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Articles 1 - 20 of 20
Full-Text Articles in Education
Grades Or No Grades? Promoting Deeper Learning In A Middle Level Mathematics Methods Course, Shelli L. Casler-Failing
Grades Or No Grades? Promoting Deeper Learning In A Middle Level Mathematics Methods Course, Shelli L. Casler-Failing
Journal of Practitioner Research
This action research investigated pre-service teachers (PSTs) experiences with ungrading practices in a mathematics methods course designed for middle level PSTs (grades 4-8). This study analyzed archival data through the lenses of pedagogical content knowledge, growth mindset, and self-efficacy to investigate how PSTs’ experiences with the process of ungrading supported their development of pedagogical content knowledge. Throughout the course, verbal feedback was provided during class discourse and the interactive lectures and written feedback was provided for all submitted assignments. The feedback provided was both positive and constructive in nature. Based on the assignment or activity, constructive feedback was either provided …
Teaching Social-Emotional Learning (Sel) In A Pandemic, Charley Todd, Tori L. Colson, Moriah Smothers
Teaching Social-Emotional Learning (Sel) In A Pandemic, Charley Todd, Tori L. Colson, Moriah Smothers
Journal of Practitioner Research
Teaching Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) has become increasingly more common in the American school system, and many districts have adopted curricula or strategies to promote its usage. Research has continued to show that students receive various short- and long-term benefits when SEL is taught in the classroom. However, the COVID-19 pandemic changed how SEL instruction was given, and the implications are far-reaching. The purpose of this study is to describe the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on how SEL was taught. In addition, the study identifies challenges and possible solutions to ensure that SEL is taught during incredibly challenging …
Investing In Connection: Exploring The Online Graduate Student Experience, Michelle Vaughan
Investing In Connection: Exploring The Online Graduate Student Experience, Michelle Vaughan
Journal of Practitioner Research
Within the context of online learning, there are challenges presented by the virtual medium that may lead to diminished experiences in learning. Without a physical connection or the ability to feel the support from your teacher, online students can be left isolated, and the pedagogy can easily slip into an execution of tasks as opposed to a pedagogy of care. My inquiry into the online graduate student experience began with a survey to understand how online graduate students describe their experiences as an online learner and their relationships with their instructors. A thematic analysis of their responses revealed themes regarding …
Shared Philosophies, Conflict, And Critical Reflection: Developing Productive Teacher Collaboration, Erin Nerlino
Shared Philosophies, Conflict, And Critical Reflection: Developing Productive Teacher Collaboration, Erin Nerlino
Journal of Practitioner Research
As top-down mandates regarding what collaboration should look like continue to evolve from the policy level, it is critical to engage the knowledge of teachers – the ones experiencing the collaboration – to inform teacher learning as well as the conditions within schools that help productive collaboration partnerships to evolve. This article seeks to examine the foundational aspects that underpin a mutually productive collaborative relationship between myself – a full time high school English teacher – and another full-time English teacher at the public, regional school in the Northeast where we taught. Utilizing a participant research design, I drew upon …
Engaging Teacher Candidates In Teacher Inquiry: Questions And Responses, Hilarie B. Welsh
Engaging Teacher Candidates In Teacher Inquiry: Questions And Responses, Hilarie B. Welsh
Journal of Practitioner Research
This article reports on transitioning the focus of a general secondary methods course to incorporate teacher inquiry. The author describes the shifted nature of the course, which led to empowered teacher candidates who benefited from engaging in teacher inquiry cycles even after graduation. The author then uses a question and response format to address common questions that arise in conversations about incorporating teacher inquiry for the first time.
“Math Talks Are Like An Alarm Clock Waking You Up”: Language’S Crucial Role In Mathematics, Gabriella M. Wasser
“Math Talks Are Like An Alarm Clock Waking You Up”: Language’S Crucial Role In Mathematics, Gabriella M. Wasser
Journal of Practitioner Research
Whole group math talks, or number talks, are a common practice to get students talking about their own understanding of mathematical concepts. The purpose of this study was to implement math talks in small group settings to see what would happen, specifically to students’ conceptual understanding as well their general perceptions of math talks. This study took place in a fourth-grade math classroom, and math talks were implemented with the whole class for a week and then moved to small groups for the remaining three weeks of the study. During the study, a pre-and post-assessment was given, field notes were …
Cultivating Classroom Interactions Online During Covid-19: A Case For Using Team-Based Learning, Amanda Olsen, Candace Joswick
Cultivating Classroom Interactions Online During Covid-19: A Case For Using Team-Based Learning, Amanda Olsen, Candace Joswick
Journal of Practitioner Research
Team-based learning, an evidence-based collaborative learning teaching strategy, is a popular instructional model commonly used at the post-secondary level. While this model has shown success in traditional, face-to-face courses, and reports of use in hybrid and asynchronous online settings exist, though are few, no reports of which we are aware account for use in synchronous online teaching and learning. This paper introduces a tool developed to help higher education instructors plan for the implementation of team-based learning in their synchronous online courses along with an illustration of the use of the template planning tool from our own application for a …
Collective Teacher-Researcher Inquiry: Localizing School-Based Curriculum Development In Diversified Hong Kong Schooling Contexts, Zheng Zhang, Sally Wai-Yan Wan, Lai Ha Chan, Pui-Ying Lorelei Kwan, Lai-Ling Sandy Tam, Eunice Wai-Po Wan
Collective Teacher-Researcher Inquiry: Localizing School-Based Curriculum Development In Diversified Hong Kong Schooling Contexts, Zheng Zhang, Sally Wai-Yan Wan, Lai Ha Chan, Pui-Ying Lorelei Kwan, Lai-Ling Sandy Tam, Eunice Wai-Po Wan
Journal of Practitioner Research
Responding to a recent call for turning a focus on advancing practices in curriculum studies, this paper reports collective memory work that disrupted academics’ hegemonic voices in School-Based Curriculum Development (SBCD) studies and elicited teachers’ stories about their school-based curriculum development (SBCD) practices. With post-colonialism as the theoretical underpinning, we explored how the Western-centric construct of SBCD was recontextualized in various Hong Kong school contexts. Findings revealed teachers’ struggles with hegemonic discourses that constrained their autonomy in SBCD projects to benefit diverse learners, such as the accountability mechanism, linguistic imperialism, Western-centrism, and top-down curriculum decision-making. Situated in the local realities …
Implementing An Enriched Language Development Program For Learning Support Students, Alicia Smail, Linda Kucan
Implementing An Enriched Language Development Program For Learning Support Students, Alicia Smail, Linda Kucan
Journal of Practitioner Research
This article describes how middle school students who qualified for learning support performed in an enhanced language development program known as Word Generation (WG). Word Generation is a cross-curricular language development program designed to improve students’ overall literacy skills by focusing on deepening students’ knowledge of academic language. This study was guided by the following question: How does an enhanced language development program influence students’ vocabulary learning and broader literacy skills? Students demonstrated statistically significant positive differences on the pretest/posttest vocabulary knowledge assessment and maintained that learning on a delayed posttest. Engagement with the WG materials positively influenced students’ abilities …
“Bad Inquiry”: How Accountability, Power, And Deficit Thinking Hinder Pre-Service Practitioner Inquiry, Stephanie Schroeder
“Bad Inquiry”: How Accountability, Power, And Deficit Thinking Hinder Pre-Service Practitioner Inquiry, Stephanie Schroeder
Journal of Practitioner Research
This study of 30 pre-service teachers’ practitioner inquiry papers explores potential pitfalls of practicing inquiry with pre-service teachers. Focusing on the types of questions pre-service teachers ask about student learning, the challenges they face when engaging in inquiry, and the weaknesses of their inquiry products, this paper finds that accountability culture in education, pre-service teachers’ lack of power in the classroom, and deficit thinking left unchallenged by instructors led to weak inquiries. Implications include the need for teacher educators to work with mentor teachers across university and K-12 boundaries, and the need to teach explicitly about the power inquiry holds …
A Framework For Reflective Practice, Diana L. Moss, Claudia Bertolone-Smith, Teruni D. Lamberg
A Framework For Reflective Practice, Diana L. Moss, Claudia Bertolone-Smith, Teruni D. Lamberg
Journal of Practitioner Research
Teaching involves making constant choices and orchestrating interventions that impact purposeful teaching and learning. Finding time to collect information and develop solutions for a teaching challenge can be problematic. Teachers may feel pressure to shift instructional practices without incorporating purposeful reflection. We developed a reflection framework and tested it in a middle grades classroom over a two-week period, and employed practitioner research to investigate the potential of allowing for deep reflection within the middle school structure. We investigated how the framework impacted the teacher’s ability to reflect and adjust based on student learning in the classroom. We conclude that sophisticated …
The Persuasive Art Of Responding, Diane Barone, Rebecca Barone
The Persuasive Art Of Responding, Diane Barone, Rebecca Barone
Journal of Practitioner Research
This practitioner research study looked at how elementary students created persuasive arguments in response to their reading of Doll Bones. Students frequently used settings to ground their arguments. This study suggests that having students persuasively respond to reading serves as a bridge or scaffold to persuasive writing.
Coach And Evaluator: Exploring How To Negotiate Both Functions In The Role Of Supervisor, Andrea T. Scalzo Willson
Coach And Evaluator: Exploring How To Negotiate Both Functions In The Role Of Supervisor, Andrea T. Scalzo Willson
Journal of Practitioner Research
The tensions of engaging in both coaching and evaluation have driven this inquiry examining my practice as a university supervisor. I explored the ways I define the tasks that allow me to supervise in ways that align with my beliefs, while at the same time perform my duty as an evaluator. In order to examine my practice and the ways that I engage in evaluation and coaching as a supervisor, I considered those tasks in which I enacted such practices. Further, I envisioned a “hybrid” practice where both roles have a place and function while improving pre-service teaching practice.
Was The Professional Development I Conducted In South Africa Evident In Teachers’ Practices Many Years Later?, Darlene Demarie
Was The Professional Development I Conducted In South Africa Evident In Teachers’ Practices Many Years Later?, Darlene Demarie
Journal of Practitioner Research
I conducted professional development by working alongside the teachers I hired at a child development center in South Africa. I spent one year and 9 months there while I was a Fulbright CORE Scholar from 2007 to 2009. After 8 years with only two short visits back, the digital tools (photographs and videos) I used and reviewed with teachers at the time of the professional development also helped me to assess the impact of that professional development. I saw how it influenced the teachers' practice and noted what was similar and what had changed over the years.
“Inquiry Is Confidence”: How Practitioner Inquiry Can Support New Teachers, Rachel Wolkenhauer, Angela Hooser
“Inquiry Is Confidence”: How Practitioner Inquiry Can Support New Teachers, Rachel Wolkenhauer, Angela Hooser
Journal of Practitioner Research
This paper focuses on the profile of “Hannah,” who was having a successful first year of teaching until February when her principal shifted gears. At this point administration expected, as Hannah quoted her principal, “to walk into your classroom, at any point of the day, and see you in front of the classroom and the kids sitting at desks answering bubble-in questions and not talking to each other.” Hannah teaches first grade. Rather than being discouraged by this, Hannah turned to her knowledge of practitioner inquiry to systematically study and stand behind the professional decisions she knew she needed to …
Critical Collaborative Inquiries In Social Studies: Fostering Inclusion, Engagement And Literacy, Sara Lewis-Bernstein Young Ed.D.
Critical Collaborative Inquiries In Social Studies: Fostering Inclusion, Engagement And Literacy, Sara Lewis-Bernstein Young Ed.D.
Journal of Practitioner Research
Collaborative inquiry groups are a well-advocated tool to support comprehension and collaboration, but how do critical collaborative inquiries support students with different levels of engagement and academic performances in social studies to develop critical literacies? This article responds to the research question through case studies of two high school students who engaged in a critical collaborative inquiry project. One student was a senior labeled with disabilities, who struggled with academic literacies, graduated at the bottom of her class, and said that she hates school. The other student was a junior who thrived in school, mastered a range of academic literacies, …
Shape Shifting: The Impact Of Student And Teacher Choice On Differentiation In A Detracked, Standards-Based High School Geometry Classroom, Kristin M. Weller
Shape Shifting: The Impact Of Student And Teacher Choice On Differentiation In A Detracked, Standards-Based High School Geometry Classroom, Kristin M. Weller
Journal of Practitioner Research
To gain insight into how using differentiated instruction and standards-based assessment supported my students’ learning in a detracked, honors geometry classroom, I employed the methodology of practitioner research to examine and reflect on the development and implementation of a standards-based differentiated unit based on the Pythagorean Theorem. Data collected and analyzed included field notes during classroom activities, student artifacts from classroom assessments and activities, verbatim transcripts from audiotaped student interviews, and practitioner researcher journal entries chronicling significant events and actions taken during the development and implementation of the unit. As I reviewed, analyzed, and reflected upon the data, my findings …
Using Pre-Assessments To Make Decisions About Differentiation In A Detracked High School Biology Classroom, Michelina Macdonald
Using Pre-Assessments To Make Decisions About Differentiation In A Detracked High School Biology Classroom, Michelina Macdonald
Journal of Practitioner Research
This article describes how one teacher used practitioner research to study the role that pre-assessment played when making decisions about student grouping and differentiated instruction within a detracked, honors biology classroom. Much detail is provided in this article describing the study design around a unit on protein synthesis and the steps taken in data analyses to contextualize this study within a practitioner research methodology. The teacher discusses her findings using a claim, evidence, and reasoning framework common in scientific inquiry to illustrate the effectiveness of using pre-assessment to group students for tiered instruction.
Rigor And Relevance: A Teacher Research Study On Using Young Adult Literature In Detracked Secondary English Language Arts Courses, Kathleen Colantonio-Yurko, Cody Miller, Jennifer Cheveallier
Rigor And Relevance: A Teacher Research Study On Using Young Adult Literature In Detracked Secondary English Language Arts Courses, Kathleen Colantonio-Yurko, Cody Miller, Jennifer Cheveallier
Journal of Practitioner Research
This article explores how three students who would not have qualified for honors-level curriculum under a tracked model performed in detracked English Language Arts (ELA) courses. Our teacher research study was guided by the following question: How can the incorporation of young adult literature (YAL) in a detracked ELA honors course affect the experiences of students who would not have qualified for honors curriculum under a tracked model? We found that the incorporation of YAL helped students explore diverse ideas and expanded their capacity to think, read, and write critically. This study has implications for broader conversations relating to detracking …
Action Research By Practitioners: A Case Study Of A High School’S Attempt To Create Transformational Change, Jeffrey Glanz
Action Research By Practitioners: A Case Study Of A High School’S Attempt To Create Transformational Change, Jeffrey Glanz
Journal of Practitioner Research
Using a single case study design, this article describes the work of a participant researcher to assist a group of five high school teacher practitioners in reflecting on their teaching practices. Participants in this study attempted to apply action research to better understand the impact of their teaching approach (i.e., primarily lecture) on student learning as well as on their own styles of teaching. Work with these teachers was part of a larger effort to improve overall instructional quality in the school in the areas of teaching, curriculum professional development, and supervision. The article describes efforts of the participant researcher …