Education Commons^™

Pre-Service Teachers’ Perspectives On How The Use Of Toon Comic Books During Guided Reading Influenced Learning By Struggling Readers, Ewa Mcgrail, Alicja Rieger, Gina M. Doepker, Samantha Mcgeorge

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

The study presented in this article examines the use of comic books, specifically the TOON comic books during guided reading instruction. The instruction was provided to struggling readers by the Literacy Center at a comprehensive university in southeastern United States. What most pre-service teachers in this study agreed upon was that comic books served as an effective tool for getting their students interested in reading. Reading comic books with tutors as partners in conversation with the struggling readers in this study was also a powerful medium for facilitating students’ literacy skills development, particularly in the areas of reading fluency and …

Literacy Scholars Coming To Know The People In The Parks, Their Literacy Practices And Support Systems, Gertrude Tinker Sachs, Ewa Mcgrail, Tisha Lewis Ellison, Nicole Denise Dukes, Kathleen Walsh Zackery

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

In this research, literacy scholars present the voices of the people who live in the parks near their state capital and university in a south-eastern city in the United States. Through the recorded, transcribed and analyzed conversations, we report the literacy practices of the people in the parks and their insights into the nested state and university structures that restrict and empower their quality of life opportunities. The general findings show our participants to be avid readers of a variety of genres and users of technology but with limited access to state and university resources and infrastructures due to laws …

Literacy Scholars Coming To Know The People In The Parks, Their Literacy Practices And Support Systems, Gertrude Tinker Sachs, Ewa Mcgrail, Tisha Y. Lewis, Nicole Denise Dukes, Kathleen Walsh Zackery

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

In this research, literacy scholars present the voices of the people who live in the parks near their state capital and university in a south-eastern city in the United States. Through the recorded, transcribed and analyzed conversations, we report the literacy practices of the people in the parks and their insights into the nested state and university structures that restrict and empower their quality of life opportunities. The general findings show our participants to be avid readers of a variety of genres and users of technology but with limited access to state and university resources and infrastructures due to laws …

Theory, Ethics And Equity In Intra-Action In Mathematics Education: Looking Forward, Looking Back, Susan Ophelia Cannon

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

This paper considers the intra-actions between poststructural theories and mathematics education over the last 40 years and considers how these theories have resulted in different ways to think students, teachers, and knowledge production. I argue that thinking in intra-action with various and different theories can allow us to ask different questions and radically rethink school mathematics.

Blurred Lines And Shifting Boundaries: Copyright And Transformation In The Multimodal Compositions Of Teachers, Teacher Educators And Future Media Professionals, J. Patrick Mcgrail, Ewa Mcgrail

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

The rapid proliferation of better quality “prosumer” equipment and powerful yet inexpensive editing software have helped erode the long-standing distinction between professional media producers and amateurs. Today’s aspiring young artists can take existing film, musical works, and other audiovisual material and transform them in varying degrees to create new work that comments on the world around them and that rivals in quality much of what Hollywood and professional musicians produce. However, this assessment is from the point of view of content. The looming specter of aggressive copyright policing by a litigious creative industry still divides the haves from the have …

A Teacher Goes Gothic: Walter White, Heisenberg, And The Dark Revenge Of Science, J. Patrick Mcgrail, Ewa Mcgrail, Alicja Rieger

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

Much has been written on the natures and personalities of teachers in educational research and publications (Carter, 2009; Beck, 2012; Bulman, 2015; Dalton, 2013; Gillard, 2012; Kelly & Caughlan, 2011). However, mass media can have a powerful influence on how people see teachers. The television series Breaking Bad (Gilligan, 2007-2013) and its representation of teachers, has contributed a unique – if warped -perspective on the subject of teachers and teaching in America. In this article, we argue that three important Gothic and mythic fables from literature are harbingers of Walter White and his transformation – the Faust legend, as told …

Developing Culturally Relevant Literacy Assessments For Bahamian Children, Gertrude Tinker Sachs, Annmarie P. Jackson, Tarika Sullivan, Kamania Wynter-Hoyte

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

The strong presence of culturally relevant materials in classrooms is seen as an indicator of good teaching but the development and use of these materials is under-investigated. Similarly, the actual

construction and use of culturally relevant materials for literacy assessment purposes is under- reported. This paper examines the development and field-testing of culturally appropriate reading

assessment materials for primary-school children in the Bahamas. The construction of culturally relevant assessment materials relies on the deep and intimate knowledge of the context and the use of the materials involves analyses from several perspectives: estimation of readability levels, creation of a range of …

Social Studies Teacher–Athletic Coaches’ Experiences Coping With Role Conflict, Caroline Conner, Chara H. Bohan

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

The current study provides insight into the experiences of the most common content area teacher–coaches: social studies teacher–coaches. Substantial research findings support the idea that occupying the dual role of teacher–coach may lead to role conflict, role overload, and burnout in teacher–coaches. The purpose of the study is to illuminate the unique stressors associated with occupying the dual role of social studies teacher and athletic coach (SSTC) simultaneously, and to discover ways in which SSTCs manage such conflict. Through a case study of three football SSTCs in the southeastern United States, we explored participants’ experiences with role conflict, role overload, …

Caring, Male African Americans, And Mathematics Teaching And Learning, Jason G. Hunter, David W. Stinson

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

In this paper, the authors report on a qualitative study that explored the influence a “successful” African American male mathematics teacher had on three African American male high school students’ perceptions of teacher care. This critical ethnography study was guided by an intersection of an eclectic array of theoretical traditions, including care theory, critical race theory, and culturally relevant pedagogy. The study employed ethnographic methods during data collection; data analysis identified six overarching themes that the participants used to describe teacher care. Findings suggest that teachers should reconsider the ways they care for African American male students and that a …

Celebrating A Decade Of Critical Mathematics Education Knowledge Dissemination: A Movement Of [People] Revolutionaries, David W. Stinson

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Looking Inward: (Re)Negotiating And (Re)Navigating Mathematics Teacher Beliefs As Teacher Educators, Students And Scholars, Kayla Myers, Susan Ophelia Cannon

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

This paper is a reflection on a co-teaching experience during the first mathematics methods course of a teacher preparation program, where a community of teachers (teacher educators and pre-service teachers) could reflect on tensions (with teacher beliefs, with practice, and with mathematics). Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) was a central tenet to the course material and required learnings, opening up opportunities to (re)negotiate those tensions with beliefs, practice, and mathematics. We employ poststructural theories, attending to the documents that participants produced as well as the thinking and reading happening simultaneously, using writing as a method of inquiry.

Navigating The Contested Terrain Of Teacher Education Policy And Practice: Authors Respond To Scale, Nick Henning, Alison G. Dover, Erica Dotson, Ruchi Argwal Rangnath, Christine Clayton, Martha K. Donovan, Susan Ophelia Cannon, Stephanie Behm Cross, Alyssa Dunn

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity (SCALE) provided a commentary on the manuscripts in the first part of this special issue, which highlighted the benefits of edTPA and the necessity for such assessment programs to improve teacher education and strengthen teaching practices. In turn, the authors responded to the SCALE commentary. The authors’ responses raise concerns about equity, fairness, and unintended consequences of teacher performance assessments. These responses highlight the need for continued dialogue on ways to improve teacher education and strengthen the teaching profession.

The University Supervisor, Edtpa, And The Making Of The New Teacher, Martha K. Donovan, Susan Ophelia Cannon

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

As university supervisors at a large, urban university in the southern US, we examined the ways that the Education Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA) shaped the pedagogic relationships and decision-making processes of our students and ourselves during the spring of 2016. We situated this study of edTPA within the framework of critical policy scholarship (Grace, 1984, cited in Lipman, 2010) by reviewing the role of tests in licensing teachers in the context of the perpetual reform of U.S. education. We drew upon Biesta’s (2009) notion that neoliberal accountability trades democratic relationships for consumer relationships and Attick and Boyles’ (2016) argument that …

Teasing Transcription: Iterations In The Liminal Space Between Voice And Text, Susan Ophelia Cannon

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

These pieces of writing and the corresponding collection of objects were born out of what was supposed to be a traditional qualitative research project. At the transcription stage, I got caught. Tied up. I couldn’t make what I was supposed to be making, so this was made instead. Through technological, material, poetic, and artistic shifts, I considered what it meant to transform an interview from conversation, to sound bite, to various versions of 0000s and 1111s, and perhaps back again. Ten re/presentations of a single interview were created. From these re/presentations, I considered how validity and reliability privilege cold and …

How Hugging Mom Teaches Me The Meaning Of Love And Perhaps Beyond, Ethan Trinh

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

Hugging mom is unconventional in a traditional Vietnamese family. I write this piece to articulate my thoughts to describe different ways to look at the meanings of hugging. During my writing process, I use a walking meditation as a Buddhist practice to calm my mind so that I can see my true self and a clearer picture of different layers of the act of hugging. I believe hegemonic gender roles and patriarchy happen everywhere in the world, not particularly in Vietnam. I do not plan to devalue my home country’s cultural values in this paper. This is not the purpose …

Homeless Adults, Technology And Literacy Practices, Ewa Mcgrail, Gertrude Tinker Sachs, Tisha Lewis Ellison, Nicoloe Dukes, Kathleen Walsh Zackery

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

Some research has explored perspectives held by the homeless on technology use (Borchard, 2010; Eyrich-Garg, 2010, 2011; Harpin, Davis, Low, & Gilroy, 2016; Hersberger, 2002/2003; Pollio, Batey, Bender, Ferguson, & Thompson, 2013). Few studies have however focused on understanding this population’s use of technology for literacy purposes (Hendry, 2011; Muggleton & Ruthven, 2012), as distinct from their more general technology use, such as acquiring the skills to improve their station in life or to enhance their health, or utilize social services. Employing symbolic interactionism (Blumer, 1969) as a conceptual framework and using semi-structured interviews, this qualitative study examines technology use …