Seven perceptions influencing novice teachers’ efficacy and cultural competence

Novice teachers believe and behave according to perceptions about teaching, learning, and schooling they formed during childhood and adult experiences with families, classrooms, communities, media, and teacher education programs. Perceptions build funds of knowledge shaping teacher efficacy that influence their development of cultural competence–the processes of acquiring, accepting, and applying requisite knowledge, skills, and dispositions for ensuring educational equity and excellence for all learners. Through their words, actions, and interactions, novice teachers socially reproduce their interpretations of perceptions influencing their cultural competence visible through their generational perpetuation of practice. Survey research with novice teachers reveals the importance of their critical thinking substantiated with novice teachers’ benefits and limitations for each perception. Implications for personal, professional, and pedagogical growth are supported by novice teachers’ voices

Stimulating moral reasoning in children through situational learning and children’s literature

In any elementary school classroom, a teacher will occasionally observe students involved in activities that seem neither honest nor ethical. What can teachers do to stimulate moral reasoning skills and principled attitudes in the elementary grades? This article suggests that situational learning is ideal for developing moral reasoning in today\u27s young learners. Situational learning allows students to choose their own situations and structure personalized outcomes that may or may not be predicted by the teacher. There are no right and wrong answers or anticipated outcomes; the process entails risk-taking and uncertainty, for teacher and students alike. Situational learning permits individuals to explore and express their own understanding as they apply new knowledge to their own socio-cultural context. The authors describe three effective teaching strategies for empowering students in situational learning experiences using moral dilemmas applicable throughout the social studies. Each strategy is described (briefly touching upon curriculum, instruction, and assessment), while incorporating selected children\u27s literature. Teachers are encouraged to try these strategies, modify them to meet their own students\u27 needs and interests, and add their own selections of children\u27s literature. For each of the three strategies, an overview of the purpose, procedures, materials, and assessment of a situational learning activity is included. Situational learning can be used to examine civic decisions, economic dynamics, social geographic relationships, and historical events found throughout the social studies curriculum. (Contains 7 endnotes.

Advancing cultural competence and intercultural consciousness through a cross-cultural simulation with teacher candidates

Teacher education curricula typically introduce multicultural concepts, principles, and practices. However, candidates benefit greatly from experiences that pursue multi-faceted contexts. In this study the simulation, Barnga, enhances candidates’ cultural competence and intercultural consciousness by exploring perceived realities in classrooms and communities. Through Barnga, candidates are afforded a rich investigation into self knowledge, acceptance of group conventions, exposure to multiple perspectives, and self-assessment of their stance toward equity and change. Expressing their reactions, responses, and reflections, candidates experience multi-layered transformation, intercultural consciousness, and cultural competence for themselves. By participating in cross-cultural simulations and interacting with people like and unlike themselves, candidates gain appreciation for the power of the propinquity effect and other insights that encourage replication in their own future classrooms

UNLV College of Education Multicultural & Diversity Newsletter

Each morning I wound my way up the steep hill along the deeply rutted dirt path, exchanging daily maaa\u27s with five bleating sheep and shouting out, ¡Hola! in response to the children who gleefully identified me as ¡Gringa! Women and children, colorful bowls of cooked maize balanced atop their heads, sauntered to and from Maria Elena\u27s where their maize would be ground; at home the dough would be shaped and flattened into tortillas, the mainstay of every meal in the small Guatemalan village of San Juan

UNLV College of Education Multicultural & Diversity Newsletter

A newsletter discussing a variety of topics dealing with multicultural topics and diversity in education

UNLV College of Education Multicultural & Diversity Newsletter

A newsletter discussing a variety of topics dealing with multicultural topics and diversity in education

UNLV College of Education Multicultural & Diversity Newsletter

The workshop sponsored by the College of Education Multicultural & Diversity Committee on Friday January 16, 1998 was attended by approximately 40 faculty members and students from the College of Education. Dr. Gary Howard from the REACH Center (Respecting Ethnic And Cultural Heritage) located in Seattle, Washington provided an excellent three-hour workshop that asked attendees to ponder various dimensions of multicultural and global education. Dr. Howard provided information designed to facilitate the development of positive leadership skills for the implementation of cultural awareness and valuing diversity strategies in the classes in which the attendees teach---whether that be at a university or in a school distric

Applying the Constructivist Framework to Elementary School Social Studies: Benefits for Young Learners and Preservice Teachers

The constructivist framework provides elementary school teachers with pedagogical guidance and professional support particularly effective for teaching and learning social studies benefiting both their young learners and their preservice teachers. Research conducted with approximately 100 elementary school teachers produced three key conditions for applying the constructivist framework competently to social studies education. Findings from this research revealed that elementary school teachers believe that foremost they must he cognizant of and proficient in their: (1) knowledge, skills, and attitudes of social studies content and purposes, (2) understanding for developing social studies curriculum and methods for communicating the social studies effectively both independently and integrated across the curriculum, and (3) pedagogical expertise for designing and facilitating meaningful social studies instruction formally and informally. The teachers in this study overwhelmingly reported that, based upon their experiences, none of these areas nor the constructivist framework is highly valued nor adequately supported by their school districts and building administrators, which greatly impacts their success with both their young learners and their preservice teachers

Developing performance-based assessments, grades 6-12/ Gallavan

xi, 227 hal.: ill, tab.; 23 cm

Developing performance-based assessments, grades k-5/ Gallavan

xi, 219 hal.: ill, tab.; 26 cm