Education Commons^™

Supporting A Statewide Policy Consideration: Virtual Advancing Educational Leadership Training, Hamada Elfarargy, Beverly J. Irby, Nahed Abdelrahman, Gwendolyn Carol Webb, Angela Abney, Susan Holley, Elsa Villarreal, Carl Fahrenwald

Faculty Publications

COVID-19 pandemic was and continues to be a shock and a challenge to the entire world. This health and safety challenge found its way into the world of higher education, even in programs that were already delivered in online environments. In this study, we examined the perceptions of 79 developing principals enrolled in a Master of Education Degree program in Educational Administration at Texas A&M University in the United States as they processed the efficacy of a virtual professional development (VPD) leadership for a state certificate in Advancing Educational Leadership (AEL). The state agency has required AEL as a 3-day …

Using Narrative Cycles To Advance Teacher Educators’ Emotional Work And Practice In An Era Of Affective Polarization, Ramona Maile Cutri, Eric Ruiz Bybee, Erin Feinauer Whiting

Faculty Publications

‘Affective polarization’ refers to the amount of negativity that people feel for those who belong to a political party other than their own. This self-study reports on our particular use of a narrative cycle model and documents its validity as a tool for doing the emotional work of exploring contradictions in one’s practice without the pressure of engaging in public emotional discourses. We focused on the contra- diction between our intention to teach anti-oppressive teacher edu- cation and inadvertently silencing students who exhibited affective polarization. Our narrative inquiry analysis documented patterns of our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that we assert …

Virtual Teaching Rehearsals And Repeated Teaching Simulations: Impact On Pre-Service Teachers Efficacy, Lori Imasiku, Michelle K. Bacchiocchi

Faculty Publications

Due to the nature of in-person K-12 classrooms, opportunities for PTs to engage in a cycle of teaching, reviewing/reflecting, and reteaching is limited. Teaching simulations, unlike live K-12 classroom clinical experience, allow for PTs to practice their teaching, with the potential for repeating that experience once or multiple times to advance effectiveness. Repeating teaching simulations can be a repeat of an exact lesson taught with necessary modifications made or can be a new lesson, but with a focus on the successful implementation of a selected instructional strategy. In the repeated teaching simulations, PTs have an opportunity to practice teaching content …

Online Vocal-Health Education Program For Teachers, Tammy Shilling, Heather Verhelle, Julia Johnson

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of The Pe Teacher Knowing And Using Student Names In Pe Class: A Qualitative Investigation, David C. Barney, Teresa Leavitt

Faculty Publications

We have each been given a name. With this given name we are known among our families, friends and other associates. Our name becomes an integral part of our identity. A common and important place where a person is addressed by name is in educational school settings, more specifically in a school setting, including in physical education (PE) classes. The physical education setting offers many opportunities for teachers and students to use student names. The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of PE teachers using their student’s given name, along with how it affects students. For this …

“I Think I’M The Bridge”: Exploring Mentored Undergraduate Research Experiences In Critical Multicultural Education, Eric Ruiz Bybee, Erin Feinauer Whiting, Ramona Maile Cutri

Faculty Publications

Although mentored undergraduate research has been shown to deepen student engagement across various disciplines, this type of extended learning opportunity is not a prominent feature of research and practice in teacher education. Our article addresses this gap by analyzing the experiences and growth of a group of five preservice teachers engaged in a mentored undergraduate research experience in introductory critical multicultural education courses. Specifically, we examined how pre-service teachers’ personal, academic, and professional engagement with critical multicultural education is impacted when they are positioned as researchers and receive additional training outside the traditional class format. Our findings indicate that their …

Music, Our Human Superpower, Kristin Lems

Faculty Publications

Research about music pervades every discipline because music touches every area of life. Studies revealing the salutary effects of music can be found not only in music educator research, but in research in psychology, speech and hearing, child development, neuroscience, and increasingly, health and wellness, aging, rehabilitation and recovery. Since my focus is especially in the areas of language and literacy, I research the positive effects of music on reading, writing, and learning languages - and of this, there is no shortage. In this brief Academia article, I share what I’d like to call an “homage-with-references” to our great Superpower, …

Truly, Madly, Deeply: Adverbs And Ells, Kristin Lems

Faculty Publications

In this issue’s column focusing on adverbs and English language learners, columnist Kristin Lems explores some of the basic but not-so-obvious features about adverbs that readers and writers need to learn in order to take advantage of these powerful levers of language. The odds are very good that your native English speakers will also benefit from this information—and you might learn a thing or two as well.

Individual Performance And Taking On Firm-Specific Roles: The Case Of Business School Associate Deans, Jeff Dyer, David Kryscynski, Christopher Law, Shad Morris

Faculty Publications

The firm-specific human capital dilemma suggests that firms generally want employees to make firm-specific investments but that employees prefer not to make them. We suggest that individual performance may moderate this dilemma such that the dilemma increases as individual performance increases – i.e. firms may prefer high performers in firm-specific roles while high performers may resist these roles more than their lower performing counterparts. We examine our extended firm-specific human capital theory in a context where the classic firm-specific human capital dilemma likely exists: business academia. Using a unique dataset of 4,164 business school professors from 39 of the top …

Music As A Management Tool In Elementary Physical Education: A Qualitative Investigation, David C. Barney, Keven A. Prusak

Faculty Publications

Classroom management is an important aspect for a K-12 teacher in any content area. The same applies in physical education (PE). In PE there are large spaces, students are moving, and in many cases, equipment (basketballs, rackets, hula hoops, etc.) is involved. Thus, making PE a unique challenge in regard to classroom management for PE teachers. One tool an elementary PE teacher can use for classroom management is music. For this study, one school administrator, 19 elementary-aged students and one PE teacher were interviewed to better understand their perspectives of music as a management tool in elementary PE. Findings indicate …

Too Important To Fail: The Banking Concept Of Education And Standardized Testing In An Urban Middle School, Eric Ruiz Bybee

Faculty Publications

Paulo Freire’s influential concept of “banking” education describes an oppressive process that positions teachers as the “depositors” of knowledge into passive student “receptacles.” However, according to Freire, teachers also have an “ontological vocation to be more fully human” that can only be achieved through freedom from oppression. In this article, I use Freire’s concept of banking education to reflect on my experiences giving standardized tests during my final year teaching at a high-need middle school in New York City. Drawing from narrative inquiry methodology, I bring these teaching/ testing experiences into conversation with the sociopolitical discourse on banks and argue …

From The Chalkboard To The Bank: Teaching Educational Leaders To Be Effective Fundraisers, Michael T. Miller, Mei-Yan Lu, G. David Gearhart

Faculty Publications

The effective use of financial resources is critical for all educational institutions, especially those K-12 schools that rely on public funding for their main operating revenue. As public entities and state governments increasingly struggle to find the revenue necessary to operate prisons, fund Medicaid/Medicare, improve an aging infrastructure, support social welfare programs, and recover from the Great Recession, educational institutions are finding themselves directly competing with other public agencies for scarce resources. These factors resulted in 29 states reducing funding for public education (Evans, Schwab & Wagner, 2019; Leachman, Masterson, & Figueroa, 2017). In the face of fierce competition, educational …

“Estamos Aquí Pero No Soy De Aqui”: American Mexican Youth, Belonging And Schooling In Rural, Central Mexico, Eric Ruiz Bybee, Erin Feinauer Whiting, Bryant Jensen, Victoria Savage, Alisa Baker, Emma Holdaway

Faculty Publications

This article explores notions of belonging and citizenship for “American Mexican” students— Mexican-heritage youth born in the United States who return to Mexico with their families. Our findings reveal belonging as a sociocultural practice that participants negotiated spatially and relationally, chiefly by making their US-born status more and less visible within particular spaces at school. The experiences of American-Mexican youth reveal the crucial roles of migration and belonging in shaping civic identities and future potentials in a transnational world.

The Critical Literacies Advancement Model (Clam): A Framework For Promoting Positive Social Change, Petra A. Robinson

Faculty Publications

This paper outlines the development and structure of the Critical Literacies Advancement Model (CLAM) and discusses its usefulness as a framework for promoting positive social change through the advancement of critical literacy skills which have been classified into five major categories.

Professional Growth Among Mentor Teachers In A Co-Teaching Model Of Preservice Education, Katya Aguilar

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Affordances And Constraints: Pre-Service Science Educators Co-Teaching In Support Of Ells, Steven Drouin, Katya Aguilar, Virginia Lehmkuhl-Dakhwe

Faculty Publications

Co-teaching has increasingly been utilized as an alternative model for the student teaching experience in pre-service education. Recent literature highlights potential for co-teachers to develop by engaging in cycles of inquiry in learning communities. The purpose of this study was to explore the experience of a science student teacher who engaged in cycles of inquiry around supporting English language learners (ELLs) in a co-teaching student teaching placement. This qualitative case study involved a science mentor teacher and a science student teacher engaged in a yearlong co-teaching placement. Data sources included surveys, interviews, and written and oral lesson plans and reflections. …

Same Language, Different Histories: Developing A “Critical” English Teacher Identity, Julia Menard-Warwick, Eric Ruiz Bybee, Enrique David Degollado, Sophia Jin, Shannon Kehoe, Katherine Masters

Faculty Publications

Our paper contends that growing awareness of the historicity of English lies at the heart of the process by which English language teachers develop “critical” identities. We compare novice teachers in three different contexts of English teaching: urban Guatemala, rural Nicaragua, and a Tibetan refugee community in India. Collectively, these ethnographic case studies illustrate the complexity of English teacher identity formation in contemporary global society, as our participants developed new understandings of their positions in history, their relationships with English learners, and the local meanings around English as symbolic capital.

All About The American Flap, Kristin Lems

Faculty Publications

In this column, I am going to talk about the American flap, a phonological feature of the American English dialect. Those of us with backgrounds in ESL/EFL learn about this in our master’s programs, but I have found that even teachers who have taken a course in linguistics may not be aware of the flap and its important implications for listening, reading, and spelling in English (Lems, Miller, & Soro, 2017)

Co-Teaching: Collaborative And Caring Teacher Preparation, Colette Rabin

Faculty Publications

This study investigated what happened during the implementation of a co-teaching model for student-teaching from a relational perspective. When analyzed through the theoretical framework of care ethics, teacher-candidates and their mentor-teachers developed caring relationships, acknowledged and negotiated differential power dynamics, and described cultivating a caring climate through dialogue and modeling.

Knowledge Production And Power In An Online Critical Multicultural Teacher Education Course, Ramon Maile Cutri, Erin Feinauer Whiting, Eric Ruiz Bybee

Faculty Publications

This reflexive inquiry explores a teacher educator’s efforts to design opportunities for students to use their knowledge of social media and the Internet to contribute content to their online critical multicultural education course. Findings identify steps critical multicultural education pedagogues can take to design such opportunities: (a) identify contradictions in their practice, (b) take pedagogical risks, and (c) work with chronic tensions. Designing formal opportunities for students to identify and use content from social media and the Internet as learning resources and curricular content for critical multicultural education shifted the power relations in the course. These results demonstrate the potential …

Physical Education Teacher Education (Pete) Majors' Perceptions And Opinions Of Appropriate Instructional Practices: A Qualitative Approach, David C. Barney, Liana Davis

Faculty Publications

Physical education (PE) teachers are responsible for helping students learn in their classes. Unfortunately, many students have been exposed to games and activities that were inappropriate, thus negatively affecting their learning in PE class. Inappropriate instructional practices have been a common occurrence for many students. One group that can help curb the inclusion of inappropriate instructional practices are Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) majors. This study investigated PETE majors’ beliefs of certain instructional practices that have been implemented in PE games and activities. Many of the instructional practices were inappropriate. The PETE majors’ felt that dodge ball, relay games, and …

Make Summer Great Again -- Do The Research Experience For Teachers (Ret) Program, Dan Broadbent

Faculty Publications

What is the RET Program?

• “Research Experience for Teachers”
• It is a National Science Foundation (NSF) program that…
• “supports the active involvement of K-12 teachers and community college faculty in research in order to bring knowledge and innovation into their classrooms.”
• So, research universities apply for a grant from the NSF and then set it up.
• Usually paired with REU

Social Interactions In College Physical Activity Classes: “Something Else Is Taking Place Here”, David C. Barney

Faculty Publications

Physical activity has been found to benefit a person in many ways. One of the benefits of being physically active is the social component. This deals with interacting with someone before, during or after the activity. The purpose of this study was to investigate social interactions effects on college-aged students during their physical activity class. For this study 408 college-aged students (272 males & 136 females) participated in this study. College-aged students were surveyed regarding their interactions during their physical activity class. The survey contained Likert scale questions and open-ended questions, requiring the students to respond with written answers. Briefly, …

Inappropriate Practices In Physical Education: The Top Eight Repeat Offenders, David C. Barney, Keven A. Prusak, Brad Strand, Robert Christenson

Faculty Publications

The National Association of Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) have created three documents (elementary, middle school and high school) to guide physical educators in appropriate instructional practices (AIP) in physical education. The purpose of these documents is to aid physical educators in exposing their students to lessons and activities that will enable them to be successful in physical education classes and physical activity. Unfortunately, many students have been exposed to such activities as dodge ball, having captains picking teams in front of the whole class, and many others. This paper is a review of research dealing with appropriate instructional practices …

Favoritism In The Physical Education Classroom: Selected Reflective Experiences, David C. Barney, Francis Pleban Dr., Amelia Dodd

Faculty Publications

Having a teacher show interest or concern may greatly influence, and encourage student learning; as well as fostering life-long positive behaviors, attitudes, and self-esteem. However, it is noted teachers have a tendency to select ‘favorites’ among their students (Cooper & Good, 1983; Tal & Babad, 1990; Aydogen, 2008); with physical education not immune to this practice. Thus, the purpose of this study was to better understand individual’s (i.e., former students in k-12 physical education) perspectives regarding their reflective experiences of teacher favoritism in physical education during their time in school physical education. Participants were 318 college-aged students from a private …

The Effects Of Music On Student Step Counts And Time In Activity In College Basketball Activity Classes, David C. Barney, Keven A. Prusak, Lindsey Brewer

Faculty Publications

Music is a powerful influence in life. We hear music at work, in the car, at the mall, and in our homes. Music has also been found to have an affect during physical activity. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of music on physical activity rates, via pedometers, of college-aged students in basketball class. For this study 106 college-aged students participated in this study. Two classes played basketball with no music playing during game play. Two other classes played basketball with music playing during game play. It was found that the two classes that played basketball …

Examining Ec-6 Pre-Service Teachers' Perceptions Of Self-Efficacy In Teaching Mathematics, Tonya D. Jeffery, Lisa D. Hobson, Sarah J. Conoyer, Karen E. Miller, Lesley F. Leach

Faculty Publications

Mathematics teacher quality has become a major focus in national education reform efforts. In addition, there is an increasing interest in the effectiveness of teacher preparation programs and the undergraduate preparation of elementary mathematics teachers. Empirical evidence suggests that teacher attitudes, behaviors and values, or dispositions, towards teaching have a significant impact on student outcomes. The purpose of this study is to survey juniors and seniors in an undergraduate teacher preparation program to gauge their perceptions of self-efficacy and comfort with teaching mathematics. The results have implications for, and reaffirm concerns about the undergraduate preparation of elementary mathematics teachers.

School Library Research From Around The World: Where It's Been And Where It's Headed, Karen W. Gavigan

Faculty Publications

This article examines studies conducted by school library researchers around the world. The selected studies were conference papers, and articles published in School Libraries Worldwide. Findings from these studies are relevant to researchers and practicing school librarians, who may want to incorporate the findings into their library programs.

Teacher Education Program Redesign: Maintaining A Focus On Social Justice In An Increasingly Challenging Context, Grinell Smith, Colette Rabin

Faculty Publications

This qualitative case study describes the outcomes of a major reorganization of a well-established five semester post-baccalaureate combined credential/MA program into a three semester program. The original program focused squarely on social justice and multicultural awareness; reorganization was driven entirely by external forces, many of which the department faculty viewed as anathema to our larger purposes as educators that are based on deficit-models of diversity, ignore relational aspects of teaching, and are at the heart of efforts to privatize teacher education. Reorganization involved heavy reliance on “touchstone texts,” immersive field experiences, and student action-inquiry centered on making theory to practice …

Unpacking Teacher Practice Through A Moves-Based Formative Assessment Framework Using Video-Based Cycles Of Inquiry, Brent Duckor, Carrie Holmberg

Faculty Publications

Research has shown for over a decade that teachers who engage in formative assessment (FA) practices may have the most powerful impact on student learning (Black & Wiliam, 1998; Hattie, 2012). Yet less is known about the development of teachers’ knowledge and use of formative assessment as they plan, enact, and reflect on their questioning practices. Our qualitative case study focuses on how in-service middle school math teachers take up three specific moves (Author A, 2014) associated with formative assessment practice as as part of a video-based cycle of inquiry project. The study found focusing participants’ planning and reflection through …