Education Commons^™

The Glen Project: A Transformational Ecology Model Of School-Based Universal Mental Health Development, Cheryl Bowen (Mcelvain)

Teacher Education

This 10-month mixed methods case study utilized a sample of 27 teachers, the school administrator, and 281 low-income, Latinx children and their parents living in northern California to test the hypothesis that a school-based universally designed mental health program (The Glen Project) can strengthen students’ developmental asset attainment and positively impact the school environment within the first year of program implementation. The study utilized triangulated data to ascertain the effects of two program levels, (a) mental health and (b) school support services. All services were site-based and meant to target a wide variety of students and their families. Findings from …

Mathematics Anxiety: Identity Work In A Gifted Prospective Elementary Teacher’S Mathematics-Related Personal Narratives, Kathleen Jablon Stoehr

Teacher Education

Previous studies have focused on negative physiological sensations and psychological emotions of mathematics anxiety experienced in real time. Similarly, prior research has noted that prospective elementary teachers (PSTs) may experience such feelings of distress while learning to teach mathematics in their teacher-preparation programs. Mathematics teacher educators have sought to reduce elementary PSTs’ mathematics anxiety by improving their mathematical content knowledge and discipline-specific pedagogical knowledge. But why might mathematics anxiety persist even after elementary PSTs have successfully completed such teacher-preparation coursework? Our case study of a female elementary PST, identified as gifted, illustrates how mathematics anxiety, when reinforced by personal narratives …

The Power Of Mothers And Teachers Engaging In A Mathematics Bilingual Collaboration, Kathleen Jablon Stoehr, Fany Salazar, Marta Civil

Teacher Education

Background:

Making mathematics connections between home and school can have a positive impact on students’ mathematics learning. This is particularly important for students whose experiences and perspectives are underrepresented in school curricula. Although there is evidence for how crucial it is to make connections between mathematics instruction and children’s lived experiences, doing so is often a challenging task for teachers.

Purpose:

This study examines what teachers in two different settings—a dual language school and a Structured English Immersion school—learned from engaging in a mathematics collaboration with Latina mothers. We share the teachers’ perceptions of their students’ and families’ mathematics’ strengths …

Spanish English Literacy: Critical Pedagogy, Positive Coping And Transformative Self-Identity, Sara Soledad Garcia

Teacher Education

This chapter reports on a study that focuses on a special agent of change: the classroom teacher and their bilingual skills in preparation for the challenge of teaching in Spanish and English. The new generation of practicing bilingual educators and those presently preparing to teach, have lived in a context that, although restricted by language policies for schooling, have developed coping mechanisms and maintain skills in both languages, Spanish as a native language and English as the language of schooling. A goal for this study is to support a change for a more humanistic approach for the education of linguistic …

Elementary Prospective Teachers’ Visions Of Moving Beyond Mathematics Anxiety, Kathleen Jablon Stoehr, Amy M. Olson

Teacher Education

Previous studies of prospective elementary mathematics teachers’ mathematics anxiety have documented that many prospective teachers often worry about managing their repeated experiences of anxiety while developing their pedagogical and content knowledge to teach mathematics. The literature further indicates the importance of developing learning opportunities for prospective teachers to confront their past experiences while they (re)learn and learn to teach mathematics during methods courses. This study is situated within one such learning opportunity and seeks to analyze potential mathematics anxiety coping strategies generated by forty-eight prospective elementary teachers enrolled in a mathematical methods course. Written responses generated by the prospective teachers …

Grappling With ‘Bigger Questions’ Of Teaching: Engaging In Critical Reflection Through Participation In Cogenerative Dialogues, John L. Beltramo

Teacher Education

This investigation explores the critical reflection of two urban high school science teachers as they participate in cogenerative dialogues--weekly discussions with focus groups of students that are held outside of instructional hours and that center on identifying and addressing problem areas of classroom teaching and learning. The study finds that, over their semester-long participation in the dialogues, the teachers often grappled with what they termed the "big questions" of teaching--tensions centering on the extent of scaffolding versus the demands of rigor, district-mandated curriculum versus student-centered inquiry, and the competing purposes of collaborative student work. Addressing such tensions within cogenerative dialogues …

When Students Are Afraid Of Learning, Jennifer Shewmaker

Teacher Education

As teachers, how do we set up our classrooms and organizations in such a way that we help our students overcome fear, commit to change, experiment with new conditions of knowledge, and move into the growth to which learning calls them? How do we help our students move forward rather than run away?

Conversations Between Preservice Teachers And Latina Mothers: An Avenue To Transformative Mathematics Teaching, Kathleen Jablon Stoehr, Marta Civil

Teacher Education

Mathematics education researchers agree that students’ mathematical learning can be positively impacted by making connections to their out of school experiences through a funds of knowledge lens. This is especially important for diverse students whose experiences are often underrepresented in school curricula. Making these connections can be challenging for teachers whose experiences often differ from their students. We examine how conversations between preservice teachers and Latina mothers influenced the teachers’ creation of a mathematics lesson that connected to students’ out of school experiences. Findings suggest the importance of offering preservice teachers opportunities to learn from parents about their children’s out …

“I Don’T Get It. I Need Help”: Emergent Bilinguals Seeking And Receiving Help From Peers In Language Arts, Claudia Rodriguez-Mojica

Teacher Education

This study examines how emergent bilinguals seek help in language arts and how peers respond to their requests for help. Using 6 months of naturally occurring student talk in a U.S. fourth grade classroom, this article shows that (a) emergent bilinguals more frequently use general requests than specific requests to obtain help, (b) only 41% of emergent bilingual requests for help succeeded in eliciting helpful peer responses, and (c) there is no significant difference between specific and general requests for help and help received. Findings suggest the need for policies and practices that foster the educational environments necessary for peer …

‘You Guys Are Bilingual Aren’T You?’ Latinx Educational Leadership Pathways In The New Latinx Diaspora, Katherine Rodela, Claudia Rodriguez-Mojica, Alison Cochrun

Teacher Education

Existing research suggests that Latinx educational leaders in the U.S. positively impact Latinx student outcomes and home–school relationships. Yet, much of this research has been conducted in traditional U.S. Latinx immigrant destinations. We know little about the Latinx leadership experiences in regions where Latinx communities are smaller, yet growing quickly such as the New Latinx Diaspora. Using Latina/o Critical Race Theory, this study analyzed in-depth interviews with five Latinx administrators in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Participants’ counter-stories revealed three key findings: their bilingualism was an asset and liability in their early careers, they demonstrated deep persistence in the face of …

From Numbers To Narratives: Preservice Teachers Experiences’ With Mathematics Anxiety And Mathematics Teaching Anxiety, Amy M. Olson, Kathleen Jablon Stoehr

Teacher Education

This paper presents qualitative and quantitative approaches to exploring teachers’ experiences of mathematics anxiety (for learning and doing mathematics) and mathematics teaching anxiety (for instructing others in mathematics), the relationship between these types of anxiety and test/evaluation anxiety, and the impacts of anxiety on experiences in teacher education. Findings indicate that mathematics anxiety and mathematics teaching anxiety may be similar (i.e., that preservice teachers perceive a logical continuity and cumulative effect of their experiences of mathematics anxiety as learners in K–12 classrooms that impacts their work as teachers in future K–12 classrooms). Further, anxiety is not limited to occurring in …

A Study Of Early Career Teachers’ Understandings Andpractices Related To Language During Mathematics Instruction, Erin E. Turner, Amy Roth Mcduffie, Amanda T. Sugimoto, Julia Aguirre, Tonya Gau Bartell, Corey Drake, Mary Foote, Kathleen Jablon Stoehr, Angela Witters

Teacher Education

The role of language in mathematics teaching and learning is increasingly highlighted by standards and reform movements in the US. However, little is known about teachers’, and especially early career teachers’ (ECTs) practices and understandings related to language in mathematics instruction. This multiple case study explored the language-related understandings and practices of six ECTs in diverse elementary classrooms. Using iterative cycles of analysis, we found that all ECTs regularly attended to students’ mathematical vocabulary use and development. Yet, there was variability in ECTs’ focus on how to teach mathematical vocabulary, expectations for students’ precise use of mathematical terminology, and the …

Experiencing Poverty In An Online Simulation: Effects On Players’ Beliefs, Attitudes And Behaviors About Poverty, Pedro Hernandez-Ramos, Christine M. Bachen, Chad Raphael, John Ifcher, Michael Broghammer

Teacher Education

Digital simulations are increasingly used to educate about the causes and effects of poverty, and inspire action to alleviate it. Drawing on research about attributions of poverty, subjective well-being, and relative income, this experimental study assesses the effects of an online poverty simulation (entitled Spent) on participants’ beliefs, attitudes, and actions. Results show that, compared with a control group, Spent players donated marginally more money to a charity serving the poor and expressed higher support for policies benefitting the poor, but were less likely to take immediate political action by signing an online petition to support a higher minimum wage. …

Final Report On The Sanger-Firebaugh Long-Term English Learner Project, Karen Thompson, Claudia Rodriguez-Mojica

Teacher Education

The Long-Term English Learner Project is a partnership between Sanger and Firebaugh-Las Deltas Unified School Districts that aims to create large-scale systems change to improve outcomes for middle and high school Long-Term English Learners (LTELs). Karen Thompson and Claudia Rodriguez-Mojica have completed the third and final year of a three-year external documentation funded by the Central Valley Foundation (CVF). The LTEL Project began in 2014- 15 and was originally planned to last three years. CVF approved a one-year extension for the Project and external documentation, lasting through 2017-18.

The Long-Term English Learner Project builds on the previous District Partnership Project …

Instructional Supports: Facilitating Or Constraining Emergent Bilinguals’ Production Of Oral Explanations?, Claudia Rodriguez-Mojica

Teacher Education

This qualitative study examined how specific instructional supports intended to scaffold emergent bilinguals’ oral production of explanations facilitated or constrained students’ attempts to explain. Findings demonstrate that explanations were very rarely produced, and when they were produced, the explanations were not particularly informative. Furthermore, the teachers’ attempts to support emergent bilingual talk via sentence starters, guiding questions, and rephrasing questions inadvertently undermined the students’ attempts to explain.

Advancing A Transactional Ecology Model Of School-Based Positive Youth Development Programs For Children, Cheryl Bowen (Mcelvain)

Teacher Education

Knowing that children thrive in a multi-systems approach to mental health development, a growing number of schools often promote their vision through mission statements that include school-based youth development programs claiming to improve social and academic outcomes for all students (Greenberg et al., 2003). However, there is scant empirical evidence investigating effective school-based “wraparound” mental health services for low income, Latino children and their families (Cabrera, 2013; Gándara, 2017). This quasi-experimental, mixed methods case study utilizes a sample of 415 low-income children and their parents living in northern California to test the hypothesis that school-based youth development programs can potentially …

Developing Mutual Accountability Between Teachers And Students Through Participation In Cogenerative Dialogues, John L. Beltramo

Teacher Education

In this study, I explore cogenerative dialogues as potentially supportive spaces for the development of mutual accountability and reciprocal learning between teachers and students, even within contexts dominated by high-stakes accountability and its associated challenges. In cogenerative dialogues, teachers gather with small groups of their students outside of instructional time to discuss classroom teaching and environment and to construct plans by which to improve student learning and wellbeing. Through a design-based case study, I worked with two science teachers, Lorena and Ellen, from urban high schools to establish and enact weekly cogenerative dialogues with their students over a period of …

Sentence Stems That Support Reading Comprehension, Claudia Rodriguez-Mojica, Allison Briceño

Teacher Education

Sentence stems are widely used by teachers, but what do we know about developing sentence stems and using them effectively? Sentence stems are intended to facilitate students’ participation in academic conversations and writing and support students to develop the language expected in school, but sometimes the stems do not provide the support intended. The authors explain how to develop supportive sentence stems.

From English Learner To Spanish Learner: Raciolinguistic Beliefs That Influence Heritage Spanish Speaking Teacher Candidates, Allison Briceño, Claudia Rodriguez-Mojica, Eduardo Muñoz-Muñoz

Teacher Education

This qualitative study explored Spanish-speaking teacher credential students’ beliefs about academic language that might promote or inhibit their decision to become bilingual teachers. Data includes interviews with 11 bilingual teacher candidates who were heritage Spanish speakers. Findings show that most were only aware of English-only educational contexts and did not know that bilingual teaching and the bilingual authorization pathway were options. Their schooling experience fostered English hegemony; even their Spanish classes were pervaded by linguistic purism and elitism. Schools taught them that their registers of Spanish, which they learned at home, were insufficient, inappropriate or incorrect. Consequently, they questioned their …

From Test Scores To Language Use: Emergent Bilinguals Using English To Accomplish Academic Tasks, Claudia Rodriguez-Mojica

Teacher Education

Prominent discourses about emergent bilinguals’ academic abilities tend to focus on performance as measured by test scores and perpetuate the message that emergent bilinguals trail far behind their peers. When we remove the constraints of formal testing situations, what can emergent bilinguals do in English as they engage in naturally occurring classroom interactions about content? Using six months of naturally occurring emergent bilingual talk, this article shows that (1) emergent bilinguals produced a wide range of academic speech acts in English while engaged in English language arts tasks, (2) these speech acts were aligned with state academic expectations, and (3) …

Predicting Faculty Integration Of Faith And Learning, Kimberly Hardin

Teacher Education

Concern regarding the secularization of Christian higher education has

prompted researchers to investigate the extent that faith and learning

is integrated at a faculty level and what factors might predict faculty

integration (Lyon, Beaty, Parker, & Mencken, 2005). This research

attempted to replicate Lyon et al.’s (2005) logistic regression model

predicting faculty integration of faith using survey responses gathered

as part of Phase II of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities

(CCCU) Denominational Study (Rine, Glanzer, & Davignon, 2013).

Respondents included 2,074 faculty from 55 institutions. The first

model used in this study suggested that the most powerful predictors …

Mathematics Anxiety: One Size Does Not Fit All, Kathleen Jablon Stoehr

Teacher Education

Mathematics educators agree elementary teachers should possess confidence and competence in teaching mathematics. Many prospective elementary teachers (particularly women) pursue careers in elementary teaching despite personal repeated experiences of mathematics anxiety. Previous studies of mathematics anxiety have tended to focus on physical sensations that occur during test-taking situations. This study analyzes how three women prospective elementary teachers described, explained, and related their experiences of mathematics anxiety while learning mathematics as K-12 students and while learning to teach mathematics. My research reveals that mathematics anxiety may reach beyond assessment situations and impact women prospective elementary teachers’ larger mathematical histories. I show …

Stories And Statistics: A Mixed Picture Of Gender Equity In Mathematics, Kathleen Jablon Stoehr, Kathy Carter, Amanda Sugimoto

Teacher Education

The goal of this chapter is to gain a better understanding of the experiences of mathematics anxiety that some women elementary preservice teachers encounter while learning mathematics during their own K-12 years. Specifically, this chapter is an analysis of the personal well-remembered events (WREs) told and recorded by women during their preservice teaching professional sequence. These narrative writings provide a powerful voice for the degree to which mathematics anxiety shape preservice teachers’ beliefs on what it means to learn mathematics. This intersection of teacher knowledge is important, as these are women who are on the professional track to teach mathematics. …

Una Contribución A La Interpretación Sistémica De Lo Ambiental, A Partir De La Formación En Química Basada En La Ética De Sostenibilidad / An Environmental Contribution To A Systemic Interpretation Of Epistemological Development In Chemistry Based On The Ethics Of Sustainability, Sara Soledad Garcia, Liliana Caicedo Lozano, Diana Marcela Trujillo Suárez

Teacher Education

Este proyecto es la continuación de un trabajo que se inició hace más de cinco años de esfuerzos internacionales entre California, USA y Bogotá, Colombia. Los planteamientos de la primera etapa para establecer un equipo de participación acción enfocado en un proyecto comunitario se documentan en la Revista Colombiana de Derecho y Ciencias Sociales con el título; La Responsabilidad Social, un Componente Esencial de la Formación en un Programa de Química Ambiental (Lozano, Suarez y Garcia, 2016). En el presente trabajo se describe la segunda etapa de los componentes esenciales generados como experimentales hacia una pedagogía para educación superior. Este …

Early Career Elementary Teachers’ Practices & Perceptions Related To Language & Language Learners, Erin Elizabeth Turner, Amy Roth Mcduffie, Amanda Tori Sugimoto, Kathleen Jablon Stoehr, Angela Witters, Julia Aguirre, Tonya Bartell, Corey Drake, Mary Q. Foote

Teacher Education

There has been limited attention to early career teachers’ (ECTs) understandings and practices related to language in teaching and learning mathematics. In this qualitative case study, we drew upon frameworks for teacher noticing to study the language practices of six early career elementary and middle school mathematics teachers. We describe multiple themes that cut across teachers’ noticing related to language and language learners, and discuss one theme (i.e., Perspectives on multiple languages) in more detail, including evidence of specific forms of noticing. Implications for teacher education and professional development are discussed.

In-Service Teachers Narrative Experiences Of Mathematics Anxiety, Bernardita Peñafiel, Kathleen Jablon Stoehr, Salomé Martínez

Teacher Education

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the issues that surround Chilean women in-service elementary teachers’ mathematics anxieties through Conversations that Matter. These conversations revolved around the participants’ mathematics experiences as students and practicing teachers. These narrative writings provide a powerful voice for the degree to which mathematics anxiety shapes teachers’ attitudes in this subject area as well as their ability to be successful in mathematics. The focused analysis for this paper was directed to impact the elementary mathematics education community with a specific focus on women who have had anxiety in learning and teaching …

Curiosité: Inquiry-Based Instruction And Bilingual Learning, Cheryl Bowen (Mcelvain), Heidi A. Smith

Teacher Education

The issues that prompt this study are based on current research indicating the positive effects of inquiry learning onthe cognitive development of children. The purpose of this case study was to understand the effects of inquirylearning on the academic achievement and bilingual verbal ability of 5th grade bilingual students in a French/Englishdual immersion program. The treatment group of students completed research projects through a guided inquirylearning approach, while the control group experienced the traditional problem solving research approach. Initialfindings report a significant mean increase in mathematical reasoning, bilingual verbal ability, higher motivation tolearn, and increased self-efficacy in the treatment versus …

Transformative Professional Development And The Promotion Of Literacy Through Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, Sara Soledad Garcia, Christina F. Garcia

Teacher Education

This article recounts a narrative of professional transformation inspired by the works of Paulo Freire and Gloria Ladson-Billings and advanced by a participatory action research (PAR) project. The PAR team for this case study, consisting of the university teacher educator as a “coach” and a high school classroom teacher along with her students, examines the use of community-based knowledge in a form of corrido (ballads) studies. In this process, the ballads become the basis for learners’ engagement with literacy activities in the context of what is known as a heritage language Spanish class. The analysis focuses on the process of …

One Teacher’S Understandings And Practices For Real-World Connections In Mathematics, Kathleen Jablon Stoehr, Erin Turner, Amanda Tori Sugimoto

Teacher Education

Recent scholarship in mathematics education has increasingly supported the power of connecting mathematics lessons to students’ lived experiences. This case study, drawn from a larger multi-year study, traces the reflections and pedagogical practice of a middle school mathematics teacher who regularly connected her lessons to real-world contexts. We highlight how the teacher connected a fractions lesson to the context of making soup for her family to accomplish several goals including: (1) sharing stories to learn more about students, (2) moving beyond numbers to build understanding, (3) building students’ mathematical confidence, and (4) making space for students to connect mathematical ideas. …

Can I Teach Mathematics? A Study Of Preservice Teachers’ Self-Efficacy And Mathematics Anxiety, Kathleen Jablon Stoehr, Amy M. Olson

Teacher Education

This paper presents two studies (qualitative and quantitative) with the shared goal of exploring preservice teachers’ (PSTs’) experiences of mathematics anxiety and self-efficacy for mathematics teaching. Findings indicate that PSTs experience high levels of mathematics anxiety, impacting current learning and preference for teaching the content, as well as the development of self-efficacy for teaching mathematics and conceptions of ideal teaching. Findings regarding anxiety (fear) of evaluation and concern about being able to inspire students in their future classrooms converged across studies.