Newcomer children who are integrated into reception classes are at risk of having experienced trauma, which can cause significant stress and affect their performance and school experience. Despite appropriate training, teachers may feel ill-prepared to support the social and school adjustment of newcomer children, especially if they are asylum-seekers. Inadequate understanding of their life and migratory journey may make it more difficult to adapt teaching practice to their specific needs. With the aim of promoting equitable education and social justice, it is thus essential to implement school-based innovative approaches that promote the development of positive relationships between teachers and newcomer students. The creation of identity texts in written and artistic form can support the expression of newcomers’ experience and allow teachers to better know their students, and thus better adapt their teaching practice to ensure that newcomers strive at school.

This presentation will introduce the findings from a qualitative action research implemented in partnership with two reception classes from an elementary school in Canada. The study’s objective was to document the impact of an innovative school-based intervention focusing on the creation of written and artistic identity texts on (1) newcomer children’s expression of their migratory journey, (2) the quality of the teacher-student relationship and (3) the adaptation of teaching practice. Based on the analysis of students’ identity texts, workshop facilitators’ participant observation and interviews with the teachers and students, the presentation will illustrate how the production of identity texts in class, especially through artistic modalities, contributed to the creation of a different form of understanding between teachers and students, much more personal and embodied, and on which teachers can rely to tailor their teaching to their students needs.

Research Aim

To determine if a book study as a form of professional development can contribute to individual and collective sense of efficacy in teachers leading to nuanced and equitable forms of reading instruction.

Theoretical Framework
Lave and Wenger’s (1991) situated learning theory and communities of practice lens
helps to provide the rationale for why book studies can be idiosyncratically effective among varying contexts within individual schools. As teachers read through a book together, and incorporate new information in to their critical reflection, they begin to introduce creative problem solving into their dialogue and practice (Craig, 2007).

Method

In this mixed methods study, 16 teachers from 4 elementary schools engage in a facilitated book study of Sometimes Reading is Hard (Bright, 2021). Pre-Post Teacher Sense of Self-Efficacy for Literacy Instruction surveys (Tschannen-Moran & Johnson, 2011) and post-study interviews are used for data analysis

Findings

Result from our 2024-2025 study will be presented at the ISATT Conference. We have found that through our book studies teachers feel empowered to try innovative hypothesize that teachers’ sense of efficacy in teaching reading—as well as the grade-level teams collective sense of efficacy—will strengthen, leading to greater confidence, which will lead to the creation and implementation of new ways of teaching, time scheduling and thinking about teaching reading. Creating equitable teaching environments sometimes requires new ways of thinking and acting, and we believe that teachers new sense of efficacy through the book study will do that.

Relevance:

We have found that through our book studies teachers feel empowered to try innovative practices that create equitable learning environments because they divest of a ‘one size fits all’ stance and habit of teaching. We therefore feel that findings from our study speak clearly to the themes of Research on Equitable Teaching Practices and Curriculum Design for Equitable Teaching.

Grounded in sociocultural constructivism and equity in PK-2 classrooms, this study expands relationship[ between research and practice in PK-2 classrooms. It explores the implementation of the Science of Reading (SoR) using culturally relevant and developmentally appropriate pedagogies within self-study of teacher education. Emphasizing teaching and learning in college and primary classrooms as a socially interactive, iterative process generates and applies knowledge beneficial to the following constituents: PK-2 children, teacher candidates, and faculty. Action research using mixed methods designs was employed to examine the following questions:

1. How do field experiences within literacy foundations coursework impact candidates’ dispositions and efficacy using culturally relevant pedagogy?

2. How does integration of culturally relevant content influence design and implementation of literacy foundation lessons?

3. How will professor modeled lessons influence a teaching agenda that serves state mandates involving Simple View of Reading and culturally relevant, literacy pedagogies within Active View of Reading (AVR)?

Data collection included pre-post efficacy scales and semi-structured surveys documenting teacher dispositions pre-post child assessments; lesson plans; certification exam scores; model lessons; slide decks capturing paradigmatic and practical knowledge shared in college classrooms; and a reflection journal kept by the researcher. Quantitative analysis involved statistical differences in pre and post-test scores. Qualitative analysis used categorical coding to derive themes. Member checking enhanced trustworthiness of data analysis. Analysis was triangulated to explore reasons for shifts in scores and dispositions. Findings indicate focus on culturally relevant pedagogy has a positive impact on asset-based lessons using relevant components of Active View of Reading while prioritizing foundations of literacy concepts. This work strives to disseminate ways in which teachers and professors navigate current tension in literacy education by working with teacher candidates to understanding more equitable curricular implementation of SoR in PK-2 classrooms using AVR.

Research on child-robot interaction (cHRI) in educational contexts highlights the role of mediation ensured by the educator and the investment in affective terms. Some reviews on the use of social robots in nursery schools highlight the influence on technical, transversal and cognitive skills but also on involvement in learning and emotions. Other reviews have emphasized that when integrating robots and related intelligent tutoring systems into educational practice the focus must remain on the child-educator relationship and that the robot acts as a support for the relationship.

The proposal presents the results of an empirical study on child-educator-robot (NAO) mediation conducted during the practicum of the Bachelor Degree in Education and Training Sciences (SEF) of the University of Bari.

The quasi-experimental design included two non-equivalent groups, based on the family's adherence/non-adherence to the experiment. Each group consisted of 10 children aged 24-36 months, 4 educators (two experienced, two SEF trainees), two doctoral students as external observers. The data was collected via a perception questionnaire (for educators and trainees) and behavioral observation grids (relational contexts) and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results of the study highlight: a. mild behavioral changes between groups of children; b. changes not evident in the representations of expert educators; c. substantial changes in SFE trainee representations.

The study highlights that the introduction of the robot in the educator-child relationship in educational contexts influences novice educators more (who question the design of adequate environments), less so veteran educators (who use the robot to attract interest of children) and children (who prefer a direct relationship with the educator). It offers food for thought and in-depth analysis regarding the implementation of innovative robot-based approaches in nursery schools that put the relationship at the center, not technology as an end in itself.