Search

Despite the widespread use of school-based universal screening systems for social, emotional, and behavioral risk, limited research has examined discrepancies in ratings provided by teachers and their secondary students. Using the Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Risk Screener (SAEBRS; teacher report) and mySAEBRS (student report) scores from a middle school sample, we examined the magnitudes and prevalence of informant discrepancies as well as associated student and teacher factors. Analyses revealed discrepancies consistently in the direction of teachers reporting lower levels of risk than students and were starkest for the Emotional Behavior Risk subscale. Across subscales, multiple student and teacher factors significantly predicted variance in discrepancies. We discuss these findings in the context of implications for selecting screening informants at the secondary level and opportunities to advance practical guidance in this area. Impact Statement Middle school students and their teachers provide discrepant ratings within universal screenings of students' social, emotional, and behavioral risk. In this sample, students self-reported higher levels of risk than their teachers reported for them. This was especially true for risk in the Emotional Behavior domain and for students and teachers with certain demographic characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThe primary goal of this study was to examine a key but understudied link between early career teachers’ expectations (as outcomes) and their thinking styles (as teacher factors). A second goal was to explore whether teacher self-efficacy, discipline, and grade level would moderate this relationship. We collected self-report data from 390 school teachers (47 male and 343 female), with an average of 1.22 years of teaching experience (SD = .77) in English and mathematics across primary, middle, and high schools in China. Results showed that higher scores on creativity-generating Type I thinking styles predicted higher teacher expectations. Relationship self-efficacy and grade level moderated this relationship: High relationship self-efficacy weakened the effect of the legislative style on teacher expectations, whereas low relationship self-efficacy strengthened it; the legislative style’s impact was the weakest among high school teachers but was the strongest among middle school teachers. No moderating effect of discipline was found. Implications for teacher training and professional development are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students with disabilities (SWDs) are being educated in the general education classroom more than ever before. As the nation moves toward increasing science education, more must be understood about how science teachers are supporting SWDs in their classrooms. The present study analyzed the responses of five middle school science teachers on how they embed literacy practices into their instruction, as well as the support they received to support SWDs in their classroom. Teachers reported a lack of professional development and support in this area, as well as difficulties explicitly naming literacy practices. Practical implications are offered for effective instruction and professional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study sought to examine the direct and indirect influences of school climate characteristics and the mediating role of teacher professional identity to the development of teachers' professional capital using data from 302 primary and middle school teachers of Banja woreda, Amhara Region, Ethiopia. Results of Structural Equation Modeling analysis revealed teachers' perception of school climate had a statistically significant and strong direct influence on their professional identity development but did not have a significant direct influence on their professional capital development. Mediation analysis has shown that school climate had a statistically significant and strong indirect influence on professional capital development, i.e. teachers' perceived professional identity fully mediated the effect of school climate on their professional capital development. The SEM analysis also disclosed the direct effect of school climate on teachers' professional identity and professional capital development and the direct effect of professional identity on teachers' professional capital development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Career and technical education (CTE) has long endured public scrutiny and bias, but unfortunately, the extent to which varying opinions have permeated secondary schools remains elusive. A quantitative methodology, was used to examine secondary administrator, counselor, and subject-specific teacher opinions in CTE options, role in conveying job skills, and school leader ability for implementation. The largest distinctions were between middle and high school teachers. Policy-makers can establish consistency in messaging to reduce the stigma toward CTE, help promote comprehensive professional learning across all educator types, and include social emotional learning to augment skills and diversify access to CTE programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As students enter middle school, they face increased writing expectations. Middle school teachers expect students to write lengthier compositions across genres that are more technically correct and thoughtfully written than those required in elementary school. Some students will meet the increased expectations, while others will not. Most students with learning disabilities have more writing challenges than their general education classmates. Consequently, middle school inclusive classroom students present a wider range of writing abilities and challenges. Teachers can include in their writing instruction various technologies to teach and remediate their students' writing. Compensatory technologies can provide students with ongoing support as they write. This article describes technologies teachers and students can use throughout the writing stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is an interview with Hollylynne Stohl Lee, a researcher in statistics and data science education. Lee discusses her research interests, including the role of technology in teaching and learning. She has developed software tools to engage students in understanding data generation. Lee's current projects involve designing online spaces to help teachers learn to teach statistics and data science. She emphasizes the need for improved teacher preparation in statistics and data science and highlights the lack of training for teachers in this field. The article also explores the concept of data science and its potential to enhance statistics education in K-12 schools. Lee advises collaboration between post-secondary educators, K-12 teachers, and researchers to influence curricular decisions. [Extracted from the article]

We aimed to investigate the relationship between ethnic prejudice and the perception of inclusion of immigrant children among primary and middle school teachers, focusing on the mediating role of resilience. Participants were 261 teachers, 233 women and 28 men, ages 34 to 66 (M = 51.67; SD = 8.27), recruited in primary and middle schools in Sicily (Italy). Participants completed the Classical and Modern Racial Prejudice Scale, the Resilience Process Questionnaire, and an ad hoc questionnaire for evaluating teachers' perception of inclusion of immigrant children. The results showed an effect of ethnic prejudice on the perception of inclusion of immigrant children and on resilient reintegration. The mediation model showed that resilient reintegration partially mediated the relationship between ethnic prejudice and the perception of inclusion of immigrant children. Educational and practical implications are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of COVID-19 on education involved an abrupt switch from face-to-face instruction toward emergency remote teaching/learning. In public schools, teachers and students were required to undertake language education using virtual learning platforms. This shift created certain problems for both teachers and students. This qualitative research attempts to explore challenges encountered by English teachers and students in Iranian middle schools during the lockdown period. 47 participants were selected by stratified purposive sampling, providing qualitative data through semi-structured interviews and online focus groups. Thematic analysis illustrated economic, technological, and instructional concerns in addition to a set of psychological pressures. Also, the COVID-19 pandemic created certain affordances for language program which accelerated the process of online language education. The anticipation and effective management of educational problems arising from such catastrophes would help stakeholders enhance the quality of language education, prioritize teachers' and students' language needs at the middle level education of public schools, and facilitate learning/teaching process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Standards-based grading (SBG) is an alternative approach to grading that uses standards, such as the NGSS, to communicate what students have learned. While SBG has increased in popularity in the last decade, questions still remain regarding what constitutes SBG and how to effectively implement it in science classrooms. This article seeks to illustrate three commonly agreed-on core ideas for SBG and provide examples for middle school science teachers in how they might implement SBG using the NGSS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When integrated into online curriculum modules for students, educative curriculum materials (ECMs) can enhance teachers' enactment of these modules. This study investigated (1) the use of digitally enhanced ECMs built into an online plate tectonics curriculum module by teachers with different backgrounds and teaching experience, (2) the relationship between teachers' use of ECMs and student learning gains, and (3) teacher reflections on the value of the ECMs they used. We studied 26 teachers who taught middle and high school students (n = 1,098) by analyzing teacher log files automatically generated by the ECMs, teacher reflections collected with post-implementation surveys and interviews, student log files, and student learning gains from pretest to posttest. Results indicate that (1) there were large variations in the amounts and types of ECM features teachers accessed, (2) middle school teachers accessed significantly more ECM features than high school teachers p <.01, (3) students of teachers who used ECMs during class time made significantly higher learning gains than students of teachers who used them only before and/or between class time, p <.05, and (4) teachers most valued ECM features on student assessment. An overall non-significant, but positive, correlation between the total teacher interactions with ECMs and student learning gains was observed, r = 0.20, p =.32. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does the scientific practice of modeling actually support students in making thinking visible? Middle school teachers can build from the work of twelve K–8 teachers who wanted to learn how the practice of modeling is developed across grades and analyze how those skills end up looking in middle school. They gave their students the same phenomenon and prompts, tried them out with their students, collected models to compare them, and then came together across two years to discuss modeling. All students across the gradesv showed similarities in the models, both in terms of how they presented ideas and the scientific ideas. Many middle school models looked similar to those in early grades, and although middle school students showed particles of air in the models, the usefulness of the particles to explain the phenomenon was almost always unclear from the models alone. Implications for assessment of middle school students include discussing models with students to assess their knowledge and including fewer student scaffolds at the onset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the NGSS has helped teachers conceptualize teaching science in a more integrated way, effectively scaffolding students' thinking within and across lessons can still be a challenge for any middle school science teacher. To help with this problem, we use a spiral -curriculum where relevant prior concepts are revisited to connect them to new concepts. Revisiting concepts is meant to deepen students' knowledge by scaffolding students' thinking rather than merely repeating previous content. In our classroom, our light unit comes before our unit on space science. In this article, we demonstrate how we scaffold students' learning to help students make connections between lessons about light (MS-PS4-2) and gravity (partially -addressing MS-ESS1-2). We use these experiences to help students understand the phenomenon of gravitational lensing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Science teachers represent the critical link to the development of a scientifically literate citizenry who is capable of addressing societal problems and global challenges in ways that positively affect the quality of life. We investigated how a long-term, inquiry-based professional development program could be utilized to increase teachers' pedagogical content knowledge of topics related to 8th grade Earth Science. The sample included 17 eighth-grade science teachers working in Title 1 schools serving students of low socioeconomic status and high populations of English language learners. A mixed-method approach of exploratory design was used in this study. A paired samples t-test for the weighted score of the Earth Space Science Diagnostic Science Assessment for Middle School Teachers (DTAMS) was used to investigate changes in teacher knowledge of Earth Science topics. Qualitative data was collected via reflective prompts and thematically analyzed using NVIVO software (Clarke and Braun 2017). DTAMS results showed a statistically significant difference in the scores for the pretest (M = 14.53, SD = 3.83) and posttest (M = 17.01, SD = 3.39) results; t (14) = −2.4, p =.03. Eleven themes emerged from the NVIVO analysis that align with and demonstrate the inclusion of four essential components of constructivism (Baviskar, Hartle and Whitney 2009) including prior knowledge (connecting and building blocks); creation of cognitive dissonance (hands on, field trip, pacing, scaffolding, technology, and collaboration/relationship); assessment (informal and formal assessment); and reflection. Based on DTAMS results, the novice teachers gained content knowledge of Earth Science topics. The reflective prompts demonstrated the teachers used constructivism (inquiry- based instruction) during lesson planning and implementation documented with 11 themes associated with the four components of constructivism (Baviskar, Hartle and Whitney 2009). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the proposed National Policy Agenda for the Middle Grades and highlights the lack of funding and prioritization for middle school education compared to other grade levels. The author, a middle grades educator, emphasizes the need for resources and support to promote young adolescents' learning experiences and address their unique developmental needs. The article also suggests priorities for the policy agenda, such as focusing on teacher preparation, diversifying the middle grades educator workforce, and supporting innovative educational practices. The author sees the policy agenda as a positive step towards improving middle-level education and recognizes the importance of federal recognition and funding for the field. [Extracted from the article]

This study examined perceptions of teachers who implemented a comprehensive school reform, the Comprehensive, Integrated, Three-tiered (Ci3T) model of prevention. We report findings of four focus groups with a total of 18 middle and high school teachers who had implemented Ci3T for two years. We used sensemaking as a theoretical framework to understand discourse that signaled teachers' buy-in, or opposition to, implementing this integrated tiered system of support. Findings may help administrators tailor reform efforts at their own school sites to be responsive to teachers' concerns. We conclude with a discussion of limitations and future directions for inquiry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Mathematics Teaching Practices identified by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics are eight research-based practices that promote mathematics teachers' implementation of specific knowledge to support student understanding. We wondered which practices mathematics teachers perceived as most characteristic and least characteristic of their teaching and if groups of mathematics teachers might have similar beliefs about their use of the MTPs in their teaching. Data from 39 mathematics teachers of grades 5–12 and one administrator who completed the Teacher Action Q-Sort revealed three distinctive groups: predominantly high school teachers and teachers with post-baccalaureate degrees, predominantly early career middle school teachers, and predominantly beginning middle school teachers. We describe each group, provide a visualization for each group's composite Q-sort, and report the similarities and differences across the groups of teachers. We also include implications and recommendations for teachers of mathematics and those who provide professional development to teachers of mathematics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a critical need to understand the factors that influence the development of students' skills for using the Internet to search for and locate information. Teachers play an important role in this process and there is a related impetus to identify the dynamics of instruction in information-seeking activities. This study investigated German and American middle and secondary school teachers' perceptions about preparing students to use the Internet as a tool for research. Utilizing theoretical thematic analysis, results indicated teachers from both countries felt specific student attributes contributed to and inhibited processes associated with online information searches. Importantly, there were also similarities and differences in the strategies teachers perceived as necessary for preparing students that were linked to pedagogical and contextually-specific factors. Implications for future investigations include incorporating observations of instruction and collecting teaching artefacts to further identify the pedagogical strategies implemented by teachers from each country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers highlighted the importance of moving away from a teacher-centered approach in which the teacher tells and explains, to one where students' questions are welcomed and discussion is central to the experience. Student preparation Teachers identified the need to prepare students for outdoor learning as being as important as the logistics of planning an outdoor learning experience within the context of their curriculum. On a humid, sunny day in late July, a group of middle school science teachers closed out three days of teacher professional development (PD) on a nature hike at a forest preserve. The relationship among teacher classroom management behavior, student engagement, and student achievement of middle and high school science students of varying aptitude. [Extracted from the article]

We found that students perceived stronger learning orientation messaging when teachers created a positive social climate focused on science learning and used strategies to support all students' participation and collaboration. In the next section, two teachers who helped co-design M-PLANS share how they use student collaboration to establish foundational structures for a positive classroom community that, in turn, reaps continuous rewards by providing students with a safe environment in which to collaborate in scientific sense-making. This varied not just across different teachers' classrooms but also by lesson; on days when a teacher used more supportive social structures, students perceived a greater emphasis on learning orientation that day compared with other days. After learning about instructional design principles for supporting student motivation, middle school science teachers tried implementing new strategies in their classrooms. [Extracted from the article]

The editorial notes from Action in Teacher Education express gratitude to the previous editorial team and the ATE leadership for their support during the transition to a new team. The current team emphasizes the importance of professional dialogue in times of change and introduces the content of the latest issue, which includes articles on standards in clinical practice, teacher advocacy, teacher residency programs, building communities of practice, and the use of metaphors in teacher education. The new editorial team consists of F. Todd Goodson, Amanda Lickteig, and Eileen Wertzberger from Kansas State University, who bring a wealth of experience in education and teacher preparation to their roles. [Extracted from the article]

It is essential for items in assessments of mathematics' teacher knowledge to evoke the desired response processes – to be interpreted and responded to by teachers as intended by item developers. In this study, we sought to unpack evidence that middle school mathematics teachers were not consistently interacting as intended with constructed response (i.e. open-ended) items designed to assess their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). We analyzed recent data derived from think-aloud interviews with 13 teachers involving 38 assessment items designed to tap PCK regarding proportional reasoning. Five key issues associated with undesired response processes were identified: (1) scenarios provided insufficient information, (2) content knowledge (CK) and PCK elements were confounded, (3) questions asked about the scenarios lacked specificity, (4) items contained distracting text and/or visual elements, and (5) differences between math education research and classroom teacher work cultures led to unanticipated interpretations of items. These issues were associated with teacher responses that were problematic (e.g. vague, off topic, etc.). In addition, we suggest that obtaining response process evidence is critical, and the way it is obtained may impact the average difficulty of the final pool of assessment items developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been growing evidence suggesting that collaboration between content teachers and English as a second language (ESL) teachers is crucial for multilingual learners' (MLLs) equitable learning experiences. What is lacking is more nuanced analyses of teacher collaboration in the classroom context. This article reports on the findings of a qualitative case study to address the nuanced contexts through the voices and actions of participant teachers and students. It focuses on the teachers' roles in supporting MLLs and the elements involved in an effective collaborative partnership through the perspectives of an English language arts teacher and an ESL teacher in a middle school setting. Findings suggest that joint teacher presence can be achieved if both teachers recognize their overall role to support MLLs' successful language and content learning. Despite the limited time for planning lessons together, the teachers attempted to overcome the challenge by leveraging their professional capital, enacting their agency, and taking a flexible form of collaboration. This study refines existing findings that there is an uneven power structure between content teachers and ESL teachers and provides teacher education programs with suggestions and future directions for effective collaboration for MLLs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there is an increasing number of middle schools establishing English immersion programs, teachers are not well-understood immersion and its application, as educators would hope them to do. Inadequate attention is paid to how teachers teach, how in-service training influences their understanding, and their practice of teaching. There is a pressing need to address these issues. This study is a mixed research design aimed at exploring selected in-service teachers' understanding of English immersion, and their experiences. Data were obtained through a questionnaire, in-depth individual interviews, classroom observation, and post-observation discussion. The findings indicate there was confusion about content teaching vs. English teaching, and sometimes a failure to understand why teaching content in English was necessitated. The novice teachers have more irregularities between their understanding and practices. Factors, such as insufficiencies of in-service training, lacking time for planning and exposure to English practising activities; and absence of a policy framework and inadequate support, were identified as the cause for less success of the English immersion program. Implications are discussed, and suggestions for future studies are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dual pandemics of social unrest and COVID-19 during the summer of 2020 in the United States has produced a renewed sense of urgency and agency for the interrogation of curriculum in K-12 education and the development of culturally sustaining practices. This urgency has encouraged more teacher preparation programs and middle school leaders to be intentional in developing culturally sustaining teachers. This paper offers two tools for professors to use to develop the skill of decentering whiteness/self in classroom practices. These practices are for teacher educators to integrate holistically and support middle level teachers' development of their culturally sustaining practices. Decentering whiteness/self is the act of interrogating curriculum and classroom experiences to uncover places where professors can decenter whiteness and incorporate perspectives from historically marginalized populations. There is agency and need for strong experiential learning opportunities to develop culturally responsive middle school teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though extant research has contributed substantially to our understanding of teacher victimization, no attempt has been made to investigate whether there are distinctive patterns of victimization trajectories among teachers and trajectory subgroups are different on their job satisfaction, connectedness to school, and emotional distress. To address this limitation, the present research, using a longitudinal panel sample of middle and high school teachers in a metropolitan area in Texas, investigates the existence of distinctive patterns of teacher victimization trajectories and the relationship between those trajectories and their adverse effects. The findings demonstrate that a substantial proportion of teachers are continuously victimized and teachers who experience persistent victimization (mid/high stable victimized groups) are at elevated risk of disconnectedness to school, job dissatisfaction, and emotional distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors examined middle level teachers' perceptions and experiences of leadership support during the sudden transition to emergency remote teaching (ERT) during the COVID-19 pandemic. For this qualitative case study, the research questions were: How did middle school teachers perceive their leaders' support for teaching online? What were teacher beliefs about student attendance and virtual education? Survey data were collected from teachers at a middle school (Grades 6–8) in rural Virginia, and six respondents participated in one-on-one interviews. The responses yielded six findings illuminating perceptions of support for teaching virtually from principals and other administrators: (a) leaders listened to teachers' issues, concerns, and suggestions; (b) administration was supportive, helpful, and positive; (c) administrators assisted with parental communication; (d) attendance in online classes was poor; (e) absent students failed to learn; and (f) additional professional development for online teaching was desired. Leadership supports are revealed for assisting with faculty adaptation to and effectiveness with remote instruction. Because case studies have yet to examine educational leadership relative to faculty roles and functions during an emergency, this study contributes vital understandings from the middle level teacher standpoint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the role of text-based discussions in mediating middle school teachers' discussions during a semester-long, online, synchronous professional development sequence. The PD sequence involved teachers engaged in weekly Zoom meetings, during which they learned about digital literacy and designed curricula. Qualitative data analysis of the transcripts of Zoom chats and spoken comments revealed three central findings: text-based chatting a) provided an additional, public mode for participants to mediate thinking and collaboration, b) allowed for multilayered, democratic, and more equitable access to the conversation, and c) served as an informal space where participants built community through playful discourse. The findings highlight the potential of multimodal, multilayered discussion spaces for facilitating collaborative thinking and more equitable discussion access for learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inclusion of computational thinking (CT) into science curricula has advocated implementing a computationally rich science learning environment where students learn science via building models in a computer programming platform. Such an approach may influence teachers' self-efficacy for teaching science which may also be associated with their self-efficacy for teaching CT. Framed using Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory, this study investigated the changes and sources of changes of Indonesian teachers' self-efficacy for teaching science and CT and looking at whether the two constructs are correlated. A total of eleven Indonesian middle school science teachers (seven in-service and four pre-service) participated in a CT-integrated science instruction workshop. They then implemented the curriculum they learned and obtained from the workshop in their classrooms. The teachers took questionnaires on science and CT teaching efficacy beliefs four times: before and after the workshop and before and after they taught. As a follow-up, interviews and writing reflections were collected after they took the instruments. Skillings-Mack and repeated-measures correlation tests were run on the quantitative data, and the qualitative data were analyzed thematically. Results from quantitative analyses revealed a pattern of increasing teachers' self-efficacy for teaching science and CT in a computationally rich environment over the administrations of the instrument. Thematic analysis showed three sources of teachers' self-efficacy: computer programming experience, students' interests, and teaching repetition and field experience. This study calls attention to the importance of providing experience for teachers to teach science in a computationally rich environment, whether through professional development or teacher education programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents findings from a pre–post study on pre-service teachers' beliefs about multilingualism and language use. A full cohort of pre-service middle school teachers in Germany (n = 259) was surveyed before and after completing a compulsory module on multilingualism using a validated instrument that captures participants' beliefs about (a) multilingual language use in the home, (b) multilingual language use in the classroom, and (c) teacher responsibility for language support in teaching and learning. While mean average scores of the respondents' beliefs are not as high as in comparable studies, the results show a significant increase between the pre- and post-test. Multivariate statistics are employed to explore different dimensions of beliefs improvement as well as predictors of positive beliefs. With a critical view about the Likert-scale type items, the quantitative dataset was expanded by structured interviews with five participants. The results of qualitative content analyses of these interviews make it possible to show different facets of the survey's constructs of beliefs as well as individual backgrounds making them explainable, and thus help to gain a more nuanced picture of the respondents' beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has shown that teachers' autonomy support and provision of structure relate to students' agentic and behavioral engagement. Moreover, agentic engagement elicits higher teacher autonomy support. In the present 5-week diary study, we investigated the dynamic nature of this interplay between teachers and students through their cross-assessment of students' agentic and behavioral engagement. We also considered the week-to-week student-reported teacher autonomy support and provision of structure as well as two student personal characteristics — proactive personality and situational autonomous versus controlled motivation. Two hundred fifty-seven Turkish middle school students and their teachers from 13 classes participated in the study. Multilevel analyses showed that students' week-to-week perceived autonomy support and initial level of autonomous motivation positively predicted week-to-week agentic engagement (teacher- and student-reported). Students' week-to-week perceived structure positively predicted week-to-week agentic and behavioral engagement (student-, but not teacher-, reported). These findings indicate the interplay between students' situational engagement and teachers' situational motivating style (i.e., autonomy support and provision of structure). They also suggest greater predictive power for students' situational motivation over the personal trait of proactive personality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Everyday digital technologies play an important role in mediating human activity that is socio-political and humanizing. The everyday cyborg engages in speculative fabulation that is about fantastical new world-making in times of multiple crises. The work presented in this article builds on previous projects that have examined how everyday cultural practices mediate consequential learning that is transformative for communities of color. Two social design-based studies draw from ethnographic analysis of two teacher education courses as well as two after-school programs focusing on digital fabrication and making and tinkering. Participants included 22 undergraduate pre-service teachers and 10 middle school students from schools in Latinx communities. Collaborative cyborg activity, where expertise is distributed, emerged as pre-service teachers and youth collectively engaged with everyday socio-political issues. This article highlights cyborg sociopolitical technical reconfigurations, where learners assembled ideational and material tools to craft objects of learning activity that went beyond those established by schooling and imagined new possible futures. Designing learning ecologies for the everyday cyborg, in this case pre-service teachers and non-dominant youth, fosters an engagement with everyday dilemmas in ways that serve as catalysts for further learning and the new world-making of speculative fabulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teacher educators surveyed and interviewed program alumni working in middle schools to address the question, what literacy practices have you found to be most supportive of English language learners in your classrooms? This article describes the three most common practices identified by the middle school teachers, practices that are affiliated with five attributes that have been identified as central to effective and supportive middle school classrooms. The practices include 1. activating prior knowledge; 2. employing non-linguistic, multimodal communication, and 3. integrating language play into the curricula. The authors affiliated research in the field with these practices to provide additional rationales for their implementation. Specific digital technologies recommended by the teachers to support these practices are also identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coverboards and transects One of the simplest, yet impactful, coverboard projects that middle school teachers can involve their students in is the collection of information about the biodiversity on their school grounds. Teachers talked about the purpose of coverboards, how to establish a transect on school grounds and nature centers, how to properly check the coverboards, and how to collect and record data including physical parameters (e.g., temperature, soil humidity). INaturalist is a free app (for phones and computers) that can help middle school teachers and students identify animals found under coverboards. To further prepare teachers, the faculty and trained middle school teachers set up a coverboard transect at a state park in an open area between a river and an eastern deciduous forest. [Extracted from the article]

With powerful parallels to what Pham identified as developing transformative resistance with students, Wargo and colleagues' intention to engage the unfamiliar and the potentially transgressive highlights critical pedagogical practices for refusing status quo pedagogy. Additionally, Davies argues it is imperative that educators and policymakers alike understand the political and affective nature of teaching and suggests that discounting the embodied, emotional experiences of students and teachers only continues to pathologize individuals deemed different. Just after logging into the online meeting room, each of us - still joining from the comforts of our home office spaces following the shift there due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 - quickly moved past pleasantries. [Extracted from the article]

Focus groups were conducted with middle school general and special education teachers to investigate their perceptions of Response to Intervention (RTI) reading intervention. Three cross-cutting themes emerged through content analysis: (a) the exigency of professional development, (b) buidling capacity to implement in middle school, and (c) teacher leadership. Participants supported the concept of RTI, but frustrations with feasibility were reported. Teachers implementing a standard-protocol expressed mixed perceptions. Future research should explore models that strengthen school capacity for middle school RTI and implications for professional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the conceptualizations used by prospective middle school mathematics teachers when defining, representing, and exemplifying the slope concept and relating it with other mathematical situations were examined. Participants' conceptualizations were identified by Nagle, C., Moore-Russo, D., Viglietti, J., & Martin, K. [(2013). Calculus students' and instructors' conceptualizations of slope: A comparison across academic levels. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 11(6), 1491–1515. ] framework. The findings showed the prospective teachers mostly used trigonometric and parametric conceptions. Real-world situation, calculus conception, geometric ratio, and determining property were other common conceptualizations used by the participants. On the other hand, algebraic ratio, behaviour indicator, physical property, and functional property conceptualizations were seldom used and linear constant conceptualization was never used by them. The implications for mathematics teacher educators and mathematics education researchers on how to remedy prospective teachers' possible difficulties and errors about slope are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As classroom teachers, we understand the struggles students face daily, especially in mathematics. These challenges can include language barriers which may or may not be related to disabilities. We have seen students in classrooms struggle with the digital divide and limited digital access. Both language and digital access are crucial for mathematical student learning. We provide practical ideas for middle school teachers to help bridge the gap for students with language barriers using digital access and the concept of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in mathematics. The ideas presented are to provide greater equity for students with language-based issues in all areas, but with a special focus on the more complex needs presented in today's middle school mathematics classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of proof tasks in the transition from conjecture to proof in Euclidean geometry on freshmen's proof schemes. In line with this aim, the proof schemes of the freshmen who performed conjecture-proof and theorem-proof tasks were compared. The freshmen were composed of 109 pre-service middle school mathematics teachers who are enrolled in their first year of undergraduate education. The study was modeled as a multiple-case study. Fifty-three freshmen performed conjecture-proof tasks in Case-1, and fifty-six freshmen performed theorem-proof tasks in Case-2. The video recordings, including the written proof reports, reflection papers, and proof explanations of the freshmen, were used as data collection tools in the tasks. The proof schemes were used as construct maps to evaluate the proofs of freshmen and analyzed using Winsteps Rasch software. The proof schemes in freshmen's proof tasks were evaluated by the Wright Map and supported with direct quotations from the proofs. In the study, it was observed that the proof schemes of freshmen who made proofs based on their own conjectures were mostly empirical and analytical proof schemes, while the proof schemes of freshmen who made proof of the presented theorem were generally external and empirical proof schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SIOP (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol) and SI (Sheltered Instruction) are both completely different models that are distinctive and divergent in their forms. In this text, Crawford and Reyes ([1]) argue that SIOP uses a restrictive pedagogy that narrows teacher creativity, essentially questioning teachers' ability to educate students. I Thesis i : Sheltered Instructional Observational Protocol (SIOP) is a rigid instructional program that is loosely based on Sheltered Instruction (SI), a key idea from Krashen and Terrell's I The Natural Approach: Language Acquisition in the Classroom i ([7]). [Extracted from the article]

This article from Science Scope emphasizes the importance of social-emotional learning (SEL) in the middle school science classroom. SEL is defined as the development of social and emotional skills necessary for life, such as self-management, empathy, and responsible decision-making. Research shows that SEL is linked to positive well-being, mental wellness, healthy behaviors, improved grades, and homework completion. Middle school teachers play a crucial role in helping students navigate adolescence and develop these soft skills through activities like collaborative work, reflective writing, promoting kindness, and student check-ins. The article suggests exploring the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) for more information on SEL initiatives. [Extracted from the article]

Creativity can be cultivated in the classroom by the teacher through classroom management. The present research attempts to study middle school teachers' classroom management that attends to students' creativity. We interviewed twenty-one middle school teachers of seven disciplines about their classroom management to cultivate their students' creativity. We analyzed these interviews using a model of assessment of creativity in the organization as applied into the classroom setting. The research results indicated that the teachers utilized various methods to cultivate their students' creativity, where these methods are related to the different components of the model of creativity assessment in the organization. Above all, the teachers used feedback from the teacher, strategies, and novel tasks as part of their classroom management to cultivate their students' creativity. The teachers used the following methods less than the previous ones: risk-taking and group support. Freedom was the least method reported as means for cultivating creativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Middle level school teachers commonly measure and monitor students' academic performance, but such is not the case for students' classroom behavior. This is unfortunate, given the rise in students' classroom behavior problems in middle school, especially for students who experience emotional or behavioral disorders. The Classroom Performance Survey (CPS) is a brief behavior rating scale that has shown promise for use in elementary school settings, but no studies have investigated the psychometric properties of this measure in middle level schools. In the present study, 103 middle grades students at-risk for emotional or behavioral disorders were rated by their classroom teachers using the CPS. We conducted a psychometric evaluation using a multi-step analytic strategy, including confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis. Results showed that the CPS displayed evidence of a reliable two-factor structure (Academic Competence and Interpersonal Competence), predictive validity with academic outcomes (percent of assignments completed and student grades), convergent validity with established behavioral and observational measures, and sensitivity to change over time. Study results suggest positive implications for using the CPS as part of behavior intervention and monitoring efforts in middle level schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue focuses on the beliefs, practices, and impact of effective teachers in China, with a particular emphasis on teachers of ethnic minority students. Teachers of Ethnic Minorities as Change Agents This article continues to build on what makes an effective teacher, specifically of ethnic minority students. [Extracted from the article]

Action research is an evidence-based practice that is highly applicable to middle school teaching and learning. Middle school teachers can empower themselves and their students by participating in immersive, meaningful activities that are designed to improve educational outcomes. Action research is purposeful and beneficial for teachers, students, and educational stakeholders. This article describes the features and phases of action research and how the framework can be used to find solutions to classroom concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To cultivate teacher efficacy, the materials were created to respond to middle school science teachers' concerns about supporting students' emotions around social justice issues and empowering students to take action. Envisioning students' ideas surfaced each teachers' existing strategies for guiding student learning, reflecting their deep knowledge of their students' cultural and science ideas. Two teachers-whose students were concerned about environmental injustices in their communities and eager to take action-initiated a collaboration to design freely available, customizable curriculum materials and a model professional development workshop. [Extracted from the article]

The present study aimed to investigate the influence of work passion and career exploration on the relationship between family influence and career calling. The survey sample consisted of 410 primary and middle school teachers from 12 public schools in China (female = 353; mean age = 32.91 years, SD = 6.75 years). Results indicated that a positive family influence predicted a higher career calling. Furthermore, work passion and career exploration mediated the relationship between family influence and career calling. Additionally, career exploration mediated the relationship between work passion and career calling, increasing the prediction of career calling. Our findings suggest that family influence is an important resource for career calling in the presence of work passion and career exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies have contributed to the theoretical, empirical, and practical understanding of teacher empathy, but few have captured the voices of middle school students to understand their lived experiences; no studies have explored the topic in Christian academies. Grounded in Rogers' theory of self and subsequent theories about student-centered pedagogy, the intent of the study was to explore the perceptions of teacher empathy as voiced by 10 middle school students. Data collected from individual interviews, a focus group session, and letters written to hypothetical future middle school teachers revealed that middle school students perceived teacher empathy as a relational process that positively impacted their personal and academic growth. A major implication for decision-makers is the necessity to prioritize relational cultures, while implications for teachers include the necessity to build ongoing, nonjudgmental, and transparent relationships that lead to functional, fundamental, and profound empathic opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]