Junior High, Intermediate, Middle School Education and Teaching Commons^™

Promoting College And Career Readiness For All Middle School Students, Lori Cooney

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Future Quest is designed around national and state college and career readiness standards to assist all middle school students to prepare for high school and postsecondary education and employment after high school. Future Quest provides online activities that promote student self-discovery, self-advocacy, self-exploration, organization, and technology literacy skills. Project personnel from the Institute for Community Inclusion are working closely with middle school teachers, students, administrators and families in Massachusetts to embed these college and career readiness skills into the middle school curriculum.

You're And Your, Stella Rich

Grammar Fair Posters

This poster was created by a UNE teacher education candidate for use in a mini-lesson on the words Your and You’re, which students often confuse. During the lesson, students were given the rule for when to use each of the words correctly and the tip that when using “you’re” they can substitute you are in place of the word and when using “your” they can substitute the word my in its place to see what makes sense. After students went over the words they were each given either “your” or “you’re” on a star and asked to Velcro the …

Then Or Than?, Jamie Buyak

Grammar Fair Posters

This poster was created by a UNE teacher education candidate for use in a mini-lesson on the words Then and Than, which students often confuse. During the lesson, students learned the rule for when to use each word correctly and this trick to help: use THEN when referring to time (both “then” and “time” contain the letter e) and THAN when comparing things (both “than” and “compare” contain the letter a). Once students learned the rule they were each given the words then and than and a sentence was presented. Students were asked to come up and Velcro the …

Prefixes, Christine Beecher

Grammar Fair Posters

This poster was created by a UNE teacher education candidate for use in a mini-lesson on Prefixes. During the lesson, students first were taught what prefixes are and how they are combined with a root word to alter the meaning of the root word. Students then were each given index cards—some with prefixes and some with root words. They had to match up their prefix with someone else’s root word to make a new word and then share this with the group. Certain common prefixes such as un, dis, pre, non, re, ex, mis, bi and con were emphasized. …

Synonyms, Saige Sturvist

Grammar Fair Posters

This poster was created by a UNE teacher education candidate for use in a mini-lesson on Synonyms. During the lesson, the teacher first explained what synonyms were and gave some examples. Students then were given some predetermined words and were asked to match their word (written on an orange straw) with its synonym written on the outside of a cup. They were asked to put the word in the cup with the related synonym. To conclude the lesson, students generated their own words that matched a word on a synonym cup and the teacher challenged the students to come …

Improving Motivation, Engagement And Differentiation In Lesson Development Using An Interactive White Board, Jenelle Fiori, Leslie Lieman

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Masculinities, Gendered Expression, And The Social, Emotional, And Academic Well-Being Of High School Boys, Cynthia Bazinet

Educational Studies Dissertations

There has been longstanding concern over the seemingly intractable problem of boys’ academic achievement. Despite extensive research, there is little consensus among researchers and educators regarding best practices and approaches in mitigating and remediating the problem. This mixed-methods study sought to illuminate the issue further by focusing on the meaningful lived experiences of six young men aged 18 to 24 who attended and graduated from a central Massachusetts public high school. The study asked participants to reflect through prompted writing upon the stresses and pressures as well as the factors and conditions that affected their abilities to manage their performativities …

2015 Ijbe Front Matter, Tamra Connor

International Journal for Business Education

1. Editorial Board
2. President's Letter
3. SIEC-ISBE International

Teaching English Learners In Middle Grades: A Mixed Method Study Of The Dispositions, Priorities, And Instructional Practices Of Urban Bilingual, Esl, And Content Teachers, Elizabeth Cardenas-Lopez

Dissertations

This study focuses on the instruction of middle grade English language learners (ELs) and their bilingual, English as a Second Language (ESL), and content teachers in a large, urban, Midwestern school district. This mixed methods study gathered quantitative and qualitative data using a survey and interviews to examine the preparation, dispositions, and experiences of middle grade EL teachers; their professional development; their instructional decisions related to language and literacy development; and the factors that influence these decisions. Study results aided the formulation of district, school, and teacher level recommendations based on the belief that without equitable, quality instruction, and highly …

Cyberbullying Prevention: Intervention Effects On Student Involvement, Sarah Nash Bumpas

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

Repeated studies show that cyberbullying is pervasive amongst adolescents. Cyberbullying can lead to self-harm, depression, and suicidal thoughts. Educators are called to intervene in educating students about cyberbullying through research and federal legislation. However, there is little research examining whether this education is taking place or having an effect.

This study investigates the relationship between the incidences of cyberbullying victimization and offending over time and the direct cyberbullying instruction and activities facilitated by classroom teachers. The study took place amongst sixth graders in Jefferson County Public Schools, a large urban school district located in northern Kentucky. Students in one school …

P17 Black Male Summit, Brandon Jackson

Black Male Summit

Tale of Two African American Males and Their Journey to Ivy League Schools: A Case Study

How do we get more African American males to show their GREATNESS and academic prowess? Can Black Males attend Ivy League schools? How do we prepare our Black Male Scholars for college and career readiness to maximize their education?

P18 Black Male Summit, Brandon Jackson

Black Male Summit

GRAB “A Hands-On Approach to Student Engagement and Academic Performance for African American Males”

Can a handful of words change the trajectory of a persons’ life? Can this acronym G.R.A.B. lead to enhanced college and career readiness in addition enhance their quality of life?

Mentor Partnerships Between Colleges And K-12 Schools: Perspectives From College Students Who Mentor, Tammy J. Graham, Ra'shaud Graham, Traceel Andrews, James Mcmanus, Matthew Harris

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

This interactive presentation will focus on ideas for building mentor partnerships between colleges and K-12 schools. Additionally, college students who serve as mentors will present tips for establishing positive rapport, serving as constructive role models, and fostering trusting relationships with mentees. Target audience members include K-12 faculty members, college students, and college faculty members.

Modifying Science Texts To Accommodate The Needs Of Struggling Readers And English Language Learners, Regina Suriel, Crystal Randolph

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

Students with learning differences, including English language learners, experience difficulties with reading classroom textbooks. This presentation, intended for educators and parents, will discuss and provide practice in the identification of readability levels of science texts discuss the importance of integration of visual stimuli in science texts, and explain culturally-relevant approaches to science curricula.

Count Yourself In:Encouraging Students To Take The 180-Day Challenge, Takeysha Ray, Curlandra Lightfoot-Smith

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

In this presentation, participants will focus on the importance of a holistic approach addressing chronic absenteeism in schools. Participants are provided with tools to take to their district and community helping bring awareness to regular, punctual school attendance. We will provide exciting, hands-on, interactive experiences on initiatives and creative strategies addressing truancy.

"Friending" Students On Social Media, Charles J. Russo

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

The use of social media, particularly services such as Facebook and Twitter, has grown exponentially in recent years. Yet to date, relatively little litigation has arisen around the issue of teachers and other educators engaging in questionable or inappropriate use of social media when communicating with students. Even so, parental complaints do arise when teachers share inappropriate communications with students through social media. Consequently, as social networking continues to increase, school business officials and other education leaders should devise policies to help deal with this growing trend.

Given the widespread use of social media, this column examines emerging legal questions …

Four Reasons Why Pre-Service And Practicing Teachers Should Present At Professional Conferences, Jana Hunzicker, Teresa Biddison, Megan Hickey, Alyssa Mcclethen

MLET: The Journal of Middle Level Education in Texas

During the Fall 2013 semester, two pre-service teachers, one practicing teacher, and a university professor from Peoria, Illinois presented a speed learning session at the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE) Annual Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After disseminating information about an innovative classroom partnership, attending and presenting at the conference provided an authentic professional experience for the teacher-presenters. In addition to describing the background, travel planning process, and conference experience itself, this article offers four reasons why pre-service and practicing teachers should present at professional conferences: increased confidence and motivation, classroom applications, connections with fellow professionals, and reciprocal support.

Effects Of Culturally Relevant Teaching On Seventh Grade African American Students, Shawanna M. Paulk, James Martinez, Dawn T. Lambeth

MLET: The Journal of Middle Level Education in Texas

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between culturally relevant teaching and science achievement in seventh grade African American students when compared to standards-based instruction. The study also examined whether the use of culturally relevant teaching improved students’ attitudes toward science, as well as their participation within the science classroom. The intervention was implemented over the course of eight weeks by using a unit test as a pretest and posttest, formative quizzes, a Science Attitude Survey, and field notes to analyze student performance. Although all participants made academic gains when comparing pretest and posttest results, the culturally …

Trust Me On This, Anita L. Bright

MLET: The Journal of Middle Level Education in Texas

Successful completion of Algebra I is essential for all students in the United States, and is a high-stakes, gatekeeper course. However, a substantial proportion of students from marginalized groups do not gain access to Algebra I until much later in their academic careers than their middle-class, White, English-speaking, fully able peers. This is not only an issue of tracking individual students, but is also indicative of a more profound, institutionalized set of practices. Using a purposive sample, this research highlights the ways middle school mathematics teachers make tracking and student-placement decisions. Teachers in this qualitative research (n=10) reported a heavy …

Socioeconomic Status And Mathematics: A Critical Examination Of Mathematics Performance In Grades Three Through Eight By Mathematical Objective, Brandon L. Fox, Patricia J. Larke

MLET: The Journal of Middle Level Education in Texas

This quantitative research study examined TAKS mathematics performance data across socioeconomic identifiers and found statistically significant differences were observable in grade three across all objectives between students’ not identified as economically disadvantaged and students’ receiving free meals. The highest number of quantifiable differences occurred between the mean scores of students’ identified as not economically disadvantaged scoring significantly higher on objective means than students’ receiving free meals or identified as other economically disadvantaged. After students’ move beyond the third grade, the number of statistically significant differences drastically reduces. By the eighth grade, statistical differences are difficult to locate. An examination of …

Increasing Effective Service And Support For Students On The Autism Spectrum, Jacquelyn Urbani, Billye Brown, Colleen Arnold

Collected Faculty Scholarship

From a campus workshop focusing on how faculty can more effectively work with students with autism.

Comprehensive Individualized Curriculum And Instructional Design, Samuel Sennott, Sheldon Loman, Kristy Lee Park, Luis F. Pérez, Michael J. Kennedy, John Romig, Wendy J. Rodgers

PDXOpen: Open Educational Resources

This online textbook addresses the population of individuals with disabilities that experience complex lifelong needs across multiple areas in their lives. Drs. Sennott and Loman drafted this book (along with the help from some friends) with the hope of providing pertinent, practical, and current resources to future special educators who plan to serve individuals with complex disabilities.

Chapter 1: Guiding Principles for Developing Comprehensive and Meaningful Instruction for Individuals with Complex Needs by Sheldon L. Loman, provides readers with practical resources to develop their repertoire of tools for designing supports for individuals with significant needs.

Chapter 2: Naturalistic …

Muslim Immigrant Children In The United States: Practical Suggestions For Teachers, Shamah Md-Yunus

Faculty Research and Creative Activity

Immigrant children from Muslim communities come from a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and speak 60 different languages. Some of their religious beliefs, values, and practices have created issues and challenges for Western society. This article provides basic information about Muslim and Islamic practices, issues, and challenges Muslim immigrant children face in schools and offers some suggestions for teachers on how to accommodate Muslim immigrants in the United States.

Muslim Immigrant Children In The United States: Practical Suggestions For Teachers, Shamah Md-Yunus

Faculty Research and Creative Activity

Immigrant children from Muslim communities come from a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and speak 60 different languages. Some of their religious beliefs, values, and practices have created issues and challenges for Western society. This article provides basic information about Muslim and Islamic practices, issues, and challenges Muslim immigrant children face in schools and offers some suggestions for teachers on how to accommodate Muslim immigrants in the United States.

Improving The Mathematical Content Knowledge Of Pre-Service Middle School Teachers, Gregory Hine

Education Conference Papers

The tertiary training of pre-service teachers is pivotal in their professional preparation and formation as qualified educators. Multiple authors posit that teachers require a development of pedagogical content knowledge, or knowing a variety of ways to present mathematical content and to assist students to deepen their understanding (Chick, 2012; Shulman, 1987). Emerick, Hirsch and Berry (2003) argue that high quality teachers must possess appropriate mathematical content knowledge, and must also possess considerable background in communicating effectively to students. There are two aims of this educational research. The first is to investigate the self-perceptions of pre-service middle school teachers enrolled in …

Program Evaluation Of Bridges To Success Program, Michael Cory

Education Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the alternative education model, the Bridges to Success Program, and the program’s impact on teachers teaching within the program in a middle school in the Upstate of South Carolina. The Bridges to Success Program was initiated in September 2009 for at-risk students in eighth grade with a history of poor attendance, behavior issues, and low math and reading academic performance.

The evaluation model used was the Logic Model. The research questions set the framework for this study. Research questions focused on short-term outcomes that evaluated how teacher knowledge of …

Program Evaluation On The Implementation Of A Middle School Concept In Private Christian Schools, James Chapman Hall

Education Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to determine the level of implementing a middle school concept in three private Christian schools using Daniel Stufflebeam’s CIPP model of program evaluation. The National Middle School Survey was used to measure faculty and administrative perceptions of both the value and actual implementation of middle school concepts that to this point have not been formally evaluated in each school. Additionally, student levels of cognitive and psychological engagement and global life satisfaction were measured using the Student Engagement Instrument and Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale.

The following evaluation questions were the focus of this study …

The Role Grade-Level Configuration Plays On Meeting Young Adolescents' Developmental Needs, Jessica W. Hall

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation is a mixed-methods research study on the role grade-level configuration plays on meeting the developmental needs of young adolescents. This study reviews the history of the middle school, explains the controversy over grade span configurations, and articulates the developmental needs of young adolescents and what schools should provide to ensure the success of their students.

Seven schools in northwest North Carolina were examined. Four of these schools serve students in a 6-8 setting and three serve students in a K-8 setting. In an attempt to ascertain what grade-level configuration best meets the developmental needs of young adolescents, surveys …

A Study Of The Social And Emotional Growth And Development Of Students With Disabilities In An Inclusive Setting In An Inner-City Middle School, Heather Rachelle Lemmons

Education Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this retrospective, explanatory sequential mixed-methods study was to determine the impact of an inclusive educational setting on the behavioral, social, and emotional growth and development of students with various disabilities. Many aspects of a student’s educational experiences can be affected by a proper placement in an inclusive setting with non-disabled peers including discipline rates and referrals, need for behavioral goals and plans, and perceptions concerning personal social growth and development.

The setting for this research study was an inner-city middle school serving Grades 7 and 8 in western North Carolina. Eighth-grade middle school students identified as students …

The Impact Of Repeated Reading As An Intervention For Middle Grades Sixth- And Seventh-Grade Students On Reading Fluency, Christopher Dion Stocks

Education Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this dissertation was to determine the effects of repeated reading on readers identified as below grade in sixth and seventh grade. The study was set in a rural middle school located in the foothills of North Carolina.

Students selected for the study were identified utilizing Lexile levels to identify them as below grade level for sixth and seventh grade. Once students were identified, the teachers used Curriculum Based Measures (CBMs) to determine their current fluency levels. Oral reading fluency and MAZE CBMs were employed to measure speed, accuracy, rate, and comprehension. Classroom teachers also used a prosody …