                               i.      Content analysis provides a sustained, systematic way to observe and measure the portrayal of that reality, as opposed to the quick, impressionistic way that we normally read consume media.  Take handwritten notes of: 1.      Details about the setting in the images you see (lighting, furniture, background, vibe/energy portrayed); if audio-visual (note sounds such as pitch of voice, music, etc) 2.      Note details about the people portrayed, not only their behavior but general information about their sociodemographic characteristics (age, race/ethnicity, gender, SES, sexuality); 4)      When you have returned from you observation, type up your notes.  Review your notes for patterns in behavior, socio-demographic characteristics, etc.  5)      Write-up your observations using ‘thick description’ of the location (i.e. building you were in (what is the architecture like), descriptions of people there (in terms of socio-demographic characteristics: age, race/ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status), sounds, smells, temperature, time of day and week, etc); 6)      Analyze trends you identified in your observations/content analysis.  What is a possible sociological/theoretical explanation for the trends you observed?  This is best done by using sources to provide credibility to your analyses.   Part 2 7)       Based on your initial observations and written analyses, develop a specific research problem/question to be further investigated (i.e. the variation in behavior of males versus females when entering a store with a glass store front) 8)      Identify the key variables you are going to be investigating, and develop an operational definition for each of them  (this should include at least two variables, but not more than four). Your operational definitions will help to provide parameters for how record variations in your observations. 9)      Write a hypothesis for what you expect to observe in your second round of observations. 10)  Repeat observations/content analysis a.       Social Setting – this should be done at the same social setting at approximately the same time of day (if you can do this one week later on the same day, it would be great!) b.      Social Artifact – this should be done at the same time (if commercial block), or with the same show, or with a different issue of the same magazine , etc. 11)  When you have returned from you observation, type up your notes.  Review your notes for patterns in behavior, socio-demographic characteristics, etc. and how they corresponded with your expectations/hypothesis  12)  Describe observations using ‘thick description’ of the location (i.e. building you were in (what is the architecture like), descriptions of people there (in terms of socio-demographic characteristics: age, race/ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status), sounds, smells, temperature, time of day and week, etc); 13)  Analyze your observations in terms of how they supported/did not support your hypothesis.  14)  What is a possible sociological/theoretical explanation for the trends you observed?  This is best done by using sources to provide credibility to your analyses. 15)  Discuss the differences between your inductive observations and your deductive observations.  How did the way you were observing change?  How did what you observed change? 16)  Briefly describe your thoughts/feelings in the two steps.  Did you prefer one approach to the other?  Why/why not?

Joseph Hanson In Chapter Five of your textbook, you should have engaged in what we know about learning. One of the most powerful ways to demonstrate your knowledge of these concepts is to apply them in a real life setting. Please read the case study below and answer the questions in this forum. Overview              Joseph Hanson lives in a small community in southern California with a school district that serves approximately 4800 students. He is a parent of two boys and one girl. His oldest son is academically gifted and filled with a love of learning that’s evident regardless of who his teacher has been along the way. His daughter is academically satisfactory but has found great success as a three sport athlete in high school. While she has yet to connect with her teachers in a way that challenges her, the coaches in all three of her sports have acted as terrific mentors as they encourage her to pursue athletics at the college level. Joseph has been pleased with the success of his oldest son and daughter, but his concerns and energy have been focused on his youngest son Kyle. Along with his wife he has been actively engaged in his education and has worked diligently to support the educational progress of all students as they volunteers on a weekly basis at school. Joseph and his wife had hoped that their presence on campus would allow them to develop meaningful partnerships with the staff in a way that would lead to better support for Kyle, but unfortunately that has not been the case. Problem              Kyle, while struggling academically, would not be a student that you might classify as “special needs.” Because of this, he has not qualified for any special interventions. All of his teachers have felt that he is the cusp of proficiency and will most likely make it. The problem is that he never does. He is the classic case of a sub-satisfactory student academically that masquerades as “proficient”. After numerous appeals to support Kyle and students like him are ignored, Joseph decides to attend a school board meeting in search of answers.              Upon attending the school board meeting, Joseph receives a copy of the district’s strategic plan. He reads about the priorities to support gifted students in gaining scholarships to college, and plans to improve all athletic facilities in a way that “can make our town proud!” As the board meeting gets underway, the agenda that has been advertised to the community focusing on the new district’s bullying policy and data driven intervention plan, has now been replaced with a single topic agenda dedicated to approving the new salary increase for all district staff members. Joseph leaves the meeting appalled. He goes out in search of answers to questions like: How are citizens with no understanding about education elected in the first place? What is expected to take place at a board meeting and how much can a citizen expect to be accomplished by a district whose board meets once a month? What steps can a parent take to be a part of school-wide solutions at the site level?              After participating on a school site council for a year, Joseph has decided that his role on the council is simply to approve budgets that the principal and district were supportive of in the first place. Because of his lack of fulfillment in the process, he decides to run for the school board. His positive spirit resonates with the community as the vast majority of the voters select him as the newest member of the board of five.               From the beginning of his term in office, Joseph’s proposals to his colleagues as well as district office personnel appeared to be ignored. His suggestions about how to offer more autonomy to the seven schools within his district are replaced with ideas on how to mandate uniform steps to ensure that all teachers within each school are participating in the same curriculum that are aligned to state standards. In spite of the data that shows that this approach has not worked for the last 15 years, the subjective opinions of the rest of the board always win over. It hasn’t taken long for him to notice that there are no specific methods for how decisions are made by the board, and he is surprised at how willing the superintendent is to go along with the recommendations of the elected officials.               During a private conversation over breakfast, the superintendent confides in Joseph about his frustration with the board. He shares the progressive ideas that he has for the district and the steps that he wants to take to develop exceptional success for every student. Finally, this well educated superintendent with a doctorate degree shares that he is considering leaving the district in search of a venue that might allow him to be more progressive and move beyond the small town politics that are encouraging mediocrity. He shares about his exhaustion in dealing with the day to day scandals, complaints, and politics of education. He, like Joseph, wants to be a part of a community in search of better ways to support their neediest students through approaches that are focused on data and results. Designing a Solution Try to come up with a solution for Joseph by answering the following questions: What issues at the board and district level appear to be evident at the site level as well? Why is this the case? What are the key issues that are impeding the success that both Joseph and the Superintendent want for their community? Because this board is absent of any systems that guide their decision making, what protocols might you set up immediately? Which stakeholders might you bring into the mix in an effort to both generate and implement forward thinking solutions for the district? If you were Joseph, how would you respond to the superintendent’s frustration and consideration to leave the district?  

  You will choose a student from your field experience (i.e., a student from your small) and take a deeper look into the student’s disability, background, and the student’s strengths and needs. In doing so, you will read the student’s IEP, interview the teacher (if needed), conduct 1 assessment (in the same academic or functional skill content area as the assessment used for the lesson plan assignment) and use previously administered assessment data to create an IEP. You will also write a reflection of this project. If you are given permission to view the student’s current IEP, you may do so to provide more detailed background information; however, you are not allowed to copy information (such as the goals and objectives or PLOP) from the student’s current IEP.        Necesssary Links:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kczl2k8ECO4&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFgWD9WUc0E&feature=youtu.be