Education Commons^™

From The Editors: Turning Pages, Turning Hearts, Mandy Luszeck, Jon Ostenson, Rachel Knecht

The Utah English Journal

When my students complete reflections on their readings, my favorite responses usually say something along the lines of, “I never saw it that way before, but now I do.” As English Language Arts teachers, we are well aware that literature is more than mere stagnant text, rather it is dynamic. It is transformative. Perspectives, experiences, ways of being that might otherwise be shielded from our students are illuminated in the stories they read, allowing them in turn to see and understand the world around them in a new light. According to Steven Wolk (2009), “As educators, we need to help …

Seasons, Emily Feveryear

The Utah English Journal

Fall:

The falling leaves

Bring a familiar crunch and

A familiar warmth.

This time I am ready.

Beyond A Chapter: Libraries As Key Characters In Smu’S Sustainability Saga, Shameem Nilofar Maideen

Research Collection Library

No abstract provided.

Evolution Of Teachers’ Perspectives On Family Engagement: Building Dual Capacity For Multilingual Learners, Hazel Vega, Emily Howell, Lindsey W. Rowe, Katie M. Crook, C. C. Bates, Kavita Mittapalli, Amlan Banerjee

Publications

Family engagement in multilingual learner education offers benefits associated with improved academic performance, stronger parent-teacher communication, and more inclusivity of cultural and linguistic diversity. Responding to calls for professional development that enables teachers to meaningfully involve families, this paper draws from surveys and course assignments to examine how teachers expanded their perceptions about the incorporation of multilingual learner families in a graduate program. We conclude by discussing implications for teacher professional development with specific attention to how teachers can integrate multilingual learner families.

National Assessment Program Civics And Citizenship 2024. Public Report, Tim Friedman, Kate O'Malley, Wolfram Schulz, Judy Nixon, Dominique Hall, Frances Eveleigh

Civics and Citizenship Assessment

This report presents the findings of the 7th National Assessment Program – Civics and Citizenship, which was administered in May 2024, and which tests students’ civics and citizenship knowledge and understanding in a sample of Australian schools. The 2024 report reveals that Year 6 and 10 students have a high degree of trust in civic institutions, but considerably less trust in the media or social media. In addition, students have also expressed concerns about a range of issues affecting Australia, including pollution, climate change, crime, and racism. It also shows that, at the national level, results have fallen since the …

Flames, Lorena Lesué

The Utah English Journal

She had worked herself thin,

hunched over a keyboard or the students’ desks

for fifty hours a week.

By year nineteen,

the muscles atop her shoulders

bookended her neck

like turtle shells.

Book Review: There Goes The Neighborhood, Feliciana Lopez-Goodman

The Utah English Journal

Rhea’s motives seem simple—save her best friend from eviction and stop the neighborhood from falling apart. As is true for all complex characters, there is more to Rhea, Zeke, and Malachi as they create a fake gang in their South LA neighborhood of Kofa Park. In Jade Adia’s debut novel There Goes the Neighborhood, gentrification is front and center as three teenagers take on the responsibility of saving their neighborhood and their chosen family.

Minoritized Students’ Internship Experiences In World Languages: A Call For Research, Mathias Guerreiro-Aires, Paula Garrett-Rucks

Dimensions

Higher education has undergone important shifts over the past two decades, with U.S. universities placing more emphasis on career readiness and internships becoming an integral part of academia (National Association of Colleges and Employers [NACE], 2021). Moreover, the student population in U.S. universities has become more diverse (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2023), which has drawn more attention to issues of equity and access to career readiness initiatives such as internships (Greenman et al., 2022). Disparities exist for students from historically marginalized racial and ethnic communities, such as Black, Latinx, and Afro-Latinx students, from their White peers not only …

Kendrick Lamar Brings New Literature To The Ela Classroom, Chris A. Peck

The Utah English Journal

Until April of 2017 I was only mildly aware of Kendrick Lamar. I had listened to and enjoyed songs like “Alright” and “Swimming Pools” but had little experience past these songs. After his album D.A.M.N. came out, I began to see several posts regarding the importance of this album, many responses by professors and teachers I knew well and trusted.

Co-Creating A Community Of Learners Through Interactive Read-Alouds Of Expository Texts, Kari Allsup

The Utah English Journal

I am reading aloud Zombie Makers: True Stories of Nature’s Undead (Johnson, 2013) to a group of 7th grade students. The text describes the larva stage where a young jewel wasp feasts on the cockroach’s insides. As I read, there are scattered exclamations of “ewwww,” “sick,” and audible gasps. I stop reading to dig into these reactions.

Sentence Detective: Investigating Sentence Structure To Support Reading Comprehension, Rachel Knecht

The Utah English Journal

Jacob was honest about his usual reading strategies. Like Jacob, readers with a history of reading difficulties may deal with challenging, long, or unfamiliar sentences by skipping or stumbling over them (Nomvete & Easterbrooks, 2020; Vaughn et al., 2022). But, Jacob offered another strategy— Sentence Detective. Over the past six weeks, Jacob had learned how to use Sentence Detective, a strategy for breaking sentences down into meaningful, more manageable parts. Although skipping or skimming may have been his go-to strategy for sentence-level comprehension, he now had another tool to try out.

Family Structure And Parents’ Perceptions Of The Importance Of Youth Developmental Assets: Challenging The Deficit Orientation Of Structurally Diverse Families, Jonathon J. Beckmeyer, Luke T. Russell, Gabrielle C. Kline

Faculty Publications - Family and Consumer Sciences

Critical family scholars have highlighted that structurally diverse families (e.g. stepfamilies, single-parent families) are often unfairly viewed through a deficit-comparison lens. This includes assumptions that these families are less optimal contexts for raising children than married different-sex nuclear families or hold different parenting and family values. In the present study, we sought to challenge that assumption by having parents rate the importance of developmental assets for their adolescent children and then comparing perceived importance across family structures. To do so we used data from 354 parents (24.6% single-parent families, 16.7% stepfamilies, 58.8% two-biological/adoptive parent families). We found that the overwhelming …

February 2025 Library & Learning Newsletter, Minnesota State University, Mankato. Library & Learning Dean’S Office Communications Team

Library & Learning Newsletters

PDF version of the February 2025 (Volume 3, Issue 4) Library & Learning Newsletter.

Understanding Women Leaders’ Perceptions Of Compassion In Higher Education, Elle (Kelleen H.) Griffin

Doctor of Education (EdD)

This qualitative research study was conducted to better understand women leaders’ perceptions of compassion in higher education. Specifically, what are the types of distressing events and the settings wherein a compassionate response was offered; what are the compassionate actions experienced or offered, and what might enhance or inhibit the process of compassion. The study was also conducted to examine if and how compassion enhances or influences learning (Knowles, 2011), growing and healing (Rogers, 1967), and thriving at work (McGregor, 1960). Kanov et al.’s (2017) process theory of compassion was used as the theoretical framework to gain insight into compassion in …

Enhancing Elementary Students Conceptual Understandings Of Scientific Phenomena: The Impact Of Steam-First And Stem-First Approaches, Michael W. Corrigan, Joseph T. Wong, Doug Grove, Sage Anderson, Bradley S. Hughes

Elementary & Secondary Education Faculty Research

This study delves into the realm of student conceptual change, examining shifting understandings as important steppingstones on the path to sensemaking and canonical understanding in science education. It explores the potential of a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) curriculum, aiming to provide equitable learning opportunities, especially for emerging bilingual (EB) student populations. To achieve this, elementary school educators from randomly assigned schools received professional development training to implement a novel curriculum encompassing both STEM and STEAM (STEM + Arts) approaches to life science instruction. These approaches comprised: (1) an NGSS-aligned STEM unit employing inquiry-based science instruction; (2) an …

The Complex Art Of Wearing Multiple Hats: A Case Study Of Dual-Role Administrators In Rural School Districts, Abi Van Regenmorter, Erin Lehmann, Vassa Grichko, Lisa Newland

The Rural Educator

Both superintendents and principals create a foundation for student achievement, school culture, and the vision of a school building or district. When combined, these two similar yet distinct administrative roles become one unique position with less time and resources to fulfill individual job responsibilities. A dual-role administrator is defined as an individual serving as a superintendent and principal simultaneously. Using a comparative case design, rural dual-role administrators’ roles, responsibilities, and experiences are explored. By interviewing and observing two rural practitioners and reviewing public documents, an in-depth investigation of the cases developed. Results from this study indicate that dual-role administrators had …

Rural Principals’ Perceptions Of Program Quality Indicators For Students With An Intellectual Disability, Jodee A. Prudente, Maryann Demchak

The Rural Educator

The use of program quality indicators (QIs) for teaching students with an intellectual disability (ID) is essential in meeting student needs and accessing curriculum. Principals who oversee and evaluate teachers of students with ID play a critical role in the implementation of QIs. A cross-sectional survey was conducted to investigate rural school district principals’ perceptions of the importance, teacher implementation, and principal ability to provide feedback on QIs for students with ID. Results indicate differences between principal perception of importance of indicators and reported confidence in ability to provide feedback on indicators. More specialized QIs received lower ratings of perception …

2025-02-01 Caudill Connection, Morehead State University. Caudill College Of Arts, Humanities And Social Sciences.

Caudill Connection

Caudill Connection newsletter for February of 2025.

Evolving Design Critique For A Changing Industry, Sejin Hwang, Amy Ai, Leo Bang, Yuchen Chen, Kathryn Chen, Tiffany Chang, Stephen Jiang, Chloe Jo, Eileen Lee, Nicole Lu, Ray Liu, Kevin Wei, Elaine Zhang, Ellano Zhou

Student Work

This class serves as an exploratory practice in response to existing studies evaluating critique environments in the design industry. Previous studies identified three key limitations in the critique process: (1) a lack of experience for novice designers working with non-designers when reviewing their work, (2) an ineffective final review structure, and (3) a need for a more constructive and engaging feedback-sharing environment.1 To address these challenges, the course was designed to “critique” critique activities and develop strategic solutions to transform the way design work is reviewed, analyzed, and critiqued. The course was part of a pilot fall semester program called …

Secondary Stage Students' Perceptions Regarding (Myschool) Learning Management System's Role In Learning English, Huda Ali Sallam

Journal of Human Services: Training, Research, and Practice

This study set out to explore students' opinions and self-efficacy level in relation to the use of MySchool learning management system. The study has added focus on its usefulness in facilitating English language learning. The study sample involved 420 female secondary stage students within one educational district in Riyadh. The study instrument is a 24-item closed-ended questionnaire which was distributed using a Microsoft Forms link. The items of the questionnaire were divided into four main elements: perceived practicality, perceived usefulness, general satisfaction, and sense of self-efficacy. The obtained data was subsequently analyzed using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) 24 …

Speech And Language Assessment Practices For Bilingual Children In The School Setting: Where Do We Go From Here?, Seijra Toogood, Raul Prezas

Journal of Human Services: Training, Research, and Practice

Abstract

The field of speech-language pathology has demonstrated growth in bilingual assessment and evaluations. However, many questions remain regarding formal and informal assessment practices, intervention recommendations, and cultural competency or responsiveness. Sixty-one SLPs in Virginia completed a survey on demographics, bilingual assessment practices, cultural competence, and language development of ELL students. Seven SLPs who work with bilingual and/or ELL students were also interviewed to ascertain bilingual assessment practices, cultural competence, and language development knowledge. Areas of concern included assessment of bilingual students, lack of developmental norms and standardized assessment tools in languages other than English, and lack of knowledge of …

Incorporating Extensive Reading Into The Foreign Language Curriculum, Jane E. Hardy, Victoria Rodrigo

Dimensions

Extensive reading is an approach to language learning that encourages learners to read a large quantity of easy reading material. A substantial body of research confirms the effectiveness of this approach for developing proficiency in both first (L1) and second (L2) languages. This paper explains what extensive reading is, why it is important, and how it can be incorporated as part of a language curriculum. The paper also provides a review of research on the effectiveness of extensive reading in several different languages and recommends many extensive reading resources, including open access materials, to facilitate the implementation of extensive reading …

Demonstrating A Free Listing Data Collection Approach To Cultural Instruction, Gregory De La Piedra

Dimensions

Free listing tasks are a common data collection method used by cultural anthropologists, language historians and linguists (Nolan, 2002; Ryan et al., 2000; Weller & Romney, 1988; Wolfram & Schillings-Estes, 1998). These tasks are interviews in which a researcher asks groups of respondents to list words or expressions that come to mind for a given cultural topic. This study focused on a free listing task collected from working class Mexicans about fiestas y celebraciones [parties and celebrations]. Although this topic is routinely included in second language (L2) teaching materials, common terms or slang used by Spanish speaking populations that U.S. …

Resources And Approaches For Integrating High-Leverage Teaching Practices: A Content Analysis, Sara Ahnell

Dimensions

Implementing high-leverage teaching practices (HLTPs) for language learning can help ensure teachers create and deliver a high-quality curriculum, especially when working with Novice learners who require more scaffolded instruction. This study aimed to fill a gap by identifying print resources and approaches available to support world language teachers’ integration of HLTPs into instructional design for Novice learners in middle and high school classrooms (grades 6-12). In the Fall of 2022, various resources were analyzed according to their use in assisting teachers with integrating HLTPs, state standards, and current second language acquisition (SLA) research into instructional design. These resources included several …

Why World Language Teachers Stay: Teacher Retention In West Virginia, Challenges And Opportunities, Laura Guglani, Tori Gastón

Dimensions

The present study investigates World Language (WL) teacher retention and the challenges and opportunities of teaching a WL in a rural state. Data came from ethnographic interviews conducted with 10 participants, current Spanish teachers teaching throughout West Virginia. Through thematic analysis, eight themes emerged: Lack of Exposure to Cultural Diversity, Lack of Qualified Teachers, Toll on Mental Health, Pressure to Defend the Value of WLs, Remaining in West Virginia, Passing on the Love of Language and Cultural Learning, Innovative Pedagogical Approaches, and Strong Professional Support Systems.

Book Reviews: Family Style: Memories Of An American From Vietnam, Derick Marchant

The Utah English Journal

Do you ever eat a meal so intertwined with memory that each bite transports you back to the moments surrounding it? For me, it’s paella. The rice dish seasoned with saffron, paprika, and lemon juice puts me right back in small apartments in Spain with my legs under a blanket-covered table, a heater blasting on my legs, laughing and shelling shrimp with Spaniards. I can’t eat paella without craving the company that surrounded me in those warm Spanish apartments. In Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam, Thien Pham chronicles his family’s immigration story via vignettes centering around his …

The Utah English Journal, Volume 53, 2025: Full Issue

The Utah English Journal

No abstract provided.

Technology-Enhanced Personalized Learning: Lessons From Online Teaching At Three South-East Asian Universities, Kiran Kaur, Rohaida Mohd Saat, Lieven Demeester, Magdeleine Lew, Wei Leng Neo, Nopphol Pausawasdi, Thasaneeya Ratanaroutai Nopparatjamjomras

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic compelled many instructors to seek efficient and effective ways to stay connected with their students and improve the learning experience by using a wide range of available technologies. This multiple-case study, in three South-East Asian universities, investigated whether the use of technology in university teaching and learning during that period influenced personalized learning, and if so, how. The study also explored the kinds of institutional support for teachers and learners that led to increased technology-enhanced personalized learning (TEPL). Using a qualitative approach, the study analyzed 23 individual interviews and 3 document analyses (circulars, announcements, …

Improving Small-Group Discussion Through Literature Circle Activities, Reilly Ryan

The Utah English Journal

Consider the following scenarios in which I’ve given students a platform to discuss “high-interest” topics: “Class, I want you to discuss whether you think school should start one hour later than it currently does. I’m going to set a timer for three minutes, and I would like you to continue your discussion during the entire time.” If school start time seems too educational, I might offer an even more accessible topic such as “What is the greatest movie of all time?” or “Where is the best place in town to get a hamburger?” The pleasing cacophony I hear immediately after …

Moving Beyond Summary, Susan E. Anderson

The Utah English Journal

The due date. That dreaded day when 50% of my students have worked their way through the writing process and are ready to turn in their essays ON TIME. They chose topics, researched, organized, wrote rough drafts, edited and revised repeatedly, peer-reviewed, more editing and more revising, cited their sources, formatted, and even applied the hanging indentation to their works cited page. And as the other 50% trickle in their late papers clearly lacking some of these important steps, my next responsibility begins: I start to read 175 essays. With my rubric ready to start assessing, I see a frustrating …