The purposes of this study were to examine (a) health promoting behaviors, (b) physical activity levels, (c) exercise stages of change levels, and (d) exercise preferences of students who had just entered the university by gender and residence. Participants were 438 students from Middle East Technical University (METU) English Preparatory school. Adolescent Health Promotion Scale (AHPS), International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), Physical Activity Stages of Change Questionnaire (PASCQ), and Physical Activity Preferences Check-list were used for the data collection. Descriptive statistics, nonparametric statistical methods (Mann Whitney U test, Pearson chi-square test), and a one-way MANOVA were used for the data analysis. According to AHPS results, female students&amp / #8217 / health promoting behaviors were better than those of male students except exercise behavior. Students living at home had higher scores on nutrition behavior and students living in dormitory had higher scores on stress management behavior (p &lt / .05). According to the IPAQ results, male students were more physically active than female counterparts. Students who were living in dormitory had higher physical activity levels than students living at home (p &lt / .05). PASCQ findings indicated no significant differences on the exercise stages of change levels by gender and residence (p &gt / .05). In general, students were at pre-contemplation 9.2%, contemplation 39.3%, preparation 27.8%, action 14.5%, and maintenance 9.2% stages. Swimming, walking, and table tennis were the three most frequently preferred physical activities. In conclusion, female students had better health promoting behaviors than those of male students except exercise behavior. Female students and students living at home were more at risk of inactivity. Approximately 80% of the METU English Preparatory school students&amp / #8217 / physical activity levels were not satisfactory for a healthy life. University physical activity facilities, extracurricular programs and the courses should be reconsidered to support the health promoting behaviors of these students.

This two-year action research project discusses the transitions that English Language Learners (ELLs) experience in moving from remedial second language learning to content-area courses. Two cohorts of twenty-seven ELL students from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East—fifteen students in 2015-16 and twelve in 2016-17— participated in a U.S. History course while attending the pseudonymous West Ackerly High School. Absent a pedagogical bridge connecting ELL instruction with social studies practice, I created a curriculum that emphasized the democratic principles embedded in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution—concepts that general education students have known almost from birth—as an entry point for ELL students who lacked any knowledge about these documents. I followed this introduction with thematic choices about immigration, imperialism, Westward Expansion, the Civil War, Reconstruction, civil rights, and current events. We examined the social construct of race, and how it weaves through American society. My combined roles of practitioner and researcher created a unique awareness of the principles of second language instruction, especially best practices and co-teaching strategies that merged language learning and content instruction. I then evaluated students’ critical thinking and teachers’ methods of working with ELL students, experienced the value associated with co-teaching, and developed practical techniques to bring content knowledge into the ELL curriculum as a way to aid students in their transitions. In two journal articles (Chapters Three and Four), I combine “scholarship and story,” reminiscent of Ladson-Billings’ The Dreamkeepers (2009), in a personal scholarly narrative about co-teaching U.S. History. Both Ladson-Billings’ narrative and the stories about the West Ackerly immigrant students describe the struggle that children of color experience. My reflections about co-teaching revealed innovative ideas that emerged from our practice, helped us better understand the backgrounds of our students, explored best practices for ELL instruction, and showed how an adapted mainstream U.S. History curriculum could work for second language learners. The second article describes Socratic Seminar techniques that contribute to students’ learning and discourse development, with scaffolded instruction that incorporates the application of Common Core principles based on the work of Zwiers, O’Hara, and Pritchard (2014). I describe a thematic approach to U.S. History instruction that avoids “covering” all the material while highlighting what students need to know in order to function in American society. Hopefully, this work will bring greater awareness of the struggles experienced by ELL students in their academic and cultural transitions. In the end, I hope secondary teachers and administrators will understand that ELL students require extensive skill development around reading, writing, and research in order to transition into—and then successfully navigate—content-area classes.

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