The Forgotten Many

Limited economic resources and geographic challenges can lead rural schools in areas experiencing poverty to deprioritize gifted education. However, for the wellbeing of individual students and their communities, investing in quality rural gifted education is crucial. In this chapter, the authors discuss some of the challenges to providing equitable gifted programming to students in rural areas and present approaches to meeting those challenges (e.g., cluster grouping, mentoring). They then describe a large-scale federally-funded research project, Promoting PLACE in Rural Schools, which demonstrated methods districts can use to bolster gifted education programming. With 14 rural districts in high-poverty areas of the southeastern United States, researchers worked with teachers and school leaders to establish universal screening processes for identifying giftedness using local norms, to teach students the value of a growth mindset in reducing stereotype threat, and to train teachers on using a place-based curriculum to provide more impactful language arts instruction to gifted rural students.

Minecraft and Elementary Literacy Learning

This research examines the perceptions and instructional ideas of preservice teachers as relates to using Minecraft, a popular video game, to facilitate game-based learning opportunities in their future elementary classrooms. The participants were 21 preservice teachers who played Minecraft as part of a teacher preparation program course and then completed essays on their experiences with the game and its potential to support student learning in the elementary English language arts classroom. These essays were coded and analyzed for themes. Three primary results were found in data analysis. First, three groups emerged from the data with each group indicating either no interest, some interest, or high interest in using Minecraft in their future teaching. Second, the preservice teachers illustrated various potential instructional strategies for integrating the game into the classroom, and third, participants identified a variety of ways that Minecraft integration can support English language arts instruction and learning.

Observation och återkoppling med fokus på utvecklad undervisning: Professionsutveckling med hjälp av PLATO

De senaste åren har stor uppmärksamhet riktats mot behovet av praktiknära, eller praktikutvecklande, forskning i skolan. Tillsammans väntas forskare och lärare utarbeta ny kunskap och vetenskapligt underbyggda metoder för höjd kvalitet och ökad måluppfyllelse. Föreliggande artikel rapporterar resultat från en kvalitativ pilotstudie tillsammans med fyra lärare i det så kallade ULF-projektet (Utbildning, Lärande, Forskning), där forskare och lärare på gemensamt initiativ prövar en modell för samarbete om utvecklad undervisningskvalitet. Studien bygger på tidigare storskaliga observationsstudier där särskilda observa­tionsprotokoll utformats för att identifiera kritiska aspekter av undervisningskvalitet. Syftet med studien är att pröva om observationer och videoinspelningar av undervisning följt av återkoppling till lärarna utifrån ett sådant observationsprotokoll (PLATO) kan användas för att stötta lärarnas undervisningsutveckling. Forskningsintresset riktas dels mot observationernas och återkopplingens eventuella påverkan på undervisningen eller på lärarnas tänkande om undervisningen, dels mot förutsättningarna för att underlätta och utvidga samarbetet och göra det mer långsiktigt hållbart. Resultaten antyder att de forskningsbaserade kvalitetsdimensionerna i PLATO syn­liggör relevanta utvecklingsområden som lärarna drar nytta av i planering och analys av sin undervisning. Samtidigt konstateras att ett fungerande forsknings- och utvecklings­samarbete fordrar mer tid i lärarnas schema för planering och reflexion och en lokalt placerad ämneskompetent mottagarresurs som kan driva och förankra utvecklings­arbetet på huvudmannanivå. Implikationer för ett utvecklat och uppskalat samarbete diskuteras i artikeln. Nyckelord: observation, PLATO, praktikutvecklande forskning, undervisning, återkoppling Observation and feedback for improved instruction: Professional development by PLATO Abstract In recent years, increased attention has been devoted to the need for practice-based research in education. Together, teachers and researchers are expected to build new knowledge and arrive at evidence-based methods for improved quality and more efficient learning in schools. This article reports from a pilot study in the Swedish ULF project (Utbildning, Lärande, Forskning [Education, Learning, Research]), where researchers and teachers, on joint initiative and within the context of application, try out a model of collaboration for improved instructional quality. This research builds on previous large-scale studies where observation protocols have been used to identify critical aspects of instructional quality. The study aims to determine whether observations and video recordings of teaching followed by feedback to teachers, based on an observation protocol (PLATO), can be used to support the improvement of language arts instruction. Research interests concern both the effect caused by observation and feedback on teachers’ practice and their thinking about practice, and the potentials and pitfalls for a sustained collaboration. Findings indicate that the research-based quality criteria in PLATO pinpoint areas of development relevant for teachers’ planning and analysis of instruction. At the same time, the collaboration accentuates the need of more time for planning and reflection in teachers’ schedule as well as a local change agent to operate and authorize professional development at school level. Implications for an extended and large-scale collaboration are discussed. Keywords: collaborative research, feedback, instruction, observation, PLATO

Planning for Critical Thinking in Language Arts Instruction

This chapter focuses on the importance of planning for critical thinking in language arts instruction based on the Caribbean classroom. It seeks to identify traits of critical thinking, outline suggestions for planning for the inclusion of critical thinking, and highlight methods for incorporating critical thinking into language arts and provide solutions and recommendations. The chapter ends with suggestions for future research directions and summarizes the importance and many benefits associated with critical thinking in language arts.

Repeated readings and Chinese immersion students’ reading fluency, comprehension and character recognition

Although reading fluency instruction has been identified as an important literacy focus for English proficient students, little research has examined its role in foreign language settings, and it has not been studied in Chinese immersion education. The current research compared two seventh grade Chinese immersion classes. One class did repeated timed readings in student pairs, while the other class spent more time on comprehension activities. Both groups increased their correct Chinese characters per minute rates over the treatment period, but the repeated readings group outperformed the other group on reading fluency, character recognition, and reading comprehension measures. In addition, the students who engaged in repeated readings were better able to generalize reading fluency gains to new, but related, reading materials; they also reported more confidence and enjoyment when reading Chinese. Suggestions for integrating peer reading fluency procedures into language arts instruction are proposed.

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

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.

Arts and Academic Achievement―Empirical Evidence for Arts Realities in United States Education Law and Around the World

That the arts enhance academic achievement has been a claim of educators for the past century. This experimental study examined whether and to what extent the use of creative dramatics interventions increased the vocabulary achievement of fourth grade students in a language arts classroom. The 20-day study was conducted across five weeks of school―for 45 minutes each day―during the normally scheduled language arts instruction block. It included a pretest, 17 consecutive school days of instruction, and a posttest. A retention test was administered five weeks later. Three fourth grade teachers were randomly assigned to a random sample of 83 fourth graders. The study was conducted at a Learning Assistance Program (LAP) reading and math school, in a large rural school district in Washington State. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the demographics of the sample…inferential statistics were used to calculate the differences between groups. (Joseph, 2013/2014, pp. 2-3)