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

Our Journeys As Teachers Of Writing: Learning From Our Mentor, Tracey T. Flores, Cecilia Espinosa

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

Written in two voices, we reflect on our journeys as teachers of writing and teacher educators shaped by transformative mentoring in literacy methods courses at Arizona State University and community embedded learning at William T. Machan School. Weaving together sociocultural and translanguaging theories, we explore how being invited to write from our lives reshaped our identities as writers and educators. In our work, we draw on strength-based approaches to teaching writers that centers voice, meaning making, multilingualism, and funds of knowledge. In the midst of an increase in the use of a scripted curriculum, we argue for reclaiming writing as …

Everyone Is A Writer: Building Writer Identities And Writing Communities In Preservice And English Language Arts Classrooms, Amber Warrington, Hanna Burns, Allie Zimmerly

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

In this article, a teacher educator and two early-career teachers reflect on a Teaching Writers methods course the teachers took as part of their teacher education program. In the course, the two teachers developed their own writer identities and took part in a writing community. The teachers discuss ways they have brought those experiences into their classrooms and adapted the experiences for their students and contexts.

From Corrector To Reader: Pre-Service Teachers’ Writing Values And Feedback, Amanda Brewer

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This study investigates the written feedback practices of secondary English Pre-Service Teachers (PSTs) to understand how their values regarding "good" writing influence their comments on student work. Through analysis of feedback on 10th-grade writing samples and value-sorting surveys, the study examines their feedback tendencies and the links with their values. Findings indicate a significant shift over the semester from a directive, deficit-based "corrector" stance to a facilitative, asset-based "reader" stance. The data suggests that when PSTs lack specific metalinguistic language, they default to generic advice or mechanical correction. However, when instructed to align their feedback with their core writing values, …

Collaborative Curriculum Design For Culturally And Historically Responsive Education: Implications From Initial Program Evaluation, Christine L. Craddock, Rachel Juergensen, Shelley Rouser, Michael Ryan, Diamond Lee

Current Issues in Middle Level Education

This article discusses a unique program initiative of one university’s education department to interrogate teacher education coursework together as educators and researchers. We evaluated the course curriculum of five different courses together as a team on a routine basis and documented our thoughts and discussion through video and an organized survey tool. This tool was developed according to Muhammad’s five pursuits of culturally and historically responsive education which include: identity, skills, intellect, criticality, and joy. This produced qualitative and quantitative findings related to methods for adapting and adjusting course instruction, content, and assessments according to the pursuits. Relatedly, it promoted …

Whose Histories Will A Genai Tool Generate? Prompting Chatgpt-4 For Diverse History Lesson Plans For The Cold War Space Race, Robert W. Maloy, Sai Gattupalli, Torrey Trust

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

This paper explores strategies for teachers to use in prompting ChatGPT-4 to develop diverse history lesson plans for the Cold War Space Race. Prior research showed that when given a single, broadly phrased “design a lesson plan” prompt, chatbots are less likely to generate material about experiences of African Americans, women, and other historically marginalized groups. We tried two alternative prompting strategies: a) Change the wording of the prompt to incorporate James Banks’ Levels of Multicultural Content Model, and b) Change the source of the content for the prompt by using teacher-curated materials from an open online wikispace, resourcesforhistoryteachers that …

Teaching Inquiry: A Guiding Template Fosters Critical Thinking, Barbara D. O'Donnell, Abigail C. Schwent

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

This article provides a supportive way to address the marginalization of social studies by teaching inquiry through the use of a template. Inquiry based learning encourages students to make real-world connections by engaging in problem solving and exploration through research. It fosters higher level skills like critical thinking, evaluation, and synthesis of knowledge through experiential learning (Bell, Urhahne, Schanze and Ploetzner 2009). Using inquiry to investigate social studies topics encourages the use of sources from diverse perspectives to understand the complete picture of the event being researched. Teaching social studies through inquiry is a daunting task due to multiple obstacles …

From Disengaged To Flourishing: The Impact Of Authentic And Practical Professional Development On Teachers And Students, Julianne Scullen

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Building upon the ideas of social constructivists work in dialogic instruction (Bakhtin, 1981; Vygotsky, 1978) and self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1977), this study sought to answer: How does teacher participation in a book club impact teacher disposition to dialogic practices in the classroom? And how does teacher participation in a book club influence teacher efficacy regarding the implementation of dialogic practice? Using case study research based on semi-structured interviews, book club transcripts, and participant reflective journal entries, changes in disposition toward dialogism and efficacy in dialogic classroom practice were explored. The book club itself served as an intervention and provided teachers …

Tweeting Over Time: Twitter/X For Communication, Assessment, And Growth In Middle Level Teacher Education, Toni M. Williams

Current Issues in Middle Level Education

This article shares how preservice Middle Level teacher candidates used social media, specifically Twitter/X as both a resource and a tool and how that tool became important in assessing student growth and knowledge building which, in turn, informed instructional planning for the teacher education classroom. This is paramount for teacher educators and the future educators they teach, as they are preparing to create a variety of engagements for learning in teacher education programs and in middle level classrooms. Creating an online community is a means in which all preservice teachers can use their voices while at the same time having …

The Legacy Of Oscarville: Using Critical Participatory Action Research And Learning Teaching As An Interpretive Process To Sustain A Placeless Place, Leah Panther, Kristie Smith, Mary Mitchelson, Robert Bonner Jr.

Teaching Social Studies in the Peach State

The history of Oscarville, Georgia, nestled within the Lake Lanier region of North Georgia, remains both known and unknown, existing as a significant yet elusive part of local lore and historical retellings. This article delves into the innovative approach of a place-based critical participatory action research program, "Historicizing Oscarville," which engaged teacher candidates and educators in exploring the obscured history of Oscarville. The narrative uncovers the complex layers of settler colonialism, slavery, racial cleansing, and subsequent erasure that characterize Oscarville's past. By employing the framework of Learning Teaching as an Interpretive Process (LTIP) within a place-based education model, the project …

Course Correction: Examining 2020’S Middle Level Teacher Education Through A Critical, Antiracist Lens-A Collaborative Self-Study Of Teacher Education Practices, Kristie W. Smith, Kristina N. Falbe

Current Issues in Middle Level Education

The work of teacher education in a 2020’s context is challenging and filled with opportunity. With a diversifying P-12 student body (Love, 2020; Pitts, 2019) and the confluence of social, political, and educational factors (Nieto & Bode, 2018), the complexities of teacher education are vast and fluid. In a historical moment that has included teaching in a time of pandemic, national reckonings over race and injustice, and explicit legislation to guide teaching about social history (Kelly et al, 2023), effective middle level teacher education is multifaceted. It calls for the development of teacher candidates skilled in creating school environments that …

Five Secondary Teachers’ Developing Identities As Teachers Of Digital Writing, Brad Jacobson

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

The negotiation of teacher identity has been identified as a particular challenge for literacy teachers in the context of technological change and expanding beliefs about writing. This research project uses “identity” as an analytic tool to understand five secondary teachers’ development as teachers of digital writing. Following similar research on teacher development and identity (Lee, 2013), this study examines teacher identity in relation to discourse (how teachers talk about themselves) and practice (how they perform their identities in their work), with attention to how identification is influenced by and through social and cultural factors. Findings show that these teachers’ embrace …

Home Of The Brave Book Study Assignment Description, David Wolff

Open Educational Resources - Teaching and Learning

Individuals lead storied lives, and everyone has a story to tell. Our stories can be shared orally and documented in print. Often, learners are exposed to stories through novels and other trade books. Teacher educators may benefit from using the stories in novels and trade books as case studies in preservice teacher preparation course. This assignment description outlines how to use the novel, Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate, as a case study to contextualize and understand the lived story of an individual learning a second language and living in a new country. Through the novel, preservice teachers experience …

Stories That Matter: An Analysis Of Teacher Candidates’ Compositions About Social Justice Events In Their Lives, Kathleen A. Gormley, Peter Mcdermott

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

Abstract

This study generated from our interest in learning about social justice events in the lives of teacher candidates in our programs of study. In many schools of education, including our own, social justice is a concept that is integrated into the curriculums, yet there is wide variation as to how this is actually done. A unique aspect of this study was that more than half of the candidates were matriculated in an alternate teacher education program where the majority of candidates are people of color. Using narrative analysis, we examine 48 written narratives composed by teacher candidates about events …

Committing To Anti-Bias Anti-Racist Teaching: From Activity To Habits Of Mind, Tierney B. Hinman, Elizabeth Y. Stevens, Tess M. Dussling, Nance S. Wilson, Amy Tondreau, Wendy Gardiner, Kristen White, Sophie Degener

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

With the need to prepare teacher candidates to work with an increasingly diverse student body in U.S. schools, a multi-institutional collaborative self-study group was formed to examine ways in which teacher educators could expand beyond practice-based literacy preparation to support candidates’ understanding and implementation of critical pedagogies. The self-study served as a catalyst for interrogating the identities the teacher educators brought to their practice and began a journey that transformed a focus on critical literacies into a commitment to action for change through anti-bias anti-racist work. This paper draws from group dialogue and reflective journals to examine specific practices implemented …

Student With Twice-Exceptionalities Iep Meeting Assignment Description, David Wolff

Open Educational Resources - Teaching and Learning

General education teachers should remember that all students are general education students, first. We need to be prepared to work with students of all abilities in our classrooms. As general education teachers, we have an active role on a child’s IEP team and an active role during the IEP meeting. This assignment asked preservice teachers to develop a script of what they would say at an IEP meeting of one character from four different novels that would be considered a child with twice-exceptionalities.

Critical Social Foundations Of Education: Advancing Human Rights And Transformative Justice Education In Teacher Preparation, Magnus O. Bassey

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Teaching Priorities As Both Durable And Flexible: Writing Pedagogy Classes Across International Contexts, Charlotte L. Land, Jessica Cira Rubin

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This article developed from a year-long inquiry into our practices as writing teacher educators. As new university faculty in two different countries, we drew on a previous literature review project to identify enduring priorities for teaching writing pedagogy. We then analyzed our developing practices in these unfamiliar places, specifically noting what also felt flexible enough to work across contexts, leaving space for local adaptation. For each of our classes, we explore how we expressed those priorities: discussing teaching practices as connected with theories and discourses of teaching writing, supporting teacher-student experiences through a cycle of writing, and facilitating appreciative views …

Imagining The Possible: Reflections On Teaching A Writing Methods Course For Pre-Service Undergraduate Secondary English/Language Arts Teachers, Emily S. Meixner

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

What's possible in a teaching writing methods class? In this essay, the author provides a descriptive portrait of the undergraduate secondary writing methods course she teaches, focusing on five specific learning outcomes: teacher writing identities, knowledge of writer's craft, grammatical awareness and an understanding of linguistic justice/injustice, writing workshop methodology, and genre-based unit and lesson planning. Course readings, assignments, and work samples are included.

Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions And Knowledge Of Response To Intervention/Multitiered Systems Of Support, Alexandra J. Taylor, Tommy Wells, Amy E. Lein

Kentucky Teacher Education Journal: The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Kentucky Council for Exceptional Children

There has been considerable research that establishes the need to improve teachers’ knowledge of and ability to effectively implement response to intervention (RtI)/multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS), and there is a scarcity of research examining interventions addressing these concerns. In a mixed methods study, we examined the perceptions and knowledge of the RtI/MTSS frameworks of undergraduate preservice teaching candidates enrolled in a dual certification program at a small, private Catholic university in Kentucky, before and after participating in a semester-long, experiential learning project. The project involved monitoring both the reading and mathematics progress of struggling elementary or middle school-aged students …

Recognizing And Sustaining #Blackgirlmagic: Reimagining Justice-Oriented Approaches In Teacher Education, Tia C. Madkins

Occasional Paper Series

As our global public health, race, and education crises continue to converge, PK-12 teachers must engage justice-oriented pedagogies. This historical moment highlights BIPOC children’s dehumanizing experiences, yet Black girls’ educational lives remain invisible. To address these issues within teacher education, scholars suggest teachers need to develop critical consciousness and reject deficit views of students, especially Black girls. Therefore, I discuss how we can support educators and teacher educators in recognizing and sustaining #BlackGirlMagic (i.e., Black girls’ and women’s universal awesomeness and brilliance). We can prepare educators to celebrate the diversity of Black girlhoods and disrupt monolithic views of who Black …

Supporting And Retaining Early Career Mathematics Teachers Using An Online Community Of Practice, Paula Jakopovic, Travis Weiland, Maria Campitelli, Lorraine Males, Lisa Amick

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education Faculty Publications

This study reports on efforts over several years to design and implement a yearlong intervention intended to support secondary mathematics teachers in their early years of teaching. The intervention is designed to retain early career mathematics teachers in the professions by engaging them in the development of meaningful professional relationships with a school-based mentors, and by creating an online community of practice for support with other professionals. The intervention itself consists of early career teachers and their mentors participating in monthly professional learning activities such as online meetings, videoconferencing panels with experts, and collaborative reading and discussing timely, purposeful, and …

Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions Of Professional Standards And Their Integration Into Pre-Service Training: A Comparative Study Of Australia And Pakistan, Sadia Shaukat, Raqib Chowdhury

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper critically analyses 52 Australian and 68 Pakistani pre-service teachers’ (PST) perceptions of professional standards for teachers enabling the comparison of teacher preparation in the two countries. A multivariate analysis of variance tested the hypothesis that an integrated standards-based teacher preparation program was more effective for professional skills and competencies development than a non-integrated one. While the Australian PSTs undertaking a standards-integrated curriculum reported significantly higher levels of professional preparation in ten areas of professional Standards, their Pakistani counterparts - who were not exposed to such curriculum - reported inadequate preparation. The findings have implications for teacher educators and …

Aboriginal Community-Led Preservice Teacher Education: Learning From Country In The City, Katrina Thorpe, Cathie Burgess, Suzanne Egan

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In Australia it is well documented that teachers continue to struggle with implementing Aboriginal content, pedagogies and engaging with Aboriginal communities. This paper describes a research project analysing place-based learning for preservice teachers at an urban university led by Aboriginal community members. We argue that place-based learning is critical in developing preservice teacher’s knowledge and confidence in Aboriginal education. Surveys, individual and group yarns provided in-depth data from 64 participants completing elective courses including place-based ‘Learning from Country’ (LFC) experiences. Three key findings emerge from the data. Firstly, the utility of an experiential ‘learning by doing’ approach, secondly, the profound …

The Exclusive White World Of Preservice Teachers’ Book Selection For The Classroom: Influences And Implications For Practice, Helen Adam, Anne-Maree Hays, Yvonne Urquhart

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper reports on a study of the children’s book preferences of 82 Preservice teachers (PSTs) at one Western Australian University. The study found PSTs preferred older books published during their own childhood or earlier. Further, representation of people of colour was limited to only 8 of 177 titles listed by PSTs. Key influences on their preferences were their personal favourite books and those used by mentor teachers during practicum experience. The outcomes of this study have implications for curriculum development and implementation of Initial Teacher Education courses, and in turn, for equitable outcomes of the future students of PSTs.

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 …

Exploring Implicit Bias To Evaluate Teacher Candidates' Ethical Practice In The Internship, Jamie Silverman, Jessica Shiller

Journal of Practitioner Research

To create an equitable and ethical learning environment in the classroom requires teacher candidates (TCs) to develop positive relationships with students and to reflect on who they are. Using the elements of Richard Milner’s (2007) Framework of Researcher Racial and Cultural Positionality, this article presents an account of an innovative practice in how to engage secondary education TCs in a reflection of implicit biases, and how to interrupt them to become more ethical professionals. This article takes InTASC 9: Professional Learning and Ethical Practice as a point of departure and describes how a new teacher mentor piloted a series of …

The Influence Of Observational Experience And Metaconceptual Teaching Activities On Secondary Science Teacher Candidates’ Conceptual Understandings Of The Practices Of Science, Jillian L. Wendt, Brandy Huderson

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

Research supports that the use of intentional, metaconceptual teaching practices enhances teacher candidates’ conceptual change, thus affecting teacher candidates’ accumulation of new knowledge and understanding. With the increased focus on and need to accommodate the calls for enhanced science teacher education of the Next Generation Science Standards and the related practices of science, it is important to consider how teacher preparation programs enact conceptual change among teacher candidates that align with the current calls. This study examines intentional, metaconceptual teaching activities coupled with observational field experiences with mentor scientists to determine whether engagement in these activities affects teacher candidates’ understandings …

White Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions And Their Development Of Culturally Relevant Literacy Practices, Lakia M. Scott, Elena Venegas

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

Existent literature purports that providing White teacher candidates with increased exposure to urban schools in order to create culturally competent educators has failed. These findings reflect the notion that teacher ideologies and overall perspectives about working with diverse student groups must be harnessed in a genuine ethic of care and intentionality for students of color. However, few studies have taken the approach of examining the development of culturally relevant pedagogy through context-specific field experiences using content-specific courses. This study examines the perspectives of twenty-five White pre-service teachers from a predominately White, private university regarding their initial perceptions and gained conceptual …

A Space To Learn, Amy R. Goods

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this dissertation, I explore what it means to different people, in different places throughout life’s spectrum to create a space to learn. This dissertation is a collection of work that I have written throughout my time at the CUNY Graduate Center. The chapters herein represent an arch of my learning over the past five years. The title, A Space to Learn, has multiple meanings. For one, writing this dissertation has provided me a space to explore and reflect on a variety of topics, ranging from memory loss, to teacher preparation programs, to eugenics and special education, to tracking and …

Promoting This We Believe And The Amle Standards With Teacher Candidates, Amanda Wall

Current Issues in Middle Level Education

This article describes approaches to integrating This We Believe and the Association for Middle Level Education Standards into a middle grades course.