Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Groundskeeping As A Theoretical Framework: Understanding The Experiences Of An Emerging Discipline-Based Education Researcher, Christian D. Solorio, Christopher A.F. Hass, Scott V. Franklin, Mary Bridget Kustusch, Eleanor C. Sayre

The Journal of Values-Based Leadership

Groundskeeping is a supportive leadership style that combines mentorship, institutional change, and leadership to support individuals at the intersection of their personal aspirations and an organization’s needs. This paper uses a theoretical framework of groundskeeping and applies it to the experiences of Robert, an Emerging Discipline-Based Education Researcher (EDBER) who wanted to do physics education research. In this instrumental case study, we explore how the environmental, human-centered, and anti-deficit philosophical principles of groundskeeping manifest in the interpersonal and structural supports that facilitated Robert’s transition into education research. We highlight how creating a new entry-point into Discipline-Based Education Research, providing professional …

Infographic: Teens’ Career Expectations Over Time, Dominique Russell

Teacher infographics

A new report from the OECD draws on PISA 2022 data to reveal the top 10 most popular expected occupations of 15-year-old girls and boys from around the world and compares these new results to the data from PISA 2000. Here, we share how career expectations have changed over the last 22 years for girls and boys.

Increasing Understanding With Multiple Means Of Representation: Interactive Workshop For Teaching Staff, Cathy Stephens

Staff Scholarship - Australia & Dubai

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an educational framework aimed at optimising knowledge acquisition for all types of learners, recognising the uniqueness of each.
Within this framework, Multiple Means of Representation (MMR)—providing resources in varieties of forms—maximises access to content processing.
This forum presentation gave an overview of Universal Design for Learning concepts to lecturing staff at SAE University College, exploring some strategies used to diversify content and engage learning. It also used Padlet to engage attendees in a set of active learning exercises to examine manageable ways of incorporating multiple resources.

This National Forum workshop included collaborative, eLearning, active …

He’S The Kid That No One Wanted: An Autoethnographic Examination Of Preschool Suspensions And Expulsions From A Mother’S Lens, Lisa M. Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This autoethnographic research examines the personal and professional journey of advocating against preschool suspensions and expulsions through the lens of a Black mother. Titled He’s The Kid That No One Wanted: An Autoethnographic Examination of Preschool Suspensions and Expulsions from a Mother’s Lens, " it dives into the complicated challenges faced while confronting exclusionary disciplinary practices in early childhood education. This research aims to illuminate the societal and institutional roadblocks encountered when navigating systems of power and to explore the impact of these challenges on both personal identity and professional advocacy. Using a blend of social media artifacts and memory …

Full Issue - Excelsior 17/2, Excelsior Journal

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

No abstract provided.

Integrating Digital Escape Room Design Into Teacher Education: Cultivating Instructional Creativity In Preservice Teachers, Gina L. Solano, Wen Wen

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

This action research documents how a teacher education program incorporates game-based learning to engage pre-service teachers (PSTs) in developing their instructional creativity. In this project, game-based learning goes beyond playing games; Instead, it allows PSTs to design their own game-a digital escape room created using a website with embedded clues, digital locks, and online challenges. This paper showcases an impressive level of creativity through the variety and complexity of PSTs’ clues, the creative graphics and layout of their websites, and their cleverly written scenarios and context for the game. Moreover, PSTs reflect on their design processes, considering the affordances and …

Tips For Inclusive Postsecondary Education Programs On College Campuses: Peer Mentors’ Perspectives On Access And Inclusion, Laura N. Sarchet, Kristen Love, Martha Mock

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

As inclusive postsecondary education programs have grown and improved towards more campus access for college students labeled with an intellectual disability, peer mentoring is a common model for such programs. Peer mentors from one private institution were asked to describe their experiences and perspectives of campus inclusion after participating in a training program designed to increase their understanding of disability within a social justice lens. Mentors shared the personal and professional benefits of mentoring, for both themselves and for students labeled with an intellectual disability, and noted recommendations for how programs can increase access to college in order to improve …

The Impact Of Mental Health Support On Academic Achievement, David Ersig, Tyrone Bynoe

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

Mental health concerns are becoming more pressing in American culture. There is an increasing call for mental health issues to be prioritized in policy discussions involving need, strategy, and funding. Addressing the cultural stigma and various barriers surrounding treatment and support for mental health issues are concerns that have infiltrated our school system; these concerns have exerted increased pressure on educators to provide effective and efficient mental health support mechanisms. There is growing recognition and observation that improving students’ mental health will help to remove barriers or hinderances to learning and achievement. With the increased pressure schools already face regarding …

Critical Literacy Approaches To Teaching Canonical Texts: Analyzing Race In To Kill A Mockingbird In Rural, Predominately White Classrooms, Ashley Graegin, Margery Gardner

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

In the 21st century, U.S. legislation continues to push for teacher censorship and seemingly depoliticized curriculums that ignore systemic issues regarding race, gender, sexuality, and other social justice topics. With the understanding that texts can never be politically neutral, English language arts (ELA) teachers must adopt critical approaches to teach required, and often hegemonic texts, and help students cultivate criticality and critical race consciousness. In this study, we aim to explore strategies that can be used to promote critical readings of canonical texts and how the topic of racial oppression can be broached in rural, predominantly White secondary English classrooms. …

Letter From The Editors - Excelsior 17/2, Quinn Austermann, Joelle Fingerhut, Stephanie Purington

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents - Excelsior 17/2, Execlsior Journal

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

No abstract provided.

Message From The President - Excelsior 17/2, Rene S. Parmar

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

No abstract provided.

Trust The Process: Why Messy Projects Make Great Music Education., Molly J. Devine

Staff Scholarship - New Zealand

PRESENTATION ON: Trust the Process: Why messy projects make great music education. In Aotearoa’s increasingly diverse music classrooms, project-based learning offers a way to honour each learner’s voice, background, and strengths. But collaboration isn’t always smooth. This workshop explores how to guide students through the messy, emotional, often deeply human process of working together. Rooted in kindness and manaakitanga, we’ll share tools and reflections for creating music projects that are inclusive, culturally responsive, and genuinely transformative.

The K-12 Education Workforce In Nevada, 2024, Olivia K. Cheche, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

K-12 Education

This fact sheet presents data on the share of workers in the K-12 education workforce in Nevada. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics Query System provides data on the amount of employment in all job sectors at the state and metropolitan statistical area (MSA) levels. This fact sheet focuses on employment and wage data for the State of Nevada, the Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV MSA, and the Reno, NV MSA as of May 2024.

Gaining Insights Into Community Engagement Efforts: Learning From Preservice Stem Educators, Amy G. Maples, Lynn L. Hodge, Nick Kim

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This study seeks to extend research in the field by exploring literature examining preservice teachers’ perceptions of community engagement efforts. We then report findings from a thematic analysis of a survey conducted with teacher candidates at a university in the southeastern U.S. who took part in school- and community-based STEM events, and provide implications and suggestions for utilizing community engagement opportunities as a means of enriching preservice teachers’ understandings of local school and community contexts.

Social-Emotional Learning In A Week-Long Theatre Camp For Youth, Emily E. Virtue, Lisa C. Mann, Hannah Diener

Current Issues in Middle Level Education

Understanding how social-emotional learning develops in middle level education is important for educators and parents as they work to guide youth toward healthy relationships and responsible citizenship. Many studies demonstrate that students who participate in theatre have shown greater emotional health and more capacity to move through conflict positively. This study asks if social-emotional learning through theatre education can still happen outside of a formal educational setting. This study is a mixed methods investigation of a week-long theatre camp in the summer for upper elementary and middle school youth. Four aspects of social emotional learning were studied: task articulation, self-regulation, …

Exploring The Impact Of A Middle Level School Therapy Dog On Students And Staff And Connections To Best Practices In Middle School Education, Brandye Nobiling, Sherry Maykrantz, Tara Downes, Joshua Nobiling

Current Issues in Middle Level Education

The presence of therapy dogs in schools has increased due to the growing body of research showing positive effects of assisted-animal interaction. But there is little published research on how an innovation such as a therapy dog connects to best practices in middle level education. The goal of the research was to use the Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory to connect the implementation of a therapy dog to the Association for Middle Level Education’s (AMLE) essential attributes and characteristics as well as components of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model. Focus …

Building Community With Middle Level Preservice Teachers, Carolyn A. Weber

Current Issues in Middle Level Education

This paper addresses how community building can be implemented in a class for preservice middle level teachers. The preservice teachers connected community building to their success in the course and reported ways they could build community in their future classrooms.

"It Makes It More Real.”: Teacher Candidate Perceptions Of A Clinically-Rich Middle Grades Teacher Preparation Program, Shawn A. Faulkner, Michael Dicicco

Current Issues in Middle Level Education

The persistent divide between theory and practice in teacher education has long been a subject of concern among researchers and scholars (Darling-Hammond, 2006; Zeichner, 2010). This paper explores teacher candidate perceptions of a clinically-rich (NASUP, 2021) middle grades teacher preparation program that has worked to create a “third space” (Zeichner, 2010) through a school-university partnership with a local middle school. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with teacher candidates (n=23) at the time of program completion. Findings suggest teacher candidates felt prepared and valued clinically-based activities and experiences. Teacher candidates suggest future improvements to the program should include more experiences tied to …

From Observation To Ethical Inquiry: Course Redesign In Middle Level Educator Preparation, Sarah Straub, Elizabeth Gound

Current Issues in Middle Level Education

This manuscript explores the transformative impact of ethical engagement in the course MLGE 3301: Adolescent Learning, designed for pre-field students in an educator preparation program. Focused on middle-grade education and special education, this course incorporates a significant service learning component, with undergraduate students spending 10 service hours in middle school classrooms and conducting interviews with middle school students. The purpose of the interviews is to enable pre-field students to engage with middle school students and use the insights gained to reflect on the alignment between their coursework in adolescent learning theory and real-world experiences. Two professors leading the course recognized …