Considering ELLs When Planning Lessons

Teachers typically prepare lesson plans for non-ELLs and then attempt to “retrofit” lesson plans for ELLs. This article offers suggestions for planning mathematics lessons that meet ELLs’ needs

Effects of Movement, Growth Mindset and Math Talks on Math Anxiety

Mathematical anxiety is prevalent in our schools. This research provides insight into how mathematical anxiety develops and how it affects students throughout their lives. This study focuses on the mathematical anxiety and mathematical self-concept of five second grade classes at an economically disadvantaged school in rural North Texas. The study looked to see if adding the interventions of movement, mathematical growth mindset and math talks to a classroom would improve the mathematical self-concept of the children in the classrooms which participated. The study contained three classrooms of students who participated in the interventions and two classrooms which were used as a control group. All five second grade classrooms completed a pre and post-intervention survey of mathematical self-concepts. The three main categories measured by the survey were math self-concept, comfort using different mathematical strategies and comfort level with discussing and using math concepts in front of peers. The children received mathematical movement lessons on Mondays, growth mindset journaling and discussions on Tuesdays and mental math number talks on Wednesdays. After the four-week study, the results showed an overall gain in positive responses for the three categories, which were measured for this study in the intervention group. The control group did not show as much of a positive gain as the intervention group did, and in some cases actually went down in positive responses

Facilitating Pre-service Teachers to Learn the Mathematical Practices and Engage English Language Learners

A methods course attempted to help pre-service teachers facilitate the engagement of English language learners (ELLs) in Mathematical Practices from the Common Core State Standards. When 22 elementary pre-service teachers were taught a mathematics lesson in Spanish, most were unable to make sense of the lesson. This made them more aware of challenges ELLs may face when they attempt to engage in Mathematical Practices. The pre-service teachers developed their own strategies to facilitate ELLs. The findings suggest that pre-service teachers not only better empathized with ELLs after being taught in another language, they also learned Mathematical Practices more deeply

Exposing Preservice Teachers to Emergent Bilinguals

This study followed a case study design and employed qualitative methods to explore monolingual preservice teachers’ (PSTs) attitudes toward learning to teach emergent bilinguals (EBs) in a dual language school. We sought to support and observe PSTs as they applied strategies learned in methodology courses to students in the field. Three overarching themes emerged from PSTs’ videotaped focus group interviews, weekly reflections, and field notes. Responses that supported Theme 1 suggested PSTs desired to teach EBs for a variety of reasons and Theme 2 supporting responses showed that PSTs confidence levels increased as they interacted with EBs. Responses that supported Theme 3 related to strengths and weaknesses of the educator preparation program regarding emergent bilingual content and pedagogy

Considering ELLs When Planning Lessons

Teachers typically prepare lesson plans for non-ELLs and then attempt to "retrofit" lesson plans for ELLs. This article offers suggestions for planning mathematics lessons that meet ELLs' needs

Facilitating Pre-Service Teachers to Engage Emergent Bilinguals in Productive Struggle

This study utilized a multiple case study with qualitative research to examine how Pre-service teachers (PSTs) might engage Emergent Bilinguals (EBs) in productive struggle—grappling to solve problems (Warshauer, 2015). The researchers created a rubric based on Warshauer’s (2015) case study to record the types of questions PSTs asked as they tutored fourth grade EBs. Warshauer (2015) claimed PSTs should allow students more wait time and ask questions. She referred to such questions as affordance and probing guidance, which facilitates productive struggle. In order to discover more about the PSTs’ thinking, the researchers interviewed the PSTs before and after their first, third, and seventh lesson. The researchers’ findings are that the PSTs struggled to incorporate more affordance and probing guidance-based questions as the semester progressed. However, PSTs use of telling based questions decreased during the semester. Another finding was two of the EBs spoke only English at the beginning of the semester, but later used code switching during the lessons. Perhaps the students felt more comfortable with their surroundings, and speaking in Spanish helped facilitate them to engage in productive struggle. Furthermore, PSTs utilized culturally relevant teaching strategies during their lessons and created an environment to encourage positive mindsets for learning mathematics. Implications are teacher educators should teach PSTs how to engage all students in productive struggle

Aquilegia, Vol. 38 No. 1, Spring 2014, Newsletter of the Colorado Native Plant Society

https://epublications.regis.edu/aquilegia/1147/thumbnail.jp

Talking Technology Enabled Care - A personalised, visual digital platform to transform health, social care and housing services

The aim of the Talking Technology Enabled Care project was to conduct a feasibility study to co-design, implement, evaluate and deliver a novel, visual, digital care management application for those who find communicating their health needs challenging. The project has been funded by Innovate UK. Effective communication is at the heart of holistic healthcare. Enabling people to talk about their needs and concerns is the first step in providing care that addresses these concerns, supports recovery and self-management. Technology is a potential enabler of communication between individuals and those in their informal or professional care network. Technological solutions can enhance communication among professionals who are encouraged to work together across traditional boundaries to provide holistic healthcare that addresses individuals’ health, social care and housing needs. However, for individuals with communication difficulties expressing their needs is especially challenging and the inability to collect and share information electronically inhibits interagency working. Harnessing –and developing –existing technology that enables talk between individuals with communication difficulties, carers and service professionals can address communication barriers and enhance integrated care delivery between the health, social care and housing sectors