Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Discussing Race, Policing, And Privilege In A High School Classroom, Arianna Banack

Occasional Paper Series

This article describes a unit implemented in a ninth-grade English classroom using the young adult novel, All American Boys (Reynolds & Keily, 2015) to explore issues of police brutality, privilege, and racism. Pedagogical activities are offered alongside a critical reflection of the unit as the author explores difficult moments while teaching. Implications for English educators and currently practicing ELA teachers are provided with suggestions on how to revise the unit to center on exploring the systematic oppression of people of color.

Shattering, Healing And Dreaming: Lessons From Middle-Grade Literacies And Lives, Carla España

Occasional Paper Series

In the summer of 2018, I had the opportunity to read the words of Renée Watson, Jewell Parker-Rhodes, Jacqueline Woodson and Nikki Grimes alongside seventh and eighth graders. Our conversations were grounded in the students’ lives and in stories and poems crafted by Black women. I had the responsibility and honor to select the texts, develop the curriculum and co-create a space with students. The authors’ words helped students process not only the authors’ craft but also how students navigated issues from microaggressions to tensions in friendships, from the oppression experienced at the intersections of their identities to the role …

Choosing Difficult, Choosing Important In Fifth-Grade Read-Aloud, Chiara Dilello

Occasional Paper Series

In this essay, I share my critical reflections and pedagogical choices (some more successful than others) while using a whole-class chapter book read-aloud to engage my students in conversation about complex topics, including racism and gender, which we might not have discussed otherwise. It is my hope to model one small way I as a White teacher have tried to disrupt Whiteness in my classroom as part of a larger commitment to anti-racist teaching, and help teachers feel more prepared to undertake similar work in their own settings.

What Do You Do When You Don't Know How To Respond? Supporting Pre-Service Teachers To Use Picture Books To Facilitate Difficult Conversations, Kathryn Struthers Ahmed, Nida Ali

Occasional Paper Series

In this paper, the authors – a preservice teacher (PST) and a teacher educator – consider how teacher education might better prepare PSTs to use picture books to facilitate difficult conversations in elementary classrooms. They share missed opportunities from their own experiences in a fourth-grade fieldwork classroom and in a graduate-level elementary literacy methods course where they felt unprepared to respond to students’ comments about “controversial” topics. They reimagine how these experiences might have been transformed to be more educative for PSTs, first by considering how they could have responded more thoughtfully in the moment and then by thinking about …

Gender-Inclusive Children’S Literature As A Preventative Measure: Moving Beyond A Reactive Approach To Lgbtq+ Topics In The Classroom, Shelby Brody

Occasional Paper Series

This article addresses the common perception of gender non-conforming and gender-expansive identities as difficult classroom topics. The lack of gender-inclusive curricula in American schools results in a reactive approach to teaching about queerness, specifically about people who identify as transgender and/or gender non-conforming. Teachers need to adopt a proactive approach to teaching about queerness in order to prevent gender-based discrimination, harassment, and violence in schools and in the world. Trans-inclusive children’s literature has become more available in recent years. However, teachers need to be conscious of popular narratives that offer a limited perspective on people who identify as transgender and …

We Are All Learning About Climate Change: Teaching With Picture Books To Engage Teachers And Students, Ysaaca D. Axelrod, Denise Ives, Rachel Weaver

Occasional Paper Series

The topic of climate change and climate justice is politically charged, doesn’t sit neatly within a single subject or content area, and raises concerns of not being ‘age appropriate’ for young children. In this paper we describe how teacher educators in an elementary education program support a student teacher who took up the topic of climate change and climate justice in her 1st grade teaching placement. She designed a unit around a picture book that focuses on the words and work of Greta Thunberg, and used a diverse set of texts to support students’ understanding of the complexity of climate …

Taking A Journey To The Land Of All: Using Children’S Literature To Explore Gender Identity And Expression With Young Children, Kerry Elson, Kindel Nash

Occasional Paper Series

Children’s literature is a powerful tool that helps shape young children’s understandings of themselves and the world. As such, children’s literature can help young children develop deeper and more nuanced understandings about gender, gender identity, and gender expression. This article shares how teacher Kerry Elson planned and implemented a curriculum with first-grade students that focused on gender identity and expression. In this curriculum, she carefully selected children’s literature to explore gender identity and expression with young children.

Storytime Is A Sunrise: Employing Children’S Literature To Mediate Socio-Emotional Challenges In The Life Of A Young Child, Carolina Soto Bonds

Occasional Paper Series

This piece explores the trials and victories of a teacher's literary therapy for Will* a student faced with the ravages of mental health struggles and instability in his home life. The purpose here is to divulge the vulnerabilities of a personal story in the hopes of generating support for other educators who might be battling similar conflicts. Along the way, as varying children's books like My Happy Sad Mummy, by Michelle Vasiliu, and The Colour Monster by Anna Llenas, play integral parts in emotional healing, the teacher confronts her own internal unrests as Will's obstacles inch too close to home. …

Introduction: Facilitating Conversations On Difficult Topics In The Classroom: Teachers’ Stories Of Opening Spaces Using Children’S Literature, Mollie Welsh Kruger, Susie Rolander, Susan Stires

Occasional Paper Series

For this edition of the Bank Street Occasional Paper Series, we invited educators to share stories from their practice: times when they utilized children’s literature and conversations to address real life; the difficult topics that children experience through the mirror of their own experiences or the windows of their peers, communities, or world.

Perceptions Of K-12 Teachers On The Cognitive, Affective, And Conative Functionalities Of Gifted Students Engaged In Design Thinking, Krista M. Stith, Mistie L. Potts, Lisa Davia Rubenstein, Kathryn L. Shively, Robyn Spoon

Journal of STEM Teacher Education

Gifted students are our nation’s natural resource of technological inventors and innovators, but oftentimes do not receive differentiated instruction in technology/engineering design learning environments. This is not negligence or lack of care by the instructor, but a national issue of not sufficiently providing pre- and in-service teachers with formal training opportunities in gifted education. The purpose of this study was to understand the perceptions of K-12 teachers, trained in gifted education pedagogy and the Design Thinking Model (DTM), after their gifted students engaged in design thinking activities. Fifteen K-12 educators of different content areas reflected in focus groups upon how …

Nature Of Problem-Solving Skills For 21st Century Stem Learners: What Teachers Need To Know, Paul Nnanyereugo Iwuanyanwu

Journal of STEM Teacher Education

Since the emergence of the fourth industrial revolution which calls for a new model of learning for the twenty-first century learners, it has been argued that the nature of problems that learners must solve in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) must also be transformed to enable new forms of learning skills that are needed to tackle complex global challenges. However, the question of how best to teach these skills purposefully and explicitly is largely overlooked. STEM education reformers recognize that the lecture method or traditional method of teaching is highly ineffective for teaching twenty-first century competencies and skills that …

K-Pop Culture: The Success Of Bts, Shinjung Kim

ESL for Academic Purposes

This unit addresses several factors behind the great success of BTS, a Korean boy idol group, all over the world, while providing the opportunity for learners to reflect upon themselves. This unit is intended for English language learners in either as an ESL and EFL context. The unit will be of most interest to teenagers and young adults. Learners should have a B1 level of proficiency or higher. By working through the unit, learners will increase their academic vocabulary, reading, listening, speaking, and writing skills.

Superstitions From Around The World, Annie Espinal

ESL for Academic Purposes

This open educational resource is a lesson for students who are studying English in a multicultural classroom. This specific unit, Superstition, is meant for intermediate ESL learners, with an A2 level on the CEFR scale. The goal of this unit is to encourage students to share about their own cultures, comparing and exchanging various superstitions and beliefs from their countries, and to help develop multiple language skills like reading, speaking, and listening, while engaging in different activities.

The Grace To Grow Deeper: A Case Study Of Environmentalism In A Canadian Christian School, Allyson Jule, Adrienne R. Castellon

International Christian Community of Teacher Educators Journal

Successful environmental pedagogy in faith-based schools has not been well explored even while most Christian schools in Canada are governed by provincial curricula and provincial teacher standards that require commitments to environmentalism. Conflicts within mainline Christianity in regards to the importance of environmental justice may be why some Christian schools do not engage in environmental pedagogy (Mann & Schleifer, 2020). This study draws on data from one Christian school in the province of Ontario, Canada. The methodology used is case study approached through an Appreciative Inquiry lens – a methodology that is particularly useful in school-based research (Stavros, et al. …

How California's Teacher Residencies Are Helping To Solve Teacher Shortages And Strengthen Schools, Karen Demoss, Cathy Yun

Prepared to Teach

With significant state investment teacher residencies are spreading throughout California. These vignettes highlight two California teacher residencies and how they are helping to address shortages and support both students and teachers. These examples also spotlight creative funding strategies that can help California’s investments in teacher residencies become sustainable over time.

Sustainable Strategies For Funding Teacher Residencies: Lessons From California, Karen Demoss, Cathy Yun

Prepared to Teach

With significant state investment, teacher residencies are spreading throughout California To sustain these efforts after the initial state investment programs are using creative funding strategies. To learn about how teacher residencies across the state are funding their work, the Learning Policy Institute and Prepared To Teach at Bank Street College of Education partnered to examine the current state of practice around residency sustainability. The report highlights California teacher residencies with known financial sustainability efforts in which partners are leveraging local resources to support residents and mentor teachers. These concrete examples of creative residency funding strategies are meant to help California’s …

The Impact Of The Proposed Mathematics Enrichment Program On The Uae Students’ Mathematical Literacy In Light Of The Pisa Framework, Hanan Shaher Almarashdi

Dissertations

Mathematical literacy is an important skill that students must possess, as it helps students understand and use mathematics in the real world. The main aim of this dissertation is to investigate the impact of a proposed mathematical enrichment program developed based on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) framework. This assessment is particularly important because it is on the National Agenda as the UAE aspires to be among the top 20 countries in the world in PISA by 2021. An explanatory mixed method design was adopted to achieve the purpose of this study. Subjects included were 102 grade 10 …

Exploring English Teachers’ Views On Their Kindergarten Emergent Writing Practices: A Mixed Method Study, Asma Yousef Al Raeesi

Theses

This study aimed at exploring English teachers’ views on the emergent writing practices of kindergarten students. An exploratory sequential mixed method design was adopted by employing qualitative and quantitative means. In the first phase, five kindergarten teachers were selected purposively and interviewed using semi-structured interviews. The results extracted from the qualitative phase served in developing the quantitative tool. The second phase which featured a collection of quantitative data by means of a questionnaire which was distributed randomly to kindergarten teachers in all school districts in the UAE (n=210). The results gleaned from both the qualitative and the quantitative …

An Evaluative Study Of The Rural Elementary Teachers’ Perspective On The Partnership Between Rural Public Elementary Schools And Nebraska Extension, Tammera Mittelstet

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

Science education reform is a new reality for Elementary Teachers who have found themselves in a paradigm shift as Nebraska implements its NCCRS-S standards. This reform and implementation process might benefit from the support of Nebraska Extension. The purpose of this evaluative study was twofold: (a) determine elementary teachers' awareness, current use, and future recommendations regarding extension resources in Nebraska’s rural elementary schools and (b) inform guidelines for future development of community partnerships and distribution of Nebraska Extension resources for elementary science instruction.

Data for this study was gathered using Qualtrics and was analyzed with SPSS version 27 software. The …

Exploring The Effectiveness Of Using Guided Reading Approach On Promoting Arab Eighth Graders’ English Reading Fluency, Rasha Moustafa Mohamed Afandy

Theses

This study aimed at exploring the effect of the guided reading approach on promoting reading fluency skills for middle school students. An explanatory mixed-method design was employed to achieve the purpose of this study. The quantitative phase of the study featured a pre and post-test after the implementation of a guided reading program for six weeks. The qualitative phase of the study featured by a collection of documents of evaluations which were conducted biweekly during the implementation of the program. These evaluative checklists were used to measure the students’ progress in reading fluency skills. The participants of this study were …

Exploring The Effectiveness Of Using Guided Reading Approach On Promoting Arab Eighth Graders’ English Reading Fluency, Rasha Moustafa Afandy

Theses

This study aimed at exploring the effect of the guided reading approach on promoting reading fluency skills for middle school students. An explanatory mixed-method design was employed to achieve the purpose of this study. The quantitative phase of the study featured a pre and post-test after the implementation of a guided reading program for six weeks. The qualitative phase of the study featured by a collection of documents of evaluations which were conducted biweekly during the implementation of the program. These evaluative checklists were used to measure the students’ progress in reading fluency skills. The participants of this study were …

Impact Of Open Educational Resources (Oer) On Student Academic Performance And Retention Rates In Undergraduate Engineering Departments, Yonchao Zhao, Ashwin Satyanarayana, Cailean Cooney

Publications and Research

To students and families already struggling to afford college tuition and fees, spending an additional $1,240 per year on books and supplies can be a breaking point. This cost constitutes as much as 39% of tuition and fees at a community college and 14% of tuition and fees at a four- year public institution (data obtained from the 2019-20 College Board survey for full-time undergraduate students). Moreover, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the demand for digital textbooks is surging and the problem is compounded by the fact that without on-campus resources, including library reserve textbook collections, students are facing more …

Multi-Tiered Systems Of Support And School Leadership In High-Achieving Pennsylvania Schoolwide Title 1 Elementary Schools, Malinda Jane Mikesell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

This explanatory case study illustrates how some Pennsylvania Schoolwide Title 1 elementary schools are thriving on state assessments while others are unable to achieve this success. The study was limited to this population of elementary schools to focus on how and why some schools with high percentages of students who receive free and reduced lunch are achieving excellent student achievement. First, the differences between Schoolwide Title 1 schools’ achievement on the Pennsylvania state assessments were categorized. Then Schoolwide Title 1 elementary schools with the highest percentages of students with low socioeconomic status (SES), who still achieved proficient school performance …

Engaging Students In The Virtual Classroom: A Mixed-Methods Study Of Teacher Leaders Creating Connections Through Virtual Learning Communities, Michaine Suzanne Ashley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The core problem that drove this study was high attrition rates and low student academic growth in virtual students when compared to their brick and mortar peers. To investigate this issue, the study focused on one issue related to the core problem: student engagement. The purpose of the study was to determine what pedagogical practices and instructional strategies were utilized by teachers in their virtual learning communities (VCLs) in order to engage students in the virtual classroom. This explanatory-sequential, mixed methods, single case study was conducted through the collection of archival data and through a teacher questionnaire and follow up …

Standards For Technological And Engineering Literacy: Addressing Trends And Issues Facing Technology And Engineering Education, Johnny J. Moye, Philip A. Reed

STEMPS Faculty Publications

The article offers information on addressing trends and issues facing technology and engineering education. It mentions future challenges, students need to "have a broad conceptual understanding of technology and its place in society, enabling them to be active participants in the technological world and careful creators and users of technology.

Collecting: A Process Of Learning, Growth, And Forming Identity, Nate Trachte

Summit to Salish Sea: Inquiries and Essays

Why do people stuff their homes full of things that have no real utility and attach such great personal attachment to them? It is the relationships involved in any action that provide a lasting sense of satisfaction. Transformation in life as with education is about being able to sit with uncertainty, asking questions, and seeking to understand with the spirit of earnest curiosity. We should seek to hold each other gently in the uncertainty of learning and growth. What if instead of focusing on rushing to meet standards and goals, we slow down and embrace the process of learning missteps …

What To Make Of A Diminished Thing: Re-Envisioning Spirit And Relation In Environmental Education, Zoe Wadkins

Summit to Salish Sea: Inquiries and Essays

Traditional westernized systems of education reflect complex historical, social, and political forces that prioritize uniformity at expense of people’s multi-dimensionality. This paper details a returning to relation via education’s potential to entwine multiple perspectives in mutual understanding of lived experience. Education in this way becomes an interwoven tapestry and a means to speak across difference in mending, rather than in mutual deterioration. Enjoining personal storytelling with indigenous epistemology, the author pursues hope in reconfiguring the display of our educational tapestry.

Nourishing Solidarity: Critical Food Pedagogy And Storytelling For Community, N. Tanner Johnson

Summit to Salish Sea: Inquiries and Essays

This piece was delivered in four parts in tandem with a four-course meal, with the intention of providing the audience with time to engage in the sharing of their own perspectives around food and eating. Foodways, the particular cultural and social contexts within which food sits offer a unique entry point into deeper, more connective opportunities for environmental education. The food justice and food sovereignty movements provide a foil for traditional forms of environmental education which reinforce settler-colonial narratives about the more-than-human world. Food is something that everyone has some sort of interaction with every single day. At the same …

The Queer Agenda: A Fluid Education, Charlee Corra

Summit to Salish Sea: Inquiries and Essays

Throughout this paper, I weave together various aspects of my identity in order to investigate how fluidity and questioning form an undercurrent of my being and therefore of the way I teach. Through metaphors and narratives of my experiences within environmental education and experiential learning I seek clarity and expansiveness rather than definitive answers, leaning into the certainty that change is inevitable and there are rarely any static answers. Using queerness, Judaism, and my scientific background as the layers of my unique identity lens and positionality, I explore the ways in which the power of questioning, critical thinking, democratic education …

Pedagogy Of Tarot: Simultaneity Of Past, Present, And Future, Ashley S. Hill

Summit to Salish Sea: Inquiries and Essays

A three card tarot spread can represent the past, present, and future. As a reflective practice, tarot does not divine the future; rather it invites the practitioner to consider context and imagine multiple futures. Simultaneously experiencing the past, present, and future of education is valuable and is possible through a pedagogy of tarot. A pedagogy of tarot connects fxminist and democratic approaches to education through non-hierarchical relationships that honor lived experiences - calling teachers and learners to remain conscious and awake to one another. By acknowledging the possibility of multiple truths within current sociopoliticial and hxstorical contexts, we can make …