Education Commons^™

Leveraging Local Resources And Contexts For Inclusive Computer Science Classrooms: Reflections From Experienced High School Teachers Implementing Electronic Textiles, Mia S. Shaw, Deborah A. Fields, Yasmin B. Kafai

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Background and context

Promoting open-ended projects presents new opportunities and challenges for inclusive teaching in CS classrooms. While efforts have been made to develop inclusive curricula, little research has focused on ways teachers apply curricula in their classrooms to promote inclusion.

Objective

To understand the challenges faced in facilitating an open-ended unit and the pedagogical strategies enacted to address those challenges, we analyze the self-reported teaching practices that experienced teachers developed in their implementation of a constructionist electronic textiles unit in Exploring Computer Science.

Method

We inductively analyzed and coded 17 experienced teachers’ weekly surveys and post-interviews.

Findings

Teachers …

Successful Tutoring Sessions, Successful Student Conferences, Elsa C. Torgersen

Writing Center Analysis Papers

Many students come into their writing center appointments and student-teacher conferences with largely negative “writing baggage.” These students often have the expectation that these sessions will be what they were like in high school—the teacher marks what they have done wrong and though there may be positive things said, the students often remember the negative. So how can tutors and teachers create a new environment to help students feel comfortable with their writing while still teaching? This paper explores two potential solutions: beginning sessions and determining a session’s agenda. Through treating students like they matter and letting them help determine …

Praising Students’ Writing: How Compliments Encourage And Motivate, Emma George

Writing Center Analysis Papers

How to praise students in either the role of a teacher or a tutor is daunting task. These two different roles require different techniques as to the amount and quality of praise that can be given to writers. As a teacher, it is difficult to give specific praise to every single one of your students due to time limitations and volume, but tutors can and should give specific compliments to writers to increase their confidence and motivation in writing. This paper outlines several tutoring practices that have been successful on an individual level in helping students gain confidence in their …

Exploring K-3 Teachers' Implementation Of Comprehension Strategy Instruction (Csi) Using Expectancy-Value Theory, Laura Slack Foley

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

This research investigated factors that influence the implementation levels of evidence-based comprehension strategy instruction (CSI) among K–3 teachers. An explanatory design was chosen to gather and probe the data. Quantitative data were gathered via a mailed survey distributed through a representative sample of the 40 school districts (through a stratified-random selection of teachers) in a state in the Rocky Mountain West. Expectancy-value theory was applied as it affects self-reported levels of teacher implementation of CSI. Both expectancy and value showed significance for predicting self-reported CSI implementation in two multiple regression analyses. Surveys revealed teachers' perceptions of what impedes or supports …

A Forgotten Population? Assessment And Instructional Training For Teachers Of Students With Profound Multiple Disabilities, E. Horrocks, Robert L. Morgan

Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

From Tutor To Teacher: For Some Peer Tutors, The Experience Can Lead To A Teaching Career, Robert L. Morgan, M. Rees

Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Virtual Manipulatives Used By K-8 Teachers For Mathematics Instruction: Considering Mathematical, Cognitive, And Pedagogical Fidelity, Patricia S. Moyer-Packenham, Gwenanne Salkind, Johnna J. Bolyard

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

This study examined teachers’ uses of virtual manipulatives across grades K-8 after participating in a professional development institute in which manipulatives and technology were the major resources used throughout all of the activities. Researchers analyzed 95 lesson summaries in which classroom teachers described their uses of virtual manipulatives during school mathematics instruction. The findings indicated that the content in a majority of the lessons focused on two National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (2000a) standards: Number & Operations and Geometry. Virtual geoboards, pattern blocks, base-10 blocks, and tangrams were the applets used most often by teachers. The ways teachers used …

Perceptions Of The Value Of Problem-Based Learning Among Students With Special Needs And Their Teachers, Brian Robert Belland, P. A. Ertmer, K. D. Simons

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

While problem-based learning (PBL) has been found to be effective with gifted and average students (Hmelo-Silver, 2004), little is known about its impact on students with special needs. This study examines the perceptions of middle-school students with mild, moderate, and severe disabilities and of their teachers regarding the value of participating in a PBL unit. The unit focused on the physical accessibility of a low-SES, rural community where the students’ school was located.We used the constant comparative method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) to analyze interview data, and used observation data and artifacts to triangulate interview comments. Among the noteworthy findings …

Instructional Team Training: Delivering Live, Internet Courses To Teachers And Paraprofessionals In Utah, Idaho And Pennsylvania, D. E. Forbush, Robert L. Morgan

Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling Faculty Publications

Shortages of fully qualified special education teachers have been present in rural, suburban and urban America since the formal inception of special education. Public schools have mitigated special education teacher shortages by hiring paraprofessionals. Though hiring of paraprofessionals has been common practice, it is becoming more difficult to recruit and retain paraprofessionals once hired due to factors related to, or exacerbated by, the lack of pre-service training that teachers receive to effectively supervise paraprofessionals. In response to this training need, a project developed, implemented, and evaluated two live internet-based real-time video and audio courses delivered to teachers and paraprofessionals in …

Controlling Choice: Teachers, Students, And Manipulatives In Mathematics Classrooms, Patricia S. Moyer-Packenham, M. Gail Jones

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

This research study examines the instructional practices of 10 middle grades teachers related to their use of manipulatives in teaching mathematics and their control of mathematics tools during instruction. Through 40 observations of teaching, 30 interviews, and an examination of 67 written documents (including teachers' plans and records), profiles were developed that describe how teachers used and controlled manipulatives during instruction. Results showed that teachers used a variety of manipulatives and other mathematics tools over the course of the year-long study. Teachers reported using a mathematics tool (manipulative, calculator, or measuring device) in 70% of their lessons, and this self-report …

Standardized Entrance Assessment In Kindergarten: A Qualitative Analysis Of The Experiences Of Teachers, Administrators, And Parents, Martha Taylor Dever, J. J. Barta

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

A brief narrative description of the journal article, document, or resource. This qualitative study examined experiences of teachers, parents, and administrators related to standardized kindergarten entrance assessment to identify strengths and weaknesses of standardized testing in kindergarten. Strengths emerging from the data included consistency of information with core curriculum, and the time and opportunity to begin parent-teacher dialogue. Weaknesses included the narrow scope of the information obtained. (Author/KB)

Super Teachers: New Grant Award Targets Supervision Skills For Teachers, Robert L. Morgan, Charles L. Salzberg

Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.