–You will complete five short research papers (SRPs) for your mid term exam.
–For each of the short research papers (SRPs), find a scholarly journal article related to a concept from the course you would like to research more. (Use a different concept for each paper or use one or two concepts and explore them more deeply.)
–When deciding on a concept, choose one that particularly interests you that is related to middle school, middle school development, or middle school teaching.
–Reading must be from scholarly, reputable, peer-reviewed journals in the fields of administration, school psychology, educational leadership, or a closely related field. Articles must be at least 5 published pages long (or 4000 words if the journal article is in HTML form). Journal articles that do not comply with these requirements will not be accepted. Some example journals include (but are not limited to):
· American Educational Research Journal
· American Psychologist
· School Psychology Review
· Child Development
· Contemporary Educational Psychology
· Educational Leadership
· Educational Psychology Review
· Exceptional Children
· High School Journal
· Journal of School Psychology
· Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy
· Journal of Educational Psychology
· The Journal of Educational Research
· Motivation and Emotion
· Psychology in the Schools
· School Psychology Quarterly
· The Journal of Special Education
· Teaching Exceptional Children
· Educational Administration Quarterly
· Journal of Learning Disabilities
–Most of these journals are available electronically through the NIU library website. Please ask me if you need help researching through the library website.
–Important: If you find an article you would like to use from a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal not on this list, you must ask me (email is fine) about the article and journal before completing the assignment, so that I may approve it. You may not use articles from popular magazines, newspapers, webpages, etc.
Explanation of the Assignment
1) Write a 300-500 word summary and analysis of the reading, and include the following:
a) Summary of article.
b) Explanation of how the article content is relevant to your future career as a middle school teacher. In this section, you should give examples of how you plan to apply the content of the article when you begin your teaching career.
2) SRPs must be turned in to the appropriate place on the Blackboard website on the day they are due.
3) Citation at the end of your paper in APA format as follows:
Author(s). (Year). Title of the article. Journal Name, volume#, page numbers.
Example:
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and new directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 54-67.