Search

The Texas Woman's University Future Classroom Laboratory (TWUFCL) is a unique learning space designed for use by university faculty, future teachers, and local PreK-12 teachers and students. Part of the European Schoolnet's Network of Future Classroom Labs, the TWUFCL offers users the chance to explore the science of teaching and learning in a technology-rich environment containing a multitude of individual approaches and applications that are available to teachers throughout the U.S. Centered around the Four C's of 21st Century Learning: communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. This unique learning space allows future teachers to explore technology and applications available in schools prior to student teaching. The space allows faculty to incorporate practical, interactive teaching experiences into coursework. Local K-12 teachers and students can use the innovative environment to explore ideas and applications they can take back to their own classrooms and use with students across the curriculum. The collaborative design approach to this evolving educational laboratory for training teachers and students included stakeholders from throughout the university and community in its state-of-the-art design described within.

There is value in being a lifelong reader and writer; yet, preservice teachers frequently do not exhibit these attributes. As an educator of future teachers, the author of this article reflects on practice. One goal in working with these education students is to develop their competencies in the use of literary strategies, with a secondary goal of encouraging the students' reading and writing beyond academic requirements. The author reflects on specific classroom activities and discussions which address the sharing of reading selections, the discussion of books and related films, the building of classroom libraries, and finally, the reciting and writing poetry. These specific practices are intended to promote voluntary reading and writing in preservice teachers so they will, in turn, promote reading and writing among their own students.

In Texas, state policy anticipates that installing video cameras in special education classrooms will decrease student abuse inflicted by teachers. Lawmakers assume that collecting video footage will prevent teachers from engaging in malicious actions and prosecute those who choose to harm children. At the request of a parent, Section 29.022 of the Texas Education Code (2015) will protect students who are unable to speak for themselves from bullying and abuse by installing video surveillance cameras in special education classrooms. The purpose of this article is to describe the law in Texas, the impact of the bill on classrooms, to raise questions about the implementation of the law, and to provide recommendations for school administrators.

In 2007, eleven diverse undergraduate students from Texas spent a month in Mexico on a study-abroad program sponsored by the School of Education at their university. A central goal of the program was to facilitate pre-service teachers' ability to articulate a critical understanding of the needs of second language (L2) learners in their future public school classrooms. To this end, the students lived with Mexican host families, visited local schools, studied Spanish, took a Second Language Acquisition (SLA) class focused on immigrant language learners, participated in numerous field trips, and wrote about their experiences in a biweekly journal. In the journal entry, the only male student in the group reports his decision "not" to write about a field trip that took place in the first week of the program, a visit to a family living in poverty in an area known as "La Barranca" (the Ravine). In this article, the authors use critical discourse analysis to examine the eight narrative accounts of the "Barranca" field trip and to answer the following questions: (1) What perspectives do the students construct on educational and social issues in Mexico and their own relationship to those issues in writing about the "Barranca" visit?; (2) What linguistic resources do the students use to construct their perspectives?; and (3) To what extent do the "Barranca" narratives demonstrate students' critical understanding of the potential needs of immigrant students in U.S. public schools? They conclude by drawing implications for future study-abroad programs that aim to foster critical sociocultural awareness in prospective teachers. (Contains 1 table and 6 notes.)

Given that much of the research on classroom libraries focus on elementary school classrooms, this study sought to examine classroom libraries at the middle school level. Access to books is especially important for middle school students given the persistent decline in reading engagement at this level. The research questions guiding this investigation focused on the nature of the libraries, the physical features of the libraries, the contributions made by the libraries to the literacy environment of the classrooms, the contents of the libraries, and teacher perceptions of their own classroom libraries. Findings indicate that teachers value classroom libraries for promoting literacy engagement and understand how these libraries provide students with immediate and easy access to books. The contents of the libraries that were examined varied in terms of genre, multicultural literature, and social justice issues.

The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of classroom-based phonological sensitivity intervention (PSI) using a narrative platform for children in first grade who are at risk for a reading disability. Participants consisted of 59 first graders identified as at risk for later reading impairments. At-risk designation was dictated by one or both of the following factors: (a) economically disadvantaged socioeconomic status background and/or (b) speech-language impairment. Using an experimental group design, four first-grade classrooms were randomly assigned to either the experimental group or the control group. The experimental group's performance on the pre- and posttest reading measures was compared to that of the control group. Findings suggest that phonological sensitivity intervention using a narrative platform promoted positive early reading skill outcomes for first-grade participants at risk for reading disabilities. (Contains 2 tables.)

The issues surrounding the federal budget, national debt, and budget deficit are complex, but not beyond the reach of young students. This study finds scant treatment of the federal budget, national debt, and budget deficit in high schools today. It is hardly surprising that high school teachers spend so little time discussing these topics in their classrooms, another finding of this study. As bleak as we found the current state of education about these topics, we also found significant opportunities to teach them in high school classrooms. Specifically, we discuss four recommendations for teachers to infuse the federal budget, national debt, and budget deficit into high school social studies courses. (Contains 2 tables.)

From her first encounter with stereoscopic 3D technology designed for classroom instruction, Megan Timme, principal at Hamilton Park Pacesetter Magnet School in Dallas, sensed it could be transformative. Last spring, when she began pilot-testing 3D content in her third-, fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms, Timme wasn't disappointed. Students donning special 3D glasses were immediately absorbed in the immersive experience and caught up in the images that seemed to soar from the projector. Timme observed benefits for all types of students. Those who tended to be disruptive or inattentive during traditional instruction were so enamored they uttered nary a peep. Taken in by the wow factor, students are clearly drawn to the stereoscopic 3D experience. But are they learning from it? Can the value 3D adds to the curriculum be measured? Several educators who have pilot-tested the question say yes.

E-readers like the Amazon Kindle and the Barnes and Noble Nook are beginning to make their way into school libraries and classrooms. It's about time. E-readers have tremendous potential to entice reluctant readers to read more. A study that the authors recently conducted among low-reading-ability middle school students demonstrated that potential. Students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades became more engaged and motivated during their scheduled silent sustained reading periods when they were given the opportunity to use e-readers. This article discusses the benefits of e-readers, which include the following: (1) motivation; (2) easy response to text; (3) extra support for English language learners; (4) increased confidence with technology; and (5) economic advantages.

In the 1980s a new emphasis in facilities planning seems to be emerging: fiscal conservatism and retrenchment in higher education. The new context of facilities planning, the parameters of the problem, and innovative efforts by a Texas state agency are discussed. (Author/MLW)

Students' education in applied anthropology can occur through a variety of sources including classroom instruction, hands‐on experience and professional mentorship. Anthropology programs, and especially those with an applied focus, can help facilitate these types of experiences. This article details one such attempt: the creation and implementation of a local conference. The Texas Applied Anthropology Summit (TAAS) was first developed in 2016. The purpose of this and subsequent TAAS events was to bring together anthropological practitioners, faculty and students in an effort to build and strengthen relationships around applied anthropology in Texas. Based on data collected from past TAAS events and additional outreach with anthropologist practitioners it was determined that while key differences in practitioner and student/faculty interests exist, TAAS serves as an important networking tool for all attendees. This article also details what is needed, including programmatic support, to organize and implement a local conference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, is accessed by over 1.5 billion users each month, yet remains stigmatized in the academic world. Many faculty demonstrate reluctance in allowing students to use Wikipedia as part of their research and writing projects due to the open access nature of the site and have all but banned its use in their courses. In this article, we evaluate implications of our pedagogical decision to embed a Wikipedia editing assignment into our respective undergraduate courses at a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) in South Texas. First, we describe students' initial reactions to Wikipedia as disrupting the classroom. Second, we examine the outcomes of the assignment in our Latinx students' recognizing their work on Wikipedia as an act of decolonizing the classroom. In particular, we show the extent to which students a) claim authority, b) develop an ownership of knowledge, c) forge identities as public scholars, and d) develop a civic responsibility through their work on Wikipedia. We conclude with a discussion of recommendations for implementing assignments on digital citizenship in college classrooms, particularly in HSIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to better understand school factors influencing ethnic minority students' science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) preparation in Inclusive STEM High Schools (ISHSs). The researchers conducted a phenomenological study that used semi-structured interviews with participants (N=13) who graduated from ISHSs in Texas. Participants' STEM high school experiences were classified into nine categories: a) innovative STEM and non-STEM instruction, b) rigorous STEM curriculum, c) integration of technology and engineering in classrooms, d) quality of teachers, e) real-world STEM partnership, f) informal STEM opportunities, g) academic and social support for struggling students, h) emphasis on STEM courses, majors, and careers, and i) preparation for a college workload. These characteristics can be helpful for schools to establish a STEM-focused school environment and have the potential to cultivate positive experiences for ethnic minority students to increase their interest and capabilities in STEM fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Of Mice and Men remains a staple text in schools in both the United States and United Kingdom, where both neuro-typical and disabled pupils encounter it. The character of Lennie has learning difficulties and also—as identified by some researchers—exhibits many characteristics of autism. Although the novella is hailed as a modern classic, there are aspects in Steinbeck's portrayal of Lennie as un-human, 'othered' from the other characters in the book and demonised as animal-like that merit challenge if they are to be encountered in the modern classroom. This study asks, 'If Lennie is a monster, what does that mean for pupils' understanding of autism and intellectual disability both inside and outside the classroom?' It considers the portrayal of Lennie from within its origins in the Eugenics movement of the 1930s, the effect of reader sympathies with George in the final action of the book and the moral effect of the 'Briseño' factor, used in Texas to decide on a prisoner's suitability to face the death penalty. The importance of teachers' awareness of disability issues and language when teaching texts of this kind and of the positioning of texts within the disability awareness curriculum is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recently adopted TEKS for English I-IV that will be implemented in 2020-2021 require students to write for a variety of purposes and audiences, to practice the writing process, and to engage in reflective writing. These standards can be difficult to meet when literacy instruction is confined to classroom borders, where students often write only for the teacher, using a limited set of composing processes, without opportunities for written reflection. One type of composition pedagogy that expands literacy instruction beyond classroom borders and immerses students in authentic rhetorical situations is service learning. In this article, the authors describe how service-learning projects in which students write for community partners allow students to write for external audiences, in real-world genres, employing complex composing processes, with ample opportunities for deep reflection. They also describe the experiences of a group of English II students who partnered with their local Department of Public Safety to write public service announcements that were published on the Department's Twitter feed. The authors hope to inspire other ELA teachers in Texas to incorporate service learning into their courses as a way of extending literacy instruction beyond classroom borders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article "No Need to Reinvent the Wheel: Reading Instruction in a Time of Change" published in English in Texas in 2017, the authors, Ann D. David and Katrina Jansky, viewed reading instruction through five touchstones: time, choice, relevance, talk, and routines and rituals. This article expands on those touchstones by examining writing instruction, offering classroom practices that can support a diverse range of student writers and bring back joy and pleasure to the writing classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Similar to K-12 classroom teachers, literacy teacher educators are susceptible to high levels of stress and burnout. The objective of the present analysis was to add to the limited base of available literature and specific challenges and pressures experienced by literacy teacher educators in Texas (n=61). Data from an open-ended survey question were collected and analyzed using content analysis techniques and three separate coding phases. Data analyses resulted in the following five categories: External Accountability and Mandates, Conceptions about Literacy and Professionalism, Characteristics of Preservice Teachers, Appropriate Classroom Settings, and Literacy Curricula and Preparation Program Requirements. Three implications from these findings were described, along with recommendations for practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the National Conference of State Legislature (NCSL), the total population of individuals (including authorized and unauthorized immigrants) in the United States is 319 million, and one in five U.S. residents speak a language at home other than English (Camarota & Zeigler, 2014). With the increasing number of English Language Learners (ELLs) on the rise throughout Texas and the rest of the country, it is important to develop a "safe" space for these individuals to express themselves while practicing the four components (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) of English language learning. This crux of this paper delves into the sub-culture of Cosplay while simultaneously providing practical suggestions from research-based sources for teachers to develop their pedagogy in order to help ELLs practice their English skills in an environment unlike any other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Classrooms of teachers who participated in Proyecto Bilingüe, a cohort-based master’s degree program, used the historical novel,Sylvia and Aki. The research question was: What spaces for authoring were created when usingSylvia and Akiin the figured worlds of bilingual elementary classrooms? The first theme in relation to ways students authored their identities is evoking collective memory. Specifically,proverbios, dichos, consejos, and translanguaging facilitated the authoring of personal and collective histories. The second theme was the authoring of new identities, specifically ethnic, writer, and historian identities. Through prolonged study in an integrated language arts and social studies curriculum, teachers created spaces where their bilingual students valued their own personal experiences and those of subjugated communities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The focus of this paper is a case study of a Texas-based school that implemented global projects to connect their students with many states and countries as a platform for integrating collaboration and communication skills, technology tools, and cultural diversity into an existing curriculum. The school introduced videoconferencing at every grade level K-8 in a school-wide initiative to bring the world to the classroom through the engagement of global learning projects with distant partners. A rubric is presented that provides a framework for improvement of interaction and engagement in videoconferencing experiences to develop best practices. For the purposes of this paper, the value of global projects in K-4 will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a quantitative study utilizing HLM to analyze classroom walkthrough data completed by principals within 87 secondary mathematics classrooms across 9 public schools in Texas. This research is based on the theoretical framework of learner engagement as established by Argryis & Schon (1996), and refined by Marks (2000). It is also informed by Glickman, Gordon, and Ross-Gordon's (2012) theories on critical feedback. The results of the multi-level analyses indicate that regardless of school size or socioeconomic status, secondary level classes in which teachers provide students with critical feedback on their mathematics assignments are more likely to have higher levels of learner engagement than classes in which students receive less feedback from their teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined five schools with different ventilation systems in both urban and rural areas in South Texas. Total particle number concentration, ultrafine particle (UFP, diameter < 100 nm) size distribution, PM2.5, and CO2 were measured simultaneously inside and outside of various school microenvironments. Human activities, ventilation settings, and occupancy were recorded. The study found a greater variation of indoor particle number concentration (0.6 × 103-29.3 × 103 #/cm3) than of outdoor (1.6 × 103-16.0 × 103 #/cm3). The most important factors affecting indoor UFP levels were related to various indoor sources. Gas fan heaters increased the indoor-to-outdoor ratio (I/O ratio) of total particle number concentrations to 30.0. Food-related activities, cleaning, and painting also contributed to the increased indoor particle number concentration with I/O ratios larger than 1.0. Without indoor sources, the I/O ratios for total particles varied from 0.12 to 0.66 for the five ventilation systems studied. The I/O ratio decreased when the outdoor total particle number concentration increased. Particles with diameters <60 nm were less likely to penetrate and stay airborne in indoor environments than larger particles and were measured with smaller I/O ratios. Practical Implications From an exposure assessment perspective, schools are important and little-studied microenvironments where students congregate and spend a large proportion of their active time. This study provides information for indoor and outdoor ultrafine particle concentrations at different types of school microenvironments. These data may allow future epidemiological studies to better estimate exposure and assess ultrafine particles' health effects among students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides an overview of research conducted with Somali Bantu refugee students in two contexts: Michigan and South Texas. We provide recommendations br outreach to refugee families and their families, for instruction in the classroom, for advising and support for these children, and for implementing school and district policy as it pertains to improving academic outcomes for refugee students. The article ends with a call for action by teachers, school officials, and other school stakeholders who currently work with refugee students in public school classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The education of Roma children is seen as the main tool for their social inclusion and better living conditions in the future. Investigation period of monitoring primary desegregated classrooms, extremely important, show that the number of negative choices is reducing, but at the same time confirm that the integration processes work and that there is a reduction of the effects of prejudice related to intolerance, and negative evaluation of differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, examples excerpted from research studies conducted in Houston, Texas, the fourth largest city in the United States, are used to demonstrate how the discretionary classroom space where teachers and students actively live curriculum—guided, though, not controlled, by official documents and administrative oversight—has become increasingly disputed. Through metalevel narrative analysis, excerpts from several accounts that elucidate different manifestations of the contested classroom space in multiple school contexts are woven together. In the process, the ways that teachers, principals, parents, professors, consultants, district personnel, the media, researchers, and students contributed to the contentious environment are explicated. Also, versions of curriculum and instruction that increased the contestation are named. As a result, changes that teachers and students lived in classrooms from 1997 to 2007, the decade when educational policy making in Texas served as the prototype for the U.S. No Child Left Behind Act, are characterized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A tension exists for teachers in Texas bilingual third and fifth grade classrooms between state and local bilingual education policy, which encourages them to transition students gradually from Spanish into English instruction while providing bilingual support; and state and federal accountability policy, which requires them to choose a single language for each child’s high-stakes test. Interview data from teachers in six Texas elementary schools suggest that the high-stakes Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS), a test offered in both English and Spanish in 3rd–6th grades and used for school and district rankings at both state and federal levels, drives teachers’ decisions with regards to language of instruction for their students. We argue that children who test in Spanish will be taught in Spanish, with little attention to the transition process until the testing pressures are lifted; children who test in English will be taught in English, with little attention to the support in their primary language that may determine their ability to succeed on a test in their second language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the development of a new laboratory and set of graduate courses at Texas Tech University (TTU) in Lubbock. It states that a laboratory was developed in TTU in 2002 using about $175,000 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and TTU and donations from private corporations to promote an innovative environment. A laboratory classroom that offers an optimal setting for student development and three courses in atmospheric science (ATMO) have been developed using the laboratory's capabilities.

The goal of this study was to validate measures and assess the effects of collaborative group-learning methods in real classrooms on 3 specific dependent variables: feelings of campus connectedness, academic classroom community, and effective group processing (2 factors). Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to evaluate a 4-factor model. Using hierarchical linear modeling techniques, results indicated that campus connectedness and collaborative learning (compared with no collaborative learning) predicted positive academic classroom community. For classes using more formal cooperative group work, campus connectedness and group processing--evaluation predicted positive academic classroom community. Suggestions for further applications of the measures are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This two year study is based on measurements of particulate matter (PM) in seven high schools in Central Texas, each with mechanical ventilation. Measurements were completed in 39 classrooms, including five portable (temporary) classrooms. Each classroom was sampled between one and four four-day sampling events. The average PM 2.5 and PM 10 concentrations in the classrooms were lower than standards established by WHO and ASHRAE. The I/O ratios for PM 2.5 and PM 10 in this study were much lower than those reported in many other related studies, which may be due to use of filtration systems in all schools that participated in this study. Indoor PM 1 and PM 2.5 concentrations correlated with outdoor concentrations. However, indoor and outdoor PM 10 did not correlate, indicating that the primary source of indoor PM 10 is resuspension from indoor surfaces, specifically flooring. There was no significant difference in size-resolved particulate matter between regular (permanent)and portable classrooms during school hours. Flooring type had a significant effect on indoor PM. For PM 1 , PM 2.5 and PM 10 , carpet flooring was associated with 1.4, 1.8, and 3.8 times higher indoor concentrations relative to classrooms containing vinyl composition tile (VCT) flooring. The average PM emission rates per student in regular classrooms with VCT, regular classrooms with carpet, and portable classrooms with carpet were 0.10 mg/h, 0.11 mg/h and 0.12 mg/h for PM 2.5 and 0.51 mg/h, 1.84 mg/h and 1.59 mg/h for PM 10. The reported PM emission rates described herein can be used to better estimate indoor PM concentrations in classrooms. • PM 2.5 and PM 10 measured in this study were lower than previously reported. • Major source of indoor PM 1 particles is outdoor environment. • Major fraction of PM 10 is due to resuspension from indoor environment. • Type of flooring has significant effect on indoor PM concentration in classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on insight of preservice elementary teachers in multi-cultural classrooms in Texas. The study utilized a qualitative design in which preservice teachers responded to an open-ended survey after their first semester of field-based experiences. The data was interpreted inductively by researchers as they searched for patterns in the data, reflected and wrote memos, and developed categories and themes.