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Head Start Teachers\u27 Beliefs and Reported Practices for Letter Knowledge
Get PDFChildren\u27s knowledge of letters at kindergarten entry is a critical marker of literacy development and predicts later reading achievement. Young children vary widely in their letter knowledge and that variation may be due to the ways in which early childhood educators approach letter instruction. The present study interviewed 48 Head Start teachers about their beliefs and practices in supporting letter knowledge for children in their classrooms. Results indicated that early educators believe teaching preschool children about letters is important and they articulated a variety of strategies for promoting this knowledge, primarily through playful learning experiences. Teachers capitalize on children\u27s names, particularly the first letter, when beginning their letter instruction, providing some evidence for why children\u27s name letters tend to be first known. In addition, other features of letters (e.g., position in the alphabet) and research-based practices (e.g., teaching letters and sounds in conjunction) were not prevalent approaches to instruction
Spanish-speaking Preschoolers\u27 Conceptual Vocabulary Knowledge: Towards More Comprehensive Assessment
Get PDFThis study examined Spanish-English preschoolers’ (n = 32) vocabulary performance when using traditional English-only compared to measures that utilize conceptual scoring (i.e., vocabulary knowledge in terms of known concepts independent of whether the label for the concept is known in either Spanish or English) designed for and normed on Spanish-English bilinguals. Children’s performance at the item level on the conceptually scored measures was also examined. In English, receptive and expressive average scores were in the below-average ranges.  However, on the conceptually scored vocabulary measures, the average scores were within the average range, receptively and expressively. Examination of children’s performance at the item level suggests there may be differences by language in bilingual children’s receptive and expressive vocabulary performance. The findings underscore the value of utilizing conceptually scored vocabulary measures, suggesting that their use may have potential for differentiate language difference from language disorder among young bilingual learners
Early Childhood Teachers\u27 Use of Dual Language Digital Books
No full textThis qualitative study investigated how dual language digital books are used by early childhood teachers working with primarily Alaska Native children and families. In particular, there was a desire to know how the teachers used the books in their classrooms and if the resources were used to foster early literacy and/or to help teach and preserve native languages. The research was situated in six preschool classrooms where the researcher observed the teachers using the books and conducted semi-structured interviews to triangulate the data. Using a qualitative approach to analysis, findings emerged that teachers used the books to introduce in a variety of group settings. Additionally, how they used the books appeared to be in direct response to their students and their needs. Implications for teachers, families, and administrators are shared
Book Review
Get PDFThis is a Review of Nobody:Casualties of America’s War on the Vulnerable from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond
On Love and Learning: Reflections of a white professor "teaching" black adult students
Get PDFMost broadly, this essay is my mission, as a white teacher, to examine my teaching process as a way to understand and improve my work with students, particularly black adult students. Throughout these pages, I show examples of my teaching journal as well as examples of student reading reflections during a semester of teaching Cultural Competency in Human Services to a class of mostly black, African American and Caribbean American adult students, pursuing undergraduate degrees in Human Services.  These excerpts combined with my thinking, questioning, and wondering in response to these examples, I begin a conversation about race, racism, power and privilege, identity and history, topics that are often unspoken or invisible for faculty specifically, but not exclusively, white faculty. Social justice is an ongoing process for both educators and students. Nelson and Witte write that, “critical reflection must be part of any social justice action†(2017, 16). In this example, I show that and critical reflection is an essential first step for  social justice to begin in a class of adult learners. In this essay, I take a close look at my assumptions, ideas, feelings and questions specific to the themes of the course.  We learn about each other through conversations about everyday, ordinary topics: holidays, family, loves, favorite foods, politics, sports, poetry. Small, intimate conversations beginning with openness and wonder spark learning about another person and lay the groundwork for a social justice process. Learning about myself allowed me to be open and curious to learn about my students. This openness paved the way for a relationship based on compassion, interest and care. Finally, my intention to is to share this teaching example in order to create a model of sorts that can be replicated or adapted by other teachers working with similar groups of adult learners
Factors That Influence College Students’ Risk Perceptions of Marijuana
Get PDFThe current study examines factors that affect college students’ risk perceptions and opinions on the legality of marijuana use (“risk perceptionsâ€). A 22-question survey was administered to college students regarding background demographics, experiences with alcohol and cigarettes, experiences with anxiety and depression, and the number of people they knew to smoke marijuana. Although no relationship was found between demographics, cigarette use, or anxiety and depression and risk perceptions, a negative correlation existed between alcohol use and risk perceptions, meaning that higher alcohol consumption was associated with lower risk perceptions of marijuana. A positive relationship was also found between the number of marijuana users students knew and their risk perceptions, showing that the risk of using marijuana was viewed as having lower risk as the number of known marijuana smokers increased
Physical Activity in Head Start Classrooms: How Teachers’ Attitudes and Training Contribute to Program Usage
Get PDFThis research to practice article summarizes the findings of a study that examined the frequency of Head Start teachers’ implementation of the physical activity components of I am Moving, I am Learning (IM/IL). Lead teachers in a large city in the United States completed questionnaires to self-report frequency of program implementation, their general attitudes toward physical activity promotion, and their specific attitudes about implementing IM/IL. Teachers reported using movement vocabulary most frequently, followed by facilitating unstructured activities. Implementing structured activities was less frequent. Almost all teachers reported positive attitudes about promotion of physical activity in general and the IM/IL program specifically. Three variables were associated with teachers’ program usage: (1) prior teacher training; (2) teachers’ perceptions about program usability; and (3) teachers’ prior experience leading physical activity. Many Head Start teachers described IM/IL as a feasible and acceptable physical activity promotion program. Understanding ways to promote more frequent implementation of structured active play is importan
Religion, Family, and Justice: A Narrative Study of Adults Learning to Teach for Social Justice in the Deep South
Get PDFThe Deep South is a distinctive, complex sociogeographic region of the U.S. whose history and politics have been marred by societal inequities and injustices. This research considered theories of social justice education and transformative learning to understand the processes by which adults learn to teach for social justice in the Deep Southern context. The study included from adult students enrolled in a doctoral-level class in education at a large, urban university in the Deep South. Narrative inquiry and Voice-Centered Relational Method were used in the process of data collection and analysis. Among the participants, familial and cultural religious narratives pervaded, deeply affecting a continual process of negotiation among the participants’ understanding of teaching for social justice and their own socially constructed identities. The religious backgrounds and family ethos fostered new notions of social justice and contributed to the participants’ perceptions of confidence to teach for social justice