Junior High, Intermediate, Middle School Education and Teaching Commons^™

Identifying Contributors To Disproportionality: The Influence Of Perception On Student Social, Emotional, And Academic Behavior Ratings, Chelsea Salvatore

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Successful implementation of the MTSS framework involves equitable assessment and decision-making. This calls for researchers to investigate the processes utilized to identify students for early behavioral support, such as multi-informant universal social-emotional behavioral screening. The current study aimed to investigate this by first examining the usability of the Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Subscale (SAEBRS) and the student self-report version (mySAEBRS) across Black and White students in grades seven through nine. After examining these tools for measurement invariance, the trifactor model was employed with race as a predictor variable to examine the mean difference of Black and White students’ scores …

Engaging Teacher Candidates In Teacher Inquiry: Questions And Responses, Hilarie B. Welsh

Journal of Practitioner Research

This article reports on transitioning the focus of a general secondary methods course to incorporate teacher inquiry. The author describes the shifted nature of the course, which led to empowered teacher candidates who benefited from engaging in teacher inquiry cycles even after graduation. The author then uses a question and response format to address common questions that arise in conversations about incorporating teacher inquiry for the first time.

Pre-Service High School Mathematics Teachers’ Perceptions About Mathematics And Mathematics Teachers: A Metaphorical Approach, Yasemin Katranci, Busra Kiral, Diler Kedikli

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

This study aimed to examine the perceptions of pre-service high school mathematics teachers about the concepts of mathematics and mathematics teachers. Metaphors were used to reveal these perceptions. The study is descriptive. The study group was determined according to the convenient sampling method. In this scope, 46 pre-service high school mathematics teachers participated in the study. The data were obtained through the completion of the “Mathematics is like ..... because .....” and “Mathematics teacher is like ..... because .....” statements by the participants. In the analysis and interpretation of the data; i) naming, ii) elimination, iii) category, and iv) validity-reliability …

Successful Novice Teachers’ Conceptualizations And Enactments Of The Collaborating Teacher Role: A Dual Case Study, Kia Sarnoff

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this descriptive, exploratory, dual case study was to understand the ways two successful novice middle school mathematics teachers serving as first-year collaborating teachers (CTs) for preservice teachers (PSTs) from the same “Grow Your Own” (GYO) educator preparation program (EPP) where they received their initial preparation conceptualized and enacted their CT roles. The CTs’ perceived impact of being alumni of the same middle school mathematics EPP as their PSTs was also explored. Analysis of interview, observation, and document data collected throughout the PSTs’ initial field experience and the CTs’ first-ever mentoring experience resulted in several key assertions including: …

Exploring Implicit Bias To Evaluate Teacher Candidates' Ethical Practice In The Internship, Jamie Silverman, Jessica Shiller

Journal of Practitioner Research

To create an equitable and ethical learning environment in the classroom requires teacher candidates (TCs) to develop positive relationships with students and to reflect on who they are. Using the elements of Richard Milner’s (2007) Framework of Researcher Racial and Cultural Positionality, this article presents an account of an innovative practice in how to engage secondary education TCs in a reflection of implicit biases, and how to interrupt them to become more ethical professionals. This article takes InTASC 9: Professional Learning and Ethical Practice as a point of departure and describes how a new teacher mentor piloted a series of …

Engineering Career Academies: A Comparison Of Middle School Student Academic Performance, Jakub D. Prokop

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A quasi-experimental study tested an integrated curriculum design in two career academies with engineering themes at the middle school level. Teachers in the engineering career academies, using the National Standards of Practice, implemented cross curricular units to middle school student cohorts. Participant cohorts ranged in sample sizes (n = 79, 155, 237, and 232) during the four years of analysis. Constructivism was used as a framework for the study and supported by integrated curriculum units. This study examined middle school students’ performance in reading and mathematics on state assessments of students in the engineering career academies to students not enrolled …

Review Of Towards Equity And Justice In Mathematics Education, Edited By Tonya Gau Bartell, Emily Lardner

Numeracy

Tonya Grau Bartell, editor. 2018.Toward Equity and Social Justice in Mathematics Education. (Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing). 341 pp. ISBN 978-3-319-92906-4 (also available as an e-book).

Toward Equity and Social Justice in Mathematics Education is a welcome addition to ongoing conversations about what mathematics should be taught and how it should be taught at both the college and pre-college level. Although the primary audience for the volume will be math educators and researchers, readers of this journal will discover intersecting interests, concerns, and strategies.

A Framework For Reflective Practice, Diana L. Moss, Claudia Bertolone-Smith, Teruni D. Lamberg

Journal of Practitioner Research

Teaching involves making constant choices and orchestrating interventions that impact purposeful teaching and learning. Finding time to collect information and develop solutions for a teaching challenge can be problematic. Teachers may feel pressure to shift instructional practices without incorporating purposeful reflection. We developed a reflection framework and tested it in a middle grades classroom over a two-week period, and employed practitioner research to investigate the potential of allowing for deep reflection within the middle school structure. We investigated how the framework impacted the teacher’s ability to reflect and adjust based on student learning in the classroom. We conclude that sophisticated …

Clinical Field Experiences Of Nontraditional Pre-Service Teachers: Issues And Beliefs, Melanie Diloreto

Journal of Practitioner Research

According to the American Association for Colleges of Teacher Education (AACTE, 2010), effective teaching practices and good clinical experiences share a mutually beneficial relationship. Additionally, according to research reported by AACTE (2010), an important link exists between future P–12 student-achievement and effective clinical practices experienced by pre-service teachers. This case study sought to determine experiences deemed effective or important by nontraditional pre-service teachers while engaged in fieldwork completed in an elementary and/or middle school classroom setting. Four themes were derived from the qualitative data obtained through semi-structured interviews of four junior or senior teacher education students engaged in clinical field …

Why I Believe People Need Painting By Numbers, Jason Makansi

Numeracy

Jason Makansi.2016. Painting By Numbers: How to Sharpen Your BS Detector and Smoke Out the Experts (Tucson AZ: Layla Dog Press). 196 pp. ISBN 978-0998425900.

This piece briefly introduces my Painting By Numbers, which aims to take the core messages of the QL/QR community from academic and professional circles to the rest of the citizenry. I describe the book in the context of the critical need for the most basic numeracy tools to help consumers of news, information, and analysis—delivered through traditional and contemporary social media outlets—determine where a reported numerical result lies on the scale from utter nonsense …

What Does It Mean To Be A Service-Learning Teacher? - An Autoethnography, Kristy Causey Verdi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This personal narrative autoethnography of my lived experiences as a middle-school service-learning course teacher has helped me solve a personal mystery and present an important perspective for the K-12 service-learning field. With an eye on revealing a unique service-learning classroom concept to educational leaders, enhancing middle level teacher education, and hopes of providing greater opportunities for advancing research on service learning in K-12 education, this study has also aided me in understanding my professional self and my subjective educational theory through a personal interpretive framework (Kelchtermans, 1993, 1999, 2009). Using autoethnography (Ellis, 2004; Ellis & Bochner, 2006) as a method …

Influence Of Language Arts Instructional Practices On Early Adolescents’ Motivation To Read: Measuring Student And Teacher Perceptions, Sarah E. Pennington

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Early adolescence is a critical time for examining academic motivation, specifically motivation to read (Hervey, 2013). In order to support self-determined motivation to read, students’ needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness must be met within the classroom context (Miller & Faircloth, 2014). Since classroom instructional practices are a key component of adolescents’ daily experiences in the classroom, research which investigates the influence of these practices on students’ self-determined motivation to read is needed. In addition, the perceptions of students and teachers regarding the degree to which classroom instructional practices meet students’ needs as well as the influence of classroom instructional …

Writing Groups In Eighth-Grade Honors Language Arts: Student And Teacher Perceptions, Jennifer Sara Meister Denmon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this qualitative case study, I investigated eighth-grade honors students’ and their language arts teacher’s perceptions of the support provided in writing groups, the climate in writing groups, and student and teacher support that enhanced students’ motivation to write in writing groups. Eleven study participants engaged in the inquiry, 10 middle school students and one language arts teacher. I collected data during the fall semester of 2014. Data were individual interviews, classroom observations of participants in writing groups, and program-related documents. The main aim in this investigation is to discover middle school students’ and their teacher’s perceptions of the support, …

Gatekeepers For Gifted Social Studies: Case Studies Of Middle School Teachers, Teresa Michelle Bergstrom

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This is a multiple case study of the ways middle grades social studies teachers, as curricular-instructional gatekeepers, may make decisions to provide their gifted students with purposeful differentiated instruction. More specifically, this study explores what teachers believe they should do to instruct gifted students, in what ways teachers prepare and adapt curriculum and instruction for gifted students, and how instruction for gifted learners can take place in a middle school social studies classroom. Through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and supportive visual evidence, six middle grades (6-8) social studies teachers disclosed in what ways they differentiate their middle grades social studies …

Multi-Cultural Encounter And Exchange Among Spaniards, American Indians And Africans In Colonial Florida And The Caribbean, Kathleen Deagan Phd

Hispanic Heritage of Florida Conference 2012

No abstract provided.

Lesson 6: Mapping The Spanish American War, Mario J. Minichino

Hispanic Heritage of Florida Conference 2012

The proximity of Tampa and Key West, Florida to the island of Cuba, and how their geographic locations played a major part in the Spanish American War. In this lesson, students will transfer/combine historical data from different sources to create a representative map, developing a deeper understanding of the connections between Tampa and Cuba and practicing their mapping skills.

(This lesson plan is designed for two days or can be used for a block schedule)

Conference Program

Hispanic Heritage of Florida Conference 2012

No abstract provided.

Spain-Florida: Perspectives On A Common History. Spanish Culture In The United States, Juan Antonio García Galindo Phd

Hispanic Heritage of Florida Conference 2012

No abstract provided.

Tertulia Flyer And Schedule Current

Hispanic Heritage of Florida Conference 2012

No abstract provided.

Lesson 5: “İhuelga!” (Strike!), Bárbara C. Cruz

Hispanic Heritage of Florida Conference 2012

Labor unions, workers’ rights, strikes, and boycotts all figure prominently Ybor City’s cigar manufacturing history. The strike of 1920-1921 serves as the focus of this lesson, shedding light on this important industry to Florida’s economy.

Lesson 4: Ybor City - The Cuban Club, Samantha Cook

Hispanic Heritage of Florida Conference 2012

The purpose of this unit is to make students aware of the rich history of not only Florida but of our own Ybor City. Ybor city was a multiethnic, multiracial, industrial community unlike any other in Florida at the time. Each lesson will be geared towards a specific topic but will incorporate Ybor City’s unique multi-cultural heritage with a focus on the Cubans.

Lesson 3: Ybor City, “Cigar City Of The World”, Samantha Cook

Hispanic Heritage of Florida Conference 2012

After it was established and continued to thrive, Ybor city was a multiethnic, multiracial, industrial community unlike any other in Florida at the time. This lesson explores the city’s unique history, with special emphasis on the Cuban community that settled there.

Mickey Ricans? The Recent Puerto Rican Diaspora To Florida, Jorge Duany Phd

Hispanic Heritage of Florida Conference 2012

No abstract provided.

The Old World In The New: Florida Discovers The Arts Of Spain. 1885-1930, Richard Kagan Phd

Hispanic Heritage of Florida Conference 2012

No abstract provided.

Passions, Affections, Dollars: A Sentimental Political Economy Of Cuba And Florida, Damian Fernández Phd

Hispanic Heritage of Florida Conference 2012

No abstract provided.

How Cubans Transformed Florida Politic And Leveraged Local For National Influence, Susan Eckstein Phd

Hispanic Heritage of Florida Conference 2012

No abstract provided.

Until The Land Was Understood - Spaniards Confront La Florida, 1500-1600, Paul E. Hoffman Phd

Hispanic Heritage of Florida Conference 2012

No abstract provided.

Lesson 5: “İhuelga!” (Strike!), Bárbara C. Cruz

Hispanic Heritage of Florida Conference 2012

Labor unions, workers’ rights, strikes, and boycotts all figure prominently Ybor City’s cigar manufacturing history. The strike of 1920-1921 serves as the focus of this lesson, shedding light on this important industry to Florida’s economy.

Community Events Flyer, Islac

Hispanic Heritage of Florida Conference 2012

No abstract provided.

Lesson 4: Changing Demographics Means Changing Political Power, Amanda Colborne

Hispanic Heritage of Florida Conference 2012

The Hispanic population has been growing steadily in Florida for a number of years. In this lesson, students will consider how the U.S. government differentiates between “race” and “ethnicity” and will learn which countries of origin are represented most in Florida’s Latin American immigrants.