ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Never Too Late to Learn
Author: Sommervold, Cate
Date: 2012-05-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Technology,Web 2.0 Technologies,Federal Programs,Inservice Teacher Education,Alignment (Education),Coaching (Performance),Technology Integration,Program Descriptions,Computer Uses in Education,Rural Schools,Elementary School Teachers,Secondary School Teachers,Urban Schools

Some schools in South Dakota have gone one-to-one, and other schools have one computer cart for two grade levels. Some teachers refuse to use their computers for anything but email, and others are incorporating web 2.0 tools into their project-based learning curricula. But one thing that is consistent across the board is the need for technology-related professional development that is aligned with and embedded in the curriculum. In this article, the authors discuss how one professional development program uses low-pressure coaching and real-world practice to inspire teachers to embrace new technologies so their students will follow their lead. (Contains 3 online resources.)
Upside down and inside out: Flip Your Classroom to Improve Student Learning
Author: Fulton, Kathleen
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Student Projects,Educational Change,Online Courses,High Schools,Video Technology,Technology Uses in Education,High School Students,Secondary School Teachers

Educators are notorious for jumping on passing fads and chasing the newest innovations, from the open classrooms of the 1970s to the one-laptop-per-student initiatives of the past decade. It is not surprising that when the next new thing--the flipped classroom--hit the hallways of America's schools, it was met with hesitation and skepticism from teachers, parents, and educational critics. The &quot;flipped&quot; part of the flipped classroom means that students watch or listen to lessons at home and do their &quot;homework&quot; in class. This article describes how Byron High School in Minnesota, USA, has embraced the flipped classroom concept to ensure students have 24/7 access to extraordinary teaching. (Contains 5 online resources.)
Principals for Web 2.0 Success: 10 Ways to Build Vibrant Learning Communities with the Read/Write Web
Author: Light, Daniel
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Technology,Principals,Web 2.0 Technologies,Social Networks,Administrator Role,Technology Integration,Guidelines,Integrated Learning Systems,Inservice Teacher Education,Computer Mediated Communication,Internet,Computer Uses in Education,Virtual Classrooms,Teacher Administrator Relationship

Many educators know that web 2.0 tools can transform learning and teaching, but teachers need support to make this happen. This article discusses how principals can encourage teachers to learn how to use these powerful tools. Over the past decade, Intel has provided the Center for Children & Technology with funding to conduct numerous studies about how best to help educators integrate technology into their teaching. In a recent two-year investigation into how web 2.0 tools and social-networking technologies are supporting learning and teaching, several ways principals and technology leaders can make the learning curve both easier and smoother were identified. Although some of these suggestions may sound familiar, many now have a web 2.0 twist. This article presents the top 10 ways to build vibrant learning communities with the read/write web.
QR Codes 101
Author: Crompton, Helen
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Hypermedia,Handheld Devices,Teaching Methods,Educational Technology,Computer Mediated Communication,Internet,Computer Uses in Education

A QR (quick-response) code is a two-dimensional scannable code, similar in function to a traditional bar code that one might find on a product at the supermarket. The main difference between the two is that, while a traditional bar code can hold a maximum of only 20 digits, a QR code can hold up to 7,089 characters, so it can contain much more information. QR codes are versatile tools to extend learning inside and outside the classroom. Educators can use them to give students quick access to additional content, from the practical--such as links to assignments and websites--to the engaging--such as audio and video clips or clues for games. And, as their name suggests, QR codes save precious class time by speeding up activities. They are a fast, easy, free, and fun way to spice up one's lesson plans and school communication by linking the brick-and-mortar world to the digital domain. This article presents a primer and some inspiring ideas to get started using QR codes in the classroom. The authors discuss how to make them, how to read them, and how to use them inside the classroom and out.
Going Green: Merging Environmental Education and Language Instruction
Author: Hauschild, Staci
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Environmental Education,English (Second Language),Listening,Language Skills,Citizenship Responsibility,Second Language Instruction,Global Approach,Second Language Learning,Thematic Approach,Course Content,Prior Learning,Language Proficiency,Writing (Composition),Singing,Reading,Learning Activities

In this article, the authors endorse a model that uses themes as springboards for language improvement, accompanied by the added benefit of content learning, though to differing degrees depending on the instructional setting. The themes that teachers choose to integrate into their language classrooms may reflect serious issues (e.g., elections, civic responsibility) or more lighthearted subjects (e.g., the Olympics, video games). Other themes may focus on global events (e.g., natural disasters, globalization) or on students' communities (e.g., local holidays, respected leaders). When using content as a vehicle for English instruction, language teachers provide students the opportunity to not only develop language skills, but also to become more informed citizens, both locally and globally. After teachers select the themes that form the backbone of their curricula, they can ask students to identify topics of interest within the overarching theme, thereby creating a more learner-centered classroom and giving students more control of their learning. The authors also showcase three sample activities that teachers can adapt--taking into consideration their own students' language abilities, ages, and background knowledge, and the language emphases of the classroom--to integrate language and "green" content learning: (1) Activity No. 1 (Appendix 1) involves a classroom scavenger hunt, during which students practice reading and speaking while learning about a variety of environmental topics; (2) Activity No. 2 (Appendix 2) highlights a group paragraph-writing task that recycles green content introduced through reading and/or listening activities; and (3) Activity No. 3 (Appendix 3) revolves around a song that reinforces the importance of the three "Rs": Reduce-Reuse-Recycle.
Film Circles: Scaffolding Speaking for EFL Students
Author: Stephens, Crissa
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Action Research,Teaching Methods,Research Projects,English (Second Language),Foreign Countries,Communication Skills,Speech Communication,Films,Second Language Instruction,Preservice Teachers,Second Language Learning,Scaffolding (Teaching Technique),Teacher Education,Communicative Competence (Languages),Language Proficiency,Lesson Plans,Instructional Effectiveness,Student Attitudes,Language Teachers

Pre-service teachers around the world face a unique challenge: bridging the gap between traditional teaching focused on grammar translation and receptive skills, and communicative teaching aimed at well-rounded communication skills. Many new EFL teachers learned English in a traditional context that emphasized memorization and grammar, but after four years of studying pedagogy, they have become very knowledgeable about current communicative teaching methods. As they enter the profession, they wonder how to shape the future of English teaching so that their students are supported and motivated by meaningful and relevant activities. In order to address this issue, five final-year teaching students at the Universidad de Magallanes in Punta Arenas, Chile--co-authors of this article--undertook an action research project to implement a communicative activity for students. They targeted students at basic proficiency levels and carried out their research in their individual teaching practice contexts. During the project, these pre-service teachers pinpointed speaking skills as an area of communication that they wanted to improve for their students. In the course of the action research project, the pre-service teachers applied what they had learned in their degree program about successful communicative activities. As they researched interactive speaking activities that would work in the context of the public school system, they discovered a lesson plan that could be adapted to create a collaborative and highly communicative project that was ideal for their students. In this article the pre-service teachers: (1) describe their rationale for a Film Circle project adapted from Fink's (2011) Literature Circle lesson plan; (2) provide information about the development and administration of the project; (3) evaluate its effectiveness; and (4) offer suggestions for reproducing the project in other classrooms. [&quot;Film Circles: Scaffolding Speaking for EFL Students&quot; was written with Rocio Ascencio, Ana Luisa Burgos, Tatiana Diaz, Jimena Montenegro, and Christian Valenzuela.]
From Unity to Diversity... to Diversity within Unity
Author: Larsen-Freeman, Diane
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English Instruction,Educational Practices,Diversity (Faculty),Diversity (Institutional),Ethnic Diversity,Student Diversity,Learning Processes,Teaching (Occupation),Student Characteristics,Teacher Characteristics,Language Teachers,Language Research

For the 25th anniversary issue of "English Teaching Forum," published in 1987, the author wrote about the diversification of the language teaching field. Her point then was that during the preceding years from 1962 to 1987, the language teaching field had diversified: Where earlier there had been a unified approach to language teaching, by 1987, many options existed. Today, as she writes on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of "Forum," the author perceives a different pattern. She sees diversity "within" unity, not as an alternative to it. She begins this article by briefly summarizing the main theme of her 1987 article. Next, she turns to the triangle that she used then to depict the language teaching field. In each of the three angles of the triangle, she placed the major categories of language/culture, language learners/learning, and language teachers/teaching. In this article, the author revisits each of the angles, making observations that support her contention that today there is diversity within unity. She concludes by stepping back from this analysis of the field and by stating why she feels that the theme that she has chosen for her article in this 50th anniversary issue is important to everybody.
From Unity to Diversity: Twenty-Five Years of Language-Teaching Methodology
Author: Larsen-Freeman, Diane
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teaching Methods,Language Acquisition,English Instruction,Teacher Role,Language Teachers,Educational Development,Educational History,Learning Processes,Educational Practices,Student Characteristics,Teacher Characteristics,Curriculum Design,English for Special Purposes,Culturally Relevant Education

This article was written for the 25th anniversary of "English Teaching Forum" and published in 1987. In this article, the author describes methodological developments in the field of English language teaching over the past 25 years. The author has found it helpful to think of methodology being depicted as a triangle, with each angle of the triangle representing a basic area of the field. The first angle might be termed language learning/language learner. Questions addressed from this perspective include "what is the nature of the language acquisition/learning process," "who is doing the learning," and "what are the factors that influence the learner?" The second angle has to do with the subject matter language teachers teach. "What is the nature of language/culture" is the question dealt with in this angle. The third angle comprises both language teaching as a process and the role of the language teacher as an agent in the process. It is defined in part by answers to the questions posed in the other two angles. Each of these perspectives is indispensable to viewing methodology as a whole. The author considers each of these angles in turn in reviewing developments during the past 25 years. Teaching is a matter of making informed choices. Teachers' choices are like those of artists who have full palettes of paint from which they can choose a little of this color and some of another. Artists' choices are not random; they are driven by what artists are trying to achieve and they are assessed by the artists every step of the way to assure that the choices being made are congruent with their purpose. Art teachers can help art students become aware of the options they have by, for example, having them study art history to review the choices others have made. They can also help by working with their students to perfect their technique. But it is incumbent upon the artists themselves to create their unique blend that is their own special contribution to others. And so it is with teaching. Only those who are intimately acquainted with the situation, with the students, and with themselves can make the choices they are uniquely suited to make. It is, after all, only the teachers who will be there assess the outcome of the choices they make. It is only the teachers who are there to make sure that they know why they are doing what they are doing.
Curiosity and Comprehension
Author: Butler, John H. Montagu
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Personality Traits,Literacy,Reading Comprehension,Achievement Need,Classroom Techniques,Motivation Techniques,Discovery Learning,Skill Development,Second Language Instruction,Teaching Methods,Educational Practices

Most people have an innate curiosity about things and ideas, people and events. When they read stories, especially those concerning crime, love, or adventure, they not only want to find out what is happening or has happened, but they generally make some kind of guess as to what is likely to happen next. Where there is no such curiosity on the part of the reader, a detective story becomes a pointless tale of violence that few intelligent people would take the trouble to read. Teachers can exploit this innate curiosity when teaching pupils to read a foreign language. Teaching of a certain kind may actually inhibit curiosity. This can be particularly serious when teachers are trying to teach reading and comprehension to students who have little or no written literature in their own language, and where the tendency has been to treat written texts in a "school language" like French or English merely as material for commentary, definition, analysis, manipulation, or translation, but never, never, as a medium of communication--a means of finding things out or making them happen. It is noticeable that in most of the language textbooks used by such students, although the reading texts are in the target language, the instructions for doing exercises and so on are in the mother or vehicular tongue. The latter remains for them the "real" language; the target language is just something one has to study. In this article, the author describes briefly some of the ways he used to arouse curiosity and deepen comprehension. (Contains 1 footnote.)
Using Story Jokes for Real Communication
Author: DeFelice, William
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Cultural Traits,Monolingualism,Humor,Speech Acts,Second Language Instruction,Second Language Learning,Literary Devices,Discourse Modes,Story Telling,Cultural Background,Communication Skills,Communication Strategies

Teaching in a monolingual/monocultural, non-English speaking environment can at times be frustrating. Teachers want their students to genuinely communicate with each other in socially acceptable ways, and at the same time become more aware of cultural traits. What is needed in a classroom is a reaction that is real because it is spontaneous. This is where jokes and funny stories can come in handy. In a classroom setting made up of students from the same linguistic and cultural background, a laugh or a groan is at least a more immediate and sincere response to a speech act than the granting of an invented request or the acceptance of an unowned apology. The value of relating a funny story lies in the commitment required of the student telling it and in the observable and sincere response that he/she elicits from the student who listens to it. Rarely do these elements intrude on the English classroom. In the telling of a funny story, the commitment resides not with the truth of information being expressed, or even one's adherence to a view point about an issue--the usual kinds of activities in classrooms. Usually these two varieties of commitment lead to obviousness on the one hand or unfair culpability on the other. Telling funny stories makes a student accountable for the success of the speech act itself, i.e. the proof is in the pudding. Likewise, the responses to a funny story are not programmed by either the student's own culture or that of the teacher. Rather, they are the result of real cultural factors: the sense of humor extent in the L2 culture that may or may not be shared with the L1 culture. They are signaled explicitly by the behavior, not just the word, of the participants. In this article, the author provides an activity on story jokes. (Contains 1 footnote.)
An Imaginative Approach to Teaching Writing
Author: Cuenca, Carmen Manuel
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Writing Instruction,Writing Skills,Teaching Methods,Teaching Skills,Creative Activities,Creative Teaching,Imagination,Writing Exercises

Mindful of the fact that one of the most important ingredients in learning to write in a foreign language is motivation, the authors have experimented in their classes with a wide range of exercises from a very useful source: Gianni Rodari's "Grammatico della Fantasia: lntroduzione all'arte di inventare storie" (Torino: Piccola Biblioteca Einandi, 1973). Rodari provides a list of recipes and concoctions for developing writing practice. Some of his ideas have already been tested, but the authors have tried to test all of his ideas, and can say that these experiments with intermediate students have been successful. They believe the reasons for their success are these: (1) The exercises have been devised to motivate the students to use and improve their writing skills; (2) Most of them are done as pair work or group work, which facilitates communication between the students; (3) The exercises usually consist of two or three parts, so that they are not too long and boring. The students must do the first part well in order to accomplish the second; (4) Most important of all, they require the students to exercise imagination; and (5) The exercises require the students to establish relationships between concepts, ideas, and words outside of normal use, which forces them to review their primary use. This is a further semantic step. All these reasons can be summed up in one: the exercises are an "imaginative approach" to teaching varieties of writing. To show what these exercises are like, the authors describe some of them, adding illustrative examples where necessary.
An Investigation of Social Support and Burnout among Special Education Teachers in the United Arab Emirates
Author: Bataineh, Osamah
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Special Education,Teaching Experience,Correlation,Special Education Teachers,Marital Status,Teacher Burnout,Foreign Countries,Social Support Groups,Intervention,Questionnaires,Family Influence,Peer Influence,Achievement,Age Differences,Gender Differences

This study aimed at investigating which source of social support (supervisors, colleagues, friends, spouse, or family) would be most effective in reducing burnout among special education teachers. A sample of 300 special education teachers (50 males and 250 females) completed Burnout and Sources of Social Support questionnaires. Pearson correlation coefficients and ANOVA procedures were utilized to analyze the data. Results revealed significant positive correlations between family support, colleagues support, and personal accomplishment. Demographic variables sex, age, marital status, and teaching experience were not significantly related to any of the three burnout dimensions. Results were interpreted and implications for special education teachers were suggested. (Contains 2 tables.)
Anger in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Parent's Perspective
Author: Ho, Betty P. V.
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Psychological Patterns,Parents,Autism,Siblings,Gender Differences,Pervasive Developmental Disorders,Parent Attitudes,Aggression,Behavior Problems,Family Environment,Family Relationship,Child Health,Foreign Countries

Anger related behaviours such as aggression are known to be an area of difficulty for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). A national internet forum for parents of children with ASD was selected out of other similar forums from six English speaking countries. Information about the angry episodes of 121 children with ASD as described by 120 parents on this forum was analysed. From the parents' perspective, children with ASD were angry frequently with aggressive behaviours, their anger was target and context specific, and they could not control their own behaviours during their angry episodes but some were apologetic afterward. These behaviours impacted on the whole family, their parents, their siblings and the children with ASD. These episodes were influenced by their being physically or emotionally unwell, and antecedents included inaccessibility to preferred items, and changes in routines/environments. There might be improvement over time and possible gender difference in these behaviours. (Contains 5 tables.)
Attributions of the Educational Outcomes of Students with Learning Disabilities in China
Author: Woodcock, Stuart
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Learning Disabilities,Outcomes of Education,Foreign Countries,Educational Objectives,Preservice Teachers,Student Teacher Attitudes,Teacher Expectations of Students,Empathy,Feedback (Response),Males,Vignettes

This paper aims to raise awareness of the importance of attributional beliefs in relation to the educational outcomes of students with a learning disability (LD) in China. The study presented in this paper examined the attributional beliefs that Chinese pre-service teachers had developed towards students with LD, in comparison to students without LD. The findings show that Chinese pre-service teachers did not differ in their attributional beliefs between students with and without LD. Implications from the findings, and future research recommendations are also presented. (Contains 4 tables and 4 figures.)