Multicultural books

Joyce Mesrobian is an early childhood consultant and oral storyteller in Chicago and its suburbs.     

Alphabet books

Joyce Mesrobian is an early childhood consultant and oral storyteller in Chicago and its suburbs.     

New Zealand Maori Stories and Symbols: Family Value Lessons for Western Counsellors

Maori stories and symbols offer Westerns counselors a rich heritageof wisdom. This article provides a summary of key Maori mythologyand worldview highlighting the profound significance of sacredgeography—manifested in the marae (meeting ground) andthe wharenui (meeting house)—and family (whenau) imbedded in genealogy (whakapa). The authors then considerrelated significance for contemporary Maori, offer questions andapplications for western counsellors, and acknowledge essentialconsultation from a Maori staff advisor (te kaiurungi).     

Big books: How to make them and use them

Big — bold — beautiful — they're called big books, and preschool teachers are regularly discovering their exciting educational potential. Traditionally, using books with children is a practice that adults have used since they were first developed in the sixteenth century. Indeed, most preschool classrooms include centers which are called by a variety of names — book nook, book corner, book center, storytime center, reading center, or some other title. It's rare to find a child who does not respond to book reading or storytelling, and teachers of young children routinely plan time each day to read a book to their youngsters. Educationally, their use is acceptable practice for children of all ages. Laverne Warner is a professor of early childhood education at Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX. This article draws on material published by the author in Texas Child Care Quarterly,(Summer, 1990), 13:4, 3–8.     

Multiple orthographic codes in reading and writing acquisition

A modified Stroop Test (single-letter, letter-cluster, and whole-word colorinconsistent stimuli) showed greater interference for the more automatic orthographic coding unit—the word—than for the less automatic coding units—single letters and letter-clusters—in developing readers in second, fourth, and sixth grade (N=72, Study 1). A developmental trend was observed from relative skill in word-level orthographic-phonological correspondence in second graders to relative skill in subword level orthographic-phonological correspondences in sixth graders. A previous finding that whole word coding > letter coding > letter cluster coding in relative rate of development was replicated (N=300, Study 2). Multiple orthographic codes—for whole words, single letters, and letter clusters—were correlated with both reading and writing but patterns of correlations with the component reading and writing skills changed from first to third grade; by third grade whole word coding was not correlated with reading and writing skills but letter cluster coding was correlated with all reading and most writing skills. Cue validity —categorization of letters on the basis of differentiating rather than distinctive features—improved from second to sixth grade and may account for developmental gains in letter cluster coding. Level of cue validity was correlated with speed of sentence comprehension (N=60, Study 3). The theoretical and practical significance of multiple orthographic codes for orthographic-phonological connections in word recognition and for literacy acquisition in general is discussed.This research was supported, in part, by Grant No. 25858-01 awarded to the first author from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.Study 1 is based on a presentation at the 1990 meeting of the American Education Research Association. Study 2 is based on a presentation at the 1991 meeting of the American Education Research Association. Study 3 is based on a presentation at the 1989 meeting of the American Education Research Association.The authors thank the participating children from the Shoreline Public Schools (Study 1), Bellevue, Northshore and Seattle Public Schools (Study 2), and the Mukiteo Public Schools (Study 3). They also thank Sylvia Mirsepassi for secretarial assistance.     

The globalization ofSesame Street: A producer's perspective

Sesame Street, the Children's Television Workshop's pioneering educational television series for preschoolers, has become an international—as well as an American—institution. Licensed versions, adaptations, and coproductions of the series have been seen in approximately 115 countries. Children in 65 countries have viewed the series in its English-language form. In addition, the program has been coproduced in 13 other languages for broadcast in 50 countries. Each local adaptation ofSesame Street is unique, reflecting the varying educational, social, and cultural needs of children from country to country. This article documents the spread ofSesame Street—and the CTW research and development model—abroad, and includes several case studies of different foreign adaptations ofSesame Street.He works withSesame Street coproductions worldwide, providing onsite consultation through all phases of project development and production.     

Remembering places: Student reliance on place in timed essays

This is the story of a research journey that follows the trail of a novel evaluand—place. I examine place as mentioned by rising juniors in timed exams. Using a hybridized methodology—the qualitative approach of a hermeneutic dialectic process as described by Guba and Lincoln (1989), and the quantitative evidence of place mention—I query student writing to uncover motivations for reliance on place-based experience despite the absence of an explicit mention of place in the writing prompt. Finally, I consider implications for using generative prompts to elicit evidence of student learning.     

Reviews

Reviews in this article Morris , Joyce M. Standards and Progress in Reading. Department of education and Science: Education Pamphlet No. 50. (1956). Progress in Reading, 1948-1964. GARDNER , KEITH (1965). Towards Literacy. WEBSTER , JAMES (1965). Practical Reading.     

Teaching Strategies through Microteaching

Approaches in microteaching traditionally have been focused upon the teaching of specific skills in small‐group situations. This article describes the application of a form of microteaching to the acquisition of teaching strategies, which has a much broader focus, based largely on the work of Joyce & Weil (1986).     

Does the Brain Have a Place in Educational Psychology?

Byrnes and Fox (1998) present the case for the relevance of cognitive neuroscience in educational psychology, including both logical and empirical arguments. In this commentary, I begin by briefly reviewing the history of the case for including the brain in educational psychology: Early educational psychology—as reflected in Thorndike's (1926) educational psychology textbook—emphasized the neuronal basis of learning; contemporary educational psychology—as reflected in educational publications—tends to ignore the brain; and future educational psychology will need to overcome the pitfalls encountered in previous misuses of brain research. Next, I examine two logical arguments for Byrnes and Fox's case, namely, that including cognitive neuroscience research makes educational psychology more complete and more plausible. Then, I examine the empirical argument of Byrnes and Fox by focusing on the value of cognitive neuroscience research in attention and memory as well as in reading and arithmetic. Finally, I suggest criteria for evaluating the contributions of cognitive neuroscience research in educational psychology, including the need for research on educationally relevant tasks and issues.     

A good measure of safety

Each year, fifteen thousand children die from accidents—more than from cancer, congenital malformations, pneumonia, heart disease, meningitis, and homicide combined. As a day care center provider or a parent, you are responsible for the safety and well-being of children in your care. You need to know how to make your home safe for children and how to prevent accidents. Young children view things as interesting to taste or touch—not as safe or dangerous. Children do not even begin to understand the concept of danger until the age of two. Protecting them is your job. Annette Lubchenco is the principal writer for the Spoonful of Lovin'video series and its Manual for Day Care Providers.This article is excerpted from the Manualthat can be obtained from the Agency for Instructional Television, Box A, Bloomington, IN 47402.     

Where Words Fail: Rational Education Unravels in Maria Edgeworth''s The Good French Governess

This essay argues that precepts for cultivating the rational child, set forth by Maria and Richard Edgeworth in their handbook Practical Education, collide with fictional presentations of those precepts in Maria's novella The Good French Governess. The resulting gap between the novella's pedagogically driven narrative and a subtext that undermines the pedagogical agenda cannot be bridged by words. This ironically draws the reader to question the primacy accorded to words—to reasoned arguments and precise verbal articulation—that play such a significant role in the program for rational education. Further, the collisions between the demands of ideology and the needs of fiction invite us as readers to raise questions about genre, about our expectations of nonfictions and fictions pertaining to education.     

Professors' Perspectives on Their Teaching: A New Construct and Developmental Model

Building carefully on the college teaching and adult development literatures, this paper presents a model that describes the perspective of professors at various developmental positions with regard to their work as teachers. The model comprises five, interrelated positions: (a) three stable periods—Egocentrism (teacher-centeredness), Aliocentrism (learner-centeredness), and Systemocentrism (teacher/learner-centeredness); and (b) two transitional periods—one between each of the two potential movements from one stable period to the next. The model integrates the constructs of previous typologies, adds a significant new construct, and arranges the total array of perspectival constructs in a typical developmental sequence.     

Studying the flute and the orchestra: controlled vs. classroom research on computers

How do you study computers in education and what do you study about them? A theory is presented which distinguishes between cognitive effects with and of computer tools, the former constituting improved performance while an intellectual tool is available, the latter manifesting a subsequent cognitive residue as a result. Two studies are described, providing support for the theory. It is argued, however, that such analytic research fails to capture the multivariate rich classroom environments that the effective use of computers requires and brings about. A classroom history project is described as it evolves around tool use. It is suggested that another research approach — a systemic paradigm — is needed to study such rich and multivariate cases. The complementary relations between the analytic and systemic research approaches are examined.     

Sesame street as a continuing experiment

After 22 years,Sesame Street continues to be a television experiment designed to prepare preschool children, especially poor inner-city children, for school. The success ofSesame Street can be attributed to the unique partnership the Children's Television Workshop forged early on between producers and researchers on the project. Three institutional mechanisms—curriculum seminars, theWriters' Notebook, and extensive child testing—create formal opportunities for producers and researchers to explore new topics and to learn more about preschool children and how they respond to the program. This article describes each of these mechanisms and presents a case study that exemplifies how researchers, producers, and writers worked together to developSesame Street's new geography curriculum.     

Table of Contents

ARTICLES Graduate Programs: The Wild West of Outcomes Assessment Jordan H. Orzoff, Paula E. Peinovich, Eric Riedel The Role of the Quality Enhancement Plan in Engendering a Culture of Assessment Thomas P. Loughman, Joyce Hickson, Gina L. Sheeks, J. William Hortman Using Assessment to Bring About Cultural Change: The Value of Assessing Learning Spaces Michael Harris, Roxanne Cullen COLUMNS From the States Peter T. Ewell Community College Strategies Joshua S. Smith, Sungtaek Lim, Sharon Bone     

Renaming experience/reconstructing practice: Developing new understanding of teaching

Although teacher-thinking research is now well established, the specific mechanisms through which teachers construct new understandings of their teaching have not been closely examined. This paper presents four interrelated concepts—teachers' conceptions of practice, tensions in their practice, articulation, and local and professional language—which emerged as grounded categories from a longitudinal study of change in teachers' practice. The study focused on how a group of foreign language teachers integrated new ideas, encountered in an inservice masters' degree program, in their thinking about and activity in the classroom. The analysis traced the ways in which the teachers reconstructed their classroom practice, using professional discourse to rename their experience and thus to assign new or different meanings to their actions. The concepts, presented with illustrations from the study and accompanying analysis, have implications for research on teaching and teacher education as well as the design and execution of teacher education programs.     

Meaning Making and “The Learning Paradigm”: A Provocative Idea in Practice

Amidst the considerable literature published on institutional change in undergraduate teaching and learning, an article co-authored by Robert Barr and John Tagg in 1995 stands out. The authors offered a vision and —perhaps most importantly—gave it a memorable name, the Learning Paradigm. From Teaching to Learning—A New Paradigm for Undergraduate Education is the most frequently cited article in the history of Change. In this article, Barr blended his voice with colleagues who helped initiate Learning Paradigm programs at a public university and in a liberal arts college setting. Through multiple forms of inquiry, including discourse and metaphor analysis, they interpreted the shift from teaching to learning and speculate about its future.     

Table of Contents

ARTICLES Collaborative Online Assessments for Validity and Reliability Merilee Griffin Editor's Notes Trudy W. Banta Implementing the Class‐Level Survey of Student Engagement: First Impressions and Findings Ronald F. Rogers, Patrick F. Cravalho, Jonathan G. Boyajian Recognizing Progress in Degree‐Program Assessment: The Seals of Assessment Achievement and Excellence Thomas W. Paradis, Thomas M. Hopewell Building a Culture of Assessment: Ode to Musun, Baker, and Fulmer Jo‐Ellen Asbury COLUMN Community College Strategies Robin Anderson, with Keven Hansen and Joyce M. Ray Memo Bob Smallwood     

Community Education and child-care programs

The Community Education Services (CES) division of the Children's Television Workshop (CTW) is CTW's community-outreach arm. This article describes how CES works with parents, children, experts, and local groups to develop special multimedia products, four of which are discussed. Two of the products—a fire-safety kit and a natural-hazards packet—were designed to teach young children how to protect themselves in life-threatening emergencies. Two other products—CES'sSesame Street preschool education materials and its3-2-1 Contact andSquare One TV after-school materials—are attempts by CTW to respond to societal changes that have increasingly shifted the burden of child care onto preschool and after-school programs.