Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Promoting Student Reflection Through Reflective Writing Tasks, Elena Taylor

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Access the online Pressbooks version of this article here.

Reflection is a necessary component of learning. Through reflective assignments and tasks, students are given opportunities to evaluate their learning and analyze strategies they use while acquiring and applying course material. Reflections also help students assess and think deeply about the information presented in class and thus better retain it. Through reflecting on their learning, students are also given the opportunity to formulate goals for future improvement. Reflective tasks can be implemented in any classroom, and writing is a powerful tool to do that. This article describes several writing tasks that …

Full Issue: Journal On Empowering Teaching Excellence, Volume 7, Issue 1, Spring 2023

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

The full-length Spring 2023 issue (Volume 7, Issue 1) of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Access the online Pressbooks version (with downloadable EPUB format) here.

The Spring 2023 issue presents research and guidance on topics related to student self-reflection, participatory learning, and returning to the in-person learning following the COVID-19 pandemic. The first article takes a critical approach to understanding pedagogy with adult learners by involving students in the creation of course syllabi as a way to challenge ideologies related the roles of instructor and students. The second article blends research and narrative to explore how the experiences of …

Interventions To Improve Teacher Self-Efficacy Beliefs About Writing And Writing Instruction: Lessons Learned And Areas For Exploration, Jadelyn Abbott, Tracey Hodges, Sherry Dismuke, Katherine Landau Wright, Claire Schweiker

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

The present study explores the findings of a systematic literature review of research about teachers’ self-efficacy for writing and writing instruction to demystify what is known and what remains unknown. We analyzed the pool of research on self-efficacy for writing and writing instruction from January 1992 to August 2020. Our final inclusion of articles resulted in 22 articles that examine teacher self-efficacy for writing and writing instruction while meeting our standards of examining changes in self-efficacy. We examined how shifts in self-efficacy are measured, specific interventions that increase teachers’ self-efficacy for writing and writing instruction as well as interventions that …

Infographic: Basic Literacy Skills And The Gap Between Male And Female Students, Jo Earp

Teacher infographics

NAPLAN’s National Minimum Standard is the ‘agreed minimum acceptable standard of knowledge and skills without which a student will have difficulty making sufficient progress at school’. Ahead of the 2023 tests, we compare the percentage of male and female students in year 9 achieving at or above the standard in Literacy, over time.

Infographic: Basic Skills And The Gap Between Indigenous And Non-Indigenous Students, Jo Earp

Teacher infographics

In the National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests, the national minimum standard (NMS) is the ‘agreed minimum acceptable standard of knowledge and skills without which a student will have difficulty making sufficient progress at school’. This infographic looks at the performance of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students in Year 9, over time.

Third- To Fifth-Grade Teachers’ Training And Their Confidence In Teaching Writing, Lysette Dorothy Cohen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Third- to fifth-grade teachers are struggling to teach writing, and research had not addressed how their training to teach writing or their confidence in their ability to use effective strategies to teach writing influences their teaching. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore third- to fifth-grade teachers’ training in writing instruction and their confidence in their ability to use effective strategies to teach writing. The conceptual framework was Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy and Shulman’s theory of pedagogical content knowledge. Participants included nine third- to fifth-grade teachers who had experience teaching writing. Data were collected through semistructured interviews. …

The Power Of Conflict Or Rhetoric And Poetry, Suzanne Riskin

be Still

I am grateful for the opportunity to write this piece, share my thoughts and give a moment of gratitude for the grace that medical students show to others, their attending physicians, patients and most importantly themselves Effective writing, speaking, and expression is easily born from a struggle with others. Our own internal battles emote themselves as prolific poetry.

This piece was inspired by the quote by Yeats.

A Spark Of Light In The Darkness: A Framework Of Habits And Routines That Grow Literacy Identities, Andy Schoenborn

Michigan Reading Journal

Using familiar and flexible classroom routines, authentic literacy habits, and encouragement, his students moved from "I hate reading and writing" to self-identifying as readers and writers in a matter of eighteen weeks.

Learning About Teaching Writing: The Use Of Roles To Support Preservice Teachers Pedagogical Knowledge And Practices, Kristine Pytash, Denise N. Morgan, Elizabeth Testa

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

If teacher educators are fortunate to be able to teach a writing methods class, they encounter challenges in designing field experiences that support what preservice teachers are learning in their course. In this article, we described how we developed a unique field placement where the preservice teachers worked in teams and rotated roles each week. We found that these taking on these roles provided preservice teachers with unique lenses to learning about writing, students, and general teaching pedagogies.

“We Can Position Ourselves As Experts”: Teachers Learning To Write And Publish On National Blogs, Henry "Cody" Miller, Gage Jeter

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

This article focuses on a collective case study of two teachers attending a professional development workshop focused on writing for publication via educational blogs. Through a qualitative study, we sought to understand how attending the workshop and publishing on a national organization's blog shaped the two teachers' own identities as teachers and shifted their thinking about blogs as a genre. We argue the two teachers had a shift in conceptualizing what counted as scholarship as well as problematizing who counted as a scholar. In an era of increased attacks on teachers' intellectualism and autonomy, we believe publishing on national blogs …

Teaching With The Genius In Mind: Enacting Literacy As A Civil Right, Katie Glupker, Pam Gower, Angela Knight

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

Because literacy is a civil right, educators are responsible for designing and implementing literacy education that is designed with the excellence of all students in mind. In order to learn about ways to ensure that literary practices are equitable for all students, the authors joined an educators’ book club to read Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy by Gholdy Muhammad. Muhammad describes the Black literary societies of the past and challenges educators of today to enhance classrooms by upholding equity and excellence through a five-layered framework: Identity, Skills, Intellect, Criticality, and Joy.

We studied Muhammad’s …

Developing Teacher Candidates’ Multicultural Lenses Through Disciplinary Writing Assignments, Kristie Gutierrez, Jori S. Beck, Kaavonia Hinton, Kelly Rippard, Yonghee Suh

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of providing scaffolded disciplinary writing assignments to develop teacher candidates’ multicultural lenses. This study was set in a secondary education program at one mid-Atlantic university. Faculty in this program focused on five dimensions of multicultural education (ME) to better serve teacher candidates within their program through the development of ME-focused disciplinary writing assignments. In required courses within the program, teacher candidates (TCs) completed assignments such as a student shadow experience, infographic, journal, community mapping activity, and practitioner journal article. Qualitative data were collected to explore TCs’ understanding of the ME …

Getting It Write: The Influence Of Growth Mindset On Secondary Students' Perceptions Of Their Writing Abilities, Megan Hertz

Masters of Education in Teaching and Learning

This study investigated the ways in which growth mindset activities influenced secondary students’ perceptions of their writing abilities and skills. The researcher introduced growth mindset strategies, language, and instruction into two class periods of a 10th–grade English classroom to improve students’ perceptions of their writing abilities and to develop students’ writing skills. Data were collected with pre– and post–intervention surveys, field notes, written artifacts, and individual interviews. The constant comparative method was used to analyze qualitative data to identify significant themes. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze quantitative data. The researcher found the participants expressed improved resilience in response to …

Teaching Writing To Middle School Students With Disabilities: A Merc Research Brief, David Naff, Jennifer Askue-Collins, Julie S. Dauksys

MERC Publications

This research brief by the Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium explores peer reviewed literature about effective strategies for teaching writing to middle school students with disabilities. It answers the following questions: 1) Why is it important to teach writing? 2) What is the nature of the challenge in teaching writing to middle school students with disabilities? 3) What interventions help with teaching writing to middle school students with disabilities? and 4) What strategies are utilized in the MERC region for teaching writing to middle school students with disabilities?

The Impact Of A Year-Long Professional Development On Teacher Self-Efficacy In Personal Writing And The Teaching Of Writing, Guang-Lea Lee, Terri Brodeur, Cherng-Jyh Yen, Tian Luo, Pauline Salim Muljana

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Long-term professional development (PD) initiatives are scant in the extant literature. This study examines the impact of a year-long, face-to-face teacher PD provided for teachers from a high-need elementary school to improve their personal writing and writing instruction. A mixed-methods approach was used to collect and analyze data primarily from pre- and post-surveys and interviews. Statistical analyses suggest that teachers’ self-efficacy toward writing instruction was improved, but not self-efficacy toward their personal writing. Various means of how the year-long teacher PD influenced their self-efficacy were demonstrated through qualitative analysis. Implications of conducting teacher PD on writing instruction were discussed.

Using Online Genres To Promote Students’ Audience Awareness, Elena Taylor

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Writing assignments that students complete in university courses are typically designed for evaluation and grading by the instructor, who, therefore, acts as the sole reader of student written work. However, most written genres students would--and do--encounter in the world beyond the classroom are composed for diverse audiences who influence writers’ text construction considerably. Because most students will be likely to write for multiple audiences as part of their career or future academic endeavors, it is crucial for them to develop a sense of audience awareness as an indispensable rhetorical concept that shapes composing processes. Writing online presents a great opportunity …

Full Issue: Journal On Empowering Teaching Excellence, Volume 5, Issue 2, Fall 2021

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

The full Fall 2021 issue (Volume 5, Issue 2) of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Acting With Inscriptions: Expanding Perspectives Of Writing, Learning, And Becoming, Kevin R. Roozen

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

This article argues for increased attention to people’s engagements with inscriptions and inscriptional practices and the long-term implications they have for the ongoing production of persons, practices, and social worlds across heterogeneous times, places, and activities. Based on a multi-year case study, this analysis examines one microbiology major’s production and use of inscriptions at the intersections of his participation in both disciplinary science and religious worship and traces the long-term consequences those uses have for his becoming as a scientist of faith. If, as Paul Prior asserts, “ literate activity is not located in acts of reading and writing but …

“The Hidden Door That Leads To Several Moments More”: Finding Context For The Literacy Narrative In First Year Writing, Denise Goldman

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

The literacy narrative has emerged as a useful genre in composition pedagogy because of the perceived bridge it provides between personal narrative and academic literacy. Although there remains disagreement among practitioners with regard to its purpose and efficacy, it continues to be a staple in the writing classroom because it has the potential to help students learn analytical skills while fostering investment through the features of a personal narrative. Recent efforts in the field, especially with regard to questions of transfer of writing, have focused on the benefits of genre and community discourse analysis as a means to help students …

Exploring Kindergarten Teachers’ Classroom Practices And Beliefs In Writing, Ying Guo, Cynthia Puranik, Megan Schneider Dinnesen, Anna H. Hall

Publications

The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine how kindergarten teachers teach writing and their beliefs about writing instruction using survey methodology. Participants in this study included 78 kindergarten teachers in the United States. Results revealed that most kindergarten teachers used a balanced approach to writing instruction, combining instructional procedures from two common methods for teaching writing: skills instruction and process writing. The majority of kindergarten teachers devoted considerable time to writing instruction (36 min a day) and student writing (24 min a day) and used most of the instructional practices included in the survey to teach writing. These …

How Padlet Encouraged Student Collaboration And Engagement In My Virtual Classroom, Annie Yon

New Jersey English Journal

With the growth of virtual classes, it is crucial for teachers to integrate strategies and resources that foster student engagement and build a sense of community in an online environment. One way to augment synchronous and asynchronous communication is to implement an online discussion board, which can provide rich opportunities for students to share insights, ask clarifying questions, collaborate, create multimodal projects, and have their voices heard. By incorporating an interactive discussion board, such as Padlet, as part of class resources, teachers can facilitate discourse among students that transcends the physical boundaries of the classroom, create a motivational environment, improve …

Neuro-Compostion: Developing The Creative Brain In The Classroom, Tara D. Scarola

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation raises the question of how educators can incorporate research about the human mind to foster and support student growth throughout writing processes. In understanding how our minds process, interpret, and generate writing, valuable insights can be learned about the process of composing. Valuing the varying perspectives students possess and the types of texts with which students engage aid in developing not only what Paul Joy Guilford calls “divergent thinking,” but also a sense of empowerment and ownership over the writing process. In disrupting what Robert Thatcher calls “the phase-lock mode” and guiding students through reworking the writing process …

Jour200a: Fundamentals Of Editing And Reporting I — Teaching Lede Writing For Digital/Print, Broadcast And Social Media Simultaneously, Chris Graves

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Fundamentals of Editing and Reporting I is a foundational course required for all majors in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. The first half of the course focuses on grammar, AP style, determining how to identify news and good editing. The second half of the course pivots to applying those principles in writing by focusing on teaching students how to summarize news facts, write them in an inverted pyramid news writing style for digital/print publication and also for broadcast and social media platforms. There are key differences in writing for various platforms …

Word Problems In The Mathematics Textbook: An Instructional Resource Guide To Support Writing Instruction., Christine Picot, Jenifer Jasinski Schneider

Transformations

Abstract

Mathematics textbooks typically include word problems or story problems that require students to develop extended written responses. Yet, the answers to these prompts can vary so widely that preservice and inservice teachers must be prepared for multiple levels of interpretation of the language used to capture mathematical thinking. Based on an analysis of word problems within two teacher’s editions of elementary mathematics textbooks, we describe a series of strategies and tasks to scaffold teachers’ understanding of planning for word problems during mathematics instruction. We detail the following components; (1) the use of the Instructional Resource Guide, which assists …

Measuring Student Success In Jour200a: Fundamentals Of Editing & Reporting I: A Beginning Writing, Editing And Reporting Class, Jessica Fargen Walsh

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

A grammar error or typo on a resume can mean the difference between getting the job or having your resume deleted. Factual errors and inconsistencies can also affect a writer’s credibility. Accuracy, style, word choice and consistency matter for these reasons and more. Journalism students in particular should come to internships, classes and jobs with the skills they need to succeed. The course Jour200A: The Fundamentals of Reporting & Editing I attempts to meet this demand by providing all majors in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications with a strong foundation in editing and writing. This project sought to …

The Dimensions Of Teachers Who Write And The Essence Of A Writing Life, Shari L. Daniels, Pamela Beck

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

The purpose of this grounded theory case study was to explore the perceptions among ten K-12 teachers who teach writing and also write themselves. What are the key essentials for teachers to sustain a writing life? What habits of mind or attitudes are necessary for teachers to sustain a writing life? Interviews served as the primary data source along with writing artifacts from the participants’ own writing life. Findings indicate that teacher-writers committed to a writing life do so for the purpose of 1) discovering meaning, 2) connections to others 3) commitment to learning and 4) well-being, with an overall …

Teachers Writing, Healing, And Resisting, Anne Elrod Whitney

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

For at least the past twenty years, writing education and writing teacher education have been carried out in more and more tightly managed, neoliberally influenced policy conditions as well as worsening conditions of inequality in educational resources based on both race and on income. The result is increasingly dehumanizing conditions for teaching and learning writing. This context intersects in interesting ways with the notion of the teacher-writer. This essay re-raises and reframes the idea of the teacher-writer to open up possibilities for both resilience, and resistance-- both in teachers’ individual lives, and for teachers in the collective sense.

Empower: An Adaptable Writing Intervention, Carly Dinnes

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

EmPOWER is a six-stage writing intervention designed by speech-language pathologists to improve the expository writings of school-aged children with language learning and executive function disabilities. The intervention uses scaffolded instruction to transform struggling students into independent and self-regulating writers by training the students to use a variety of supports (e.g., graphic organizers, checklists) and strategies (e.g., referring back to the writing prompt) throughout the writing process. Many key features of the EmPOWER approach to writing instruction directly support components described in cognitive models of writing, which indicates that EmPOWER is a theory-guided writing intervention that may benefit a wide range …

Keeping Things Going: Reflections On Teaching “Teaching Writing” Online, Emily S. Meixner

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

What does it mean to “keep things going online” in an undergraduate teacher education course on teaching writing? In this article, a teacher educator describes how, in consultation with her students, she adapted a secondary English methods course on teaching writing to teach it online. While highlighting and celebrating what worked, she also reflects on lessons learned and teaching questions that continue to persist.

Rethinking The Teaching Of Writing In An Era Of Remote Learning: Lessons Learned From A Local Site Of The National Writing Project, Troy Hicks

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

As the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to close in the spring of 2020, teacher consultants from a local writing project site were compelled to make their practice public, sharing conversations about what remote learning and the teaching of writing could look like through a series of eight webinars and, subsequently, an open institute in the summer of 2020. Built on principles of the National Writing Project including openness, flexibility, and an inquiry-driven stance toward professional learning, the work of this site’s director and teacher leaders is described as they worked together to think about issues of equity and access, socio-emotional …