Now showing items 21-40 of 41

    • The artistry of education : questions, constructions, and creations of understanding

      Garii, Barbara (2005-11)
      Dr. Barbara Garii authors our guest editorial for this issue. She is a former middle school, high school, and college mathematics teacher who taught in Seattle, Washington; Cali, Columbia; and Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Dr. Garii's recent work investigates cognition and understanding; particularly how students use metacognitive and reflective practices to enhance learning. Additionally, she has been exploring how adjunct faculty members understand their teaching practices and share pedagogical and curricular knowledge with core faculty members. Dr. Garii's current research project studies how teachers and students co-reflect and co-understand classroom behaviors. In the following editorial, she addresses the connections between the five articles of this issue of the Journal of Authentic Learning with three themes in education: reflective practice, constructivism and the importance of beauty.
    • Authentic learning in a health and wellness class through the writings of Thoreau

      Brouse, Corey H. (2005-09)
      Thoreau's ideas expressed in Walden and an essay, Walking, are applied to a health promotion and wellness course to create an authentic learning experience. This qualitative study involved nineteen students from three classes. The students read one of Henry David Thoreau’s written works, identified a personally meaningful passage from the work, and wrote a short paper related to the connections between the writing and health promotion and wellness. These were analyzed and organized according to themes and sub-themes identified for each of the readings. The students’ reactions to Thoreau’s writing illustrate how such work can be used to promote authentic learning in a health education classroom by helping students reflect on: the connections between the environment and their health, connections between physical health and mental and spiritual well-being, and some of the ways in which modern society may undermine our quality of life.
    • Object boxes for tutoring in a literacy lab at a year round elementary school

      Rule, Audrey C.; Stewart, Roger A.; Haunold, Jill (2005-09)
      A tutoring program at a year-round public school coordinated by a certified teacher and staffed with preservice teacher tutors enrolled in a college class followed best practices and featured unique tutoring materials called object boxes (sets of objects and corresponding word or letter cards housed in boxes and used to teach language concepts). An evaluation study of the tutoring program compared pretest and posttest normal curve equivalent (NCE) scores on the TERA-2 of 86 first and second grade students who initially attained an NCE of 59.8 or lower. Those who attended 45 hours of the Literacy Lab tutoring program on their off-track time scored significantly higher (p = .002) on the posttest (mean NCE gain score = 18.1) than a control group (mean NCE gain score = 6.2) who practiced reading at home. The effect size (0.78) was large, indicating the efficacy of the program. Four different object boxes from the program are pictured and described: a word family that shows alliteration and assonance; a hink-pink riddle box; a box of objects representing words with two meanings; and an African scene with sentence cards.
    • An analysis of dollhouse story themes and related authentic learning activities

      Rule, Audrey C. (2005-09)
      This article presents an analysis of the themes in children's literature for preschool through middle school readers involving dollhouses with dolls that come alive or act out stories imagined by their owners. Recurrent themes of imagination, science fiction changes in time and space related to the dollhouse, diversity and friendship, courage and independence, creativity, and care of belongings are found in the thirty-six books examined. Suggested authentic learning activities for relating the literature to several content areas are given. An annotated bibliography that describes story plots follows the text.
    • The silenced voice in literacy : listening beyond words to a "struggling" adolescent girl

      Woodcock, Christine (2005-09)
      This paper shares the story of a “struggling” seventh grade girl, Tara. Using the Listening Guide, a qualitative, feminist, relational, voice-centered method of analysis, helped me reach my goal of understanding adolescents and their literacies. Tara spoke of a relational dynamic of knowing, and the feelings of trust and connection she needed to learn in her English language arts classroom. This paper emphasizes and explores the Listening Guide as a methodology that enabled me to hear the complexities of Tara’s voice, and the ways she uniquely made meaning and understood her life and her literacies. Second, I share Tara’s story, shedding light on the relational dimensions of knowledge construction in the classroom, as well as the controlling contexts of school environment. Last, I share practical implications for classroom use and for future research, highlighting the need for more personalized relationships between students and teachers.
    • Developing dispositions of preservice teachers through membership in professional organizations

      Stewart, Paula Jeanne; Davis, Susan (2005-09)
      Dispositions are those character and personality traits that are considered necessary for a person to succeed as a teacher. The traits include areas of responsibility, dependability, creativity, empathy, professionalism, and more. Because NCATE has chosen to identify dispositions as a necessary component of teacher education programs, these programs must make accommodations for presenting these components to students. This article describes a study of the effects on pre-service teacher dispositions through membership and service in professional organizations. The effects were measured by interviews and questionnaires administered to the students and their clinical supervisors. The authors describe the perceptions and insights that pre-service teachers reported they gained through their involvement in professional organizations.
    • Effective teachers in urban school settings : linking teacher disposition and student performance on standardized tests

      Thompson, Susan; Ransdell, Mary Frances, 1957-; Rousseau, Celia Keiko (2005-09)
      This study examined the teaching dispositions of 14 elementary (K-6) urban teachers designated as effective by their principals to determine the classroom practices that promote academic success for students based on standardized test scores. Investigators used the Teacher Quality Measure (TQM), an instrument aligned to the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC), in addition to field notes, in observations of the teachers. The results of this study suggest that effective teachers whose students score high on standardized tests in urban school settings actively engage their students in learning in a teacher-centered classroom. These teachers are consistent in following set rules and procedures resulting in instructional flow as students stay on task. The teachers have developed rapport with their students through good verbal and nonverbal communication skills. Their focus on instruction seems to be linked with seamless classroom management. These teachers are committed to helping students learn through the use of repetition as a means of ensuring student understanding of concepts and skills. These dispositions run counter to constructivist theory as it is taught in most teacher preparation programs, causing concern that although students may perform adequately on current standardized tests, they may not be acquiring needed problem-solving skills necessary for long-term achievement.
    • Culturally insulated students : assessing the diversity disposition gap in a predominantly white university with a new instrument, the Culturally Responsive Educator Test

      Weiner, Howard (2005-09)
      This article describes an attempt to assess dispositions toward cultural and racial diversity for preservice and inservice teachers in a predominantly white university. Using the Culturally Responsive Educator Test (CRET), preservice and inservice teachers were assessed on how they represent themselves as culturally responsive teachers and how the education program influences this representation. Findings suggest that the majority of candidates readily focused on students with special education needs and did not address the culturally and racially diverse students in the given task scenario. However, when additional information was given to candidates that the purpose of the task was diversity related, many were able to perform well. Candidates’ abilities to develop sound lesson plans improved significantly from beginning to midpoint and from midpoint to end point. Education departments can influence the behaviors and beliefs of culturally insulated teacher candidates.
    • Make it real : diversity and literacy, standards and dispositions

      Fairbrother, Anne (2005-09)
      Dr. Anne Fairbrother, a faculty member in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, the host for this journal, authors our guest editorial for this issue. She is a former high school English and ESL teacher who taught in Salinas, California, and in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her doctoral work focused on the schooling experiences of Mexican-American students in low-track English classes. She received her Ph.D. in Educational Thought and Sociocultural Studies (ETSCS) from the University of New Mexico. Dr. Fairbrother is particularly interested in issues of multicultural education, educational equity, teaching for social justice, and in multicultural literature. Recently she has been exploring issues of student voice, and students-as-researchers. In the following editorial, Dr. Fairbrother addresses the connections between the seven articles of this issue of the Journal of Authentic Learning and current diversity and literacy concerns. Preceding introductory remarks by Co-Editor Audrey C. Rule.
    • A qualitative study of Vietnamese parental involvement and their high academic achieving children

      Phan, Tan (2004)
      Vietnamese parents in the current study do not belong to school parent organizations, rarely visit the school or contact the teachers. However, the ten students in this qualitative investigation of parent interviews performed well academically, completing their high school educations with a 4.0 G.P.A. This article presents an examination of how Vietnamese parents acculturate their children, leading to high academic achievement without using the traditionally defined parental involvement methods. Specifically, Vietnamese families provided a structured home learning environment, high academic expectations, attention, love and emotional support, traditional family values, stories of cultural heritage and parental sacrifice, and control of children's social lives.
    • Learning vocabulary through morpheme word family object boxes

      Long, Darlene; Rule, Audrey C. (2004)
      Vocabulary instruction is an important part of literacy. This paper reports the results of a small pilot study that investigated two instructional approaches to the use of morpheme or root word families in teaching vocabulary to third grade students. Twelve students randomly divided into two groups at a high-needs urban school in central New York State participated in the investigation. Students learned eight word families in a repeated measures counterbalanced pretest/posttest design. The groups alternated learning vocabulary words through two conditions, traditional worksheet versus object boxes with word cards. The morphemic families studied contained the morphemes: oct, ped, tele, quad, cycle, man, meta, and dict. Students made gains in both conditions. Mean gains for all participants were somewhat higher in the object box condition, but this was not statistically significant because of the small number of students. This study shows that object boxes can produce the same or perhaps even better gains in vocabulary acquisition than traditional worksheet methods, with greater student motivation.
    • Making it theirs : literacy teachers use reflection as a tool for shaping practice

      Lassonde, Cynthia A.; Reinhart, Lauren (2004)
      Teachers are often faced with the difficult task of implementing programs in the development of which they had little input. However, we cannot assume that teachers use the programs without thought. This article presents an examination of the reflection that has taken place as teachers implemented a systematic, scripted phonics program. Teachers used both inner and collaborative reflection to examine their teaching philosophies, theoretical beliefs and student needs. The authors identify a continuum of program modifications related to literacy-teaching philosophies.
    • Journal writing as a tool of qualitative assessment in a Kenyan higher education context

      Khamasi, Jennifer Wanjiku, 1959- (2004)
      Current public university teaching in Kenya often takes the form of lecture and laboratory demonstration. Lecturing commonly portrays the teacher at the podium with students on the other side unquestioningly consuming the teacher's words. This physical divide symbolizes the authoritative teacher centered approach entrenched in a binary position of them/us. This paper is reports an action research project performed at a Kenyan university. The author used journal writing to institute a culture that engaged and nurtured students’ voices and experiences, and gave meaning to the relationships between students’ lives and school knowledge. Excerpts from student journal writings reveal their initial reluctance, then enjoyment of the journal writing process. The author finds the journal is an effective tool for providing feedback to improve and assesses the practice of learning and teaching.
    • The philosophy of John Dewey : how it can be applied to health education to increase colorectal cancer screening

      Brouse, Corey H.; Basch, Charles E. (2004)
      This paper highlights ways that the writings of John Dewey may be applied to health education about colorectal cancer in the context of a tailored telephone educational program. Specific aspects of Dewey’s philosophy considered include: (1) the role of the teacher as learner, (2) education as an empowering social process (promoting originality, independence, initiative), (3) the changing aims of education, (4) the dynamic nature of subject matter, and (5) the role of caring communication in education. Cases from this education program illustrate how the approach is non-traditional in that it is tailored to the participants by using a humanistic approach. Applying this philosophy to health education is significant because it is based on an important aspect that existing health education theories may not emphasize: the idea that one of the most important reasons why people change is because of trusting, genuine, interpersonal relationships.