Education Commons^™

Autobiographies In Preservice Teacher Education: A Snapshot Tool For Building A Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, Annmarie Gunn, Susan Bennett, Linda Evans, Barbara Peterson, James Welsh

Linda S. Evans

Many scholars have made the call for teacher educators to provide experiences that can lead preservice teachers to embrace a culturally responsive pedagogy. We investigated the use of brief autobiographies during an internship as a tool (a) for preservice teachers to examine their multidimensional culture; and (b) for teacher educators to assess preservice teachers' developing understandings about cultural responsive pedagogy and then further design curriculum to enhance these understandings. Using qualitative methods, we analyzed the preservice teachers' (N=24) autobiographies and an interview with the professor of this course. Based on the findings of this study, we suggest teacher educators need …

Using Learning Walks To Improve Collaboration And Charter School Performance (A University/ P–12 School Partnership): Year One, Paul Thomas Bole, Kenneth Paul Farizo

Paul Thomas Bole

Many universities exist apart from their community’s public schools. A New Orleans area public university took measures to facilitate collaborative partnerships with four public schools. Those schools were taken over and converted to charter schools by state officials for poor performance. The partnerships created simultaneous opportunities and challenges, especially in the aftermath Hurricane Katrina. One challenge involved replacing damaged school buildings. Another challenge involved forging productive relationships. This article explains how the university utilized “Learning Walks” (Resnick, 1996) to facilitate stakeholder collaboration, which blossomed into partnerships facilitating school and student improvement and professional development opportunities for both entities.

Making Histories: Developing An Oral History Of All In Australia, Alisa Percy, Bronwyn James, Tim Beaumont, Reem Al-Mahmood

Alisa Percy, PhD

How might our present understandings of our professional identities, our struggles, our achievements and our capacities for agency be better understood through the memories and accounts of those who championed our emergence? What might oral accounts of the emergence of our field offer beyond what can be gathered from its existing literature? Indeed, why look at the history of a professional field at all?

This session approaches such questions by reporting on oral accounts of the emergence and evolution of ALL in Australia. As we note some of the insights and lived experiences of those engaged in the formative years …

Living Among Guatemalan Mayans Is Fascinating Experience, Irene Scharf

Irene Scharf

I have just lived a dream. Five years ago I learned of a school where students of all ages could study Spanish intensively while living among the Guatemalan Mayans. Peace Accords had been signed in 1996, the government was encouraging tourism, and it was, finally, safe to visit.

Why a dream? Because, 25 years ago, when I traveled through Central and South America, I promised my family I would avoid Guatemala because of the perceived was dangers. During that trip, as I met my Europeans and other who had visited, remained safe, and found it a fascinating country, I vowed …

Making A Difference In Developing Countries, David Tout

David (Dave) Tout

The work of ACER in education is making the difference in educational outcomes for students across the world, particularly in developing countries.

Does The "Negro" Still Need Separate Schools? Single-Sex Educational Spaces As Critical Race Counterspaces, La Mont Terry

Clarence "La Mont" Terry, Sr.

This article explores whether contemporary educators should consider single-sex educational settings as viable interventions in educating African American males. Using qualitative data from a 2-year study of single-sex educational spaces in two Los Angeles County high schools, the authors argue that when all-male spaces effectively function as Critical Race Theory counterspaces, the educational experiences of high school–aged Black males are positively transformed. These co-curricular, single-sex counterspaces can effectively shield Black males from the marginalizing effects of urban schooling while serving as platforms for productive reengagement in positive school trajectories. Research-based principles for designing effective single-sex educational settings are discussed.

A Brief Examination Of Professional Development Models, Imran Chaudary

Imran Anjum Chaudary

This paper aims to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the major professional development models by examining their underpinning assumptions in the light of the particular bodies of scholarship from the field of education. For this purpose, nine professional development models have been chosen from the Kennedy (2005) and a framework of analysis has been constructed by modifying the criteria of effective professional development reported in the Fraser, Kennedy, Reid, and Mickinney (2007) and the Piggot-Irvine (2006). There is no ‘one right answer’! No one particular form or model of professional development is better than others to be adopted; rather, …

Why Western Australian Secondary Teachers Resign, Tony Fetherston, Geoff Lummis

Tony Fetherston

In recent years, Western Australian school have faced a significant increase in the number of secondary school teacher resignations. By analysing qualitative data gathered from interviews of 11 recently resigned secondary teachers, and three senior level administrators, the researchers sought to begin to understand the reasons behind a teacher attrition rate that has increased markedly since 2003. By placing the teachers’ experiences within a framework of critical social theory, the paper outlines how collisions with power and the negative discourse encountered by teachers established their subsequent pathway to resignation. In outlining these pathways, we have provided an anthology of their …

Using A Media Technology Showcase To Bridge The Gap Between K-12 & Higher Education: Creating A Professional Development Workshop., Sonya Shepherd

Sonya S. Gaither

Why should students spend time navigating to find the library tools needed to search? Why not provide direct links to library resources so more time is spent finding, evaluating, and synthesizing information? These were questions asked by some academic librarians trying to help students locate resources for assignments.As a result, these academic librarians created online tutorials for using persistent links to library resources. Teaching faculty learned how to use the links in web pages and WebCT Vista. These tutorials were also shared at conferences. Attendees encouraged the presenters to develop a hands-on workshop. Attendees also suggested the workshop as a …

An Analysis Of Teacher Education Context, Structure, And Quality- Assurance Arrangements In Teds-M Countries : Findings From The Iea Teacher Education And Development Study In Mathematics (Teds-M), Lawrence Ingvarson, John Schwille, Sharon Senk, Glenn Rowley, Ray Peck, Maria Tatto

Ray Peck

The present report is a companion report to the TEDS-M publication Policy, Practice, and Readiness to Teach Primary and Secondary Mathematics in 17 Countries: Findings from the IEA Teacher Education and Development Study in Mathematics (TEDS-M) written by Tatto et al., (2012). That report presented findings about the nature and content of teacher education programs in the 17 participating countries, as well as the mathematical knowledge and pedagogical knowledge of graduates from those programs. The present report focuses on reporting data gathered at the national level and placing those findings in context. When interpreting the findings presented in the aforementioned …

Why Facebook Is (And Isn't) A Pre-Service Teacher's Friend, Pauline Taylor

Associate Professor Pauline Taylor-Guy

Teach For Australia Pathway : Evaluation Report Phase 2 Of 3, Paul Weldon, Phillip Mckenzie, Elizabeth Kleinhenz, Kate Reid

Dr Elizabeth Kleinhenz

The evaluation of the Teach for Australia Pathway was commissioned by DEEWR and commenced in March 2010. The purpose of the evaluation is to assess whether the delivery of the Pathway can be modified to better achieve intended outputs and outcomes, and whether the Pathway is achieving expected outcomes. This report (Part 2) concerns the second of three phases of the evaluation of the TFA Pathway. The first report (Part 1) was designed to provide a summary of data gathered on the operation of the Pathway in its initial stages. Data for that report were collected via site visits with …

Quad-Blogging: Promoting Peer To Peer Learning In A Mooc, Emily Purser, Angela Towndrow, Ary Aranguiz, Madhura Pradhan

Emily R Purser

We present the concept of quad-blogging, and its potential for facilitating and enhancing peer-to-peer learning in higher education, specifically in a massive open online course (MOOC) by increasing peer engagement, promoting the practice of blogging and fostering the formation of professional learning networks through social media.

The D.B. Weldon Library's Instruction Portfolio: A Grassroots, Team-Based Approach, Kim Mcphee, Melanie Mills, Marg Sloan

Melanie Mills

An Exploratory Study Of Teacher Empowerment And Technical Education In Kentucky, Lee Wall

Lee Ann Wall

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between teachers’ perceptions of empowerment and principal use of power within career and technical education in Kentucky. The researcher posits that, with the continual process of educational reform, principals need to understand what empowers teachers to perform as additional expectations and responsibilities are being mandated. The researcher used a mixed methods design to examine power bases that career and technical education teachers perceived were used by their principals to identify teachers’ perceived empowerment, as well as influencers and barriers. Data were collected with a survey and two open-ended questions from …

Transforming Learning With New Technologies (Second Edition), Robert Maloy, Ruth-Ellen Verock-O'Loughlin, Sharon Edwards, Beverly Woolf

Robert W. Maloy

Transforming Learning with New Technologies is a book about how to create dynamic learning opportunities for students in K–12 schools using computers, the Internet, interactive websites, educational software and apps, digital games, blogs, wikis, social bookmarking, podcasts, multimedia, universal design for learning, electronic portfolios, classroom response systems, and other new and emerging technologies.

Designed as a text for educational technology or introduction to instructional technology courses, the contents are organized by learning goals first, and second by computer-based technologies that can be used to achieve those goals. Each chapter focuses on a particular aspect of learning with technology crucial for …

Library Resources For Liberty University Online Faculty - Fall 2012, Randy Miller

Randy L Miller

Liberty University Librarian Randy L. Miller talks about using library resources for online teaching. Workshop includes information literacy goals, using EZProxy for access to subscription databases, online library services available, tips for finding books and journal articles, and tips for effective library assignments.

Learning And Language: Educarer–Child Interactions In Singapore Infant-Care Settings, Cynthia Lim, Sirene Lim

Sirene Lim

While there has been extensive research exploring the quality of caregiver–child interactions in programmes for preschool children, comparatively less international research has explored the nature of caregiver–child interactions in centre-based infant-care programmes. Nine caregivers in six Singapore infant-care settings were observed and interviewed in this study to explore the qualitative nature of caregiver–child interactions and the caregivers' talk about the education and care of infants. Some of the caregivers expressed beliefs that infants learn through quality interactions. However, not all caregivers were observed to provide interactions, especially during routine care. Some caregivers held the view that their primary role was …

The Paradox Of Universal Secondary Education In Uganda, Philip Kelly

Philip P. Kelly

This chapter examines the struggle of Uganda to democratize its educational system by implementing universal secondary education. On the surface, the educational policies of Uganda appear to be laudable and democratic, but, when implemented through the Ministry of Education and Sports into the schools and eventually the classrooms, schooling as experienced by children is repressive and undemocratic. Using the frameworks of democratic theory, liberation theory, and anti-colonialism, the author analyzes the policy context as well as the unintended consequences of Uganda's implementation of universal secondary education. The chapter concludes with policy observations to be avoided in developing nations' efforts at …

A Collection Of Lists Of Mathematical Habits Of Mind, Kien Lim

Kien H Lim

Mathematical habits of mind and general habits of mind have been identified in the field by various authors such as Al Cuoco and colleagues, Driscoll and colleagues, and Costa and colleagues. Different list of habits of mind that are relevant to teaching and learning of mathematics education are compiled.

4-Mality (Four Coach Active Learning Intelligent Tutoring System), Robert Maloy

Robert W. Maloy

4mality is a web-based tutoring system for 3rd through 6th grade students learning to solve math word problems. It provides preparation and practice for math problem solving and math achievement tests.

Dispositional Development As A Form Of Continuous Professional Development: Centre-Based Reflective Practices With Teachers Of (Very) Young Children, Terri Swim, Zeynep Isik-Ercan

Zeynep Isik-Ercan

The nature of professional development in early childhood education has recently been reconceptualised, with accompanying changes in policy and practice. This paper draws from teacher education literature to define the components of continuing professional development practices in the context of early childhood education practice. By relating these components to one another, the authors describe a central concept for the growth of early childhood educators: dispositional development, the process by which teachers develop professional dispositions that are intertwined with their daily practices. Analysis, reflection and documentation of teacher work within the sociocultural context of children and families they work with shape …

Privileging Preschool Children’S Voices In Research: Use Of Drawings And A Co-Construction Process., Joanna Tay-Lim, Sirene Lim

Sirene Lim

The growing acknowledgement of the value of listening to children’s views and experiences in social research, popularly termed as “listening to their voices,” brings with it methodological consequences. Regarding children as expert informants about their own lives carries with it the simultaneous call for researchers to be experts in developing and employing appropriate strategies that can effectively elicit the insights that children can bring to a research topic. With younger children, the use of participatory methodologies has been foregrounded as the key to unlocking their potential to contribute rich and useful perspectives to inform research into their lives. This article …