How Pop Culture Increases Student Engagement and Reading Comprehension

In this chapter, teachers will learn the importance of tapping into a child's prior experiences or background knowledge to help students gain the full understanding of a topic or subject matter. These practices help teachers recognize the background knowledge a student has on a subject matter; this information can assist them in their planning of a unit or specific learning objectives. This chapter provides elementary educators with practical ideas and a solid template or structure to help teachers brainstorm the countless ideas to weave pop culture into their instructional practices. Teachers should use these pages as a springboard to initiate the creative planning process to meet the needs of the students in their own classrooms. It is divided into sections of pop culture that are present in our 21st century society. As pop culture continues to change, teachers can use its appeal to get students excited about learning.

Exploring K-3 Educator Perspectives on STEM Learning

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instruction has become a priority b across the globe in recent years. Elementary educators are seeking ways to integrate STEM in all areas of learning. However, research indicates that most elementary teachers grapple with identifying and using appropriate STEM tools and instructional strategies that teach STEM as an integrated subject. This paper reports on an exploratory study examining the experiences of K-3 teachers (n=26) who contributed to the development of a summer STEM institute. It also examines in greater detail the perceptions of twelve of those participants who participated in the professional development institute. The study used quantitative and qualitative approaches to collect and analyze data. Findings indicate that teachers appreciate the use of inexpensive STEM tools and that they recognize the potential that an integrated STEM project-based learning approach has for young students. Implications for teacher education and professional development are offered along with recommendations for future research.

How Pop Culture Increases Student Engagement and Reading Comprehension

In this chapter, teachers will learn the importance of tapping into a child's prior experiences or background knowledge to help students gain the full understanding of a topic or subject matter. These practices help teachers recognize the background knowledge a student has on a subject matter; this information can assist them in their planning of a unit or specific learning objectives. This chapter provides elementary educators with practical ideas and a solid template or structure to help teachers brainstorm the countless ideas to weave pop culture into their instructional practices. Teachers should use these pages as a springboard to initiate the creative planning process to meet the needs of the students in their own classrooms. It is divided into sections of pop culture that are present in our 21st century society. As pop culture continues to change, teachers can use its appeal to get students excited about learning.

From Me to We

While the heterogeneity of public school students continues to grow, the demographics of classroom educators remain the same: Many students identify as part of traditionally marginalized groups according to their race, class, religious beliefs, gender identity, and sexual orientation, but teachers often identify as traditionally dominant groups of white, middle class, Christian, straight, and cis-gender. Thus, in order to effectively prepare elementary educators to work with diverse, marginalized students, there is a great gap that must be bridged. This chapter details how teacher preparations programs may be uniquely positioned to develop teachers' understanding and pedagogy for pluralistic and inclusive classrooms by exploring the multi-year, qualitative action research of one EC-6 teacher preparation program in the southern United States.

Loss of brick-and-mortar schooling: how elementary educators respond

Purpose This paper aims to understand how elementary school educators who teach subjects that traditionally require hands-on work in schools are rising to the challenge of losing brick-and-mortar facilities in the wake of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis. Design/methodology/approach The authors interviewed six elementary school educators and developed iterative grounded codes from the interviews to understand how the teachers are rising to the challenge of teaching online, what supports they need, and how they are viewing their roles and student learning in the present landscape. Findings In response to losing brick-and-mortar schools, teachers are rising to the challenge by creating creative assignments and communicating with students and parents via multiple platforms. They are learning to use technology to create meaningful, socially distant learning experiences and, in the process, blurring their own boundaries between work and life. They exercise compassion for their students while providing the best education they can in these circumstances. Practical implications This work provides administrators, educators, policymakers and technology developers insight into the challenges teachers are facing. Originality/value In addition to the timeliness of this study in light of the COVID 19 crisis, the focus on elementary school students, who often need support from parents or guardians to use Web technologies, and subjects traditionally requiring face-to-face interactions and hands-on work contribute to the originality of the study.

From Me to We

While the heterogeneity of public school students continues to grow, the demographics of classroom educators remain the same: Many students identify as part of traditionally marginalized groups according to their race, class, religious beliefs, gender identity, and sexual orientation, but teachers often identify as traditionally dominant groups of white, middle class, Christian, straight, and cis-gender. Thus, in order to effectively prepare elementary educators to work with diverse, marginalized students, there is a great gap that must be bridged. This chapter details how teacher preparations programs may be uniquely positioned to develop teachers' understanding and pedagogy for pluralistic and inclusive classrooms by exploring the multi-year, qualitative action research of one EC-6 teacher preparation program in the southern United States.

Teaching for Change: Identities and the Work of Educators of Elementary Children

While extant work demonstrates the impact of teacher and student identities on student achievement, less attention has been directed to how educators situate themselves with their identities and their work. Drawing from in-depth interviews with 21 elementary educators, I argue that educators’ approaches to their students may be partially a reflection of their identities, students’ identities, and their organizational and professional contexts. When drawing upon identities, their actions sought to combat inequalities, issues, and stereotypes confronting their students. The results offer insight on educators’ rationale in interactions with children and suggest that it is worthwhile to further examine educators’ self-reflections about their identities.