Contexts Matter: Two Teachers' Language Arts Instruction in this High-stakes Era

2009 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 354-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caitlin McMunn Dooley ◽  
Lori Czop Assaf
Keyword(s):  
Language Arts ◽  
Urban School ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Benchmark Assessments ◽  
Language Arts Teachers ◽  
School Year ◽  
Language Arts Instruction ◽  
Teachers Beliefs ◽  
Arts Teachers ◽  
Cross Case Analysis

This retrospective cross-case analysis compares two fourth-grade language arts teachers' beliefs and practices as they respond to an influx of high-stakes tests, including district-mandated benchmark testing systems. One teacher works in a suburban school, the other in an urban school. Results from the study show that the teachers' beliefs about literacy instruction are somewhat similar. Both teachers believed that creating a text-rich atmosphere engages students' interests, social interactions around texts aid comprehension, and “best practices” such as guided reading and literature discussions are useful methods. Both teachers harshly criticized the continuous barrage of tests in their district (between 10 and 17 district-mandated benchmark assessments per nine-month school year). However, their practices differed dramatically and created inequitable educational opportunities. Students in the suburban setting spent more time socially constructing knowledge about texts, themes, and topics while students in the urban school spent more time individually practicing the skills necessary to achieve understanding of a text's inherent meaning. Results from the study suggest that research on the influence of high-stakes assessments should go beyond surveys or interview statements of knowledge and should investigate teachers' practices in contexts where evidence of inequity may present itself.

Community responsive literacies: the development of the Ethnic Studies Praxis Story Plot

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 411-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward R. Curammeng ◽  
Daisy D. Lopez ◽  
Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales
Keyword(s):  
Language Arts ◽  
Ethnic Studies ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
Educational Partnerships ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Language Arts Teachers ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Arts Teachers ◽  
K 12

Purpose Momentum around the institutionalization of Ethnic Studies in US K-12 classrooms is increasing. Opponents have argued that Ethnic Studies does not challenge students academically and prepare them for high stakes testing (Planas, 2012; Sanchez, 2007). Conversely, research continues to show ways Ethnic Studies contribute to students’ academic achievement, especially for students from marginalized and vulnerable communities (Cabrera et al., 2014; Halagao, 2010; Tintiangco-Cubales et al., 2015). This study aims to demonstrate the possibilities and potential of Ethnic Studies-framed tools for English and Language arts teachers. This moment concerning Ethnic Studies in schools illuminates an important opportunity to demonstrate how Ethnic Studies-framed tools positively affect learning mainstream school content, namely, English and Language Arts. The authors consider the following point: To what extent can Ethnic Studies-framed tools affect approaches for learning English, writing and reading while simultaneously being responsive to a community’s needs? The authors maintain the importance of such tools that exist in how they support the development of community responsive literacies (CRLs). Design/methodology/approach This paper examines CRLs through the Ethnic Studies Praxis Story Plot (ESPSP). The authors begin by exploring the development of the ESPSP, first used in Pin@y Educational Partnerships (PEP), an innovative K-college Ethnic Studies teaching pipeline. Next, the authors examine each coordinate of the ESPSP, examining their purpose, theoretical underpinnings and ways the ESPSP offers nuanced approaches for learning literacies. Findings The authors then discuss how CRLs emerged to support PEP teachers and students’ reading and writing skills using the ESPSP. Originality/value Finally, the authors learn from students’ experiences with the ESPSP and offer implications for English and Language Arts teachers in the pursuit of teaching and serving students in more socially just and community responsive ways.

Fostering Participatory Literacies in English Language Arts Instruction Using Student-Authored Podcasts

2020 ◽  
pp. 20-39
Author(s):  
Molly Buckley-Marudas ◽  
Charles Ellenbogen
Keyword(s):  
Language Arts ◽  
English Language Arts ◽  
English Language ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Making Meaning ◽  
Language Arts Teachers ◽  
Language Arts Instruction ◽  
Arts Teachers ◽  
Support Students ◽  
Future Practice

English language arts teachers must tend to the proliferation of easily accessible technological tools and storytelling platforms for the teaching of stories. It is critical that educators teach with and about these spaces in order to develop young people's literacies. This chapter examines an English language arts unit that required students to create an audio podcast to support students in the process of making meaning, sharing ideas, and interpreting texts. The chapter offers insights into the podcasting process for students and teachers, including ideas about technical aspects of production, lessons learned, and recommendations for future practice. The chapter discusses how this project draws on adolescents' participatory literacies and how it developed practicing teachers' participatory literacies and pedagogical approaches.

scholarly journals State educational agencies in an uncertain environment: Understanding state provided networks of English Language Arts curricular resources

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 125
Author(s):  
Serena J. Salloum ◽  
Emily M. Hodge ◽  
Susanna L. Benko
Keyword(s):  
Language Arts ◽  
English Language Arts ◽  
English Language ◽  
Quadratic Assignment ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Secondary English ◽  
Language Arts Teachers ◽  
Arts Teachers ◽  
Organizational Ties ◽  
State Educational

Rapid adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the Race to the Top (RTTT) competition, and backlash around these policies created widespread uncertainty among state educational agencies (SEAs). SEAs may have not had a clear direction about how to support standards implementation in a new context, and therefore, may have looked to their professional networks, their geographic neighbors or other highly regarded SEAs, or other sources for information and resources to guide their decisions about where to send teachers for information about standards. Drawing on institutional theory (Meyer Rowan, 1977) and isomorphism specifically (DiMaggio Powell, 1983), we posit that coercive forces (primarily due to RTTT application and CCSS status) as compared to mimetic and normative forces influenced the organizations to which SEAs turn for curriculum materials. Using Multiple Regression Quadratic Assignment Procedure and a data set of over 2,000 state-provided resources for secondary English Language Arts teachers from all 50 states and Washington, D.C., we indeed found that coercive forces had a relationship with shared organizational ties, demonstrating that RTTT application and CCSS adoption influenced resource provision.

Building Awareness of Language Structures with Visual-Syntactic Text Formatting

2013 ◽  
pp. 21-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youngmin Park ◽  
Mark Warschauer ◽  
Penelope Collins ◽  
Jin Kyoung Hwang ◽  
Charles Vogel
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Language Arts ◽  
State Standards ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Language Arts Teachers ◽  
Arts Teachers ◽  
Authentic Writing ◽  
Writing Technology ◽  
Linguistic Structures ◽  
Grammatical Structures

The recently adopted Common Core State Standards emphasize the importance of language forms and structure in learning to write. Yet most language arts teachers have either downplayed the linguistic structure of writing in favor of process approaches or emphasized the teaching of grammatical structures outside of the context of authentic writing. Technology-supported writing activities tend to mimic these two approaches, with teachers using technology for either process-based writing or for grammar drills. Most teachers are not well prepared to teach linguistic structures in context or to deploy technology for that purpose. This chapter introduces a new tool called Visual-Syntactic Text Formatting (VSTF) that has powerful affordances for teaching linguistic and textual structures in the context of authentic written genres. Drawing on an empirical study and an action research project conducted by the authors, they share evidence for the value of using VSTF and point to ways that it can be used in the classroom to help students master language structures and employ them in their composition.

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