Jillian+Zappia+-+Design+Space

= **I. Design space to develop your 250-300 word** // abstract // **that summarizes your question, rationale, and your findings.** =
 * What is your question?

How does autonomy affect middle school school students’ motivation in literacy activities?


 * What is your rationale?

I started thinking about the effect of autonomy in Dr. Crissman’s Young Adult Literature class. She designed her class in such a way that allowed me to make big choices over what I read, how I expressed my learning, and let her students lead units. This was pretty new to me. At first I found it challenging as I tried to “meet expectations to get an A.” Slowly, I began to relish the freedom. I did research that I thought was interesting, came up with creative ways to respond to literature, and pushed myself to create things I was proud of and could use for things besides the class.

After Dr. Crissman’s class, I decided to read Daniel Pink’s book, Drive and I became very interested in autonomy as a variable in Pink’s motivation formula. I [|__began to wonder__] how much autonomy middle school students could handle, what that autonomy would look like in a 6 th grade language arts classroom, and what affect this new freedom might have on my students’ literacy.

In Reading in the Content Areas, I researched this question further and wrote [| __a paper__] about the topic and found that book clubs were a great way to give students the reigns in language arts class.

In Foundations of Middle School, reading Beane and Dewey impressed upon me the importance of treating students with dignity and respect, which involves giving them big choices over what and how they’re learning. I “live tweeted” Beane as an experiment. My assignment was to create a list of twelve “Beanisms” but instead I tweeted the entire book and then chose my top 12 tweets and bound them together with Storify. I compared this to my reflection on Dewey and decided that having choice (or taking a little liberty) with how I expressed my learning made me more engaged and interested. I connected with the topic more when I cared about my product and was excited about how it would turn out. Here’s a [|__blog post__] about that experience.

In New Media, I worked on a group project with two of my classmates. We created a multigenre research project based around the concept that students should have choice over their groups, the topics they researched, and how they would express their learning. Here’s [|__a movie__] documenting the unit. During this time, I applied what I learned in Reading in the Content areas and gave students choice over their [|__book club reading selections.__] Learning about PBI in New Media also helped me explore how making choices affects learners’ motivation.


 * What are your findings?

= **II. Design space to plan out your** // creative synthesis // **that will visually represent your findings. Remember to include your abstract in your visual representation.** =

==Compelling Question:== > Develop your compelling question related to student learning by the end of your first semester in the program. Decide on a question that you are passionate about and want to focus on for the duration of your program. Click here to learn more about what we mean by compelling question. Here are a couple of examples: How do I creatively and effectively engage diverse learners in my middle grades classroom? How can I effectively engage elementary students in reading and writing?

==Gather & Analyze Information:== > Use coursework (including core courses ECI 546, 524, 523, 508 and your content specialty courses), individual investigations, and outside experts to explore different aspects of your question. Actively analyze information from multiple sources and perspectives as you explore answers to your question. Make a list here of the information you are analyzing. As you proceed with your analysis make some notes here about your initial findings and where you anticipate needing more information. Also, make sure to note if and how your compelling question has changed.

==Creatively Synthesize Information:== > Synthesize the information from and across your sources to create a unique response to your question. You should be able to distill your synthesis into 4-6 bullet points (to be included in your written abstract) as well as provide a creative visual representation of your findings. You may use a variety of media and tools to design your visual representation of your Creative Synthesis. Think carefully about the tools that you will use to represent your findings. The first draft of your Creative Synthesis should be developed no later than Midterm/NCSU Spring Break while you are taking the ECI 508, Teachers as Leaders class. Click here to see sample products from former students.

==Critically Evaluate and Revise:== > Seek out at least two colleagues in the NLGL program in addition to your advisor to provide peer feedback on your abstract and creative synthesis based on the NLGL Creative Synthesis Rubric. Based on the feedback you receive, you may choose to make revisions to more fully meet the rubric criteria.

==**Share, Publish, Act:**== > Be prepared to present your Creative Synthesis at the NLGL Design Studio Showcase during your final semester of your degree program, in conjunction with the ECI 508, Teachers as Leaders course.