Volume 3

The third volume of our journal features the work of 41 MAT candidates across 39 action research projects in 11 schools in St. Mary’s County and Baltimore City.  As has been the tradition, the interns’ projects connected to goals outlined in their placement site’s School Improvement Plans; thus, not only did the research enable the interns to grow individually as teachers, but it enabled them to contribute something to the sites that nurtured them throughout this rigorous year.

Our interns’ interests were divergent—exploring such issues as the impact of culturally responsive teaching techniques on the learning environment, their students’ experiences with bullying in school, the compatibility of teaching strategies recommended for English Language Learners with teaching strategies common in classrooms with native speakers, new methods for using reflection to guide both personal and student development in the classroom, and how teachers might be able to better engage parents and the broader community with the learning experience. However, the projects were all unified in a common goal: to improve the educational experience in a way that benefitted the students in their classes—particularly those who have been somehow marginalized in the educational experience.  It is our goal that their work inspires those who read it—that they recognize the great potential in this new generation of teachers and feel the same hope we do for what their future students will learn from them.

Teacher Competence

Jessica Clark, A Fresh Perspective: A New Teacher’s Approach to Educating a Unique Learner

Jori Sapper,  “I Hope You is a Friendly, Nice, Great, Careful, Hopeful, and Helpful Teacher”: Student Perspectives on Qualities of an Effective Teacher

Blake Beaudoin,  You Want Me to Teach What? Teaching Subjects with a Low Confidence Level

Patrick Schwarz, (Dys)Praxis: Enacting Ability and Disability as a Novice Classroom Teacher

Race & Culturally Responsive Teaching

Cassie Frey, Enhancing the Learning Experience Through Culturally Responsive Practices

Justine Hoewing, The Experience of High-Achieving Black Students in a Kindergarten Classroom

Cecelia Whitman, Coloring the Classroom: Insights into Cultural Competence at a Predominantly White School

Molly Keif, The Importance of Promoting Interracial Interaction and School C\onnectedness at the Elementary School Level

Teacher Practice

Ashlee Anderson, Using Structured Play in the Primary Classroom to Build Number Sense

Lauren Gill, Graphic Organizer Differentiation: Leveling the Playing Field for All Students

Bullying

Jill Rust, STOP Bullying Me!  Preventing Bullying Before it Begins

Renessa Copeland, Integrating Character Education Across the Curriculum: Unique Student Responses to Respect and Responsibility

Brigid O’Toole, Understanding Relational Aggression Through School-Based Intervention

Sarah Bastien, Addressing Bullying in the Public Schools: Current Approaches and Alternate Options

Engaging with the Community

Eric Jackson, Viewing the Arts: A Cross-Sectional Look at Art Appreciation Across Age Groups

April Morgan, CommunARTy: Community Investment in PreK-12 Visual Art

Rachel Clement & Chris Madrigal, Kidizens: Constructivist Learning Strategies to Promote Sustainability Literacy

Parental Involvement

Melissa DeTorres, Investigating Parent Involvement in an Elementary School

Jackie Reid, Improving Parental Involvement in a Title I School

Hollie Sikorski, What’s in Your Bag? Using Home Literacy Bags to Promote Parent Involvement

Mihnlann Nguyen, Getting Parents Involved in Students’ Reading

Reflection & Other Tools of Self-Inquiry

Marjorie Foley, Advancing Student Writing and Self-Evaluation Skills Through Conferencing

Vincent Masincupp, Teacher Anthropological Pedagogy (TAP): How Anthropological Tools Benefit Teacher Reflective Practice

Jennifer Cascio, Incorporating Reflection into the Classroom

The Learning Context

Kelly Carlson, Departmentalization in Fifth Grade

Cathy Brandt, Motivation in the Biological Sciences

Lauren Holmes, Girls Rule, Boys Drool: Examining Gender and its Role in School

Katey Nelson, The Influence of Outdoor and Environmental Education on Student

English Language Learners

Meaghan McLoughlin & Katie Siguenza, Is The Shelter for All Students? Using Sheltered Instruction for Mainstream Government Instruction

Jevanina Schettini, True inclusion: A Case Study of the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol

Brittany Vallecillo, Implementation of SIOP in an Inclusive Kindergarten Classroom

Rachel Welniak, ELL Strategies: Beneficial to All Students or Just ELLs?

Fostering Literacy & Language

Kathy Park, Explicit Vocabulary Instruction as a Means for Reading Improvement

Laurie Hammond, Social Studies and Literacy: Creating Effective Reading and Writing Experiences in Social Studies

Mike Ennis, Shrinking the Achievement Gap Using Kinesthetic and Explicit Instruction on Cause and Effect Language

Behavior & Discipline

Ashley Bailer, Student Perceptions of School Discipline Practices

Keba Dennie, Who’s on the Recess Line? Understanding Male Behavior in the Classroom

Brittany Dorsey, The Entire Scale: Influences on Student Behavior in the Music Classroom

Rebecca Tursell, Trends in Behavioral Referrals in a School-Wide Discipline Plan