Artifact(s): Young Adolescent Cultural Inquiry Project

Topic/Title: Hardin Park

Medium: Website
Technology used: Weebly.com
The Young Adolescent Cultural Inquiry Project (YACIP) is an assignment that
allows future educators to understand the community, values, and mores of their students.
Census data was utilized to learn about the socio-economic status of the families. A
survey was given to all of the sixth and seventh grade students at Hardin Park, and
informal interviews were conducted, to learn more about what they liked to do. After all
of this information was collected, it was organized, analyzed and put onto a website, for
easy readability.
YACIP meets both Standard 1: Young Adolescent Development and Standard 5:
Middle Grades Professional Roles of the ASU Middle Grades Teacher Preparation
Standards. Standard 1 states, Middle level teacher candidates understand and apply the
major concepts, principles, theories, and research related to young adolescent
development that support student development and learning. YACIP allows us to better
understand our students so that we can be developmentally appropriate teacher. The
majority of the students that attend our school have iPhones, and all of them use
technology more than any previous generation. Also, the top response of what their plans
were after high school was college. That response is completely dependent on the area,
and it is important to know that our students see college in their future. We also know that
they like Taylor Swift and pop music in general. We can integrate pop music into our
curriculum, which will make our teaching more relevant to our students lives.
The YACIP has equipped us with the knowledge that we need to be better
teachers. Standard 5 says, Middle grades teacher candidates understand the complexity
of teaching young adolescents and engage in practices and behaviors that develop their
competence as professionals and leaders in the field of middle grades education within a
global community. It acknowledges the complexity of our students and talks about
teachers engaging in practices to assist them in becoming more competent. The YACIP is
one of those practices. We had to interpret the data that we collected and draw
conclusions. This project also taught us about intrapersonal skills. We had to talk with the
principal, the teachers and the students. As a group, we had to collaborate and work
together. Successful communication was vital. All of these things are directly applicable
in a school setting. This project allowed us to practice working together in a professional
setting. Understanding that a middle school student is complex requires the knowledge
that they are affected by their lives outside of school. YACIP provided the insight about
the world that our students live in. The more that we understand our students; the better
we are able to teach them.
YACIP also meets the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction Standards.
The 1st standard talks about teacher leadership. YACIP directly applies to various facets
of that. Being an advocate for your students is a vital part of being a teacher leader.
Knowing what our students care about helps us become more successful advocates. The
YACIP allowed us to get to know our students more through learning about the things
that they do outside of school, the important relationships in their life, and how much
technology they use each week.
Working on the YACIP provided us with an opportunity to see what is necessary
for us to be proficient teachers. This project allowed us to fully understand the

Artifact(s): Young Adolescent Cultural Inquiry Project

Topic/Title: Hardin Park
Medium: Website
Technology used: Weebly.com
importance of knowing our students for the people they are instead of just as students.
When we as teachers are able to see our students as humans, we are going to care more
about them, and be more effective teachers. Through working on the YACIP, we learned
the importance of the standards that Appalachian State has for us as developing teachers.
We grew as professionals, since we interacted with the principal as well as with each
other.