Preservice Teachers’ “Revelations and Connections”: Fostering Deep Conversations While Reading Multicultural Literature

We investigated strategies that a literacy teacher educator used to develop preservice teachers’ culturally responsive pedagogy. This study focused on (a) implementation of literature circles, (b) preservice teachers’ (n= 29) reading and analysis of multicultural children’s literature, (c) preservice teachers’ reader response reflective journals (RRRJ), and (d) reading comprehension strategies. We analyzed interviews with the professor and RRRJ (87 responses) as well as the course syllabus, reader response guidelines, and course evaluations to understand the lived experiences of the participants. We found preservice teachers recognize the benefits of literature circles and the utilization of RRRJ to develop an understanding of reading comprehension strategies and ways to talk about culture

Evaluation of a program to educate disadvantaged parents to enhance child learning

Abstract This study reported a pilot trial of the Hands-On Parent Empowerment (HOPE) program, a 30-session program designed to instruct parents from disadvantaged backgrounds how to teach learning skills to their preschool children. The participants included 13 parents who newly migrated into Hong Kong from mainland China. The parents were required to complete questionnaires on child behavior problems, parental stress, social support, and self-efficacy before, during, and after intervention. The children were assessed on the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test before and after intervention. The results indicated a significant decrease in parent-reported child behavior problems and parental stress, an increase in Performance IQ and vocabulary knowledge among the children. These improvements were also observed by preschool principals. The pilot experience provides insights for social work practice in terms of inter-sectoral collaboration, program content, duration, and intensity in early support for challenged families

The Cultural Dynamics of Rewarding Honesty and Punishing Deception

10.1177/0146167210385921Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin36111529-154