Resources in Education


Book Description




Why Are Students Not Learning on the School Bus?


Book Description

SoWhy Are Students NOT Learning On The School Bus? According to Dr. Keshia L. Gaines, students should learn from academic content on the school bus and other unique learning areas (the bus stop, cafeteria, playgrounds, bathrooms, academic clothing, etc.). The key to improving Americas educational system, Gaines believes, is to allow students to learn outside the classroom. Since students are not meeting academic expectations in the general classroom, it is important to consider all methods and areas for students to learn. Dr. Gaines founded Bus-stop 2 Bus-stop, LLC and created the Bus-stop 2 Bus-stop learning method to help students increase academic achievement in fun, innovative ways. Th e idea behind the Bus-stop 2 Bus-stop learning method is that students will be exposed to academic content starting at the school bus stop. Students will continue to be exposed to academic content throughout their school hours until they get dropped off at that same bus stop at the end of the school day. This book is designed for use in various education courses, educational leadership positions, and for general reading by anyone who is worried about the future of our children and educational systems. For entry-level students in education, this book provides insight and new ways to improve academic achievement in America. This book is also appropriate for various upper-level courses because of its research components, references, discussion questions, and journal activities . The purpose of this book is to explain the Bus-stop 2 Bus-stop learning method and to ultimately improve the current educational system in America.




A Comparison Study of the Effects of Text Structure Training, Reading Practice and Guided Reading on Reading Comprehension


Book Description

In this study, children who were below-average in reading comprehension yet average or above-average in decoding were given opportunities to improve their understanding of text language, and thus improve their reading comprehension, through three different instructional approaches. One approach was designed to improve text language understanding by teaching about text structure. Another approach aimed to improve understanding of text language by increasing reading mileage. In a third (control) condition a guided reading approach was used. Ninety children (53 girls, 37 boys), aged 8-10 years, were randomly assigned to one of the three approaches. Instruction was given over a 17 week period. Children in each condition met twice a week for thirty minutes. Children were pretested and posttested on a range of standardised language and reading measures. A reader profile questionnaire and a measure of print exposure were also administered. The results of the study were based on 36 subgroup means (4 schools x 3 training groups x 3 years). The subgroup means were analysed using 3-way ANOVA procedures. It was predicted that teaching of metacognitive strategies, as in text structure instruction would be the most effective condition for improving understanding of the language of text. It was predicted that increasing reading mileage, by doing lots of reading, would be the next most effective. The overall results showed, however, that no one approach was clearly more effective than the others.




Issues in English Education in the Arab World


Book Description

Though diverse, the Arab world boasts a unique culture and native language, both of which are unlike those found in English-speaking countries. Perhaps due to the nature of these differences, Arab-Western relations have been described as existing on one of the world’s great cultural fault-lines. Debate about the potential effects, both positive and negative, of English-medium education and the learning of English in the region’s schools and universities is one expression of this. Even as debate continues, issues of politics, culture, social mobility, and identity are played out in the English language classrooms of the Arab world on a daily basis. The current volume explores some of the concerns related to the place of English and English-medium education in the Arab world. It examines issues of the relationship between English, Arabic, cultural identity and power in the region within a historical and contemporary framework; the experiences of learners from Arabic-medium secondary schools adjusting to English-medium colleges; and the challenges and potential rewards of promoting student-centered classrooms and technology in traditionally teacher-centered environments. These issues are explored from the perspectives of teachers, students, researchers and other stakeholders in Oman, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Sudan.




Dissertation Abstracts International


Book Description

Abstracts of dissertations available on microfilm or as xerographic reproductions.







Inclusion Strategies for Secondary Classrooms


Book Description

"This updated text provides a wide range of instructional tools that are cleverly introduced, well-referenced, and clearly presented. The book gives preservice teachers an informative and practical introduction as they prepare to work with older students. As an excellent refresher for practicing teachers, it offers new approaches that can be incorporated into everyday inclusive classrooms. This resource will become bookmarked and dog-eared from both initial use and subsequent reference by serious educators." —Jean Lokerson, Faculty Emerita, School of Education Commonwealth University Keys for unlocking the doors to learning for ALL students! This updated edition of the best-selling book Successful Inclusion Strategies for Secondary and Middle School Teachers identifies "locks" to learning and provides targeted strategies, or "keys," that unlock learning barriers for adolescents with disabilities and other learning challenges. Based on empirical research, this basic guide is packed with field-tested, teacher-friendly approaches that support struggling students at various stages of academic development. Inclusion Strategies for Secondary Classrooms examines input locks (attention, perception, discrimination, and sequencing), processing/retention locks (confusion, organization, reasoning, memory), affective locks (frustration and motivation), and output locks (persistence and production), and explains why the key strategies work. This updated edition also discusses: What current research reveals about the unique teaching environment of secondary school classrooms The reauthorization of IDEA 2004 The impact of NCLB on special education How the key strategies can work at all levels of a Response to Intervention program Expanded applications for Universal Design for Learning Discover solutions that will help every student overcome obstacles to learning and develop the skills for academic success!




Effects of Description Text Structure Instruction on Second and Third Grade Students with Disabilities


Book Description

The present study examined effects of an intervention that focused on description text structure on the reading comprehension skills of second and third grade students with disabilities. Three participants in Grade 3 and two participants in Grade 2 participated in this multiple probe, single-case design study. All five participants demonstrated reading comprehension difficulties. To address the challenges students with reading comprehension disabilities encounter, the study implemented an intervention that provided explicit strategy instruction of description text structure. In each session, participants read an expository text, completed the eight-item multiple-choice comprehension test, and retold the information from the reading. Analyses indicated that using visual analysis and percentage of non-overlapping data (PND), three students with LD in Grade 3 increased the number of correct answers for the multiple-choice comprehension tests after the training phase. Again, for the retell tasks, two participants with learning disabilities (LD) in Grade 3 demonstrated increased number of information and better retell quality. However, the data of a participant with intellectual disabilities (ID) and one with emotional disturbance (ED) in Grade 2 did not demonstrate a functional relationship after the training sessions. Results indicated that explicit description text structure instruction that incorporated reading strategies before, during, and after reading was effective for third grade students with LD. However, its effectiveness for second-grade students with other disabilities was less clear and needs more study. Social validity data from interviews with the participants and casual conversations with their teachers was also documented. Implications of the practice, limitations of the research, and suggestions for future research were discussed.