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

Introduction, Amanda Wall

Current Issues in Middle Level Education

Introduction

The articles in this issue of Current Issues in Middle Level Education reflect different experiences of middle level educators particularly as we continue to adapt to new realities given the coronavirus pandemic.

Elizabeth Stewart, Jeasik Cho, Mellinee Lesley, and Julie Smit interviewed a small group of parents about their experiences supporting their children’s literacy learning at home in the early weeks of the pandemic in 2020. Their research provides insights and ideas from a parent perspective.

As teacher educators, Jessica VanValkenburgh and Aaron R. Gierhart adjusted their practices and approaches to teaching science methods for middle grades and elementary …

Supporting Virtual Instruction In Rural Kentucky: Google Apps, Lesia Lennex

Department of Middle Grades and Secondary Education Research & Publication Archives

Fall 2020 marked the first fully virtual semester for P-12 classrooms across the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Teachers were faced with challenges such as the digital divide, device access, and materials access (Prichard Committee, 2020). Toward improving the success of our teacher education candidates to teach in virtual environments, a task force was formed to investigate the use of Google Classroom, a free learning management system (LMS) which allows third-party creation, distribution, and collection of common P-12 classroom artifacts (Clark, 2020), Google Apps for Education (GAFE), and Google Level I certification. Teachers (N=427) and school administrators (N=66) in 22 counties in …

Lesson Plan Template For Clinical Practice, Teaching Performance Assessment, And In-Service Teaching, Karen Escalante

Teacher Education and Technology Faculty Publications

Becoming an effective teacher takes time, preparation, purposeful planning and deep knowledge of your students and the content / curriculum. Purposeful lesson planning supports you in your development as an educator and it works to ensure PK-12 students are being taught to think and engage with the content area, with the ultimate goal of transferring that knowledge to global understandings and patterns.

Is There More Than One Way? Examining Alternative Pathway Teacher Effectiveness Through The Experiences And Perceptions Of Principals In Urban, Low-Socioeconomic Schools In Oklahoma, Julianne Hennessy Denton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teacher quality continues to be recognized as one of the strongest predictors of student success and school improvement. The quality of an educator is also critical to being able to address the growing achievement and opportunity gap in schools and communities that are marked by concentrated poverty. Therefore, principals are under significant pressure to recruit, train, support, and retain highly qualified teachers, so all students have access to quality education. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to generate knowledge of alternative pathway teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom from an administrative point of view, specifically in urban, low socioeconomic, …

Examining Middle School Core Teacher Knowledge And Practices In Stem Education, Rachel Brill-Lee

All Theses And Dissertations

Many educational institutions reported challenges with achieving student success in STEM disciplines and attribute these challenges to the lack of knowledge and education among educators on how and what to teach regarding STEM education (Stehle & Peters-Burton, 2019). This qualitative case study explored how core subject teachers outside STEM/CTE education in one middle school in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States view, understand, and integrate STEM education and skills into their curriculum. The study used a combination of Likert surveys and semi-structured interviews to identify themes that may contribute to challenges many educational institutions are experiencing in regard to …

Music Is The Intervention: The Intersections Of Music As A Therapeutic Activity In At-Risk Youth, Gladys H. Gonzalez Landaverde

Senior Honors Theses

Across the United States, public schools face many discrepancies in the quality and caliber of education that a student can expect to receive. While schools try to address the vast needs of students, many children and adolescents are unfortunately faced with choosing between prioritizing their education and the circumstances faced outside of the school day. The discrepancies in schooling range from the quality in the commonly accepted core curriculum like English and mathematics to the opportunities offered outside of traditional academia like music. Unfortunately, at-risk students are unlikely to have access to music education in the same ease as their …

An Analysis Of Early Career Educator Experiences And The Impact Of Teacher Recruitment Initiatives, Induction Programs, And Retention Efforts In One School District, John Liddon Pope

Dissertations

The K-12 public education system faces a teacher shortage dilemma of unprecedented proportions. At the onset of the school year, out-of-field teachers, underqualified teachers, or long-term substitutes often fill instructional vacancies, causing many students to begin the school year with uncertainty. Recruiting, training, and retaining highly qualified teachers is critical to student success. The purpose of this study was to analyze early career educator experiences and the impact of teacher recruitment initiatives, induction programs, and retention efforts in one school district, explore common practices in recruitment, induction, and retention in other school districts, and develop strategies and actions to mitigate …

Taking Time To B.R.E.A.T.H.E.: Strategies For Strengthening Staff And Student Well-Being, Joelle Hood

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

When students and staff experience chronic stress, it negatively impacts their motivation, performance, and wellbeing, Participants in this engaging workshop will walk away with simple research-based practices from the fields of Mindfulness and Positive Psychology, that they can utilize with both themselves and students to reduce stress and anxiety, improve attention and performance, and strengthen overall physical and psychological well-being.

Pornography: Social, Emotional And Mental Implications Among Adolescents, William K. Canady

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

This presentation will explain the historical development of pornography. It will highlight four segments: 1- Porn’s impact on brain development of reward pathways, ultimately increasing the appetite for more porn. 2- Porn can be a false substitute for real intimacy, resulting in decreased sexual satisfaction with a real person and increased verbal and physical aggression. 3- Porn promotes sex trafficking, promotes multiple sex partners and reduced STD prevention. 4- A review of interventions available to assist clients in navigating a lifestyle away from pornography.

Review Of Teaching In Rural Places: Thriving In Rural Classrooms, Schools, And Communities, Rachelle Kuehl

Virginia English Journal

This is a book review of Teaching in Rural Places: Thriving in Classrooms, Schools, and Communities, a first-of-its-kind textbook geared for preservice teachers interested in teaching successfully in rural schools.

Is Your School An A.S.S.E.T.?: Focusing On School Mental Health And Equitable Instruction, Emily Meeks Focused Minds Education Group, Taneesha Thomas

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

This workshop provides Educators classroom resources that can be used within existing curriculum frameworks to enhance the mental health literacy of both students and teachers.

The session suggests strategies to implement strategic, systemic and sustainable changes which promote academic growth, resiliency and wellness.

Teaching Students About Trauma, Stress, And Brain Regulation, Kathy J. Van Horn

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

All students are impacted by stress and can improve learning through understanding the brain and brain regulation. For students who have experienced trauma this information is critical to their success. This presentation will provide guidelines, ideas, and strategies for teaching students key trauma-informed principles including strategies for physical, emotional, and cortical regulation. These principles and strategies can be taught to students individually or through group and classroom settings. Practical ideas and examples will be given along with feedback and lessons learned from the students we have taught.

Criticism, Praise, And The Red Pen: The Role Of Elementary School Teachers On The Enduring Efficacy Of Writing Instructors, Julie Kimble

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

A teacher’s own early experiences with writing, whether positive or negative, have a significant effect on the students that they teach, especially those who go on to become teachers. In a graduate education and reading program at a public university in the southern United States, we ask our teachers through a writing biography assignment to explore these memories of their earliest writing experiences and determine how those experiences fit into their current teaching careers. For this qualitative project, the researcher analyzed essays that were submitted for a “Writing Autobiography” assignment for this graduate level writing class for educators. This study …

A Qualitative Study Of Middle School Science Teachers’ Perceptions Of The Transition To Online Instruction During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Brian S. Ward

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

The purpose of this study was to explore the unique lived experiences of four middle school science teachers from North Carolina and South Carolina during and following the transition from in-person to online instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Four predominant themes were identified from individual, semi-structured interviews of the teachers: technology change; organizational change; changes in curricula, delivery, and student interaction; and career and personal changes. The teachers in this study described the challenges and opportunities experienced during the rapid transition in March 2020 to virtual teaching and learning. The teachers’ lived experiences seamlessly aligned with the stages of …

Special Education Teacher Burnout: Examining The Role Of Educator Preparation Programs In Prevention, Brittany L. Straub

Dissertations

Teacher burnout is increasingly problematic, especially for special education teachers who have a unique set of job responsibilities. Survey and interview data was used in this phenomenological study to examine how the educator preparation program (EPP) experience and self-authorship journey of early career special education teachers impact their potential to experience burnout. Data findings regarding level of self-perceived burnout, recollections of being or not being taught stress management and coping strategies in their EPPs, recollections of the self-authorship journey, and intentions for remaining in the career are shared in this dissertation. The essence of this phenomenon can be summed up …

Roadblocks And Enablers For Teacher Engagement In Professional Development Opportunities Aimed At Supporting Trauma-Informed Classroom Pedagogical Practice, Simone L. Collier Mrs, Karen Trimmer, India Bryce, Govind Krishnamoorthy

Journal of Graduate Education Research

This paper is based on a research approach that aims to explore and explain the roadblocks and enablers for mainstream classroom teachers engaging in professional development and training focused on trauma informed pedagogical practices.. Teachers seeking resources that promote discrete behavioural and cognitive skills in the social emotional developmental domain can easily access advocacy, policy articles and resource materials that are in the form of guides, toolkits, and programs. Notwithstanding this, a second focus area is the relational approach whereby the main tenet is children’s social, emotional, and cognitive development is dependent on the relational context in which they spend …

Accessibility And Usage Of School Library Materials And Facilities By Social Studies Teachers In Sapele Metropolis, Sunday Obro

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study examined the accessibility and usage of school library materials and facilities by Social Studies teachers in Sapele metropolis. One hundred and four (104) social studies teachers were the selected study sample using the purposive sampling method. Two (2) instruments were employed for the gathering of data. They are an observation checklist and a questionnaire. The data gathered were analysed using mean. The study revealed that most library materials and facilities were not accessible. In addition, it was discovered that non-print media were lacking. However, textbooks and print assets and materials were accessible. Also, the study exposed that poor …

In The Middle Of Appalachia: Balancing Teacher Talk With Student Discourse, Ronald V. Morris, Denise Shockley, Sonya Davis

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

Appalachian students co-constructed knowledge with their teacher while examining a non-fiction book about Thanksgiving. Fifth grade students used an informational trade book to promote student discourse while using text-based evidence. Students learned about Native Americans and Pilgrims as they engaged in student discourse balanced with teacher talk. Students used an inquiry arc that involved questioning texts and examining sources, and inquiry helped students to investigate narrative text as a source of data. Students used inquiry to enhance their metacognition about historical events. Students exercised agency as they recounted family history and their heritage as part of their memory. Remembering was …

Formative Assessment To Help Students Decode, Process, And Evaluate Social Studies Information, Cory Callahan

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

Here the author explores formative assessment within a context of research-based social studies instructional approaches. While the notions of inquiry, alternative assessment, disciplinary thinking and interpretation, and using visual documents as powerful resources each provide an important element of conceptual structure, this article purposefully concentrates on the process of constructive evaluation. The author posits a wise-practice routine for developing formative assessment practices that cohere with criteria-based assessment and its tendency to describe what students did well, what they could have done differently to improve their recent academic performance, and, importantly, how they can improve subsequent academic performance. The article also …

History Or Heritage? An Analysis Of Ghana’S Primary School History Curriculum, Charles Adabo Oppong

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

Abstract

At a time that history has gained its place in Ghana’s basic school curriculum, considerable differences of opinion arise, not about the subject’s significance in the school curriculum but concerning the legitimacy of the subject title - that is, whether or not the subject should be referenced ‘History of Ghana’ or ‘Heritage of Ghana’. The different opinions reflect Lowenthal’s (1998) observation that history and heritage are separate disciplines. However, the two subjects are often used interchangeably (Mermion, 2012) and “are habitually confused with each other” (Lowenthal 1998, p. x). While expert academics may be at ease with the distinctions …