ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Reflective Self-Study for an Integrated Learning Approach to Early Childhood Mathematics Teacher Education
Author: Kortjass, Makie
Date: 2019-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Reflection,Independent Study,Integrated Activities,Learning Activities,Early Childhood Education,Teacher Educators,Teacher Education,Mathematics Education,Foreign Countries,Student Teachers,Teacher Collaboration,Teacher Background

Background: This article gives an account of what I learned through the process of a self-study research project. Self-study teacher research allows teacher educators and teachers to improve their learning, plan new pedagogies and impact students' learning. Aim: The aim of this self-study research was to improve my own practice in early childhood mathematics teacher education through interaction and collaboration with others, such as colleagues and students. Setting: As a South African university-based teacher educator, I piloted an integrated learning approach (ILA) in the teaching and learning of early childhood mathematics in a selected undergraduate programme. Methods: I began by tracking my personal development in mathematics education and in so doing was able to recognise my personal learning of mathematics as a child growing up in an African township context. I then worked with a class of 38 student teachers to create collages and concept maps to explore their understandings and experiences of ILA. Results: Through this project, I discovered that colleagues in the role of critical friends provided essential feedback on my work in progress. I also learned that student teachers need to be equipped with knowledge and hands-on experience of how integration can take place in teaching and learning early childhood mathematics. I realised that it was essential to constantly reflect on my own personal history and my professional practice to explore new ways of teaching mathematics. Conclusion: Teacher educators may consider engaging in self-study research that includes art-based self-study methods to reflect on their practices and see how they change for the benefit of their students and ultimately for the benefit of the learners.
School Counselors Promoting College and Career Readiness for High School Students
Author: Paolini, Allison C.
Date: 2019-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: School Counselors,College Readiness,Career Readiness,High School Students,Career Exploration,Best Practices,Counselor Role,Counselor Client Relationship,College Bound Students

This article describes the pivotal role that school counselors play in preparing and helping students feel prepared and equipped to enter the workforce upon graduation. This brief commentary addresses the necessity for school counselors to work collaboratively with their students, so they are knowledgeable about college and career exploration. In addition, best practices that provide students with the insight, tools, and resources necessary to succeed in the workforce after graduation are presented.
Teacher Retention: A Review of Policies for Motivating Rural Basic School Teachers in Ghana
Author: Acheampong, Phinihas
Date: 2019-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teacher Persistence,Faculty Mobility,Rural Schools,Administrator Attitudes,School Districts,Educational Facilities,Water Quality,Transportation,Housing,Disadvantaged,Faculty Development,Teacher Salaries,Incentives,Teacher Motivation,Student Recruitment,Teacher Education,Foreign Countries

The study primarily explored the challenges of teaching in rural basic schools in Ghana. Qualitative research method through semi-structured interviews and document analyses were used as data collection instruments. The participants for the study included six educational field workers which constituted a district education officer (Circuit Supervisor), two head teachers and three classroom teachers. Priority of the findings was highlighted on the provision of accommodation with adequate installation of lighting facility, potable drinking water, and transport facilities such as a vehicle, motorbike and bicycle to ease the living constraints of teachers who serve in underprivileged learning communities. Again, professional development programs were found relevant to encourage and promote teachers working in remote areas. Results of the study shown that rural basic school teachers do not see why they should receive equivalent conditions of service as their peers who teach in urban schools. It is therefore recommended that, about one-third of teachers? salary should be apportioned as additional incentive to motivate teachers who serve in rural basic schools. Again, special student-trainees recruitment strategies should be adopted to recruit potential teachers from underprivileged communities to receive training and serve their people. This can effectively be implemented when the District Sponsorship Scheme Project is restored to enhance better deployment of teachers in underserved schools.
Building a Community of Connected ELT Professionals on Twitter
Author: Nicholas, Bonnie
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Social Networks,Social Media,Computer Mediated Communication,Language Teachers,Communities of Practice,Faculty Development,Teacher Collaboration,Teacher Attitudes

Although English language teaching professionals are committed to ongoing continuous professional development, economic and workload factors may impede their ability to attend a traditional 2-day annual conference. Teachers have turned to social media as an alternative approach to self-directed professional development. In particular, Twitter has become the choice of many educators with its potential for networking and collaboration. There are scheduled Twitter chats held regularly on a variety of topics of interest to language teaching professionals, including #CdnELTchat. In addition, connected educators have built a community of practice on the Twitter platform and provide inspiration and support to their colleagues online. In this article, four connected educators who have found their community on Twitter share their stories of how they got started on Twitter, how they connected with each other, and what they value about the open Twitter platform.
Relationship between Mathematical Flexibility and Success in National Examinations
Author: Hästö, Peter
Date: 2019-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Mathematics Skills,Mathematics Achievement,Mathematics Tests,High School Students,Foreign Countries,Equations (Mathematics),Problem Solving,Grades (Scholastic),Grade 11,Test Wiseness,Exit Examinations

Flexibility is an important element in learning mathematics. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether flexibility in linear equation solving predicts future academic achievement in mathematics and other subjects. Participants were 149 Finnish high-school students. Results show that flexibility was related to grades in both tracks of mathematics, chemistry, and mother tongue, as well as the total number of exams taken in the national matriculation examination. However, when controlling for accuracy in equation solving, only basic level mathematics and, to some degree, chemistry grade were related to flexibility. On the other hand, flexibility had an impact on students' choice to participate in the mathematics and physics exams. A theoretical analysis shows that student selection may mask part of the relationship between flexibility and grade.
Blog-Mediated Reflection for Professional Development: Exploring Themes and Criticality of L2 Teachers&apos; Reflective Practice
Author: Tajeddin, Zia
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Reflective Teaching,Teacher Attitudes,Language Teachers,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Faculty Development,Electronic Publishing,Usability,Reflection,Foreign Countries,Teaching Experience,Classroom Techniques,Teaching Methods,Native Language,Indo European Languages,Language Usage,Ethics,Educational Environment

Reflection is a key component of teacher quality assessment and a venue for professional development. Among many tools for teacher reflection, keeping blogs as a user-friendly, technology-enhanced tool has recently come to the forefront in teacher education. To contribute to the body of literature on the potentiality of blogs for teacher professional development, this study sought to investigate the use of blogs by Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers to provide a perspective on the themes in their reflection-on-action and the degree of criticality of their reflection. To this end, 32 male and female in-service EFL teachers, teaching at different language institutes, voluntarily agreed to post their classroom experiences to a blog over a 3-month period. Content analysis of the reflection tags resulted in the identification of three main reflective categories, each including a number of themes: (a) teacher-oriented category (e.g., teachers' sharing emotions, classroom management, teaching methods and techniques, use of first language [L1], and instructional ethics); (b) learner-oriented category (e.g., learners' classroom participation, language skills, motivation, and emotions); and (c) context-oriented category (e.g., assessment system, textbooks, classroom facilities, and teachers' working conditions). Moreover, the levels of reflection embedded into the tags were explored using a modified version of a reflection model proposed by Lee (2005). The findings revealed that teachers were more critical (71%) than descriptive (29%) in their reflections. These findings have implications for teachers' reflection and their professional development.
Navigating the Contradictions: An ESL Teacher&apos;s Professional Self-Development in Collaborative Activity
Author: Giles, Amanda
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Language Teachers,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Teacher Education Programs,Teaching Methods,Equal Education,Educational Opportunities,Faculty Development,Self Actualization,Teacher Collaboration,Grade 7,Middle School Teachers,Social Studies,Teacher Attitudes,Course Content,Professional Identity,Suburban Schools

The study contributes to language teacher education research by emphasizing an English as a second language (ESL) teacher's learning through critical activity, which includes my attempts to change my pedagogical practices to provide more equitable educational opportunities for ESL students in the mainstream content classroom. Framed by Engeström's (2001) Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), the study's purpose was to examine my own professional self-development as an ESL teacher in learning how to initiate and sustain collaboration with a seventh-grade social studies teacher at a suburban middle school in the southeastern United States. Data collection included self-study methods, specifically interviews, collaborative planning sessions, reflective journals, field notes, and e-mail exchanges with a critical friend. The findings showed how I learned to navigate the misuse of planning time and the misrepresentation of collaborative teaching notions as the two major contradictions in collaboration to plan for and teach ESL students. By resolving the contradictions, I negotiated a division of labour and enacted my agency to assume the position of a content social studies teacher, which ultimately sustained the collaborative activity. These findings attend to the complex factors that influence an ESL teacher's professional self-development and agency in collaboration with a social studies teacher.
TESL Teacher Educators&apos; Professional Self-Development, Identity, and Agency
Author: Yazan, Bedrettin
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Independent Study,Professional Identity,Language Teachers,Teacher Education Programs,Ethnography,Autobiographies,Course Descriptions,Teacher Educators,Writing Assignments,Teacher Attitudes

Using the concepts of identity and agency, this &quot;Perspectives&quot; article discusses my recent efforts of self-development when designing an identity-oriented Teaching English as a second language (TESL) teacher education course around teacher candidates' semester-long autoethnography writing assignment called &quot;critical autoethnographic narrative&quot; (CAN). It specifically unpacks the ways I negotiated and enacted my identities of teacher educator and researcher of teacher education while I was incorporating identity as the main goal in teacher candidates' learning. In closing, this article offers recommendations for TESL teacher educators who consider designing identity-oriented courses and suggests some future research directions.
The Relationship between Positivity and Fear of Happiness in People Applying to Graduate Programs in Physical Education and Sports Department
Author: Togo, Osman Tolga
Date: 2019-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Correlation,Positive Attitudes,Fear,Psychological Patterns,Graduate Study,Physical Education,Athletics,Foreign Countries,Measures (Individuals),College Applicants

Positivity is a positive concept for both students and teachers and academics. This people' perspectives are influencing many factors. For this reason, a positive point of view is also an important factor. This perspective affects many negative situations. One of these situations is fear of happiness. The aim of the study with this thought is to examine the relationship between positivity and fear of happiness in people applying to the graduate programs of Physical Education and Sports Department. Study sample consists of 38 women and 83 men who applied to the graduate programs of the Department of Physical Education and Sports of Marmara University in the spring semester of 2016-2017 academic year. Data were collected using the 'Positivity Scale' developed by Caprara et al. (2012) and adapted to the Turkish language by Çikrikçi et al. (2015). Data were descriptively analyzed using t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Pearson Correlation test for independent groups. Participants' positivity and fear of happiness levels do not significantly differ by gender and age. However, there is a moderate negative correlation between their positivity and fear of happiness levels.
Tackling Limited Spatial Ability: Lowering One Barrier into STEM?
Author: Dawson, Chris
Date: 2019-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Spatial Ability,STEM Education,Course Selection (Students),Gender Differences,Barriers,Training,Genetics,Environmental Influences,Enrollment,Skill Development,Geology,Chemistry,Biology,Physics,Engineering,Mathematics,Surgery,Individual Differences

Accumulated evidence indicates that low spatial ability makes a contribution, separate from levels of general or verbal intelligence, to the unlikelihood of students enrolling in, or succeeding in, STEM subjects. Further, there is a tendency for female students not to perform as well as males on some spatial tests, suggesting that this might be part of the reason for their under-representation in some STEM areas. However, the level of spatial ability has been shown to be related to both genetic and environmental factors, thereby suggesting that it can be improved with appropriate training. Here I look at some of this background and prior research, including training studies, in STEM subjects. Interestingly, as subject specific expertise develops, drawing on specific knowledge tends to replace need for spatial thinking, so it is the negotiation of any initial spatial barrier into a subject which is crucial. To effect this, I outline a relatively new spatial categorisation which could be valuable for STEM teachers as a framework to help them guide their students through the early spatial demands of their own teaching subject(s).
&quot;Batting the Piñata and Swallowing Camels&quot;: Teachers Learn to PBLA in the Absence of Dialogic Interaction
Author: Desyatova, Yuliya
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Faculty Development,Portfolios (Background Materials),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Language Teachers,Teacher Education,Instructional Materials,Adult Education,Teacher Attitudes,Sociocultural Patterns,Teaching Experience,Evaluation Methods,Foreign Countries,Language Proficiency,Immigrants,Learning Theories,Adult Students,Student Evaluation

This article analyzes teacher professional development (PD) mandated by the implementation of portfolio-based language assessment (PBLA) in government-funded adult language learning programs in Canada. Through the lens of conceptualizations of teacher learning (TL), the study examined PBLA teacher-training materials, 247 teacher surveys, and participant interviews pertaining to two contrasting cases. The analysis of teacher experiences in PBLA PD revealed limited theoretical and empirical connections to recent developments in second language teacher education (SLTE). While current SLTE research emphasizes self-directed TL, the PBLA train-the-trainer model demonstrates top-down knowledge transmission with a potentially undermining evaluative component. The hierarchical transmission of knowledge created for teachers without opportunities for knowledge building by teachers contradicts current understandings of TL as a complex sociocultural activity. Limited effectiveness of PBLA as a TL experience may be further diminished by its potential use for punitive surveillance, as demonstrated in the extreme case analysis. As a result of this study, Richards and Farrell's conceptualizations of TL were complemented with an additional perspective informed by sociocultural theory--TL as dialogic interaction. The disconnect of PBLA vision and practice from current SLTE requires further research and attention from policymakers.
Action Research as a Tool for Professional Development in the K-12 ELT Classroom
Author: Pentón Herrera, Luis Javier
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Action Research,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Language Teachers,Faculty Development,Educational Practices,Elementary Secondary Education,Teaching Methods,Instructional Improvement,Departments

Professional development in the K-12 English language teaching (ELT) classroom is an evolving entity that focuses on meeting the needs of changing demographics and latest educational trends. As a result, many texts have been published with the intention of providing the necessary skills educators need for success in their classrooms and to instruct a highly heterogeneous English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) student population. Nonetheless, many of these resources focus on specific scenarios and instructional approaches that may not be applicable for all ESOL teachers. In this &quot;Perspectives&quot; article, I propose the incorporation of action research as a practice for K-12 teachers with the vision of empowering them to take control of their professional development and continue improving their instructional practices. Furthermore, I share three examples of how I have used action research in my own practice and the benefits obtained by my ESOL department, my ESOL students, and myself as a teacher researcher.
Kyrgyzstan Universities&apos; Profile in Terms of Preparing Students for the Future: Student Opinions
Author: Gul, Yavuz Ercan
Date: 2019-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Educational Quality,Futures (of Society),College Role,Universities,Student Attitudes,Educational Facilities,Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Educational Improvement,College Students,Educational Change,Phenomenology

Higher education in Kyrgyzstan has undergone a great deal of change in terms of quantity and quality since Kyrgyzstan's independence. Today, while there are many higher education institutions in the country, there are discussions about the quality of these institutions. The main purpose of this research is to determine the role of Kyrgyz universities in preparing students for the future. The research is designed as a mixed research design applying qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques together. For the qualitative data of the study, the research group consisted of 10 students and the quantitative data were collected from 312 students studying in three different universities. As a result of the research, it is understood that university students regard their universities as inadequate in terms of library, technological equipment, foreign language teaching, current craft knowledge, and social fields. The findings were discussed with other studies in the literature and some suggestions were made for the improvement of Kyrgyzstan universities.
Using Information Retrieval Activities to Foster Analytical Thinking Skills in Higher Education in Thailand: A Case Study of Local Wisdom Education
Author: Puchumni, Puchit
Date: 2019-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Information Retrieval,Thinking Skills,Higher Education,Foreign Countries,Active Learning,College Freshmen,Learning Experience,Indigenous Knowledge

Three information retrieving lessons were designed to foster analytical thinking in freshmen with minimal prior active learning experience. Thailand Local Wisdom contents were used as an online information platform due to the scarcity in well-established credible information sources. The lessons were collaborative learning both within own group and between groups. The information retrieving, credibility sorting, classroom sharing, analytical thinking assessments, and self-evaluating activities were conducted in sequential steps and repeated in three trials. A reflective pause was introduced between trials. The self-evaluating pause procedure using teacher's feedback was possibly a major reason for gains, from 65.0% to 82.5% and to 92.5%, in the number of students exhibiting analytical thinking evidence. A free-response survey after the learning experience showed that the students express high appreciation for the active learning activities as fun and analytical-thinking-promoting learning experiences.