About+this+Wiki


 * About this Wiki / Project**

Melissa Lopes, and Peter Breault created this wiki, and curriculum audit as a final group project. It was completed for the course EDU 566, Media Utilization and Curriculum, in the summer of 2011 taught by Professor Shteirman at Southern Connecticut State University.


 * Backgrounds:**

Melissa Lopes is a resident of Stafford Springs, Connecticut. She is half way through the MLS program and this will be her 7th class. She’s been teaching language arts for 11 years now. Having started at the high school level, over time she has moved to the 7th and 8th grades where she currently teaches 7th. Melissa is pursuing a degree in librarianship as a way to satisfy her love for literature, while still remaining in the field of education that she enjoys so much.

Peter Breault is a resident of Enfield Connecticut. He is currently close to finishing his MLS degree with a school media certification. At the present time, he has approximately two to three courses remaining. While currently unemployed, Peter’s educational background involves earning a bachelor’s degree in secondary education, social studies, from Central Connecticut State University along with a teaching certificate. Upon successfully completing student teaching, he thought that it would be best to pursue librarianship, a passion he had developed through various extensive research projects.


 * The Focus of This Wiki & the Curriculum Audit:**

Utilizing our two previous backgrounds the project we have undertaken is to create a shared collaboration based around the topic of ‘Manifest Destiny’ and ‘United States Westward Expansion in the 1800s’. Our curriculum audit has been designed as a way for a Language Arts teacher, a Social Studies teacher, and a school’s librarian to come together; and work to create a positive, enriching, learning experience for their students. Intervention zone one is designed to focus on the perspective of the settlers moving west. Students will be taking what they read, watch, and hear, and interpreting the information so that they can create a fictional settler’s journal based upon some of the key historical events that occurred during the westward movement. Intervention zone two has the students analyzing cultures, and drawing connections by looking at the same historical period from the Native American’s perspective. Using what they learn, students will be expressing how the various native tribes thought and felt about the events that happened through the use of pictographs. Lastly, intervention zone 3 has the students comparing, contrasting, and using evidence to take a stand. Based upon what the students learned through zones one and two, they will be analyzing the overall concepts of both Manifest Destiny, and land rights. Students will complete two final products based on the question of whether or not Native Americans should be granted restitution for the land that was taken from them. One activity will be a persuasive letter involving taking a clear position on whether or not restitution should be granted. The other task will be either a PowerPoint presentation, or a PhotoStory that the students’ would be presenting in front of a fictional panel of experts.


 * Copyright:**

While the physical resources cited remain the property of their original creators, the overall concept and layout of this wiki remains the property of it's creators Ms. Lopes, and Mr. Breault. This project was completed as part of a graduate level course assignment at SCSU. Any items may only be utilized for educational purposes with no commercial intentions. Along with a resource's creator, and/or publishers, Melissa Lopes, and Peter Breault, need to be cited if any items/information is duplicated from this wiki.