Commerce and Culture: Histories of Radio Sponsorship Yet to Be Written

Research into the roles, perspectives, and strategies of specific radio-era sponsors could provide new insights into the history of radio and American culture. I provide a brief overview of major tobacco, food, soap, and automobile sponsors and discuss the challenges of researching the role of corporations in American cultural history. With the aim of encouraging more scholarship, I suggest that analyzing radio sponsors could produce work on a variety of topics of broad interest, from the cultural history of cigarettes, promoted on dozens of tobacco-sponsored programs, to the representation of gender through sound on the Betty Crocker radio shows (1924–53).     

The Influence of Instructor-Student Rapport on Instructors’ Professional and Organizational Outcomes

Students and teachers have relational goals and needs, yet little research has examined the relational goals of instructors and how achieving those goals may affect instructor outcomes. This study examined instructors’ perspectives on instructor-student rapport. Results revealed that instructors who build rapport with students are likely to experience teaching satisfaction, affective commitment to the institution, and enhanced teaching efficacy. However, instructor-student rapport was not related to instructor morale. The findings in this study highlight the importance of positive instructor-student relationships in the classroom and the implications for both instructors and administrators.     

The practice of whiteness among teacher candidates

This article discusses the findings of a study on 35, mostly white teacher candidates at a Canadian university. White racial identity and beliefs about causes of educational inequality are explored in relation to the teacher candidates'; value systems. Inconsistencies are found to be integral to the teacher candidates' positions. Contextualized within the practice of whiteness, the findings raise questions about the interrelationship of inconsistent beliefs, social distance, and how whiteness is effected. The author suggests that contradictory positions are a manifestation of a whiteness striving to sustain its legitimacy against an unstable social network. The denial and resistance so commonly found among white teacher candidates are performative in this sense.     

Teacher candidates' growth in designing mathematical tasks as exhibited in their lesson planning

Abstract

In order to gain insight into preservice teachers' beliefs about planning for mathematics instruction, a study was carried out involving K‐8 teacher candidates enrolled in an elementary mathematics methods course. Doyle's (1992) notion of academic task and the research on pedagogical content knowledge served as the theoretical framework for this study. The teacher candidates submitted lesson plans at three intervals during a semester‐long methods course; the lesson plans were then coded based on candidates' planned uses of academic tasks. Analyses of the data revealed trends in these teacher candidates' design of academic tasks over the course of the semester. Recommendations and implications are pre‐sented highlighting the benefits of incorporating the knowledge base on academic task into a mathematics methods course as a means to con‐tribute to teacher candidates' developing pedagogical content knowledge via their designing of academic tasks in lesson planning.     

The reflection integration model: A process for facilitating reflective learning

Abstract

One of the goals of teacher education is to develop each preservice teacher into a reflective educator. A reflective educator is a lifelong learner who perceives every experience as an opportunity for growth, change, and development of understanding. As a result of our teaching experiences in the College of Education, we have developed a process that helps students become reflective learners. In this article we discuss this process, the Reflection Integration Model (RIM). The four components of the model are (a) pre‐experience, (b) experience, (c) reflection, and (d) integration. While the model is germane to any experiential‐based learning, in this article it is applied to a field experience for preservice teachers.     

Improving the Cultural Competency of Social Work Students With a Social Privilege Activity

This article describes the development and utilization of an instructional activity created by the authors for the purposes of preparing social work students for culturally competent practice with members of historically oppressed populations. Experiential activities in the classroom provide an alternative approach to traditional pedagogical methods by positioning the learner at the center of an educational process that is grounded in reality. The activity is designed to highlight the social privileges of individuals and the inherent risks that are taken when deciding to challenge or confront oppressive structures, attitudes, and behaviors.     

“What the Real World in Schools is Like”: Urban Youth in Dialogue About Educational Inequality

This article examines the emergence of a dialogue among urban youth about their educational condition, and the opportunities for learning and collaboration that ensue. The study is based on observations and interviews with eight students in a community-based program that supports the engagement of young people in school reform. Notably, the membership includes youth enrolled in both urban and suburban high schools. Findings reveal that the students capitalized on their dialogic inquiry process by constructing knowledge of educational disparity and forging coalitions across district lines. Implications include the possibilities for structuring and supporting students’ social inquiry, and the potential for diverse, student-led dialogues to advance the cause of educational equality.