Elementary Education and Teaching Commons^™

Enhancing Instruction For English Learners In Response To Intervention Systems: The Pluss Model, Amanda K. Sanford, Julie Esparza Brown, Maranda Turner

Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper proposes a model of effective instruction and intervention for English Learners (ELs) within a Response to Intervention (RTI) framework. First, we review literature on effective instruction for ELs and how RTI can address the needs of these students. Then, we describe the PLUSS model, which integrates research on effective instruction for ELs, tiered models of support, and teacher practices. The model includes the following elements: Pre-teaching critical vocabulary; Language modeling and opportunities to use academic language; Using visuals and graphic organizers; Systematic and explicit instruction; and Strategic use of native language and teaching for transfer. Finally, we provide …

Great Supplies For Your Primary Grade Writing Workshop, Libby Duggan

Articles

The right supplies can help you launch a writing workshop and establish the kind of habits and practices that will make the workshop easy to manage all year long. You may even want to stock up before the back-to-school sales end. Here are the "must-have" supplies I have used in my primary grade workshop.

5 Things Writing Workshop Teachers Want Parents To Know, Libby Duggan

Articles

When I was teaching, I wanted parents to know how to support the work that we were doing in the classroom. Perhaps most importantly, I wanted to be sure that what students were told about their writing at home was consistent with what I taught in the classroom. So with that in mind, I've assembled an article that you can share with families: "5 Things Writing Workshop Teachers Want Parents to Know."

Kit And Dick Schmoker Reading Center- By The Numbers, Guy Trainin, Amanda Hall, Britney Tonniges

Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, Art, and Design

This is an infographic showing the activity at the UNL Reading Center since it's inception.

Self-Management Of Classroom Transitions For Students With Attention Disorders, Colleen Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to ascertain if students with ADHD in an inclusive classroom who display off-task behaviors, particularly during transitioning between instructional activities, can effectively utilize a self-monitoring plan to decrease these behaviors. In order for the rapidly growing number of special education students to integrate successfully and smoothly within the general education learning environment, certain inappropriate behaviors should be eliminated, if possible, or at least decreased through self-awareness and direct self-management. Punitive consequences are not always an effective means of eradicating certain types of behaviors. Three middle school students with ADHD participated in the study using …

The Effects Of Positive Behavioral Interventions And Support On Student Discipline Referrals And Attendance, Gregory E. Ross

Dissertations

As school districts work to utilize instructional time, student behavior is often a huge hindrance to maximizing instruction. In 2001 while at the University of Oregon, Horner and Sugai created Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (PBIS), now utilized in over 7,000 schools throughout the country (Sugai & Horner, 2002). This program is provided to schools throughout Kentucky through a federal grant extended to the Kentucky Center for Instructional Discipline (KYCID).

This study analyzed PBIS in an elementary school in southwest Kentucky, McNabb Elementary, to measure the effect of PBIS on student discipline referrals and attendance. Referrals were evaluated from 2006-2012, …

Student-Teacher Interactions For Bringing Out Student Ideas About Energy, Benedikt W. Harrer, Michael Wittmann, Rachel Scherr

Faculty Publications

Modern middle school science curricula use group activities to help students express their thinking and enable them to work together like scientists. We are studying rural 8th grade science classrooms using materials on energy. Even after spending several months with the same curriculum on other physics topics, students' engagement in group activities seems to be restricted to creating lists of words that are associated with energy. Though research suggests that children have rich and potentially valuable ideas about energy, our students don't seem to spontaneously use and express their ideas in the classroom. Only within or after certain interactions with …

Contextual Influences On Small Group Decision-Making: A Field Investigation, Sarah Kathryn Chorley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines small group decision-making among groups of educators in an elementary school through the Bona Fide Group Perspective, which focuses on a group and its relationships to elements in its context. Twenty-six faculty members were interviewed and 26 meetings were recorded; these were analyzed using thematic analysis. The results indicated contextual, relational, and discursive factors influenced the decision-making process. Most critically, power, status, overlapping group memberships, and competing Discourses shaped the group decision-making process.

Turkish Pre-Service Teachers` Perceived Self-Efficacy Beliefs And Knowledge About Using Expository Text As An Instructional Tool In Their Future Classroom Settings, Kasim Yildirim, Seyit Ates

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The aim of this research was to examine Turkish pre-service teachers` knowledge and perceived self-efficacy beliefs toward using expository text as an instructional tool in their future classroom settings. The research sample were 346 pre-service teachers who studied in different teacher preparation programs which included elementary classroom and middle content classrooms (for example, science, social studies and Turkish language arts) teaching professions. A teacher efficacy inventory and a knowledge test about using expository text were developed and administered to the pre-service teachers in a public university in Turkey. The research findings showed that there was a small but positive correlation …

Implications Of The No Child Left Behind Legislation On Career And Technical Education, Thomas Kyle Wallace

Dissertations

The passage of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation in 2001 brought about a multitude of education reform policies for education institutions that made the future of Career and Technical Education’s (CTE) role in secondary educations unclear. These mandates forced educational leaders to emphasize student enrollment in tracks that prepare them for post-secondary educational opportunities that require a stronger background in academic courses. The standards-based mandates required by NCLB legislation make promotion of CTE courses more difficult because these courses are primarily elective courses and have caused educational agencies to look at what CTE programs provide in terms of meeting …

Moving Forward On Common Ground: A Mixed Methods Exploration Of National Standards, Sharon Kay Cogan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

There is extant literature regarding teacher professional development; however, there is limited research in the area of "high-quality" teacher professional development practices which are advocated for at the government and district levels based on Learning Forward's (formerly National Staff Development Council - NSDC) guidelines for school reform.

The intent of this proposed research study is to examine the professional development practices of three elementary schools in a large urban area in the southwest region of the United States, and how well the professional development practices align with Learning Forward's national standards for constructing effective professional development. Administrators and teachers anonymously …

Feed Your Writer’S Notebook This Summer, Julie Patterson

Articles

Summer is a great time to tend to your writer's notebook. You can "stock up" on notebook entries that will support your mini-lessons during the school year. Not sure what to write? Here are some notebook strategies to help fuel your inspiration.

Building Conceptual Understanding Through Vocabulary Instruction, William H. Rupley, William Dee Nichols, Maryann Mraz, Timothy R. Blair

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Instructional design is an integral part of a balanced approach to teaching vocabulary instruction. This article presents several instructional procedures using research-based vocabulary strategies and explains how to design and adapt those strategies in order to reach desired learning outcomes. Emphasis is placed on research-based principles that guide effective vocabulary instruction and on the importance of incorporating vocabulary instruction into all phases of the reading lesson framework--before, during, and after reading (Blair, Rupley, & Nichols 2007; Vacca, Vacca, & Mraz 2011). Vocabulary instruction should encourage students to make associations and accommodations to their experiences and provide them with varied opportunities …

Great Books For Late Summer Reading, Terrell A. Young, Barbara A. Ward

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

For decades now, reading experts have expressed concern that the competence gained by struggling readers during the academic year is lost during the summer months. While academic enrichment and remediation programs can reduce that loss, one of the best practices to build better readers is by having them read during breaks from school. At least one study clearly supports this suggestion. In his study of 1,600 elementary students in the mid-Atlantic area, researcher James Kim (2009) found that regardless of previous achievement level or race or socioeconomic level, children who read more books performed better on reading comprehension tests in …

The Professional Development Practices Of Two Reading First Coaches, Charlotte A. Mundy, Dorene D. Ross, Melinda M. Leko

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

To establish job-embedded, ongoing professional development recent policies and initiatives required that districts appoint school-based coaches. The Reading First Initiative, for example, created an immediate need for coaches without a clear definition of coaches’ responsibilities. Therefore, the purpose of this case study was to investigate how two Reading First coaches interpreted and enacted their professional development responsibilities. Cross-case analyses identified similarities and differences in coaches’ enactments. Findings revealed that while each coach engaged in similar professional development responsibilities (e.g. modeling, observing, and classroom walkthroughs) their approach to these responsibilities differed — collaborative versus expert driven. These differences in approaches indicate …

Student Teaching Field Experience Guide 2012-2013, Judith Schierling, David Whitenack

Faculty Publications

San José State University (SJSU) has been in the forefront of innovation in education for over 100 years and has a long history of meeting challenges that require changes in society and in schools. Preparing teachers for California's schools since 1857, SJSU was established as the first public normal school west of the Mississippi River. The oldest public institution of higher education in the state of California, San José State University is located in an area of rapidly increasing cultural diversity and technological complexity. One of the largest universities of the 20-campus California State University system, San José State University …

Fostering Academic And Social Growth In A Primary Literacy Workshop Classroom: "Restorying" Students With Negative Reputations, Jo Worthy, Annamary L. Consalvo, Treavor Bogard, Katie W. Russell

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

In most classrooms, there are students who have academic, behavioral, and/or interpersonal challenges that can disrupt the classroom community. In some cases, these challenges can build momentum, leading to a negative reputation or “story” that can follow the student throughout school. This academic, yearlong case study focused on Mae Graham, an exemplary teacher, and the cases of two students who began second grade with negative behavioral, emotional, and academic reputations from previous years in school. We describe how Mae “restoried” the students through personalized instruction and attention, classroom structure and curriculum, and social interactions in the classroom. We base restorying …

Early Career Teachers’ Self-Efficacy For Balanced Reading Instruction, Petra Hastings

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

According to Bandura (1986; 1997), perceptions of efficacy are based on four sources: enactive attainment; vicarious experience; physiological and emotional states; and verbal persuasion. The factors affecting Early Career Teachers' self-efficacy for reading instruction are closely related to these four sources. It is not difficult to imagine an Early Career Teacher practicing within a ‘source vacuum’ as he or she attempts to grapple with the methodologies and strategies necessary for a balanced reading program. How, then, do they rate their teaching efficacy for this area of the curriculum? And which types of professional learning opportunities do they believe have heightened …

Effective Coaching Strategies For Increased Use Of Research-Based Instructional Strategies For Linguistically Diverse Classrooms, Cindy S. West

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

This thesis explores effective coaching strategies that support the classroom teacher in implementing research-based instructional strategies designed to assist English language learners (ELLs) in language acquisition and content learning. Through individual interviews, ELL instructional coaches assisted in the identification of coaching strategies they perceived to be most supportive as classroom teachers learned and implemented instructional strategies for supporting ELL students.

The data gathered from the interviews is organized under four main themes: Developing Partnerships, Identifying Student and Teacher Needs, Practical Applications, and The Role of Professional Development. The data indicated participants strongly endorsed instructional coaching as an effective form of …

Physical Self-Efficacy And Goal Orientation Of Hong Kong Primary Students In Physical Education Lessons, Huen Sum Lam, Kai Zhang, Kam Lung Pat, Ho Man Lam

Practical Social and Industrial Research Symposium

No abstract provided.