Education Commons^™

Multi-Tiered System Of Supports As Collective Work: A (Re)Structuring Option For Middle Schools, Sonja M. Hollingsworth Dr.

Current Issues in Middle Level Education

Multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) is the overarching referent for frameworks designed to target behavioral and academic challenges with a focus on a tiered continuum of evidence-based practices within the context of prevention science and implementation research (Freeman, Sugai, Simonsen, & Everett, 2017). Extensive literature indicates that MTSS programs can be effective in helping teachers address academic and behavioral challenges. However, from the onset of the RtI movement and through its transition into the MTSS paradigm, many middle level schools have faced significant organizational and systemic challenges which hamstring their ability to utilize MTSS programming with fidelity. This essay proposes …

Supporting Middle School Students In Tier 2 Math Labs: Instructional Strategies, Emily C. Bouck, Jiyoon Park, Mary Bouck, Jim Alspaugh, Stacey Spitzley, Angela Buckland

Current Issues in Middle Level Education

Response to Intervention (RtI) has become a common support system for students; yet, no universal RtI model exists, especially for mathematics and specifically at the middle school level. This article focuses on a specific model for delivering Tier 2 mathematics supports and services at the middle school level: math labs. Evidence–based and research–supported interventions are discussed that support the delivery of Tier 2 services within a middle school math lab RtI structure. A fictionalized vignette, drawing from multiple actual cases, is presented to highlight the use of a Tier 2 math lab within a middle school setting.

Introduction, Amanda Wall

Current Issues in Middle Level Education

Introduction to the issue and recognition of 2019 reviewers

Reliability Analysis Of Complementary Assessment Tools For Measuring Teacher Candidate Dispositions, Winifred C. Nweke, Tasha P. Perkins, Comfort Y. Afolabi

Georgia Educational Researcher

Assessing the dispositions of teacher candidates remains a challenge for many Educator Preparation Providers (EPPs). This article details the process and results of establishing the reliability of two complementary instruments, the Candidate Beliefs Self-Assessment Survey (SAS) and the Candidate Dispositions Performance Assessment Rubric (CDPA). The instruments are linked through the same dispositional themes that undergird the indicators in the CDPA and belief statements in the SAS. Internal consistency reliability coefficients were determined using Cronbach’s alpha for SAS (0.81) and the CDPA (0.96). In addition, inter-rater reliability coefficient of 0.80 was determined for CDPA using Intraclass correlation (ICC) method based on …

Promoting This We Believe And The Amle Standards With Teacher Candidates, Amanda Wall

Current Issues in Middle Level Education

This article describes approaches to integrating This We Believe and the Association for Middle Level Education Standards into a middle grades course.

Collaboration In The Middle: Teachers In Interdisciplinary Planning, Gary Senn, Deborah Mcmurtrie, Bridget Coleman

Current Issues in Middle Level Education

The authors promote collaboration through interdisciplinary planning.

Personalized Professional Development Plans, Nancy B. Ruppert

Current Issues in Middle Level Education

Nancy Ruppert is the past-president of AMLE and past-president of NAPOMLE. She is the chair of the education department at UNC Asheville. Her current areas of interest are in advocating for middle school alumni and creating resources to advocate for middle level education. Here she invites readers to contribute to ideas for ongoing professional development.

From Where Two Or More Are Gathered: Understanding An Interdisciplinary Team, Glynnis Childress

Current Issues in Middle Level Education

This study explores the types of professional learning teachers report when participating in an interdisciplinary team at the high school level.

Supporting Middle Grades Teacher Candidates In Becoming Culturally Competent, Nathan Carnes

Current Issues in Middle Level Education

The author describes practices to support middle grades teacher candidates' becoming culturally competent.

Keynote. Motivation: Theory Into Practice, David Vawter

Current Issues in Middle Level Education

This paper is based on Dr. Vawter's keynote address at the Southeast Professors of Middle Level Education Symposium.

Collaboration In The Middle: Middle Grades To Higher Education Promoting, Advocating, Igniting Support For Middle Schools, Bridget Coleman, Nancy B. Ruppert

Current Issues in Middle Level Education

The authors provide an overview of the Southeast Professors of Middle Level Education Symposium, which was held in Greenville, SC, May 17-18, 2018. This is the introduction to the proceedings from the Symposium.

An Alternative Approach To The Traditional Internship, Basil M. Conway, David Erikson, Christopher Parrish, Marilyn Strutchens, Jennifer Whitfield

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Georgia Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators

This paper reports the benefits and challenges of incorporating a paired-placement model at four different post-secondary teacher preparation programs in secondary mathematics education. The paired-placement model places two secondary mathematics clinical teachers with one mentor (or cooperating) teacher during their internship experience. Benefits exhibited were increased collaboration, more knowledgeable cooperating teachers, increased sense of community, teaming, pedagogical risk-taking, increased reflective practice, established natural professional learning communities, Plan-Do-Study-Act Cycle (PDSA), and increased accountability. Challenges found through the PDSA cycle include personnel issues, number of days teaching, perceived classroom management preparation, preparing university supervisors, mentors, and teacher candidates, and support for collaboration …

Preparing Pre-Service Teachers To Present At A State Conference, Heidi Eisenreich

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Georgia Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators

As mathematics teacher educators, we have a responsibility to prepare as many people as we can, to teach mathematics in ways that foster a deeper understanding of the content. We do this by teaching current and future teachers in college programs and providing professional development to in-service teachers. A less explored way is to prepare these “students” to present ideas they have learned to colleagues at their school, other schools in their district, and conferences. In this paper, I share my experience of helping students go through the process of preparing to present over the last two years at our …

Teaching Technical Communication To Engineering Students: Design, Implementation, And Assessment For Project-Based Instruction, Yang Gao

Proceedings of the Interdisciplinary STEM Teaching and Learning Conference (2017-2019)

Through the project-based instruction (PBI) method, this paper described the design, implementation, and assessment of a technical communication course for engineering graduate students. The paper first addressed an increasing demand of engineering students with great communication skills through analyzing the existing literature and industry criteria. It then introduced concepts and characteristics of PBI and explained why PBI is a fit pedagogy in teaching technical writing to engineering students. Next, it elaborated components involved in the holistic design of the PBI course, including student sample, timeline, designed sections and units, and designing rationale and principles. This paper then reported the teaching …

Introduction, Amanda Wall

Becoming: Journal of the Georgia Association for Middle Level Education

Introduction

An Examination Of K-12 Teachers’ Assessment Beliefs And Practices In Relation To Years Of Teaching Experience., Aslihan Unal, Zafer Unal

Georgia Educational Researcher

This study compared K-12 teachers’ assessment beliefs and practices in relation to their years of teaching experience. The data for this study was collected from 87 public school teachers. The findings suggest that as the teachers’ years of experience increases, the value they place in assessment increases as well.

Proceedings Of Thirteenth Annual Meeting Of The Georgia Association Of Mathematics Teacher Educators Front Matter

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Georgia Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators

Contents of 13th Annual GAMTE Proceedings Front Matter:

• Officers of GAMTE
• Reviewers
• Copyright & Licensing Terms
• Purposes and Goals of GAMTE
• Conference Schedule
• Dedication
• Table of Contents

The Interview Project: A Way Of Bridging Theory And Practice In Early Childhood Mathematics Preservice Teacher Education, Doris Santarone

Georgia Educational Researcher

Twenty-nine early childhood preservice teachers (PSTs) participated in an Interview Project. The project’s goals were for the PSTs to apply their knowledge of research on children’s mathematics in their interactions with a child and to learn to listen to and learn from children. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the project and determine whether it met these goals. Pre and post data were collected, and I found that the PSTs showed a significant improvement in their ability to describe and analyze a child’s mathematics and to use their listening to make appropriate instructional decisions. In addition, I found …

Curriculum Integration: Twenty Questions- With Answers, Gert Nesin, John Lounsbury

Becoming: Journal of the Georgia Association for Middle Level Education

This is a digital edition of the book Curriculum Integration: Twenty Questions- With Answers, first published in 1999 by the Georgia Middle School Association.

ISBN-13: 978-0967508108
ISBN-10: 096750810X

K-2 Mathematicians & Writers: Professional Learning Communities For Developing Conceptual Understanding, Doris Santarone, Angel R. Abney, Sandra M. Webb

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Georgia Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) has long supported the use of children’s literature, writing, and manipulatives to improve conceptual understanding of mathematics (2000). In a professional learning community for K-2 teachers, professional development was designed and implemented on ways to incorporate literacy and manipulatives into a mathematics lesson. The teachers were charged with collaboratively planning lessons that included multiple components: the standard(s), a mathematics activity, manipulatives, a writing task, and children’s literature. As the data were analyzed, it became apparent that while most of the lessons were well connected, this did not happen for all of the lessons. …

Creative Writing In The Mathematics Classroom, William Lacefield, Laura Markert

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Georgia Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators

Creative writing in the mathematics classroom promotes mathematical applications in the real world, constructivist learning, embodied learning, transfer of mathematical ideas, and student engagement. When students are allowed to write about mathematical concepts creatively, they are able to take concepts that they have learned and put them into their world or even create a situation where the mathematical concept applies. Applying mathematical concepts to other environments helps learners transfer mathematical concepts. Learners are able to take the mathematics content and contextualize it outside of the classroom. Writing in mathematics also is a way for students to embody learning. Because writing …

Conceptualizing And Interpreting Mean And Median With Future Teachers, Eryn M. Stehr, Ha Nguyen, Gregory Chamblee, Sharon Taylor

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Georgia Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators

Mathematical Education of Teachers II (METII), echoed by the American Statistical Association publication, Statistical Education of Teachers, recommended teacher preparation programs support future teachers in developing deep understandings of mean and median, such that middle grades teachers may use them to “summarize, describe, and compare distributions” (Conference Board of Mathematical Sciences, 2012, p. 44; Franklin et al., 2015). Georgia Standards of Excellence require statistical reasoning from students beginning as early as 6-7 years old, including interpretation of measures of center and statistical reasoning about best measures of center (Georgia Department of Education, 2015). This level of understanding and interpretation of …