Is more child-initiated always better? Exploring relations between child-initiated instruction and preschoolers’ school readiness

Although research suggests that the use of child-initiated vs. teacher-directed instructional practices in early childhood education has implications for learning and development, the precise nature of these effects remains unclear. Using data from the Midwest Child-Parent Center (CPC) Expansion Project, the present study examined the possibility that a blend of child- and teacher-directed practices best promotes school readiness among preschoolers experiencing high levels of sociodemographic risk and explored whether the optimal blend varies based on child characteristics. Sixty-two CPC preschool teachers reported their instructional practices throughout the year, using a newly developed questionnaire—the Classroom Activity Report (CAR). The average reported proportion of child-initiated instruction was examined in relation to students’ end-of-year performance on a routine school readiness assessment (N = 1289). Although there was no main effect of child-initiated instruction on school readiness, there was a significant interaction between instruction and student age. Four-year-olds’ school readiness generally improved as the proportion of child-initiated time increased, while 3-year-olds showed a U-shaped pattern. The present findings add to the evidence that child-initiated instruction might support preschoolers’ school readiness, although they also suggest this relation may not always be linear. They also point to the importance of examining instructional strategies in relation to student characteristics, in order to tailor strategies to the student population. The CAR has potential as a brief, practical measurement tool that can support program monitoring and professional development.

Small Chunks, Deep Learning

Project I4 is a cohort-based, year-long program incorporating micro-credential experiences as a key element of learning for school leaders. The project focuses the micro-credential (MC) design, implementation, and study on a central aspect of a school leader's work: classroom observations and post-observation conversations. The leaders learn to observe academic discourse in STEM classrooms. To fully engage in the learning from the MC, leaders collect observational evidence on equitable instructional practices and use the evidence to have coaching post-observation conversations with teachers with the aim of changing instructional practices in classrooms. In the authors' model, a key component for the MC experiences is the opportunity for school leaders to work with leadership coaches in equity-centered networked improvement communities (EC-NICs) of 5-6 persons. This chapter presents a qualitative review of 10 school leaders from the first Project I4 cohort.

How Reflective Practice Informs Blended and Online Language Instruction

This chapter discusses how reflection is essential to informing instruction. The authors reflect on the community-building strategies implemented through an onboarding process prior to the start of the semester that ensures connection and engagement among students who are physically separated. This process opens a line of communication between students and instructors providing essential feedback to identify and address needs as well as build a trusting and open relationship for student-instructor engagement. The authors discuss how throughout the course, student reflection on their learning enabled them to recognize achievements, identify issues, and shape instructional practices. These reflections are an integral part of the interweaving of asynchronous and synchronous sessions based on four different learning models. All learning models included clear scaffolding for maximum benefit regardless of learning environments. The ongoing adjustments based on reflection proved worthy as student communication skills remained equal to those of pre-pandemic learning.

How Pop Culture Increases Student Engagement and Reading Comprehension

In this chapter, teachers will learn the importance of tapping into a child's prior experiences or background knowledge to help students gain the full understanding of a topic or subject matter. These practices help teachers recognize the background knowledge a student has on a subject matter; this information can assist them in their planning of a unit or specific learning objectives. This chapter provides elementary educators with practical ideas and a solid template or structure to help teachers brainstorm the countless ideas to weave pop culture into their instructional practices. Teachers should use these pages as a springboard to initiate the creative planning process to meet the needs of the students in their own classrooms. It is divided into sections of pop culture that are present in our 21st century society. As pop culture continues to change, teachers can use its appeal to get students excited about learning.

What are possible Sources of Common and Persistent Student Errors in Algebra and Calculus?

Research shows that college students make numerous algebra and other prerequisite content-related errors in Calculus courses. Most of these errors are common, persistent, and often observed in simple mathematical tasks. This qualitative study is an attempt to identify the potential sources of such errors. Based on our observations of student errors, we wrote a Precalculus and a Calculus test and administered them in twelve sections of four different undergraduate mathematics courses for which either Precalculus, Calculus I or both were a prerequisite. The tests were announced on the first day of the class and administered the following week. All the questions on the test were True or False questions. Based on our experience as college mathematics instructors, we assumed that many students would perceive the True answers as False and the False as True. Therefore, if students’ selected a given answer, mathematical statement, process or solution as True, they were asked to justify why that was not False and vice-versa. They were instructed to provide logical explanations and avoid plugging in numbers to check for correctness. Analysis of data using grounded theory approach resulted in the following three possible external sources of common and persistent student errors: a) Difficulty with symbols and/or lack of attendance to the meaning of those symbols, b) Instructional practices, and c) Lack of knowledge. We will provide examples to illustrate how such errors could have originated from these sources.

Effect of Teacher’s Professional Development on The Teachers’ Instructional Practices in Special Education

The study was performed to see the effect of Teachers' Professional Development on the Teacher's Instructional Practices in Special Education. The aims of this research include exploring the use of special education teacher instructional practices in schools and studying the influence of professional development on instructional practices of teachers. The study was quantitative in nature and used a self-developed survey for the collection of data from respondents. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze data. The result indicates that instructional practices differ on the basis of gender; however, qualification has no influence on instructional practices. Moreover, the distance (division)of respondents, duration of training did not affect the professional development of respondents. Moreover, professional development had a direct relationship with the instructional practices in special education.

Introduction

It is the hope that as one begins to learn more about emerging adults, ages 18 to 29, there will be a shift in seeing them through a more positive lens to discover how their creativity, curiosity, and need for ensuring equality and fairness for all can be beneficial. This book aims to provide those who work in higher education in the United States with the knowledge and skills needed to help students succeed through integrating a developmental lens and practical application of the research. Voices and perspectives from various disciplines share research, instructional practices, and resources to work holistically with emerging adults academically, socially, and emotionally.