Advances in Teaching & Learning Day Abstracts 2004

Proceedings of the Advances in Teaching & Learning Day Regional Conference held at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston in 2004

Improving School Improvement

PREFACEIn opening this volume, you might be thinking:Is another book on school improvement really needed?Clearly our answer is yes. Our analyses of prevailing school improvement legislation, planning, and literature indicates fundamental deficiencies, especially with respect to enhancing equity of opportunity and closing the achievement gap.Here is what our work uniquely brings to policy and planning tables:(1) An expanded framework for school improvement – We highlight that moving from a two- to a three-component policy and practice framework is essential for closing the opportunity and achievement gaps. (That is, expanding from focusing primarily on instruction and management/government concerns by establishing a third primary component to improve how schools address barriers to learning and teaching.)(2) An emphasis on integrating a deep understanding of motivation – We underscore that concerns about engagement, management of behavior, school climate, equity of opportunity, and student outcomes require an up-to-date grasp of motivation and especially intrinsic motivation.(3) Clarification of the nature and scope of personalized teaching – We define personalization as the process of matching learner motivation and capabilities and stress that it is the learner's perception that determines whether the match is a good one.(4) A reframing of remediation and special education – We formulate these processes as personalized special assistance that is applied in and out of classrooms and practiced in a sequential and hierarchical manner.(5) A prototype for transforming student and learning supports – We provide a framework for a unified, comprehensive, and equitable system designed to address barriers to learning and teaching and re-engage disconnected students and families.(6) A reworking of the leadership structure for whole school improvement --We outline how the operational infrastructure can and must be realigned in keeping with a three component school improvement framework.(7) A systemic approach to enhancing school-community collaboration – We delineate a leadership role for schools in outreaching to communities in order to work on shared concerns through a formal collaborative operational infrastructure that enables weaving together resources to advance the work.(8) An expanded framework for school accountability – We reframe school accountability to ensure a balanced approach that accounts for a shift to a three component school improvement policy.(9) Guidance for substantive, scalable, and sustainable systemic changes –We frame mechanisms and discuss lessons learned related to facilitating fundamental systemic changes and replicating and sustaining them across a district.The frameworks and practices presented are based on our many years of work in schools and from efforts to enhance school-community collaboration. We incorporate insights from various theories and the large body of relevant research and from lessons learned and shared by many school leaders and staff who strive everyday to do their best for children.Our emphasis on new directions in no way is meant to demean current efforts. We know that the demands placed on those working in schools go well beyond what anyone should be asked to do. Given the current working conditions in many schools, our intent is to help make the hard work generate better results. To this end, we highlight new directions and systemic pathways for improving school outcomes.Some of what we propose is difficult to accomplish. Hopefully, the fact that there are schools, districts, and state agencies already trailblazing the way will engender a sense of hope and encouragement to those committed to innovation.It will be obvious that our work owes much to many. We are especially grateful to those who are pioneering major systemic changes across the country. These leaders and so many in the field have generously offered their insights and wisdom. And, of course, we are indebted to hundreds of scholars whose research and writing is a shared treasure. As always, we take this opportunity to thank Perry Nelson and the host of graduate and undergraduate students at UCLA who contribute so much to our work each day, and to the many young people and their families who continue to teach us all.Respectfully submitted for your consideration,Howard Adelman & Linda Taylo

A Study of Educational Simulations Part I - Engagement and Learning

Interactive computer simulations with complex representations and sophisticated graphics are a relatively new addition to the classroom, and research in this area is limited. We have conducted over 200 individual student interviews during which the students described what they were thinking as they interacted with simulations. These interviews were conducted as part of the research and design of simulations for the Physics Education Technology (PhET) project. PhET is an ongoing project that has developed over 60 simulations for use in teaching physics, chemistry, and physical science. These interviews are a rich source of information about how students interact with computer simulations and what makes an educationally effective simulation. We have observed that simulations can be highly engaging and educationally effective, but only if the student's interaction with the simulation is directed by the student's own questioning. Here we describe our design process, what features are effective for engaging students in educationally productive interactions and the underlying principles which support our empirically developed guidelines. In a companion paper we describe in detail the design features used to create an intuitive simulation for students to use

The Social Perspective Taking Process: What motivates individuals to take another’s perspective?

Background/Context: A growing literature describes multiple benefits of social perspective taking – many of which are particularly important for schools. Despite these potential benefits for administrators, counselors, teachers, and students, little is known about social perspective taking as a process. Purpose/Research Question: If educational researchers are ultimately to design interventions to help improve the perspective taking capacities of those in schools, they need to fully understand the underlying process. Particularly important is the need to understand: What initially motivates individuals to take the perspective of others? Participants: To investigate this question, a sample of 18 adults from an array of different professions (who were nominated as adept perspective takers) and 13 high school students (who were nominated as struggling with social perspective taking) participated in the study. Research Design: Participants completed a survey, a performance task, and in-depth interviews as part of this mixed-method, exploratory study. The interviews served as the primary source of data and were coded for evidence of what triggered (or inhibited) participants’ motivation to engage in the social perspective taking process. Findings: The interview data established the existence of at least thirteen specific factors that impacted participants’ motivation to engage in social perspective taking across a wide array of contexts. Seven factors generally enhanced individuals’ motivation to engage in social perspective taking; three factors were mixed; and three factors inhibited their motivation. Conclusions/Recommendations: This research indicates that not only might individuals be motivated to engage in social perspective taking through multiple pathways, but that these pathways might be combined and/or interact with one another. These motivating factors raise important issues for further research. In addition, at a practical level, they provide a foundation for developing structures to motivate individuals in schools to engage in perspective taking more often

Reflective Practitioner: Grounding the Use of Instructional Technology in Principles, Teaching Philosophy, Course Goals and Disciplinary Values

Necessity, when assigned to teach a large introductory class in Construction Science, required I learn quickly the requisite instructional technology and its application. The title, “Reflective Practitioner” is an anachronism that does not capture the actual chronology: practice, finding a theory and applying it, and reflecting on the practice to find grounds for improvement. Practice was grounded in learning how to learn as the final objective of this course. In the process, objectives, goals, syllabus, assignments, projects, evaluations, lectures, and presentation techniques, had to be created. After teaching the course two semesters, I read the following and received coaching from the Center for Teaching Excellence. This provided an opportunity to reflect on what happened, clarify the theories, examine my teaching philosophy and further clarify the principles that inform the framework for the course. This paper reports on the result of this reflection and is based on the wisdom-of-practice scholarship (Weimer, 2006) therefore experience-based and subjective. This paper captures the flow along these major lines of t professional teaching practice, the motivation, and findings from decisions made in the process. Teaching as a dynamic process assures that there will be an evolution in time. This paper also captures the evolution of the course, the areas indicated for further research and more importantly advocates a method for teaching with instructional technology in need of verification by other institutions on its way to morph into a research scholarship with qualitative studies or quantifiable investigations of a dynamic process or a descriptive research

Designing an Information-Experience Using Creativity Science Theory and Tools

An “information-experience” encapsulated by a technological/digital audio-visual tool presents data and potentially meaningful information to prompt actionable knowledge concerning: “unspoken creative process elements;” their profound impacts on both how well our “physiology of creativity” functions; but also on how well foundational creative thinking and behavioral prerequisites (energy, motivation, imagination, and ownership) are leveraged. The product: 1) introduces the user to one component of the CPS (Creative Problem Solving) Facilitation Process - Exploring the Challenge; 2) features a content specific component which prompts exploration of the many correlations between societal, organizational / community, human physiological / behavioral data, and the direct relationships of these to creative/productive capacities and capabilities; while also 3) establishing an overview and resources to delve further into experiences or information concerning the domain of Creativity Science, Innovation, Change Leadership, or wellness/health-driving productivity factors, behaviors, and tools

Teachers\u27 and Administrators\u27 Perceptions and Experiences of Best Practices for Success in High-Poverty Schools

Two high-poverty secondary school teachers and administrators in South Florida participated in this research. This dual-case study examined administrators\u27 and teachers\u27 perceptions of the challenges, successes, and school features essential to promote students\u27 academic success in a high-poverty school as they correspond with best practices identified in educational literature. School 1 is a high-poverty school with a Florida school grade of an F. School 2 is a high-poverty school with a Florida school grade of C. Teachers and administrators filled out a demographic questionnaire describing their educational, professional, and ethnic backgrounds, They responded to a Likert-like scale rating the importance levels of items identified as best practices in the literature in successful programs in high-poverty schools. Additionally, the participants rated the identified essential school features of best practice from successful high poverty schools in terms of how satisfied they were that the feature was successfully in place in their respective schools. The researcher conducted interviews with both the administrators and teachers at School 1 and School 2 to identify the participants\u27 experiences and perceptions of challenges, successes and essential features that promote student academic success, This research clustered the perceptions for reoccurring themes and phrases to analyze information for similarities and differences indicating those features that may be critical for success in high-poverty schools. Findings indicated that the best practices utilizing inclusive and responsive techniques with students was most prominent on the minds of educators, posing a success, challenge, and critical feature for both schools. Further analysis of survey and interview data revealed that School 1, the F-graded institution, was focused on student-centered techniques while School 2, the C-graded institution was more focused on student-teacher relations and creating a safe and supportive learning environment. Based on the findings, recommendations for further research include an ethnographic research study to better inform teacher, administrators and counselors how to effectively engage students through explication of their various daily life experiences that affect their learning, and a larger, comparative, mixed-method study with similar questions between similar schools, and unlimited, time money, and resources to provide decision makers with more useful data. Practices that would be useful for practicing educators include cultural immersion activities for teachers in high-poverty areas, such as internships or summer institutes, and increased communication among staff and students

Creating a Classroom of Access: Learner Identity and Intercultural Communicative Competence

This portfolio represents the coursework, readings, writings, classroom observations, teaching experiences, and reflections during my time in the Utah State University Masters in Second Language Teaching program. It is composed of three main components: my teaching philosophy, reflections on a selection of classroom observations of other instructors, and a position paper on World Englishes and pragmatics. Additionally, this portfolio gives background on the professional environment of the author and looks forward to the future. The main paper consists of a position paper regarding World Englishes and cultivating identity and intercultural communicative competence, supplemented by a paper on incorporating pragmatics into the classroom. As such, it is the result of a review of current literature surrounding the topic and an effort to provide an approach that can be implemented within the classroom. It gives an overview of the native speaker myth and predominant ideologies in English language learning, suggesting how language teachers may combat stereotypes and hegemonic views through multiliteracies approaches and pedagogies of care