A Qualitative Examination of the Challenges, Resources, and Strategies for Serving Children Learning English in Head Start

The dramatic growth in the number of children learning English as a second language in our country has led to a corresponding increase in the need to understand how teachers and schools can effectively teach children who are learning English as a second language. Many teachers report not feeling prepared to meet the needs of these children (National Center for Education Statistics, Teacher preparation and professional development: 2000. , 2002). The current study used focus group interviews to examine how Head Start teachers in one program addressed the special learning needs of children learning English in their classrooms. Key challenges involved communicating with children and their families in their home language. Teachers used other staff, parents, and children in the classroom to interpret. Strategies involved visual aids, pictures, gestures, and a welcoming classroom environment. Resources used by teachers were professional development and language skills of other staff. However, available resources were often underutilized and limited for teachers to use in meeting the challenges the teachers faced in the classroom. Suggestions are presented for overcoming the challenges and limited resources encountered by teachers, such as changes in preservice and inservice training opportunities, and second language learning opportunities for teachers. Further implications for training and research are discussed.     

Teaching about the importance of trees: a study with young children

This paper reports on a study undertaken with the primary aim of investigating the effect of the storytelling teaching approach on kindergarten children's retention of ideas about the importance of trees. The study also assessed the effect of storytelling on children's intention to participate in a tree planting activity that they had to select from a list of activities. The story that was created included such elements as binary opposites, mental images, mystery, and wonder, according to Kieran Egan's theory. The study utilized a two‐group design, was conducted in three phases (pre‐test, intervention, and post‐test), lasted 11 weeks, and its results provide evidence of the effectiveness of the storytelling approach when compared with the traditional method of expository teaching complemented with visual images (pictures) of trees and their importance to human beings. The pedagogical appropriateness of the story, which was based upon the binary pair of opposites ‘security–insecurity’, is also discussed in the paper.     

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY OR INTEGRATION FOR WOMEN IN THE DUTCH ACADEMIC WORLD

In 1981, the career structure in Dutch higher education was modified in such a way that performance criteria, particularly possession of a doctorate and research and publication activity, were required for promotion. In particular, the hierarchy of university posts below that of full professor was modified in such a way that persons holding so‐called WHM(senior scientific staff level) positions were required to reapply for the new UHD(associate professor) positions on a competitive basis which stressed the publication record of candidates. Using a sampling of academic women drawn from the natural sciences, the authors offer an explanation as to why women academics did less well than men in the competitions for these new posts. Although the process did not discriminate against women as such, it did not favour academics on the periphery of the profession, where many women at the time found themselves. The situation identified was the result of social factors more than of institutional discrimination. Presently, younger women ‐graduate students ‐ are rapidly moving from the periphery of the profession to the centre. Active involvement in professional networks will aid academic women in their careers; however, over‐involvement in family matters (the care network) may be harmful to the career progress of academic women.     

Reading and listening progress in segregated primary schools: Does ethnic and socioeconomic classroom composition matter?

This study aimed to investigate the relationship of classroom composition factors with reading and listening comprehension achievement and progress in socially and ethnically segregated primary schools in Flanders (Belgium). Specifically, using a three‐level multivariate repeated measures analysis, it examined the association of reading and listening achievement and progress with ethnic diversity, the proportion of non‐native students and the average socioeconomic status of the class, taking into account student characteristics. At the beginning and end of the school year, reading tests, listening tests and questionnaires were administered to a sample of 7‐ and 8‐year‐old students (n = 683) in 42 second‐grade classes. Students' listening comprehension achievement at the beginning of the school year was negatively related to having a home language other than the language of instruction and to classes with a high proportion of non‐native students. However, progress in listening comprehension was not significantly associated with any student or classroom composition factors. Students whose mothers had a lower level of education performed lower on reading comprehension at the beginning of the school year, while at the end of the school year students whose mothers had a higher level of education were at a greater disadvantage. Limitations of this study and directions for future research are discussed.     

To tag or not to tag? How to support organizing and classifying bookmarks from the Web (¿Con etiquetas o sin etiquetas? Cómo asistir en la organización y clasificación de los marcadores de páginas Web) (¿Con etiquetas o sin etiquetas? Cómo asistir en la organización y clasificación de los marcadores de páginas Web)

ABSTRACT

When searching for information on the Internet, it can be stored in a bookmarking system. The ability to organize this information in such a system depends on one’s own prior knowledge to create an appropriate classification scheme. Providing a classification system for bookmarks might support people with low prior knowledge. Even though different bookmarking systems exist, hierarchical menus and tagging are being most widely used. In the current exploratory study with 95 ninth-grade students, a 2 × 2 between-subjects design was used to investigate the influence of providing classification support (or not) for either a tagging or a hierarchical system. Results showed that despite the low familiarity with tagging systems, using a hierarchical system is not necessarily a better approach than using a tagging system to organize previously found information. Rather, a tagging system seems to yield storage of fewer but higher-quality information sources. The most important conclusion is that, despite the low familiarity with tagging systems, using a hierarchical system was not beneficial over using a tagging system to organize previously found information.     

The Talking Drawings Strategy: Using Primary Children’s Illustrations and Oral Language to Improve Comprehension of Expository Text

Listening and reading comprehension can be assessed by analyzing children’s visual, verbal, and written representations of their understandings. “Talking Drawings” (McConnell, S. (1993). Talking drawings: A strategy for assisting learners. Journal of Reading, 36(4), 260–269 is one strategy that enables children to combine their prior knowledge with the new information derived from an expository text and “translate” those newly-acquired understandings into other symbol systems, including an oral discussion with a partner, a more detailed drawing, and written labels for the drawing. The Talking Drawings strategy begins by inviting children to create pre-learning drawings. These initial drawings are a way of taking inventory of a child’s current content knowledge about a particular topic. After pre-learning drawings are created and shared, children listen to or read an expository text (e.g., information book, passage from a textbook) on the same topic as their drawing. Pairs of students discuss the information and either modify their pre-learning drawings to be more detailed or create completely new drawings that reflect the recently-acquired information. Students are encouraged to label their drawings with words in a diagram or schematic fashion. By evaluating the “before” and “after” artwork, educators can identify advances in students’ reading and listening comprehension of the terminology, facts, and principles on a particular topic.     

Increasing cesarean birth rates: a clash of cultures?

Cesarean birth rates in the United States reached a high of 27.6% in 2003, a 6% increase over 2002. A cultural conflict appears to exist between the views of those who believe that birth is normal and many cesareans are unnecessary and the views of those who feel that higher rates are justifiable. Childbirth educators can share cultural concepts of normal birth in their classroom.     

What's wrong? Understanding beginners' problems with Prolog

This paper reviews psychological research on programming and applies it to the problems of learning and teaching Prolog. We present a psychological model that explains how a certain class of errors in programs comes about. The model fits quite well with the results of a small sample of students and problems. The problems that underlie these and other errors seem to be (a) the complexity of the Prolog primitives (unification and backtracking) and (b) the misfit between students' naive solutions to a problem and the constructs that are available in Prolog (e.g. iterative solutions do not map easily to recursive programs). This suggests that learning Prolog could be helped by (1) coherent and detailed instruction about how Prolog works, (2) emphasis on finding recursive solutions that do not rely on primitives such as assignment and (3) instruction in programming techniques that allow students to implement procedural solutions.     

Multiple Dimensions of Instructional Effectiveness in Reading: A Review of Classroom Observation Studies and Implications for Special Education Classrooms

The purpose of this study was to review and analyze effective classroom reading practices for early graders, using information gathered from the existing content-general and content-specific observation protocols measuring teachers’ classroom reading practices. Dimensions and constructs from 28 observation studies were synthesized to identify classroom instructional practices that have positive impacts on student achievement. Findings revealed that (a) instructional support, emotional support, and classroom management have positive impacts on student achievement, (b) the degree to which instructional practices are effective depends on students’ particular learning needs, and (c) students’ entering skills and primary language are associated with instructional effectiveness in reading. Challenges and implications for future research on effective instructional strategies for special education and the development of an observational protocol for special education teacher effectiveness are discussed.