Early Career Special Education Teacher Lived Experiences During COVID-19

The stories and lived experiences of Early Career Special Education Teachers must be shared. This study provides more information on the beginning lived experiences of Special Education Teachers during COVID-19. The researcher conducted a qualitative narrative design to further investigate burnout and self-efficacy among Early Career Special Education Teachers. The researcher conducted an open-ended question interview that allowed participants to relive their experience teaching during COVID-19. The conclusion of this study is that Special Education Teachers love their job but seek more financial security, administrative support and guidance, recognition

The Relationship of Online Communication Modes on Counselor Educator Job Satisfaction

With the increase in pressures related to teaching online, counselor educators are experiencing greater amounts of burnout. The purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative survey study was to assess for significant differences and correlations between synchronous and asynchronous communication modes on online counselor educators\u27 job satisfaction levels as measured by the Online Instructor Satisfaction Measure, and levels of burnout, as measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory Educators Survey. The researcher used Moore\u27s theory of transactional distance as the theoretical framework to answer 2 research questions: (a) Is there a significant difference in faculty satisfaction and burnout levels based on communication modes?; and (b) Is there a relationship between satisfaction and burnout for faculty members depending on their use of synchronous and asynchronous communication modes? The researcher solicited participants for the study through the CESNET listserv and the CACREP graduate program database. A total of 125 participants completed surveys and 2 data analysis techniques were used. Results of the t test indicated that counselor educators had significantly higher levels of satisfaction, higher levels of personal accomplishment and significantly lower levels of emotional exhaustion when using synchronous communications. The Pearson correlation analysis results indicated significant correlations between satisfaction, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment depending on the type of communications. The study will potentially contribute to social change by providing information useful for the implementation of teaching methods that improve overall faculty satisfaction and decrease burnout

Are you an effective teacher of reading?

Reading occurs in our lives on a constant basis. Nevertheless, defining reading is not easy. Different people use the term reading for different purposes, which can cause much confusion. For the context of the language classroom this article will concern itself with the notion of reading as the extraction of meaning from a written text . In other words, the text is viewed as a vehicle of communication from the writer to the reader; Aebersold and Field (1997) acknowledge this by stating that it is the interaction between the text and reader that constitutes actual reading. However, simply stating that this is what constitutes reading is to risk forgetting that, in the reading class, the most important thing is that both the teacher and the student should understand the reading process

A Phenomenological Analysis of Teacher Experiences Regarding Training and Support Towards Inclusionary Practices

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study will be to describe the experiences regarding the training and support concerning inclusionary practices for elementary school teachers at the BWC school. The theory guiding this study is Bandura’s social cognitive theory as it focuses on how adults learn through observation, receiving immediate feedback, and putting their skills into practice through enactive and vicarious learning experiences. Twelve participants will be selected for this study, from a rural elementary school located in the northeastern United States. Respondents will be comprised of 6 general education teachers and 6 special education teachers, who have experience teaching core content areas. Data collection will employ triangulation of data, with me collecting data from individual interviews, focus groups, and a visual representation activity. Epoché and horizontalization of data will follow, grouping statements into themes, while removing any overlapping and repetitive statements. NVivo will be used to code data, allowing me to develop textural accounts of the experience, followed by constructing structural descriptions and incorporating textures and structures into the meanings and essences of the perceptions of respondents. All findings will be composed into a narrative to show participant experiences

Eye quietness and quiet eye in expert and novice golf performance: an electrooculographic analysis

Quiet eye (QE) is the final ocular fixation on the target of an action (e.g., the ball in golf putting). Camerabased eye-tracking studies have consistently found longer QE durations in experts than novices; however, mechanisms underlying QE are not known. To offer a new perspective we examined the feasibility of measuring the QE using electrooculography (EOG) and developed an index to assess ocular activity across time: eye quietness (EQ). Ten expert and ten novice golfers putted 60 balls to a 2.4 m distant hole. Horizontal EOG (2ms resolution) was recorded from two electrodes placed on the outer sides of the eyes. QE duration was measured using a EOG voltage threshold and comprised the sum of the pre-movement and post-movement initiation components. EQ was computed as the standard deviation of the EOG in 0.5 s bins from –4 to +2 s, relative to backswing initiation: lower values indicate less movement of the eyes, hence greater quietness. Finally, we measured club-ball address and swing durations. T-tests showed that total QE did not differ between groups (p = .31); however, experts had marginally shorter pre-movement QE (p = .08) and longer post-movement QE (p < .001) than novices. A group × time ANOVA revealed that experts had less EQ before backswing initiation and greater EQ after backswing initiation (p = .002). QE durations were inversely correlated with EQ from –1.5 to 1 s (rs = –.48 - –.90, ps = .03 - .001). Experts had longer swing durations than novices (p = .01) and, importantly, swing durations correlated positively with post-movement QE (r = .52, p = .02) and negatively with EQ from 0.5 to 1s (r = –.63, p = .003). This study demonstrates the feasibility of measuring ocular activity using EOG and validates EQ as an index of ocular activity. Its findings challenge the dominant perspective on QE and provide new evidence that expert-novice differences in ocular activity may reflect differences in the kinematics of how experts and novices execute skills

Training educational psychology professionals for work engagement in a context of inequality and trauma in South Africa

Educational psychology professionals working in highly unequal societies require training that prepares them to resile professionally irrespective of on-going hardship and a lack of policy-level support. Educational psychology professionals who had participated in a school-based intervention study in a remote high school during their training at university-level were sampled to generate retrospective data on their work engagement experiences during the school-based training. A third of the population who had participated in school-based academic service-learning training (for whom current contact details were available) were purposively sampled (n = 38, female = 31, male = 7) to be representative of diversity (training objective, year group, home language, gender). Subsamples included academic service-learning educational psychology professionals (n = 22, female = 18, male = 4) and educational psychology research graduates (n = 16, female = 13, male = 3). Retrospective qualitative data sources include open-ended questions (verbatim transcriptions of audio-recorded interviews, electronically captured questionnaires), and long-term observation data (visual data and researcher journals) of school-based training. From thematic analysis it appeared that professionals recollect experiencing work engagement (positive emotions, involvement and dedication) during their training with minimal instances of student-related occupational distress ascribed to contextual and diversity constraints. Data was silent on work engagement from research graduates, with an instance of cynicism regarding long-term benefits to clients of short-term services. Academic service learning in a challenging education setting afforded educational psychology professionals training opportunities to be energized, absorbed in developing professional efficacy to address barriers, and empathetically committed to contribute professionally. Implications of training educational psychology professionals for work in transferable challenging school settings are discussed.Keywords: academic service learning; challenging education setting; educational psychology training; inequality; rural school; work engagemen

Music History- Laugh and Learn

The project I have chosen aligns with my curriculum project and research. Data will be gathered on the effects of laughter in the classroom. This research will show that humor can motivate students as well as aide memory. Overall, the project should conclude that laughter aids in the learning process. This project has great importance in the field of education, especially music education. Students have come to memorize for the tests, soon forgetting what they have learned. Adding a fun twist on a class that will aide students in their first year of college may increase enrollment. This may also help teachers discover that within reason, laughter plays an important role in education

Video conferencing in Unisa social work practicals: structure and strategies

This article describes participatory research by lecturers using video conferencing systems and an instructional designer. This research article sets out to describe a project during the consolidation stage of using video conferencing to support learners: the establishment of quality dialogue, strategies and methodologies in Social Work practicals at the University of South Africa (Unisa). The researchers found that this study confirmed the importance of a number of presentation aspects concerning lecturer-student "apartness and psychological distance". During this study, different types of video conference interactions emerged: those related to evaluation, needs analysis, guidance, discussion, and examination preparation of the students. The combination and repetition of these interaction sessions proved the contact via video conferencing to be succesful as a medium for focused guidance in social work studies. The experiences of lecturers and students are described. However, interaction has to be planned and deliberately implemented between individual students, student groups at a site, students at different sites, or students and the lecturer; it does not just happen, either in audio or video conferencing.Department of HE and Training approved lis

Expressive Therapies and Resiliency – Resistance in Mental Health: A Literature Review

This review evaluates the current literature on psychological resistance amongst human service professionals experiencing burnout and the effect of Expressive Arts interventions on resiliency. Concepts include identifying the main symptoms, risk factors, causes, and treatments for burnout in education faculty, medical staff, and clinicians. Qualitative, quantitative, and meta-analysis studies are included to identify the most prevalent intervention frameworks for reducing stress including Arts-Based and Mindfulness-compassion based techniques. The effectiveness of Arts-based tools on strengthening identity, self-esteem, emotional regulation, and meaning-making in combating burnout is presented. Based on analysis of the literature, the author proposes a three-step intervention framework for utilizing the arts in burnout interventions for the well-being of human service professionals and their clientele