Education Commons^™

The Legacy Of William Frantz Public School: Commemoration Vs. Celebration, Connie L. Schaffer, Martha Graham Viator, Meg White

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

Sixty years ago, Ruby Bridges, a Black first-grade student, entered the all-White William Frantz Public School (WFPS). Her entry into WFPS represented a massive transformation in public education in the United States and embedded the school in the U.S. civil rights movement. Fifteen years ago, following Hurricane Katrina, the rapid increase in charter schools in New Orleans centered WFPS in a second transformation, the movement to reform public education. In addition to these two seminal events, a more complete history of WFPS provides justification that these landmark transformations be commemorated rather than celebrated.

Mentoring Future Mathematics Teachers: Lessons Learned From Four Mentoring Partnerships, Angie Hodge, Janice Rech, Michael Matthews, Kelly Gomez Johnson, Paula Jakopovic

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

Mentoring is an important aspect of mathematics teacher education, and in particular, pre-service teacher education. Faculty at a large Midwestern university developed and refined a mentoring program designed to help pre-service secondary mathematics teachers, called Scholars, become future leaders in mathematics education. This paper describes how faculty mentors leveraged challenges in the mentoring program’s early stages based on their reflections and initial mentee outcomes to create a more effective mentoring program. Recommendations based on research and practice are provided for other university programs interested in mentoring future mathematics teachers.

Expanding World Views And Supporting Intercultural Competence: A Model For Understanding, Assessment And Growth For Teacher Educators, Shauna M. Adams, Rochonda L. Nenonene, Pamela Cross Young, Novea A. Mcintosh

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

Intentional efforts for teacher education candidates to expand their worldview throughout their program of study can lead to growth in their intercultural development as measured by the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) (Hammer & Bennett, 1998). This study examines the impact of utilizing the Inter-Cultural Action Plan (ICAP), a results-guided self-designed action plan, on the developmental orientation (Bennett, 2011) of the candidate’s intercultural development as measured by the IDI. Significant impact on a candidate’s developmental orientation is identified when candidates take ownership of their experiences in the form of an action plan that includes coursework and out of class opportunities.

A Mother Promotes Cognitive And Affective Outcomes Via Museum Education On Arab American Immigrants’ Culture: A Vygotskian Perspective, Navaz P. Bhavnagri, Suha K. Kamash

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

A Chaldean Catholic immigrant mother from Iraq kept a journal about how her Arab American daughters (ages 9 and 15) visited museums for the first time and participated in museum-related activities that focused on them (1) understanding and developing empathy for all new immigrants coming to the U.S.; (2) understanding and developing appreciation of Arab American im- migrants’ culture; and (3) being exposed to limited Arabic vocabulary related to museum artifacts. The mother’s anecdotal observations, informal conver- sational interviews, and photographs documented her daughters’ learning processes and outcomes. The cognitive processes and outcomes (e.g., under- standing, meaning making through personal …

District-University Collaborations To Support Reform-Based Mathematics Curriculum Implementation, Kelly Gomez Johnson, Amy L. Nebesniak, Theodore J. Rupnow

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

Curriculum change is inevitable in schooling. For content areas such as mathematics that are already under the national spotlight, transitioning to new curriculum materials while concurrently enacting instructional reform creates both a challenge and an opportunity. This paper discusses how partnerships between two state universities and respective neighboring school districts resulted in the creation and implementation of graduate courses for teachers targeted at curricular and instructional reform specific to each district. Common course components between both university-district partnerships were identified in the areas of mathematics research, practice, and leadership advocacy and found to be instrumental in supporting instructional reform and …

Can Education Change Society? Michael Apple’S Simple Question And Complex Answer, Connie Schaffer

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

Can education change society? The question is simple, and Michael W. Apple’s response is an irrefutable, yes. However, a broader exegesis is needed because the issues confounding this question are steeped in powerful political forces from both the right and left. Within the pages of Can Education Change Society?, Apple continues his long-time professional exposition regarding education’s role in challenging these and other hegemonic systems.

Witness: The Art Of Samuel Bak, Resources For Teachers, Connie Schaffer, Julie Bell

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

Extend the experience: Teachers, we are pleased to provide educational resources to accompany Witness: The Art of Samuel Bak. These resources will allow you to extend the discussion of Samuel Bak’s art beyond the exhibit tour. The materials are designed to be used with students who attended the exhibit and can also be used to introduce Samuel Bak’s art to students who could not visit the gallery and with your future classes.

Exploring Secondary Science Teachers' Use Of Classroom Physical Activity, Shane Warehime, Kailey Snyder, Connie L. Schaffer, Matthew Bice, Megan Adkins-Bollwit, Danae Dinkel

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

This study explored the use of classroom physical activity (PA) in secondary science rooms. To accomplish this, semistructured interviews were conducted with secondary science teachers (n = 11). Interviews were based on the constructs of the social-ecological model. Most teachers reported using classroom PA in some form—in-class breaks, outdoor activities, and curriculum support. Teachers used classroom PA to improve academic and behavioral outcomes of students. They had varied perceptions regarding collegial support of classroom PA, but mostly felt supported by administrators. Teachers reported being unaware of their district’s and the state department of education’s beliefs about classroom PA. Overall, factors …

The Nebraska Mathematics Readiness Project: Year 1 Evaluation Report, N. Grandgenett, E. Ostler, K. Gomez Johnson, T. E. Reding, M. Flesch, C. Hatt, W. Boyer

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

The Nebraska Math Readiness Project (NMRP) is a targeted curriculum designed for seniors who have plans of attending college, yet lack the foundational math skills needed for college-level courses. They are given a fourth-year mathematics class to help them improve their mathematical skills and prepare for required college math courses. The project is a collaboration between community colleges across the state and high schools within the Nebraska school districts.

Review Of What Do You Think, Mr. Ramirez? The American Revolution In Education, Connie Schaffer

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Teaching For Deep Learning In A Second Grade Literacy Classroom, Treavor Bogard, Annamary L. Consalvo, Jo Worthy

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

From a New Literacies Studies (NLS) perspective, deep learning involves the acquisition of social and cultural competencies valued within a disciplinary community, not merely propositional displays of what one knows. Drawn from a year-long qualitative inquiry, this case study examines how one exemplary second-grade literacy teacher taught toward deep learning, using a pedagogy of multiliteracies (New London Group, 1996). Selected episodes of instruction were analyzed in two phases. Initially, data were examined for evidence of three main competency sets of deep learning--cognitive, inter-personal, and intra-personal (National Research Council, 2012). In the latter phase, analysis focused on the teacher’s pedagogical stances …

Language Ideologies And (Im)Moral Images Of Personhood In Multilingual Family Language Planning, Lydia Catedral, Madina Djuraeva

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

Scholars have demonstrated that small-scale relatively private family decisions about language are intertwined with parental language ideologies. Using data from the context of multilingual Central Asian families—including those living in Central Asia and those living abroad—this study employs socially situated analysis of discourse and narrative inquiry to show how parents invoke language ideologies in justifying their decisions about their children’s education and linguistic exposure. The notion of “chronotope” is used to demonstrate how parental ideologies are embedded in images of space, time and moral personhood. Focusing on these images, rather than only on language ideologies, allows an incorporation of …

Building Automation And The Contextualization Of Information Technology: The Journey Of A Midwestern Community College In The U.S., Neal Grandgenett, Pam Perry, Thomas Pensabene, Karen Wegner, Robert Nirenberg, Phil Pilcher, Candi Otterpohl

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

The buildings in which people work, live, and spend their leisure time are increasingly embedded with sophisticated information technology (IT). This article describes the approach of Metropolitan Community College (MCC) in Omaha, Nebraska of the United States to provide an occupational context to some of their IT coursework by organizing IT instruction around the context of building automation systems (BAS). This contextualization allows IT students not only to study IT as a standalone discipline but also to study its integrated use within a specific occupational context. The article also describes MCC’s focused curriculum design efforts funded by the National Science …

Summary Report Of The 2018 Educator Focus Groups On The Nebraska Social Studies Standards, Connie Schaffer

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

In June and July, 2018, the Nebraska Department of Education invited teachers and administrators to provide feedback on the Nebraska Social Studies Standards. Nebraska educators provided input by participating in eight focus groups intended to complement a previous survey of Nebraska’s elementary and secondary social studies teachers. Individuals submitted written input if they were not able to participate in a scheduled focus group. The information gathered from the focus group participants offered opportunity to: 1) develop insights and a deeper understanding regarding K-12 educator perceptions of the current Nebraska Social Studies Standards and 2) solicit input for the upcoming review …

William Frantz Public School: One School, One Century, Many Stories, Connie Schaffer, Corine Meredith Brown, Meg White, Martha Graham Viator

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

William Frantz Public School (WFPS) in New Orleans, Louisiana, played a significant role in the story of desegregation in public K-12 education in the United States. This story began in 1960 when first-grader, Ruby Bridges, surrounded by federal marshals, climbed the steps to enroll as the school’s first Black student. Yet many subsequent stories unfolded within WFPS and offer an opportunity to open the discourse regarding systemic questions facing present-day United States public education - racial integration, accountability, and increasing support for charter schools. In this article, these stories are told first in the context of WFPS and then are …

Turning Teens Into Fossilphiles: Citizen Science And Advanced Visualization Of Paleontology Collections, Khai Button, Lynn Cross, K. Ren Rende, Patricia G. Weaver, Jacob A. Van Veldhuizen, Lisa L. Herzog, Lindsay Zanno

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

In 2016, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (NCMNS) received funding from NSF’s Collections in Support of Biological Research Program to launch a new citizen science initiative—FossilPhiles—aimed at improving publically accessible natural history specimen data. The FossilPhiles project supported NCMNS’ ongoing efforts to digitize paleontology collections and provide STEM opportunities for historically underrepresented student populations by engaging middle and high school students in authentic data collection.

Five students were chosen from area schools with underserved populations to digitize highly significant or visually impactful vertebrate, invertebrate, and paleobotanical fossil specimens (e.g., type specimens, rare collections, specimens of high public interest). …

Minding The Gap: Mentor And Pre-Service Teachers’ Ability Perceptions Of Content Area Literacy Instruction, Treavor Bogard, Mary-Kate Sableski, Jackie Marshall Arnold, Connie L. Bowman

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

This mixed method study compared how student teachers rated their ability in implementing components of content area literacy compared to their clinical educators’ perceptions of the student teachers’ actual performance. The researchers collaborated with K-12 clinical educators to develop a scaled survey to rate level of skill in four components of content literacy instruction. 112 clinical educators (CEs) and 183 student teachers (STs) representing five teacher licensure programs completed the survey. A two-way multivariate analysis of variance measured the effect of Role (CE and ST) and Teacher Licensure Program on ability perception. Results indicated that Role and Program each significantly …

Teachers Of Teachers: What They May And May Not Know About Military-Connected Children, Brianna Conway, Connie Schaffer

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

Most children (92%) who have a caregiver in the U.S. military attend school "off-post" (U.S. Department of Defense, 2011).

This means military-connected students are enrolled in nearly every school district in the U.S. (Military Child Education Coalition, 2011), and most of these children are taught by 3.1 million public school PK-12 teachers in the U. S. (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2016). Even with this many educators working with the large population of military-connected children in the school setting, there is no consistent requirement for pre-service educators to receive any kind of training regarding the military lifestyle/culture.

Social Studies Instruction In Nebraska, Jamie Wagner, Connie Schaffer

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

In the 1980s standardized testing began to emerge as a major component of P-12 education reform and by the late 1980s state standards, benchmarks and curriculum frameworks started to become more widely used in states (Vogler and Virtue 2007). Both elementary and secondary social studies classes have changed to adapt to the new standards and mandated standardized testing. With increasing focus on reading, mathematics, and science, many began to be concerned that social studies instruction may be limited. Social studies instruction is vital to educate civically engaged individuals. However, at the high school level, teachers emphasize memorization and recollection of …

A Tale Of Three Cities: Defining Urban Schools Within The Context Of Varied Geographic Areas, Connie Schaffer, Meg White, Corine M. Brown

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

What constitutes an urban school? This question has confounded social researchers and educators who often limit definitions to population data. H. Richard Milner suggested a framework for defining urban schools that includes population data as well as the racial and social context of schools. This article applied Milner’s model to school districts in New York, Nebraska, and New Mexico which exemplified Milner’s categories of urban schools: urban intensive, urban emergent, and urban characteristic. Application of the framework to the districts presents a model for teacher educators to deliver two important components of preservice preparation. First, the model can assist preservice …

Understanding What Makes For Productive Coaching Moves To Help Teachers Attend To Mathematical Tasks Of Teaching, Paula M. Jakopovic

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

Reforms in mathematics education call for teaching to move away from “traditional” approaches (Carpenter, Ansell, & Levi, 2001) that are focused around rote procedures and skills, and toward practice that engages students in cognitively demanding tasks, discourse, and productive struggle to develop conceptual and procedural understanding (NCTM, 2014). This type of teaching is complex, often requiring teachers to develop new content and pedagogical knowledge (Hill, et al., 2008). One professional development effort that attempts to address this need is the implementation of mathematics coaches in schools. Coaching efforts have met with mixed success to date (Campbell & Malkus, 2011; Coburn …

Beyond Sanctioned Activism In Carl Hiaasen’S Flush: Sacrifice Zones In Realistic Fiction, Alexandra Panos

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

This literary analysis considers realistic children’s literature as a powerful means of exploring children’s futures within the challenge of environmental and economic degradation today.

Working With Linguistically Diverse Classes Across The Disciplines: Faculty Beliefs, Jennifer Haan, Colleen E. Gallagher, Lisa Varandani

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

The rapid growth of international students at United States universities in recent years (Institute of International Education, 2013) has prompted discussions about how best to serve this population in and out of the classroom. This article reports on faculty cognitions (Borg, 2006) regarding internationalization and the teaching of international students who are emergent multilinguals. Researchers surveyed faculty members on one campus about their beliefs regarding internationalization, techniques for instruction in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms, and their own efficacy in teaching international students. Results indicate a theory-reality split in beliefs about internationalization and techniques for teaching international students along with …

Modeling Evolution In The Classroom: An Interactive Lego Simulation, Abby Hongsermeier, Nealy F. Grandgenett, Dawn M. Simon

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

Evolutionary theory is critical for a comprehensive understanding of biology, yet students often fail to grasp its underlying principles. This results partially from ineffective teaching; however, the use of interactive activities could alleviate this problem. In this guided investigation of evolutionary mechanisms, students use LEGO bricks to simulate how mutation, migration, genetic drift, and natural selection can affect the evolution of a population. This exercise was undertaken and assessed with college introductory biology students, but is also appropriate for advanced high school students.

The Seven Step Strategy, Connie Schaffer

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

Is this a familiar scenario? You give students a reading assignment. During class, you pose discussion questions related to the reading. Silence. You rephrase the questions. After an awkward pause, one student responds with a brief answer.

According to the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U 2010 AAC&U. 2010. Reading VALUE Rubric. https://www.aacu.org/value/rubrics/reading [Google Scholar] ), when students read they should:

• engage beyond the explicit message,
• consider important questions and scholarly contributions,
• identify relations among ideas,
• acknowledge multiple perspectives, and
• deepen disciplinary conversation.

They’Re Lovin’It: How Preschool Children Mediated Their Funds Of Knowledge Into Dramatic Play, Anne E. Karabon

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

The funds of knowledge framework promotes connecting community contexts with curriculum aimed to activate children’s prior knowledge. Typically, teachers determine what knowledge sources harmonise best with their existing programming, potentially omitting particular resources that may not align. Young children, on the other hand, can act as agents when integrating knowledge for themselves into play. This article explores how children mediated their cultural knowledge into dramatic play and what factors were key to empowering children to naturally incorporate funds of knowledge across contexts. Grounded in critical sociocultural theory, findings reveal that children use mediation as a form of power and agency …

Intersections Of Identity: Exceptionality And Lgbtq, Jennifer Christensen, Dusty Columbia Embury

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

The article asserts the need for educators to converse on the multiple minority youth issue. It mentions the definition of multiple minority youth as those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual and questioning (LGBTQ), racial minorities and people with disabilities, the promotion of the inclusion of LGBTQ and other social identity variables in the intersectionality of minority status and oppression, and privilege and oppression with regard to multiple minority social identities.

"Designerly" Ways Of Reading: Insights From Reader Response In Drama For Enriching The "A" In Language Arts, Treavor Bogard

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

In this interpretive case study of reader response in drama, a drama troupe is the context for illuminating how young actors read in "designerly" ways; that is, how their reading processes facilitated constructive, solution-focused thinking in their development of characterizations. By examining the nature of reader response in the drama troupe, I hope to help educators understand how design thinking occurred as an aesthetic reading practice and consider ways in which design thinking can be cultivated in the language arts classroom. I argue that design thinking inspires the young to engage the imagination, practice teamwork, and take risks as they …

Coming To Know About Sacrifice Zones And Eco-Activism: Teaching And Learning About Climate Change, Alexandra Panos, James Damico

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

This paper shares curricular tools to engage in inquiry around issues related to environmental justice for upper elementary and middle grades students. Focusing on developing background knowledge and critical reading practices, the unit offers approaches to fiction and non-fiction online sources that promote an inquiry stance based in empathy and exploration. In addition to developing critical stances and questions to explore sacrifice zones and eco-activism, this paper shares many resources (texts and scaffolded tools) for praxical application in classrooms.

Sister Cities International: A Global Citizen Diplomacy Network, Ronald G. Helms Ph.D.

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

Sister Cities International (SCI) is a nonprofit citizen diplomacy network that creates and strengthens partnerships between U.S. communities and international communities. Sister Cities International was founded by President Eisenhower during a White House Summit on Citizen Diplomacy on September 11-12, 1956. Sister Cities International strives to build global cooperation at the municipal level, promote cultural understanding and stimulate economic and educational development.