Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

“I Felt Valued”: Multilingual Microteachings And The Development Of Teacher Agency In A Teacher Education Classroom, Theresa Catalano, Hanihani C. Traore Moundiba, Hadi Pir

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Existing research has explored the value of multilingual pedagogies that focus on utilizing the linguistic / cultural resources of students (e.g., García & Kleyn 2016, Turner 2017); however, there is still a need to examine how the kinds of teacher agency that can lead to multilingual pedagogies actually being implemented can best be developed in teacher education classrooms. The present study incorporates collaborative auto-ethnography to examine microteaching activities / reflections of three researcher-participants in a teacher education course on schooling and multilingualism. The authors found that playing the role of students in the microteachings enabled them to reflect on their …

A Framework For The Strategic Leveraging Of Outside Resources To Enhance Ctl Effectiveness, Thomas M. Brinthaupt, Laura Cruz, Sheila Otto, Mike Pinter

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Many centers for teaching and learning (CTL) are challenged with developing new programs and services that are constrained by limited staff and resources. Tapping into on- and off-campus expertise is one way for CTL to expand their range of options for faculty development. In this paper, we present a framework that describes how CTL can assess the likely impact, value, and range of prospective leveraging opportunities when deciding whether to pursue on- and off- campus partnerships. We then discuss applying the framework as an analytical tool, developing leveraging strategies, and creating a strategic leveraging plan. Throughout this discussion, we provide …

The Sotl Scaffold: Supporting Evidence-Based Teaching Practice In Educational Development, Laura Cruz, Kathryn Cunningham, Brian Smentkowski, Hillary Steiner

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This article presents a scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) scaffold, a conceptual model designed for educational developers (and others) who support the values, practices, and production of the SoTL, both on their campuses and beyond. The SoTL scaffold explicates distinct support levels, ranging from spark to lead, each of which call for differentiated strategies and programs to be used by Centers for Teaching and Learning (CTLs) and similar units.

Broaching Threshold Concepts: The Trouble With “Skills” Language In Defining Student Learning Goals, Angela J. Zito

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This essay argues that description of student learning goals as various “skills” presents a conceptual threshold lying between and connecting routinely dichotomized characterizations of student learning—most notably, “concrete” versus “abstract.” Qualitative analysis of instructor interviews shows that “skills” language tends to conceal abstract (that is, affective) learning goals behind more concrete (that is, cognitive) ones. Ultimately, this essay proposes that cognitive and affective student learning goals might be more clearly articulated using threshold concepts within and across disciplines, and that the recognition of “skills” as both affective and cognitive is itself a threshold concept in educational development.

Wiser Together: Sustaining Teaching Excellence With A Self-Study/Critical Friend, Tracy W. Smith, Leslie U. Bradbury

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This article examines the development of a self-study/critical friend (SSCF) model of educational development. The SSCF model provides benefits for the self-study teacher in the form of personalized, sustained support. The critical friend in the pairing described here also serves as an educational development fellow, so this study provided an experiential development opportunity for her to try a potential model of response, documentation, feedback, and support for a single faculty member. This article describes the rationale, process, and outcomes of a SSCF investigation, a promising model for providing support that is significant, sustained, and individualized to higher education teaching faculty.

What Moves You? How Sbae Teachers Navigate Program Migration, Becky Haddad, Johnathan Velez, Josh Stewart

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Faculty Publications

Little data exists to examine the stigmatized phenomenon of program mobility within agricultural education. Our research starts the conversation through interviews with eight School-Based Agricultural Education (SBAE) teachers across the United States, using qualitative phenomenology, to provide a unique perspective of retention through migration. We define teacher migration as a program move while choosing to remain in SBAE. Utilizing the theoretical lens of expansive learning through activity systems (Engeström, 2009), we present teacher migration as a means to learn and grow in the craft of teaching within SBAE, particularly among teachers with more than eight years of experience. Although additional …

Risk Factors For Depression Among Early Childhood Teachers, Amy Roberts, Kathleen C. Gallagher, Alexandra Daro, Iheoma U. Iruka, Susan Sarver

Buffet Early Childhood Institute Reports and Publications

This study examined possible risk factors associated with teachers’ depression in a variety of early childhood settings. Teachers with lower pay, no health insurance, multiple jobs, greater job stress, and more adult-centered beliefs reported more symptoms of depression. To reduce these symptoms, efforts should be made to support teachers’ mental health at multiple levels, including individual, environmental, and policy.

Researchers used data collected in 2015-16 from a large survey of early childhood educators in Nebraska. Four early childhood settings were sampled: licensed family child care homes (home-based), licensed child care centers (center-based), state-funded PreK programs, and elementary schools serving children …

Metr 100: Weather And Climate–Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Dawn M. Kopacz

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The target course for this benchmark portfolio is METR 100: Weather and Climate, an introductory-level course about Earth’s weather and climate. Students enrolled span all undergraduate class levels and during the spring semester most students are non-science majors. Through the Peer Review of Teaching Project, this course was re-designed to better align the course objectives with the University of Nebraska – Lincoln’s Achievement Centered Education (ACE) program. The number of topics covered during the semester was reduced and time spent practicing skills was increased in an effort to improve student attainment of course goals.

This portfolio outlines course objectives, pedagogical …

Nres/Bsen 468/868: Wetlands, Tiffany L. Messer

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Wetlands (468/868) is a multidisciplinary 4 hr fourth year/graduate level course that includes two 90 min lectures and a weekly 3 hr laboratory. The course is crosslisted in the School of Natural Resources and Biological Systems Engineering Department. The course is typically comprised of 20-30 students with approximately 30% engineering students and 70% natural resources students in the majors of biological systems engineering, water science, fisheries and wildlife, and environmental restoration science. Majority of the students that participate in this course intend to have careers in consulting, government, and/or the nonprofit conservation sectors. Each of these sectors require knowledge of …

Nutr455: Advanced Nutrition And Human Metabolism- A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Sathish Kumar Natarajan

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

NUTR455, Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism is a capstone, ACE 10 course for undergraduate seniors in nutrition and health sciences that I teach in spring semesters since 2017. Among the 3 classes that I taught, spring 2019 class did awesome job in their overall performance, in-class participation, and in-class exams and in their final poster assignment. We analyzed three questions to as part of this teaching benchmark portfolio. 1) The role of in-class iClicker questions in improving student students understanding the key concepts and test whether it motivates the students to study course materials; 2) Tested whether review session impacted/improve …

Peer Review Of Teaching Portfolio: Psychology Of Social Behavior (Psyc 288), Ashley M. Votruba

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This course portfolio assesses student learning in the Psychology of Social Behavior course, PSYC 288. This course introduces students to the field of social psychology—the scientific study of the way in which people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people. This course covers the fundamental principles, theories, methods, experiments, and people of social psychology. Student enrollment for this course consists of 200 to 250 undergraduates from a variety of majors with diverse educational backgrounds and familiarity with social psychology. The course portfolio outlines the goals, learning outcomes, and assessments for this course. …

The Mañana Complex: A Revelatory Narrative Of Teachers’ White Innocence And Racial Disgust Toward Mexican–American Children, Amanda Morales, Elvira Abrica, Socorro Herrera

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This paper presents selected findings from an ethnographic case study of at a public junior high school. Analysis of White teachers’ discourse implicated a perspective of Mexican–American children that we describe as a mañana complex, a perceived association between Mexican–Americans and the term “mañana” (Spanish: “tomorrow”). We outline how this mañana complex among White teachers is indicative of historical racial tropes of Mexicans in the United States while also reflecting current anti-Mexican discourse emboldened and made more fervent by the current US presidential administration. Ultimately, the mañana complex is an example of both racial disgust toward Mexican–American children (Matias and …

Building Momentum By Starting Small, Cassandra R. Seiboldt,, Lorraine Males, Joshua R. Males

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Beginning a teaching career and working to prepare and support beginning teachers is a roller-coaster of successes and puzzling moments. In this article, author Cassandra (Cassie) Seiboldt shares how she learned to manage her first years of teaching by purposefully planning through anticipating student thinking and solutions, and the positive impact this had on her instruction. Lorraine Males, Cassie’s university mathematics teacher educator, and Joshua Males, Cassie’s mathematics department chair, reflect on how various assignments and structures may have supported her in the lesson-planning process.

Representation Of Unaccompanied Migrant Children From Central America In The United States: Media Vs. Migrant Perspectives, Theresa Catalano, Jessica Mitchell-Mccollough

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This chapter examines the representation of unaccompanied minors fleeing Central America (namely Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador) in U.S. online national news sources over a one-year period and compares this to the way these children talk about their own perceptions of migration and their motivation for moving. Data collection consisted of online news reports on unaccompanied minors from Central America in the United States as well as interviews with children collected from the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations. Multimodal critical discourse analysis reveals a qualitative difference in discourse (e.g., use of metaphor, metonymy, deixis and visual …

Planning With Curriculum Materials: Interactions Between Prospective Secondary Mathematics Teachers’ Attention, Interpretations And Responses, Lorraine Males, Ariel Setniker

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This paper reports a study of four prospective secondary mathematics teachers’ (PSTs) attention to different sets of curriculum materials when planning lessons. Specifically, it addresses how this attention interacted with their interpretations of and responses to the materials and how the curriculum elements and format of each set of materials influenced the interaction. Attention, interpretations, and responses were analyzed by capturing quantitative data from eye tracking glasses the PSTs wore and qualitative data from coding the transcripts from two staged planning interviews. Results indicate that PSTs’ interpretations and responses were initiated by their attention and that the curriculum elements and …

Developing A Complex Portrait Of Content Teaching For Multilingual Learners Via Nonlinear Theoretical Understandings, Kara Viesca, Kathryn Strom, Svenja Hammer, Jessica E. Masterson, Cindy H. Linzell, Jessica Mitchell-Mccollough, Naomi Flynn

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Utilizing a complex theory of teacher learning and practice, this chapter analyzes ~120 empirical studies of content teacher development (both preservice and in-service) for working with multilingual learners as well as research on content teaching for multilingual students. Our analysis identified three dimensions of quality content teaching for multilingual learners that are complex and intricately connected: context, orientations, and pedagogy. This chapter explores the results of our literature analysis and argues for improving content teaching for multilingual students through improved theoretically grounded research that embraces, explores, and accounts for the expansive complexities inherent in teacher learning and practice.

“It’S Ok. She Doesn’T Even Speak English”: Narratives Of Language, Culture, And Identity Negotiation By Immigrant High School Students, Lydiah Kananu Kiramba, James Alan Oloo

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This study employs narrative inquiry to explore the experiences of two female, first-generation immigrant- and refugee-background students from West Africa. Using interview as conversation for guiding open-ended research questions and Yosso’s community cultural wealth (CCW) framework, we present participant narratives that speak to both similar and divergent experiences, which demonstrate a deep understanding of complex social issues presenting both tensions and opportunities for African immigrant and refugee student educational success in the United States. The study draws implications for rephrasing normative thinking about emerging multilingual students of African descent and developing a culturally responsive pedagogy for all students.

High School Scholastic Journalism: An Empowering Force In Our Polarized Democracy And Democratic Empowerment: Scholastic Journalism Curriculum, Shelby Schmidt

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Consisting of two parts, this thesis explores the way a journalism classroom can create a democratic space for students that allows them to practice social life while developing more skills in tolerance and more confidence in their agency. The second portion consists of a sample curriculum to allow more democratic empowerment in our classrooms.

Advisor: Stacey Waite

Psyc 462/862: Motivation And Emotion, Carolyn R. Brown-Kramer

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

In this course portfolio, I examine the course goals, learning objectives, teaching methods and materials, assessments, and outcomes for an upper-level psychology elective course, PSYC 462/862, Motivation and Emotion. The course introduces students to the major theories of motivation and emotion, develops their ability to critically examine empirical psychological research, encourages the application of theoretical and empirical work to real-world contexts, and strengthens students’ communication skills. For each of the four course goals, I describe how and why I conduct the course as I do, as well as how my pedagogical choices influence student learning and engagement. Data analyses and …

Psyc/Wmns 421/821: Psychology Of Gender, Kathryn Holland

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This benchmark portfolio describes the process of developing and assessing student learning in Psychology of Gender (PSYC/WMNS 421/821)—a course I taught in Spring 2019 while participating in the Peer Review of Teaching Project at the University of Nebraska Lincoln. This course is housed in the Psychology Department and cross-listed in Women’s and Gender Studies. The students in this course are mostly advanced undergraduate psychology majors. The course is capped at 40 and is primarily discussion-based. In my portfolio, I outline the course structure and context, my course objectives, and the students enrolled. I also document the teaching materials, methods, and …

Course Portfolio For Assessing Student Learning Surrounding Biological Examples In Bsen244: Thermodynamics Of Biological Systems, Forrest M. Kievit

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Thermodynamics is a course required in many engineering disciplines as it covers concepts utilized in many upper level engineering courses. In the Biological Systems Engineering Department at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, this course, in a way, acts as a gateway to the major since this will be one of the first classes where the students must apply and hone their problem-solving skills. This course was developed to allow students in the department to have access to a thermodynamics course that relates to their major area of interest – biological systems. However, many concepts in thermodynamics do not have …

Bioc 321: Elements Of Biochemistry – A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Jing Zhang

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The benchmark portfolio of Biochemistry 321, Elements of Biochemistry, aimed to provide a broad overview for this large-enrollment class for non-biochemistry majors. This course was delivered in a blended format, and the learning objectives were aligned with the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) foundational concepts and skills. Classroom response system iClicker was employed and Think-Pair-Share method was utilized to facilitate the in-class discussion and group-learning. Additional activities include the 3D molecular models for visualizing and hands-on learning of the structure-function relationship concept, and practicing problem-solving through the end-of-chapter essay questions. Data analysis suggested that the iClicker response …

Smaller, More Frequent Assessments May Reduce Students’ Ability To Recall Information, Renee M. Mcfee

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Frequent, low-stakes, formative assessments can provide valuable feedback to both students and instructors. Formative assessments have also been shown to enhance student learning. However, many STEM instructors, including those in professional schools, rely solely on high-stakes, summative assessments such as unit, mid-term, or final exams. Our goal was to determine how administration of weekly quizzes impacts student learning (n = 27) in a graduate/professional-level veterinary physiology course. For 2 units (endocrine and cardiovascular), weekly quizzes were administered in addition to a summative, unit exam. Quizzes consisted of lower-order questions (e.g. recall) while exams consisted of higher-order questions (e.g. integrate, apply). …

Teaching Communication Skills In A Computing Course: An Experience Report, Suzette Person

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

No abstract provided.

Benchmark Portfolio: Cive 334 - Introduction To Geotechnical Engineering, Seunghee Kim

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This Benchmark Portfolio is for CIVE 334 “Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering”. The course description is provided as “soil composition, structure and phase relationships; soil classification; principles of effective stress; loading induced subsurface stresses; load history; deformation and failure of soils; elastic and limit analysis with applications to design for bearing capacity, settlement, retaining walls, and slope stability; steady-state seepage.” This course is mandatory for students in the department of civil engineering, and the only mandatory class in the sub-discipline of geotechnical engineering. Therefore, this course is critical for students to have foundational knowledge about soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering, and …

Peer Review Of Teaching Benchmark Portfolio – Sped 414: Instructional Methods For Teaching Mathematics To Students With Mathematics Learning Disabilities, Jessica Namkung

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The primary purposes of the benchmark portfolio were to systematically document revisions made to the course, SPED 414: Instructional Methods for Teaching Mathematics to Students with Mathematics Learning Disabilities (SPED 414), to refine and explore more effective ways to teaching the course, and to build better connections and in-depth, higher level in-class activities and discussions. Specifically, I focused on reorganizing the course content, incorporating more hands-on activities (e.g., small and large group discussions, real-life examples), implementing “Keep, Stop, Start” mid-evaluation, and conducting a pre- and post-assessment on the main course objectives. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses based on …

Do Expectations And Reflection In A Master’S Level Education Course Contribute To Sense Of Belonging And Learning? A Peer Review Of Teaching Inquiry Project, Stephanie Bondi

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This poster describes a classroom inquiry project completed as part of the advanced peer review of teaching program at UNL in 2019. In this project, the course instructor wondered if some small interventions could lead to more sense of belonging and greater learning in the course. Literature suggests a lack of sense of belonging can negative affect a student’s engagement and learning. The intervention plan included (a) setting the expectation that students work to create an inclusive and affirming environment and (b) asking students three times during the term to reflect on the extent to which people have been doing …

Peer Review Of Teaching Benchmark Portfolio For Soil 477/877: Great Plains Field Pedology, Judith Turk

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Pedology is a field that focuses on soil morphology, genesis, classification, and mapping. Students in pedology must learn to be keen observers, who are able to accurately evaluate the characteristics of the soil. This portfolio focuses on efforts to improve students’ skills at describing soil color, texture, and morphologic features.

Slpa 985: A Peer Review Of Teaching Benchmark Portfolio, Judy Harvey

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

My target course for the Peer Review of Teaching (PRT) Project was SLPA 985 Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). It is offered each spring in the Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. This course is intended for graduate level speech language pathology (SLP) students. I have over twenty years of experience as a practicing speech language pathologist in a rehabilitation hospital. Now, as an assistant Professor of Practice, my role is to integrate academic learning with practical experience. I am confident in my skills as a practitioner and motivated to share my knowledge, …

Edad 983 Qualitative Research Methods In Educational Administration, Sarah J. Zuckerman

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This portfolio documents my process of understanding why a handful of students struggle each semester in a doctoral research methods course, EDAD983 Qualitative Research Methods in Educational Administration. The assignments in this online course build across the semester. Data analysis primarily examined students grades and rubric comments on major assignments. Overall, it was observed that the students with consistently low grades do not appear to take specific feedback to heart in subsequent assignments. Additionally, data analysis includes student surveys, as well as university course evaluations, to better understand how students interact with the material in this online course. As a …