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Full-Text Articles in Education

Standing Their Ground: How A Field Supervisor Helped Student Teachers Implement Classroom Management Strategies That Work, Anita B. Sunseri, Mary Anne Sunseri Sep 2022

Standing Their Ground: How A Field Supervisor Helped Student Teachers Implement Classroom Management Strategies That Work, Anita B. Sunseri, Mary Anne Sunseri

Journal of Practitioner Research

Many new teachers struggle with implementing effective classroom management strategies to deal with student behavior. This study examined the role a university field supervisor played in supporting three student teachers in the area of classroom management. The author used cognitive coaching techniques to help her student teachers devise classroom management strategies to address students behavioral issues. These coaching strategies included eliciting student teachers’ input about students’ specific behavior problems and their strategies for dealing with their students’ behavior. As a result, student teachers developed classroom management strategies to help students with behavior problems follow the classroom rules and engage with …


“Math Talks Are Like An Alarm Clock Waking You Up”: Language’S Crucial Role In Mathematics, Gabriella M. Wasser Sep 2022

“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 …


An Analysis Of Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Professional Noticing Skills In A Mathematics Education Setting, Liza Bondurant, Lisa Poling, Diana Moss Nov 2020

An Analysis Of Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Professional Noticing Skills In A Mathematics Education Setting, Liza Bondurant, Lisa Poling, Diana Moss

Journal of Practitioner Research

Prospective elementary mathematics teachers (PTs) were asked to analyze 28 videos of cognitive interviews. The purpose of this study was to determine if experiences analyzing videos would lead to improvements in PTs’ professional noticing skills. Using a coding schema that reflected three levels of understanding (periphery, transitional, and accomplished), a frequency table was constructed that allowed PTs’ use and understanding of a noticing framework to be analyzed. Findings indicate that experiences analyzing videos leads to improvements in PTs’ professional noticing skills.


Building Collaborative Teacher Education: Integrating Udl Through A Faculty Learning Community, Stacie B. Whinnery, Keri C. Fogle, Jennifer C. Stark, Keith W. Whinnery Nov 2020

Building Collaborative Teacher Education: Integrating Udl Through A Faculty Learning Community, Stacie B. Whinnery, Keri C. Fogle, Jennifer C. Stark, Keith W. Whinnery

Journal of Practitioner Research

Teacher educators have focused reform efforts on preparing graduates to address increasingly diverse K-12 students. Collaboration among general and special education faculty is seen as beneficial for preparing teacher candidates who can teach diverse learners, yet it is not the norm. This practitioner research study explored a curriculum reform effort that employed a faculty learning community (FLC) to engage general and special education faculty to collaboratively integrate Universal Design for Learning (UDL) into two teacher education programs. Faculty perceptions of the collaborative reform process and resulting curriculum enhancements are presented. Findings indicated the process was valued by our faculty, promoted …


The Influence Of Visually Rich Technology On The Writing Process Of Elementary Students, Mikala Thomas, Drew Polly May 2020

The Influence Of Visually Rich Technology On The Writing Process Of Elementary Students, Mikala Thomas, Drew Polly

Journal of Practitioner Research

This teacher inquiry project, conducted by an undergraduate teacher candidate with support from a faculty member, explored the use of visually rich technology and its influence on elementary school students’ motivation and learning outcomes in writing. Students used visually rich technology as part of the writing process. We found that when students used technology to support the writing process they showed incremental gains in motivation as well as gains in student learning outcomes. Implications for practitioners highlight a need for teachers to consider how visually rich technology can support students’ aspects of the writing process as well as development in …


Implementing An Enriched Language Development Program For Learning Support Students, Alicia Smail, Linda Kucan May 2020

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 May 2020

“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 …


Maximizing Learning And Engaging Students In Elementary Social Studies, Autumn Handin, Jessica Leeman Jul 2018

Maximizing Learning And Engaging Students In Elementary Social Studies, Autumn Handin, Jessica Leeman

Journal of Practitioner Research

Social studies has historically been marginalized in elementary school classrooms, with little instructional time devoted to the subject (Houser, 1995; VanFossen, 2005). Pressed for time, teachers frequently turn to teacher-directed methods that promote passive learning and perpetuate the perception that social studies is a boring and irrelevant subject in the lives of students (Zaho & Hoge, 2005). If social studies instruction is to be meaningful, teachers must utilize active learning strategies that encourage social interaction and discourse. Brain-based learning strategies connect pedagogy with cognitive neuroscience, allowing students to “learn more quickly, retain and recall more, and enjoy learning” (Kagan, 2016, …


Social Studies In The Elementary Classroom: Helping Students Make Sense Of Their World, Lauren Clark, Angela Hooser Jul 2018

Social Studies In The Elementary Classroom: Helping Students Make Sense Of Their World, Lauren Clark, Angela Hooser

Journal of Practitioner Research

This paper documents my journey as a preservice teacher engaging in practitioner inquiry to make social studies more meaningful for my first grade students. I begin by briefly introducing my background with social studies as an elementary student and my growing interest in making improvements to my own social studies instruction. Next, I provide information on the data I collected and the social studies lessons that I designed and taught. Then, I discuss three themes identified from the data that encapsulate the most important learning related to planning and engaging students in meaningful social studies lessons. Finally, I share reflections …


Engaging In Practitioner Inquiry And Critical Dialogue To Explore Student Engagement In A Fifth-Grade Classroom, Bailey Brown, Steve Haberlin Jul 2018

Engaging In Practitioner Inquiry And Critical Dialogue To Explore Student Engagement In A Fifth-Grade Classroom, Bailey Brown, Steve Haberlin

Journal of Practitioner Research

Classroom management and student engagement remain a top concern among emerging teachers In this article, we, a preservice teacher in her final internship in an undergraduate elementary education program, and a university supervisor, engaged in inquiry and critical dialogue to explore how various instructional strategies impacted student engagement in a fifth-grade classroom. The teacher collected qualitative data through interviews, photographs, surveys and observational notes and searched for thematic patterns within the data. To further challenge her beliefs, assumptions and perspectives as an educator, the teacher and supervisor participated as critical friends by engaging in reflective dialogue about her practice and …


Inquiry, Discovery, And The Complexities Of Teaching: Learning From The Research Of Practitioners, Angela Hooser, Laura Sabella Jul 2018

Inquiry, Discovery, And The Complexities Of Teaching: Learning From The Research Of Practitioners, Angela Hooser, Laura Sabella

Journal of Practitioner Research

In this opening article, Guest Editors Angela Hooser and Laura Sabella define the purpose of this special themed issue of Journal of Practitioner Research: Inquiry, Discovery, and the Complexities of Teaching: Learning from the Research of Practitioners and introduce the seven pieces of teacher research published in this volume that encapsulate this theme.