First-grade Teachers Research Articles

UNEQUAL RETURNS TO CHILDREN’S EFFORTS

AbstractResearch demonstrates the importance of noncognitive skills for educational achievement and attainment. Scholars argue that gender differences in noncognitive skills contribute to the gender gap in education. However, the intersection of student race/ethnicity and gender remains underexplored. Studies that examine how noncognitive skills affect gender or racial disparities in teachers’ perceptions of academic skills often assume that children’s noncognitive skills have the same benefit for all children. This is questionable given that research suggests that racial biases affect teachers’ perceptions of children’s noncognitive skills. Using national data, our paper examines how first-grade teachers’ ratings of approaches to learning affect their ratings of children’s academic skills. We also test if teachers’ ratings of children’s noncognitive skills have similar benefits across racial/ethnic and gender categories. We use two unidimensional approaches and an intersectional approach to gauge whether an intersectional approach gives us additional leverage that the unidimensional approaches obscure. The two unidimensional approaches reveal important results that suggest that children are differentially penalized by race/ethnicity or gender. Our race/ethnicity findings suggest that, in comparison to White children with identical noncognitive skills and test scores, teachers penalize Black children in math and advantage Asian children in literacy. Findings from our gender analyses suggest that teachers penalize girls in both math and literacy. Our intersectional findings indicate that an intersectional approach gives us additional leverage obscured by both unidimensional approaches. First, we find that Black girls and Black boys are differentially penalized in math. Secondly, for teachers’ ratings of literacy, our results suggest that teachers penalize Asian girls but not Asian boys in comparison to White boys. We discuss the implications of our study for understanding the complex relationship between noncognitive skills and social stratification.

La metáfora como alternativa metodológica para investigar y reflexionar acerca de la práctica pedagógica en la enseñanza de la lectoescritura

Este artículo presenta los resultados de una investigación de tipo cualitativo, cuyo objetivo fue analizar las estrategias que una maestra de primer grado escolar utiliza para promover el proceso de la motivación de las niñas y los niños de su clase, hacia el aprendizaje de la lectoescritura. Se usa la técnica de la metáfora como alternativa metodológica para reflexionar en cuanto a la práctica pedagógica, integrando además, las técnicas de observación participante, la entrevista y los fundamentos teóricos. Se empleó un diseño cualitativo, el cual fue adaptado al objeto de estudio durante el proceso. Se resume el análisis y discusión de los resultados, con la organización de la información, que se orienta a la elaboración de categorías, las cuales dan unidad a los datos recabados durante el proceso de investigación, y evidencian que los hallazgos son conducentes al logro del objetivo planteado. En conclusión, se demuestra que la práctica pedagógica de la docente participante en este estudio se ubica en el paradigma positivista y el enfoque conductista del aprendizaje, visión contraria a la propuesta del lenguaje integral. Se considera importante realizar transformaciones en el sistema educativo formal costarricense. Para esto, es necesario reflexionar sobre las prácticas pedagógicas, las cuales involucran los sistemas de creencias, la visión de mundo y las concepciones teóricas de las personas docentes. Por último, cabe mencionar que la autora del artículo es la investigadora.

Is a faster pace of letter instruction associated with other teaching practices?

The past few years have seen a shift towards a faster pace of letter instruction in Norwegian firstgrade classrooms. Introducing the letters faster has the potential to alter teaching practices more generally, not only by freeing up time for more individually adapted literacy instruction but also by making it possible for students to start reading and writing texts earlier. The aim of the present study is to investigate whether the pace of letter instruction is associated with the amount of time devoted to various other relevant teaching practices. Information about the pace of letter instruction and about other teaching practices was provided, through questionnaires completed in December and June, by 51 Norwegian first-grade teachers who finished letter instruction at various times between September and June. The results indicate that introducing the letters faster really does affect other teaching practices, mainly in the second semester, in that more time is devoted to students’ writing, greater use is made of levelled books and less time is spent on worksheets and on handwriting practice. However, there would seem to be room for teachers to further exploit the opportunities that arise when the letters are introduced faster.

Long-term effects of first-grade teachers on students’ achievement: a replication study

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study was to conduct a direct replication of the study of Bressoux and Bianco of 2004 regarding long-term effects of teachers in primary education on language and mathematics achievement of students. They found a short-term effect of the teacher in the same grade, but they did not find a long-term effect of the teacher of the previous grade. Our study replicates this study a decade later, in another country, and with a larger data set. We are specifically interested in the long-term effect of the first-grade teacher. Using a large-scale data set – in which more than 6,000 students were followed – and cross-classified models, we also found a short-term effect of the current teacher, but we did not find any long-term effects of the first-grade teacher 1 year later. Hence, the findings of Bressoux and Bianco were confirmed in this replication study.

METODE PENANAMAN NILAI-NILAI AQIDAH PADA SISWA SD ALAM MUHAMMADIYAH BANJARBARU

The focus of the research is how method teachers in instilling the values of aqidah in elementary school students Nature Muhammadiyah Banjarbaru and contributing factors that affected it. Whereas the purpose of this research is to know the methods of teachers in instilling the values of aqidah in elementary school students Nature Muhammadiyah Banjarbaru and contributing factors that affected it. This type of research is a field of research field research using a qualitative approach. The subject of this research is a first-grade teacher and teacher of Islamic education in primary school Muhammadiyah Banjarbaru, while Natural objects in this research are the cultivation of the values of aqidah in elementary school students Nature Muhammadiyah Banjarbaru. The results showed that the method of planting on faith values students Natural Muhammadiyah already on aim teachers through example, practice methods, exercises, stories, and singing was already good. It is seen from the way the teacher in everyday life they provide an example like say thoyyibah sentence, giving the Islamic story so taken their example as well as train and familiarize activities e.g., days are like reading the Qur'an, dhuha prayer, Zuhr and ' ASR prayers congregation. As for the factors that influence the cultivation of the values of faith in Natural place of Muhammadiyah students to include: (1) family environment; the family environment is the most effect on the cultivation of the values of faith in children. Parents play a role as the person who first gave the education of aqidah. (2) the school environment; the influence of the natural environment of ELEMENTARY SCHOOL Muhammadiyah in the cultivation of the values against their students in aqidah categories are. A comfortable natural environment school and shady atmosphere making learning more convenient and not boring. Written and implemented activities e.g. school day aims to shape the character of the work of students, have aqidah and noble character. (3) the environmental community; the influence of the environment of the community against the cultivation of the values of faith in students of ELEMENTARY SCHOOL Nature of Muhammadiyah in category enough. It is seen from the student's activities outside the school environment or when returned home. Keywords: Education, Methods, Aqeedah, Islamic Values.

Chinese teachers’ perceptions of early childhood school readiness

Children’s school readiness, especially in the early school years, is a significant indicator for school success as it establishes a positive school trajectory. However, less is known about the generalizability of these findings to contexts outside the United States. The present study examined kindergarten teachers’ perceptions of school readiness in China. We surveyed 101 third-year preschool teachers and 160 first-grade teachers in China, asking about their perceptions of school readiness. Results suggested that third-year preschool and first grade teachers in China viewed many of their students as not ready for school and also thought that the students had difficulties with academic and social–emotional skills. In addition, Chinese teachers placed a higher value on social–emotional skills versus academic skills. Our interpretation of the current findings also includes preliminary comparisons between our data set and one from 531 American kindergarten teachers using the same survey.

PENGEMBANGAN MODEL PEMBELAJARAN PENDIDIKAN AGAMA ISLAM (PAI) BERBASIS CONTEXTUAL TEACHING AND LEARNING (CTL) , SEBAGAI UPAYA MENINGKATKAN KUALITAS PEMBELAJARAN GURU, DI SMP KOTA MALANG

Romela

Improving Struggling Readers’ Early Literacy Skills through a Tier 2 Professional Development Program for Rural Classroom Teachers: The Targeted Reading Intervention

This article reports the results of a randomized controlled trial that replicated and extended research on the Targeted Reading Intervention (TRI), a professional development program for kindergarten and first-grade teachers in low-wealth rural schools that helps enhance literacy skills of struggling readers. In weekly webcam coaching sessions, literacy coaches delivered real-time feedback to classroom teachers as they worked one-on-one with struggling readers. Teachers worked with 1 child for 15 minutes a day for 6 to 8 weeks before moving to another struggling reader. Hierarchical linear models replicated previous findings that struggling readers in TRI treatment classrooms showed greater gains in early literacy compared with struggling readers in control classrooms. This study extended previous TRI work by examining whether teachers who received a second year of TRI training produced greater gains for their students compared with their first year. Results showed no advantage of teachers’ 2-year TRI participation.

Children’s emotional and behavioral responses to peer provocation and early school adjustment

ABSTRACTEven very young children think about their own and others’ behavior, including emotions. Such cognitions and emotions about the self and others convey information that is crucial to social interactions and relationships. The current study based on an integrated model of emotion processes and cognition in social information processing (SIP) aimed to explore students’ emotional and behavioral responses in SIP choices, and their association with teacher-reported early school adjustment. Two-hundred and thirty pre-school and first-grade primary school students were interviewed using the Challenging Situations Task (CST). CST assessed students’ emotional and behavioral responses to 12 unambiguous hypothetical peer provocation situations. Children’s preschool and first-grade primary teachers rated children’s early school adjustment with the Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation (SCBE-30) measure. The results revealed that children chose mainly sad and angry emotions and socially competent and passive behaviors. We found a relationship both between sad emotions and socially competent behavior choices, and between angry emotion and aggressive behavior choices. Sad emotions and aggressive behavior choices were the main predictors of school adjustment. Children’s responses to peer provocation situations varied depending on how the children interpreted the situations. The results address the importance of children’s SIP and school adjustment.

Relating Children’s Early Elementary Classroom Experiences to Later Skilled Remembering and Study Skills

ABSTRACTAs children transition from the early to later grades of elementary school, they become increasingly skilled at employing a variety of techniques – such as rehearsal and organizational strategies – for remembering information. Developmental changes in strategy use have been well documented, but little is known about the extent to which these “simple” techniques give way to more complex strategies, such as the study skills that are important in academically–based tasks in later elementary school. Moreover, although school experiences have been shown to be important in the development of young children’s deliberate memory skills, less is known about how the school context sets the stage for the use of more sophisticated strategies and study skills. In this article, we make use of data from a longitudinal study of children’s memory skills to describe associations among measures of children’s basic memory strategy use in the first and second grades and their implementation of more complex strategies and study skills in the fourth grade. We also highlight linkages between first-grade teachers’ use of “Cognitive Processing Language” (CPL) during instruction and children’s performance in the first, second, and fourth grades. This project reflects an ongoing collaboration among researchers, teachers, and school administrators, and we end with a discussion of the benefits – for both basic understanding and educational practice – that can result from such an endeavor.

Needs analysis for development of training program for newly appointed Home Economics teachers - Focusing on the participants of first-grade teachers qualification training -

Needs analysis for development of training program for newly appointed Home Economics teachers - Focusing on the participants of first-grade teachers qualification training -

Job-Embedded Professional Development for Teachers of English Learners: Preventing Literacy Difficulties Through Effective Core Instruction

This mixed methods descriptive study examined the effects of job-embedded professional development (JEPD) in reading on the content knowledge and instructional practice of teachers of English learners (ELs). Four first-grade teachers of ELs at one urban elementary school received JEPD over the course of a year. Results of pre- and posttests of teacher knowledge and classroom observations indicated that teachers’ reading content knowledge increased and that they used more evidence-based practices. JEPD shows promise as an approach that accommodates teachers’ varying levels of knowledge and experience in preparing them to meet the diverse needs of their students.

Teachers’ pedagogical work in elementary classrooms: an inquiry-based approach to critical literacy across the curriculum

ABSTRACTThis article is based on a yearlong qualitative, multiple case study that explored the pedagogy of elementary school teachers’ work through the combining of inquiry-based pedagogy and critical literacy. One case is shared where Zoe, a first-grade teacher, engages students and fosters learning in critical, inquiry-based ways. Two interviews, daily observations over the course of a school year, and student documentation were gathered. Findings indicate the classroom teacher used specific strategies and practices that combined traditional inquiry pedagogy for critical literacy development. These included: (1) Encouraging student dialogue of critical issues through purposeful text selection, (2) Connecting text to students’ lives through ongoing reflective practice, (3) Empowering student voice, (4) Use of open-ended questions to develop deeper connections, (5) Sharing multiple perspectives through knowledge building circles, (6) Use of misconceptions to guide the learning, and (7) Encouraging Advocacy. Through a narrative retell, the nuanced, descriptive, details and insight into how Zoe negotiated and connected inquiry to critical literacy are shared. The author also analyses and illustrates how Comber’s five categories of teachers’ work are experienced in the daily life of a classroom. The findings inform scholars and teacher educators of key teaching strategies for teachers’ work as they prepare future generations of elementary teachers.

"Completely Sold on Birth Control": Rural Extension Work of the Kentucky Birth Control League, 1933–1942

"Completely Sold on Birth Control":Rural Extension Work of the Kentucky Birth Control League, 1933–1942 Courtney Kisat (bio) In August 1939, after years of seeking birth control for her rural patients, community health nurse Lutrella Baker from the Line Fork Settlement in southeastern Kentucky wrote to Jean Tachau, president of the Kentucky Birth Control League (KBCL) in Louisville. "At last I have some grand news to report," she exclaimed, "There is a new doctor at Pine Mountain Settlement School … [and] he is completely sold on birth control, especially as he sees conditions here."1 Tachau and Baker went on to organize supplies for the clinic at Line Fork, a successful outcome of rural extension work from the KBCL. The birth control movement grew throughout the 1930s, and state affiliates of the American Birth Control League (ABCL) operated clinics that served thousands of women.2 The KBCL was the fifteenth state affiliate of the ABCL and like other state leagues, they successfully established birth control clinics in urban areas such as Louisville and Lexington. But unlike other states, the Kentucky State Board of Health did not support birth control as a public health initiative, so county clinics offered no form of contraception. The KBCL filled that void with state extension work in rural counties. The initiative [End Page 303] came from Tachau, an experienced social worker who drew from her networking skills and experience to build collaborative committees in rural communities. Rural Kentucky women who received birth control access in the late 1930s and early 1940s benefitted from this collaboration. Central to the state extension work of KBCL was the creation of community committees, which included ministers, teachers, librarians, nurses, and women's church groups. The KBCL was willing to recruit any person interested in establishing birth control services for the women of their county.3 Participants included a first-grade teacher in Edmonton, a USDA Home Demonstration Agent in Franklin, and a county health nurse in Daviess County, all of whom wrote the KBCL for information.4 Successful extension work was especially evident in Bell and Breathitt Counties, where the KBCL helped create community committees; in Madison County, where their efforts contributed to a strong local birth control initiative; and in Letcher County, site of the Line Fork Settlement. This study is a contribution to the growing literature of state-level birth control initiatives in the interwar period.5 It shows that despite the lack of support from the state, the KBCL impacted rural women in places where they were able to draw from social work methods to collaborate with people in those communities. Between 1880 and 1930, progressive women's groups drove social, political, and economic changes in the Commonwealth. This included such initiatives as the Kentucky Equal Rights Association, founded by women in 1888, and the Kentucky Federation of Women's Clubs in [End Page 304] Click for larger view View full resolution Map of KBCL extension work. Counties in light gray represent places where birth control clinics were established. Those in dark gray represent places in correspondence with KBCL. Map by author, all rights reserved. 1894. Women's clubs helped create the first county health department in Mason County in 1914, and by the late 1920s, health departments in every county of Kentucky. When Congress passed the Sheppard-Towner Act in 1922 to provide funding for health programs to benefit women and children, Kentucky legislators responded to women's advocacy and approved a measure to create a Bureau of Maternal and Child Health. The birth control movement in Kentucky was not the first reform driven by women, but rather a link in a long chain of maternalist policies in state reforms.6 From their first meeting in 1933, the KBCL worked to "help mothers have healthier babies, check the practice of induced abortions, and establish clinics in all sections of the state."7 They gained public support by promoting birth control [End Page 305] to improve maternal and child health and as an economic measure for poor families. The KBCL was especially visible throughout the state, first in the cities of Louisville and Lexington, and gradually in over forty rural eastern Kentucky counties. Early professional social...

Attentional fluctuations in preschoolers: Direct and indirect relations with task accuracy, academic readiness, and school performance

Attentional control fluctuates in the presence of internal and external distractors, wandering on and off a given task. The current study investigated individual differences in attentional fluctuations in 250 preschoolers. Attentional fluctuations were assessed via intra-individual variability in response time in a Go/No-Go task. Greater fluctuations in attentional control were linked to lower task accuracy. In addition, greater attentional fluctuations predicted lower performance in a task of cognitive flexibility, the Dimensional Change Card Sort task. Attentional fluctuations were also associated with laboratory measures of academic readiness in preschool, as assessed by the Applied Problems and Letter–Word Identification subscales of the Woodcock–Johnson III Tests of Achievement, which in turn predicted teacher reports of academic performance in first grade. Attentional fluctuations also had indirect associations with emergent math skills in preschool, via cognitive flexibility, as well as indirect associations with first-grade teacher reports of academic performance, via the relations between cognitive flexibility and emergent math skills in preschool. These results suggest that consistency is an important aspect of attentional control during early childhood.

The Analysis of First-Grade Teachers’ Need of Consultation in the First (FALL) Term of Academic Year

The Analysis of First-Grade Teachers’ Need of Consultation in the First (FALL) Term of Academic Year

Examining the Effects and Feasibility of a Teacher-Implemented Tier 1 and Tier 2 Intervention in Word Reading, Fluency, and Comprehension

ABSTRACTThis study investigates the effects and feasibility of an intervention for first-grade students at risk for reading difficulties or disabilities (RD). The intervention was provided by general education classroom teachers and consisted of 15 min whole-class comprehension lessons (Tier 1) and 30 min Tier 2 intervention sessions in word reading, comprehension, and text reading. First-grade teachers (n = 21), with 4–5 students at risk for reading difficulties and potential reading disability were randomly assigned to treatment or typical practice comparison conditions. Significant group differences were detected on all measures of word reading, decoding, and fluency. Effect sizes were educationally important for all measures of word reading, decoding, and reading comprehension; however, effects on standardized measures were smaller than those in prior studies with similar students in which intervention was typically provided outside the regular classroom. An exploratory analysis indicated that students at different parts of the pretest and posttest distributions responded more and less positively to the intervention, providing insights that may help guide future revisions. The study provides preliminary evidence of the intervention's promise for positively impacting student outcomes.

The Impact of Teacher Study Groups in Vocabulary on Teaching Practice, Teacher Knowledge, and Student Vocabulary Knowledge: A Large-Scale Replication Study

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this replication study was to examine the impact of the Teacher Study Group (TSG) professional development in vocabulary on first-grade teachers' knowledge of vocabulary instruction and observed teaching practice, and on students' vocabulary knowledge. Sixty-two schools from 16 districts in four states were randomly assigned to treatment and control conditions. A total of 182 first-grade teachers and their 1,811 students formed the sample. Treatment teachers received the TSG professional development from October to March. Teachers in the business-as-usual control condition received school/district professional development. A multilevel analysis was conducted to detect impacts. Significant impacts were found for teacher knowledge and observed teaching practice. No impacts were found at the student level.

Adding Color to Conflict: Disruptive Students’ Drawings of Themselves with Their Teachers

AbstractBuilding on work examining teachers’ perceptions of the student-teacher relationship, this study investigated how young students draw themselves with their teachers. Fourteen kindergarten and first-grade teachers each nominated 2 disruptive and 2 well-behaved students. Students then completed 1 drawing of themselves with their classroom teacher and 1 with a support teacher (e.g., librarian, art teacher) at 2 time points: the end of the school year (Phase 1) and the beginning of the next year (Phase 2). In coding for 8 markers of relationship quality—vitality/creativity, pride/happiness, vulnerability, emotional distance, tension/anger, role reversal, bizarreness/dissociation, and global pathology—we found no differences in the way that disruptive and well-behaved students depicted their own relationships with teachers. Gender and phase effects were identified, however, with boys depicting greater relational negativity than girls and all students portraying greater emotional distance at the beginni...

Using Video in Urban Elementary Professional Development to Support Digital Media Arts Integration

Using ethnographic methods, this article looks closely at how a team of first-grade teachers and digital media artists in an urban elementary school used video in innovative ways during professional development over the course of one year. Extending a body of literature that primarily documents how video can be used as a tool in professional development to develop pedagogical knowledge and support reflective practice, this article documents how teachers in this partnership also consumed, connected through, and created videos to deepen digital media content knowledge and showcase their teaching and learning with a broader audience as part of a school-wide culture that attempted to create a “new ethos” (Lankshear & Knobel, 2007) of digital media arts mindsets.