On Becoming Online Educators: Developing Hybrid Learning-Centered Pedagogy, Rachel Toncelli Edd, Leila Rosa Phd

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Access the online Pressbooks version of this article here.

Recent global events pushed in-person learning to online formats. As K-12 teachers struggled with shifting from in-person to online teaching while adapting and adjusting instruction, and higher education prepared to do the same, two faculty members in a TESOL teacher preparation program joined forces to question assumptions about online teaching, reflect on praxis, and revisit pedagogy and practices through a critical autoethnographic study. Building from adult constructivist learning theory and collegial inquiry, the researchers utilized the pandemic as a stage for innovation and an opportunity to study their own ability, as …

Full Issue: Journal On Empowering Teaching Excellence, Volume 7, Issue 1, Spring 2023

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

The full-length Spring 2023 issue (Volume 7, Issue 1) of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Access the online Pressbooks version (with downloadable EPUB format) here.

The Spring 2023 issue presents research and guidance on topics related to student self-reflection, participatory learning, and returning to the in-person learning following the COVID-19 pandemic. The first article takes a critical approach to understanding pedagogy with adult learners by involving students in the creation of course syllabi as a way to challenge ideologies related the roles of instructor and students. The second article blends research and narrative to explore how the experiences of …

How Can A Culturally Responsive Discussion Of The Five-Paragraph Essay Help Asian American Students Write Well?, Yuemin He, Catherine M. Gaiser

Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges

The five-paragraph essay is highly controversial, and yet it has also been a useful format for composition. In this essay we explain why, despite its limits, students need to go along with the format to make what use and get what advantage of it. We then demonstrate that valuing the philosophical, historical, cultural, and educational backgrounds of our students can help navigate away from the restrictive nature of the format and lead to equitable learning for all students. Finally, we introduce a few curriculum designs and instructional practices to expand the epistemological and pedagogical frontiers of the format. In short, …

Evolving Scientific Vocabulary And Language In Middle School Classrooms: Babbling And Gargling On The Way To Scientific Understanding, Merryn Cole, Thomas Ryan, Jennifer Wilhelm

Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education

While scientific vocabulary is important, it can often become problematic for students. Sometimes, those words can become a barrier to participation or act as a gatekeeper to success in the science classroom. Under the Next Generation Science Standards, middle school students are expected to model Earth-Moon-Sun motions to explain Moon phases, eclipses, and seasons (NGSS Lead States, 2013). Using a phenomenography lens, we investigated the ways in which students seeing the Moon in nature and related classroom experiences translate into a mental model of lunar phases and how vocabulary is used to communicate these models. Eighth-grade students from three urban …

The Intersection Of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy And Engineering Design In Secondary Stem, Mariam Manuel, Jessica Gottlieb, Gina Svarovsky, Rebecca Hite

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

The instructional practices of the engineering design process and culturally responsive pedagogy have each garnered national attention and multiple decades of research. Findings from the respective literature bases call for educators and policymakers to integrate these two pedagogical approaches into K-12 classroom instruction. Scholars have argued that this integration would improve student engagement and academic achievement. There is a significant amount of research that supports the positive student outcomes associated with each approach, yet there remains a dearth of literature that addresses the integration of these two practices into the science and mathematics content areas. The movement around educational reform …

Unlocking The Doors To Engagement And Accessibility: A Curriculum Development For Second Grade Learners In Social Studies, Jeanette Mcnair

Masters Theses/Capstone Projects

The goal of this project is to create a second-grade Social Studies curriculum that increases engagement and provides accessibility to all students. The intent is to pull from the instructional frameworks of Universal Design for Learning developed by CAST, Project-Based Learning by The Buck Institute and differentiation by Carol Ann Tomlinson. The following research question was used to propel forward the goal of this project: How can a second grade Social Studies unit unlock student engagement and universal accessibility by applying three educational frameworks? This question was answered by literature research on the topics of engagement and accessibility followed by …

Supporting Preservice Teacher Development Of Culturally Responsive Reading Instruction Through A Cross-Course Assignment, Brittany Adams, Annemarie Bazzo Kaczmarczyk

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This article describes design-based research undertaken by two teacher educators to support elementary preservice teachers (PSTs) in integrating culturally responsive teaching practices with reading methods. The study described was motivated by calls for teacher preparation programs to be more intentional about supporting PSTs in synthesizing their learning across courses, especially when it comes to culturally responsive reading pedagogies. This article focuses on an activity that tasked PSTs to select culturally authentic children’s texts and design interactive read-alouds that engage elementary students in conversations around social justice topics while simultaneously meeting English language arts standards. Analysis of the lesson plans revealed …

“How Come There’S No Spelling?”: What Spontaneous Comments Teach Us About Student Thinking During Vocabulary Learning Tasks, Susan J. Chambrè

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Vocabulary development remains an active and robust research area, yet little is known about what students, particularly young students, think during vocabulary learning. A commonly held assumption is that young learners employ few, if any, cognitive and metacognitive strategies when engaged in literacy tasks. Conversely, decades of research confirms that older learners with active metacognitive tools are better equipped to make meaning from text, of which vocabulary is a crucial component. To better understand the strategies and metacognitive actions young students make when learning vocabulary, student comments (N = 35) spontaneously produced during two experimental vocabulary learning tasks were reviewed …

The Beam In Our Own Eyes: Antiracism And Ya Literature Through A Catholic Lens, Katie Sutton, Abigail D. Grafmeyer, Dan Reynolds

Journal of Catholic Education

As Catholic schools serve an increasingly racially diverse population of students, they must grapple with the critical requirement to address these students’ unique needs while heeding the call from modern Catholic Church leaders to engage in explicit antiracist action. Using the Historically Responsive Literacy Framework (HRL), this article equips Catholic high school English language arts (ELA) teachers with practical and powerful ways to create antiracist curriculum. To do this effectively, we place antiracist Young Adult (YA) literature (both fiction and nonfiction) in conversation with Catholic canonical texts and modern voices from Catholic clergy members. By connecting with students’ complex identities …

How Prepared Are Educators To Work With Students Of Color, Ja're Thorn

Dissertations

From what I have experienced, there has been a lack of preparation when it comes to preparing educators to work with students of color. This research aimed to explore the importance of early childhood teachers’ cultural preparation programs when it comes to working effectively with students of color. Most of the time, teachers teach to the common core standards set in place by the state. They also implement a curriculum that is considered “best practices” for students instead of paying attention to and considering the individual student’s specific culture, family, and community values and ways of life before planning (Spies, …

Alec 805 Teaching Portfolio: Exploring Students' Teaching Effectiveness, Becky Haddad

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This portfolio explores students attainment on InTASC Standards 1 & 3 through ALEC 805: Advanced Teaching Strategies. Students completed an initial teaching roots reflection and a final education philosophy that served as the basis for analyzing growth in effective teaching. Overall, students had more statements discussing teaching methods and strategies in their final education philosophies than they did in their initial reflections, but used their own experience to substantiate these methods much less. This provides opportunities for additional synthesis and reflection through the course, as well as opportunities for future scholarship in the course focused on students' connection to their …

The Impact Of Opendyslexic Font On The Reading Comprehension Of Tier Ii And Tier Iii Reading Intervention Students, William David Whitmire

Theses and Dissertations

This mixed methods action research project measured the effect of OpenDyslexic font on the reading comprehension of MTSS Tier II and Tier III reading intervention students. A review of the literature revealed little research about OpenDyslexic font or its effect on reading comprehension. The study consisted of a 7-week period with 4^th grade Tier II and Tier III reading intervention students using OpenDyslexic font while reviewing previously taught comprehension strategies before end of the year testing. Results show positive growth for Tier II reading intervention students and results were inconclusive for Tier III students.

Student Engagement Action Research A Focus On Culturally Relevant Instructional Methods, Amia Dixon

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this action study was to determine the impact the use of culturally relevant instructional methods (researcher created term) would have on student achievement and student motivation. The use of culturally relevant teaching methods is rooted in culturally relevant pedagogy first introduced by Gloria Ladson-Billings and culturally responsive teaching practices first introduced by Geneva Gay. The study implemented an intervention cycle that modified the fourth-grade curriculum by differentiating lessons based on learning style, incorporating an “activator” that connects to the students’ culture and builds background knowledge, allowing student choice for instructional text, increasing the use of culturally relevant …

Implementation Of Digital Flashcards To Increase Content-Specific Vocabulary Knowledge And Perceptions Of Motivation And Self-Efficacy In An Eleventh-Grade U.S. History Course: An Action Research Study, Jill Lee Steinmeyer

Theses and Dissertations

Text- and document-dependent courses like high school U.S. History require students to have strong content literacy and vocabulary skills. Traditionally, content-area courses neglect vocabulary skills and those that do address vocabulary often teach words in isolation without context. Students needing more content comprehension skills frequently need more motivation and higher self-efficacy.

Three research questions were used to evaluate the impact of digital flashcards on learning content-specific vocabulary and student perceptions in an eleventh-grade U.S. History course: (a) How and to what extent do digital flashcards affect eleventh-grade U.S. History students’ learning content-specific vocabulary knowledge?; (b) How and to what extent …

“So, The World Isn’T Just Old White Guys?”: Student And Teacher Experiences In A Culturally Relevant Advanced Placement Chemistry Class, Jason Thomas Sox

Theses and Dissertations

This action research case study explores the impact of a culturally and socially diverse Advanced Placement Chemistry curriculum on student and teacher experiences. This study emerged due to my lack of multicultural teaching practices, which limited meaningful connections for students of diverse backgrounds. Once aware of this deficiency, I created four thematic units that blended chemistry content with aspects of culturally relevant pedagogy and social reconstructionism. Surveys, reflection logs, observations, and a focus group interview captured data related to student and teacher experiences throughout the intervention period, which suggest the culturally relevant pedagogy supported students’ understanding of content, increased student …

Increasing Phonemic Awareness In Intellectually Impaired Students By Using Wilson’S Fundations Phonics Program In A Self-Contained Classroom, Theresa Lynne Garcia

Theses and Dissertations

This study aims to investigate if students who have been identified intellectually disabled are able to gain phonemic awareness by using Wilson’s Fundations in a self-contained setting. Most research has focused on students who are not identified as intellectually disabled. In this mixed method action research study, the students were given a first grade reading fluency test and a first grade word reading test for six weeks as the quantitative data. Both instruments were tested using a two-tail t-test, week one’s results were compared to week six’s results on both tests. All five the participants showed growth over the six …

Preparing In-Service Elementary Teachers To Support English Language Learners: A Qualitative Case Study Of A Job-Embedded Professional Development Using Tpack, Rachel Theresa Lopez

Theses and Dissertations

Nation-wide, the number of English Language Learners (ELL) in our classrooms continues to increase. Twenty percent of students enrolled in California public schools are ELLs, the highest percentage in the nation. With the continuously growing number of ELLs in our classrooms, our mainstream teachers must be prepared to teach content and meet the unique linguistic needs of these students. At Sotomayor Elementary School in the Central Valley of California, 38% of the students enrolled are ELLs. Despite high numbers of ELLs, the district sees minimal evidence of intentional planning for Designated English Language Development (D-ELD), or instruction specifically targeted to …

Effects Of Choice Reading On Intrinsic Motivation In Underperforming Sixth-Grade Students, Heather M. Henderson

Theses and Dissertations

This single-case study was designed to evaluate the effects of autonomous text choice on reading motivation and reading comprehension in underperforming sixth-grade students. This study was built upon the theoretical framework constructed using self-determination theory, situational expectancy–value theory, and culturally relevant pedagogy. Study participants were asked to read a text of their choice for ten minutes each day. Once a week, study participants were observed during their reading time for off-task behaviors to frame discussions on student engagement with their chosen texts, and every other week during the course of the intervention, participants were provided with an opportunity to give …

Curriculum Application: Designing Aims Andlearning Outcomes In The English Department, Yulia Agustina, M. Adib Nazri, Hary Murcahyanto

Jurnal Pendidikan: Teori, Penelitian, dan Pengembangan

The purpose of this study was to determine curriculum developers in determining curriculum objectives, learning outcomes, and aspects of the design of English study programs. This research uses the descriptive qualitative method. Data triangulation, observation, interviews, and documentation were used to collect data using a list of questions related to the curriculum and documentation. The result of this finding is that the English department curriculum is by the applicable standards in Indonesia. In designing the language curriculum, there is only one aspect that has not been applied as an indicator in its design, namely environmental analysis.

The Impact Of Supplemental Phonemic Awareness Lessons On Phonological Awareness And Spelling Development Among Kindergarten And First Graders, Crystal Olinger

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

Reading is a developmental process that builds on complex cognitive processes and starts long before children enter school. This present study investigated the impact of supplemental phonemic awareness lessons on phonological awareness and spelling development among kindergarten and first graders. The Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CTOPP-2) measured phonological awareness. The Kindergarten Inventory of Developmental Spelling (KIDS) measured spelling development in kindergarten students. The Developmental Spelling Analysis (DSA) measured spelling development in first grade. Participants in the treatment group received 16 weeks of weekly word study instruction and 10-15 minute daily phonemic awareness instruction. A mixed design full factorial ANOVA …

Inclusion Of Sexual Orientation And Gender Identity (Sogi) Cultural Competence In Higher Education Healthcare Programs: A Scoping Review, Kristin Willey, Jennifer K. Fortuna, Jessica Guerra, Amanda Gross, Samantha Turner, Tara Grant, Betsy Williams

Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice

Purpose: Lack of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) cultural competence in healthcare providers contributes to poor health outcomes in individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, asexual, and more (LGBTQIA+). However, SOGI is often overlooked in healthcare education. Existing research shows educational programs in the nursing, medical, and pharmacy professions are incorporating cultural competence training into the curricula. Few studies have explored how SOGI cultural competence is incorporated into occupational therapy (OT), physical therapy (PT), and speech-language pathology (SLP) curricula. Clear guidelines for training on SOGI cultural competence are lacking in these professions. It is …

To Teach Or Not To Teach: A Qualitative Study Of Pre-Collegiate Grow Your Own Teacher Programs And The Perceptions Of Alumni, Current Staff, And Former Staff, Natasha T. Pitt

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The teaching profession is in peril. Teacher recruitment and teacher retention are issues that have compounded the teacher shortage crisis, particularly in Black and Latinx communities. Research has demonstrated that there are a plethora of academic and socio-emotional benefits when Black and Latinx teachers are educating Black and Latinx students. The lack of Black and Latinx people choosing to pursue the profession is especially glaring. American public schools are becoming more racially diverse; however, the teaching force does not mirror the racial diversity of the students. While this issue of a lack of teacher racial diversity must be addressed with …

Why Not Sign? Classrooms As Sites Of D/Deaf And Multilingual Literacy Development, Dawnavyn James, Brianne R. Pitts

Michigan Reading Journal

While often, “bilingual” literacy instruction has overlooked the potential of incorporating ASL in classrooms (U.S.DPE, 2021), this article engages discussions of practice from a Missouri Kindergarten classroom to argue that teachers can improve student literacy outcomes by leveraging d/Deaf and hard of hearing multilingual learning (DML) strategies as a way of (re)imagining students’ multimodal literacy development. By engaging with a variety of strategies learned from DML students, readers may conceptualize DML inclusive classroom practices. Following a review of the literature and discussion, games, instructional strategies, and text recommendations for educators seeking DML inclusive literacy environments are provided.

An Emerging University-School-Community Partnership: A Story In Two Acts, Seungho Moon, Jon Schmidt, Anna Press, David Ensminger, Mitchell A. Hendrickson

Education: School of Education Faculty Publications and Other Works

This paper shares narratives regarding an institutional effort to build a sustainable partnership with schools and communities. Loyola University Chicago has developed and strengthened partnerships with eight community schools in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) District over the past decades to promote equity and social justice in the urban context. The sustainability of partnerships is an ongoing issue in university-assisted community schools. Guided by poststructuralist versions of narrative research, the five authors write and share memories about their engagement in university partnerships with communities and schools. This paper explores the “how” of partnerships rather than reiterating strategies of “what works” in …

Schools As Borderlands: How Anzaldúa’S Concept Of Borderlands Apply To Schools That Serve Black Communities, Gene Fellner

Publications and Research

Many young people in Newark, New Jersey, when they cross the invisible line that separates street from school, enter what constitutes for them an alien territory, a place where their values, experiences and their ways of talking and thinking are not acknowledged, respected, or welcomed. At the same time, schools are also one of the few places where Black youth will interact and form relationships with White adults and where White adults will meet and engage with Black students and teachers. In both these ways, schools are akin to what Gloria Anzaldua calls a Borderland, both a geographical designation and …

E2: Equity And Excellence Framework, Adrienne Coleman

Professional Learning Day

Considering there is a national and global equity focused call to action, IMSA engaged in a process to institutionalize and operationalize Equity and Excellence to address educational inequities. This included policy development, capacity building to engage in equity work, an inclusive and comprehensive data collection methodology, data meaning making, as well as an equity and excellence plan and scorecard development. This presentation will provide participants with an understanding of educational equity, share tools to assist in drafting datainformed policy/plans, and provide a framework to score and measure progress in advancing equity. It will share how to approach equity and excellence …

Identifying And Strengthening Existing Support For Students On A Research To Publication Pathway, Connie James-Jenkin, Sowmya Anjur, Jean Bigger, Amberly Carter, Raven Mckelvin '24

Professional Learning Day

Participants will 1) learn how IMSA is generating and disseminating scholarship and incorporating students on a Research to Publication pathway, 2) discover classroom activities that support and promote an understanding of scientific inquiry and the nature of research, 3) discuss student work in IMSA’s repository and student portfolios, 4) hear how we are engaging and supporting our CLED students, like Raven McKelvin ’24, who will share her experience as an Intern and student liaison.

Moving From Theory To Practice: Examining Teaching Mathematics For Social Justice In An Elementary School Classroom, Krystal Giles

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teaching mathematics for social justice is a distinctive approach to mathematics education that seeks to have students use mathematics to navigate their identities, understand their lived experiences, examine inequities, and become agents of change. Current research provides a rich explanation of what teaching mathematics for social justice entails. Still, there is a need for research that studies how to move from theory to practice. The purpose of this research study is to examine the experience of teaching mathematics for social justice within my fifth-grade mathematics classroom for myself and my students, analyze the extent to which students’ ethnic and academic …

"The Blackbird Girls": Designing A Four Week Novel Unit For Upper Elementary And Middle Grades, While Navigating Teaching In An Ever-Changing Digital World, Ashley Kallhoff

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

As a future teacher in an increasing digital world, I wanted to create an online curriculum I could use in my future classroom, students all over the world could use, and other teachers could implement in their own classroom. Taking all of this into consideration, I have designed a digital four-week, 20-day, novel unit for upper elementary and middle grades with social studies and language arts dual focus. The novel I chose was a historical fiction young adult text titled The Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman. This novel follows the story of two young girls, one that is Jewish and …

Creating Safe Spaces: Diverse Instructional Materials For World Language Learners, Lucian Rothe, Chiann Karen Tsui, Paul A. Garcia, Michael B. Mccloskey

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Stereotypical notions and depictions of the German language, its speakers, and cultural practices are more persistent in instructional materials, language program advertisements, and people’s minds than one might presume (Bryant et al., 2019; Chavez, 2020a, 2020b; Rothe, 2022). Overcoming such misconceptions requires educators to reconsider curricula and promotional efforts so that they reflect the diverse lived experiences of German speakers and learners (Criser & Malakaj, 2020). To diversify German curricula in the United States, the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) established a task force in 2020, Creating Safe Spaces (CSS). Its members have developed instructional materials focusing on …