The Challenges of Supporting Equity Literacy Skill Development in White Teacher Candidates: A Self-Study of Two White Field Instructors

In classrooms, race-based bias, discrimination, and inequities result in unsafe and unproductive learning environments. Teacher educators are charged with helping preservice teachers develop racial literacy skills. This self-study explores the ways in which two White teacher educators recognize and attempt to manage challenges during field instruction of White teacher candidates. The teacher educator researchers explore their own Whiteness and use a racial lens to critique their practices. Post-lesson-debriefing conferences between teacher educators and their candidates are shared as illustrative vignettes to reveal instructors’ teaching challenges and failures. Implications for working with White teacher candidates, improvements to field instruction practices, student teaching curricula revisions, and programmatic changes are posited.     

International conference on sport,leisure and ergonomics

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the physical demands of women’s rugby union match play using time–motion analysis and heart rate (HR) response. Thirty-eight premier club level female rugby players, ages 18–34 years were videotaped and HRs monitored for a full match. Performances were coded into 12 different movement categories: 5 speeds of locomotion (standing, walking, jogging, striding, sprinting), 4 forms of intensive non-running exertion (ruck/maul/tackle, pack down, scrum, lift) and 3 discrete activities (kick, jump, open field tackle). The main results revealed that backs spend significantly more time sprinting and walking whereas forwards spend more time in intensive non-running exertion and jogging. Forwards also had a significantly higher total work frequency compared to the backs, but a higher total rest frequency compared to the backs. In terms of HR responses, forwards displayed higher mean HRs throughout the match and more time above 80% of their maximum HR than backs. In summary, women’s rugby union is characterised by intermittent bursts of high-intensity activity, where forwards and backs have similar anaerobic energy demands, but different specific match demands.     

Preference and resistance to change in concurrent variable-interval schedules

Pigeons were trained on a multiple schedule in which separate concurrent schedules were presented in the two components of the schedule. During one component, concurrent variable-interval 40-sec variableinterval 80-sec schedules operated. In the second component, concurrent variable-interval 40-sec variableinterval 20-sec schedules operated. After stable baseline performance was obtained in both components, extinction probe choice tests were presented to assess preference between the variable-interval 40-sec schedules from the two components. The variable-interval 40-sec schedule paired with the variableinterval 80-sec schedule was preferred over the variable-interval 40-sec schedule paired with the variableinterval 20-sec schedule. The subjects were also exposed to several resistance-to-change manipulations: (1) prefeeding prior to the experimental session, (2) a free-food schedule added to timeout periods separating components, and (3) extinction. The results indicated that preference and resistance to change do not necessarily covary.     

THE UMIST CENTRE FOR EDUCATIONAL METHODS‐A MODEL OR A MISTAKE P

The article contains a report of the formation and development of a Centre for Educational Methods established at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST). The Centre is a group of the academic staff of the Institute interested in education. It was originally formed to evaluate both old and new teaching methods for use in the Institute. It has developed into a group concerned also with the improvement of education and now organises discussion meetings, courses for lecturers, and an audio‐visual workshop. As an example of the Centre's audio‐visual work, the article stresses the use of television. A personal assessment of the effects of the Centre is included with the suggestion that other educational establishments should consider the formation of such a unit, if they do not already have one.     

Raising the Bar: Using Coaching Conversations to Address Issues of Low Expectations for Students in Urban Settings

Abstract

Two instructional coaches explore the effectiveness of targeted coaching conversations to address teachers' perceptions of their students' capacities. In this study, the researchers focus on how specific questions can promote teachers' metacognition of underlying biases held toward their students. Researchers also explore the implications for curricular practices when teachers are prompted to address conceptions of ability.     

Txt msg n school literacy: does texting and knowledge of text abbreviations adversely affect children's literacy attainment?

This paper reports on two studies which investigated the relationship between children's texting behaviour, their knowledge of text abbreviations and their school attainment in written language skills. In Study One, 11–12‐year‐old children provided information on their texting behaviour. They were also asked to translate a standard English sentence into a text message and vice versa. The children's standardised verbal and non‐verbal reasoning scores were also obtained. Children who used their mobiles to send three or more text messages a day had significantly lower scores than children who sent none. However, the children who, when asked to write a text message, showed greater use of text abbreviations (‘textisms’) tended to have better performance on a measure of verbal reasoning ability, which is highly associated with Key Stage 2 (KS2) and 3 English scores. In Study Two, children's performance on writing measures was examined more specifically. Ten to eleven‐year‐old children were asked to complete another English to text message translation exercise. Spelling proficiency was also assessed, and KS2 Writing scores were obtained. Positive correlations between spelling ability and performance on the translation exercise were found, and group‐based comparisons based on the children's writing scores also showed that good writing attainment was associated with greater use of textisms, although the direction of this association is nor clear. Overall, these findings suggest that children's knowledge of textisms is not associated with poor written language outcomes for children in this age range.     

Emotional intelligence and academic attainment of British secondary school children: a cross-sectional survey

Trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) covers a wide range of self-perceived skills and personality dispositions such as motivation, confidence, optimism, peer relations and coping with stress. In the last few years, there has been a growing awareness that social and emotional factors play an important part in students’ academic success and it has been claimed that those with high scores on a trait EI measure perform better. This research investigated whether scores on a questionnaire measure of trait EI were related to school performance in a sample of British pupils. Results showed that high performing students had higher trait EI scores than low performing students and that some aspects of trait EI (motivation and low impulsivity) as well as total trait EI were significant predictors of academic achievement after controlling for prior attainment at school. Therefore, initiatives to develop the emotional and social abilities of schoolchildren might be worthwhile and more effective than concentrating solely on teaching and curriculum activities.     

Infant Attention and Early Childhood Executive Function

Individual differences in infant attention are theorized to reflect the speed of information processing and are related to later cognitive abilities (i.e., memory, language, and intelligence). This study provides the first systematic longitudinal analysis of infant attention and early childhood executive function (EF; e.g., working memory, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility). A group of 5‐month‐olds (n = 201) were classified as short or long lookers. At 24, 36, and 48 months of age, children completed age‐appropriate EF tasks. Infant short lookers (i.e., more efficient information processors) exhibited higher EF throughout early childhood as compared to infant long lookers, even after controlling for verbal ability (a potential indicator of intelligence). These findings are discussed in relation to the emergence of executive attention.