{"title":"“Don’t Call on Me!”: Mediating Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Mathematics Anxiety in a Problem-Based Classroom","authors":"Christine Koehne, Wenyen Huang, Nataly Z. Chesky","doi":"10.14305/jn.19440413.2023.16.2.03","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14305/jn.19440413.2023.16.2.03","url":null,"abstract":"This study aims to understand the ways in which problem-based teaching in a mathematics content course can alleviate pre-service elementary school teachers' mathematics anxiety. The significance of this work is to help increase the content and pedagogical knowledge of mathematics education, as outlined in STEM policies. Using a mixed method approach, the teachers-researchers explore what methods, procedures, and other perhaps unknown variables, helped pre-service elementary teachers decrease their mathematics anxiety during two mathematics content courses. The findings illuminate five major themes the authors discuss, which are illustrated by rich descriptions of students’ narratives and interviews. Given the importance of mathematics education, particularly the need for strengthening it at the childhood level, this work contributes to a growing body of research that can help future elementary education teachers become exemplary educators.","PeriodicalId":271733,"journal":{"name":"Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning","volume":"113 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140767193","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Implementation of Rtl as a Part of Multi-tiered Systems of Support: What Teachers, Administrators,Teacher Educators Need to Know","authors":"Susan Polirstok, Joseph A. Hogan","doi":"10.14305/jn.19440413.2023.16.2.05","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14305/jn.19440413.2023.16.2.05","url":null,"abstract":"Multi-tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) is an outgrowth of Response to Intervention (RtI). The various systems of support for students and school communities provided through these programs are integral to modern education and embedded in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) of 2004. While there are many benefits to the implementation of MTSS and RtI, there are various obstacles that can hinder successful intervention programs. The absence of consensus across districts and states with respect to program development and implementation creates confusion. This article addresses considerations and concerns related to MTSS and RtI. Discussed are underlying principles, challenges to effective implementation, expertise and training of teachers, and usage for classification for special education services. The roles of general and special education teachers, administrators, and university preparation programs are examined, and recommendation providec","PeriodicalId":271733,"journal":{"name":"Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning","volume":"79 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140796615","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"“Don’t Call on Me!”: Mediating Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Mathematics Anxiety in a Problem-Based Classroom","authors":"David Griffin","doi":"10.14305/jn.19440413.2023.16.2.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14305/jn.19440413.2023.16.2.04","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines various approaches to evaluating the classroom teacher and discusses the inclusion of dispositions in the evaluation process. A random sample of 150 teachers were asked to complete an online survey focusing on the inclusion of dispositions in their formal evaluations. They were asked to report what specific dispositions were evaluated, and if the specific dispositions were operationally defined. A summary of their responses to the survey items is discussed.","PeriodicalId":271733,"journal":{"name":"Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning","volume":"338 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140788790","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Cultivating Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Approaches to Social and Emotional Learning for Students with or At-risk for Emotional and Behavioral Dis/abilities","authors":"Sharde Theodore, Lindsay Romano, Fanica Young, Danica Moise, Tahnee Wilder","doi":"10.14305/jn.19440413.2023.16.2.01","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14305/jn.19440413.2023.16.2.01","url":null,"abstract":"School policies are largely driven by perceptions and expectations for how students should behave academically and socially, yet these practices often lack the cultural relevance and sustainability required to support racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse (RELD) students with or at risk for emotional and behavioral dis/orders (EBD). Similarly, many evidence-based practices for behavior do not consider internalizing behaviors (e.g., anxiety, toxic stress), exemplifying a critical need for equitable practices aimed at supporting the prosocial and emotional needs of RELD students with or at risk for EBD. Given the multifaceted social, emotional, and behavioral needs of RELD students with or at risk for EBD, social and emotional learning (SEL) practices are most effective when implemented through a culturally responsive-sustaining lens. Thus, this paper examines how the pervasive inequities within special education praxis can be mediated through culturally responsive-sustaining SEL practices. Using the tenets of dis/ability critical race theory (DisCrit), we first problematize the current approaches to SEL curricula and address how they contribute to the pathologization of RELD students with or at risk for EBD. We then provide evidence-based recommendations for school leaders and practitioners to embed culturally responsive-sustaining pedagogy within SEL instruction.","PeriodicalId":271733,"journal":{"name":"Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning","volume":"63 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140785763","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Deborah Tamakloe, Elizabeth Powers, Alisa Landis, Lori McCracken
{"title":"Teachers' Experiences of Using Play and Al's Pals to Teach Socio-Emotional Skills Through Coaching Support Models","authors":"Deborah Tamakloe, Elizabeth Powers, Alisa Landis, Lori McCracken","doi":"10.14305/jn.19440413.2023.16.2.02","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14305/jn.19440413.2023.16.2.02","url":null,"abstract":"Interactive teaching strategies provide opportunities for engaging children in discussing difficult concepts such as socio-emotional wellbeing and wide range of ideas about their social and personal lives. However, few studies have explored preschool teachers’ efficacy of using coaching through ‘Play and puppetry programs as approaches to developing children’s emotional regulation, socio-emotional learning and wellbeing. This paper reports on a “Labyrinth Project” aimed to gain in-depth understandings of preschool teachers’ experiences and perspectives pertaining to their efficacy of using play and puppetry as tools to promote children’s emotional learning and development. The results showed that despite early challenges with the use of these two teaching strategies, coaching and professional development facilitated a progression from feelings of inadequacy to confidence to teach social emotional skills using play and puppetry. At the end of the second year of this three-year project, children demonstrated improved cognitive skills in managing their emotions. Suggestions are made on how to improve the project to achieve high quality outcomes.","PeriodicalId":271733,"journal":{"name":"Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning","volume":"24 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140772425","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kiersten Greene, Lizabeth Cain, Elizabeth Brennan, Brianna Vaughan
{"title":"Looking Back in Order to Move Forward: Lessons from COVID-19 for Teacher Education","authors":"Kiersten Greene, Lizabeth Cain, Elizabeth Brennan, Brianna Vaughan","doi":"10.14305/jn.19440413.2023.16.1.03","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14305/jn.19440413.2023.16.1.03","url":null,"abstract":"This article provides critical perspectives on education technology integration in a teacher education context in a post-pandemic world. The authors—two early career teachers, one in a pre-school and one in an elementary school, and two elementary teacher education faculty members at a mid-sized public university—use the U.S. Department of Education’s 2016 guiding principles for educational technology in teacher education for analysis. The commentary evolves directly from and reflects the authors’ collective experience across the P-20 spectrum in education technology, with close attention paid to what was learned during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent pivot to remote learning in spring 2020, which altered the teacher education landscape in significant ways. This article makes curricular and pedagogical suggestions for P-20 educators and concludes with recommendations for future research at the intersection of technology integration and teacher education.","PeriodicalId":271733,"journal":{"name":"Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning","volume":"192 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139305061","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Teacher Certification during Multiple Pandemics in the Epicenter of it All","authors":"Deborah Greenblatt","doi":"10.14305/jn.19440413.2023.16.1.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14305/jn.19440413.2023.16.1.04","url":null,"abstract":"Teacher certification exams were put on hold as New York City became the epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis in March of 2020. State officials closed testing centers and school buildings, and teacher candidates began to panic as administrators at their student teaching placements worked feverishly to adjust. This changed teacher candidates’ ability to complete the performance assessment required for certification (edTPA). Concurrently, COVID-19 was disproportionally affecting the Black community (Phillips et al., 2020) and areas with limited financial resources. Based on the demographics of students at The City University of New York, there were extensive health challenges for many of its Black and low-income teacher candidates and their families. Prior to the pandemic, there were already concerns about its challenges and costs both for teacher candidates and for schools of education may be a barrier to entry for those already underrepresented in the teaching profession (Davis, 2015).","PeriodicalId":271733,"journal":{"name":"Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning","volume":"77 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139305790","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
LaRon Scott, C. Powell, Lauren Bruno, Christopher Cormier, Kendra Hall, Katherine R. Brendli, Joshua Taylor
{"title":"The Other Fifty Percent: Expressions from Special Education Teachers about Why They Persist in the Profession","authors":"LaRon Scott, C. Powell, Lauren Bruno, Christopher Cormier, Kendra Hall, Katherine R. Brendli, Joshua Taylor","doi":"10.14305/jn.19440413.2023.16.1.02","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14305/jn.19440413.2023.16.1.02","url":null,"abstract":"We examined reasons special educators are motivated to persist in the profession despite challenges that often lead to attrition for this group. Participants were 21 special education teachers with six or more years of teaching experience across multiple grade levels. Data were collected via the Zoom virtual meeting platform with four focus groups. Semi-structured interview techniques were used, and data were analyzed using deductive coding procedures. Participants shared external, employment, and personal factors associated with Billingsley’s (1993) career decision framework that influenced their persistence, such as supports from school administrators with expertise in special education law, passion for students and their achievement, and stressors related to the workforce that motivated them to persist in the profession. Implications for educational practice and future research are discussed.","PeriodicalId":271733,"journal":{"name":"Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139297984","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Leanna S. Mellon, Noor Syed, Lauren Lestremau Allen
{"title":"An Analysis of the Statewide Shortage of ABA Professionals in New York","authors":"Leanna S. Mellon, Noor Syed, Lauren Lestremau Allen","doi":"10.14305/jn.19440413.2023.16.1.05","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14305/jn.19440413.2023.16.1.05","url":null,"abstract":"Support services for many Autistic students in schools is critical. Behavior analysts are one type of service provider who offer support services in and outside of school settings to Autistic students. As behavioral support services are increasing in educational settings, it is important to ensure there are a sufficient number of professionals trained to provide high quality and compassionate support. However, there may not be enough state licensed providers to meet the growing need of students across the state of New York (NY). The supply of state licensed behavior analysts (LBAs) was calculated for the state of NY, its six regions, and its 62 individual counties to assess the shortage of providers. County level public data were used to compare the per capita supply of LBAs using caseload guidelines. The supply of LBAs did not meet the supply benchmark at the aggregate level or in any of the state’s six regions. Only four of the state's 62 counties met the LBA supply benchmark. Shortages of service providers limit accessibility to support services and high caseloads can impact service quality. Suggestions for changes that may increase accessibility to behavior analytic supports and services in NY to those seeking services are discussed.","PeriodicalId":271733,"journal":{"name":"Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning","volume":"27 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139303270","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"I Changed My Mind: Exploring Why College Students Change Majors to Become Teachers","authors":"Ross Bussell","doi":"10.14305/jn.19440413.2023.16.1.01","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14305/jn.19440413.2023.16.1.01","url":null,"abstract":"Although teacher education programs have long studied what draws students to choose a career in teaching, a less studied aspect of teacher candidates relates to students who change majors to become teachers. As a phenomenon that is common in teacher preparation, I am interested in better understanding why this happens. This article centers around six participants who began college choosing a science major, changing their course of study after at least one full year. Through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, a discussion of what led the participants to change majors, what they were looking for when deciding to become teachers, and their motivations to join the ranks of the next generation of teachers is had. The article ends with implications for practitioners, and avenues for further research.","PeriodicalId":271733,"journal":{"name":"Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning","volume":"160 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139301351","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}