James Martinez

Culturally familiar tasks on reading performance and self-efficacy of culturally and linguistically diverse students

Grounded in the theoretical frameworks of constructivism and social cognitive theory, this study examined utilising culturally responsive pedagogy through a Latino themed reading task with the intention of increasing reading achievement and reading self-efficacy beliefs for culturally and linguistically diverse students. The research was conducted in an urban middle school in the south-western United States with 43 seventh grade students whose age ranged from 12 to 13 years. The majority of participants in this study reported to be Hispanic or multiracial with Hispanic origins. This study’s findings added to the existing knowledge base regarding the effectiveness of culturally responsive teaching practices. More specifically, culturally responsive pedagogy was utilised in the form of a reading task to examine its influence on students’ recall and reading comprehension performance. Furthermore, the findings of this study suggest that a culturally familiar reading task may increase reading self-efficacy beliefs. Implications for primary and secondary teachers, administrators, parents, and students pertain to the importance of utilising culturally responsive pedagogy as a teaching method to increase reading achievement and reading self-efficacy for culturally and linguistically diverse students.

A Critical Co-Constructed Autoethnography of a Gendered Cross-Cultural Mentoring between Two Early Career Latin@ Scholars Working in the Deep South.

Multicultural mentoring has been suggested to support Latin@ faculty success in their careers, yet current literature on effective mentorships of Latin@ faculty is limited. This critical co-constructed autoethnography draws on critical race theory (CRT) and latin@ critical race theory (LatCrit) frameworks to highlight the lived experiences and key elements of an effective gendered cross-cultural mentoring relationship in a Latin@ pretenure faculty dyad working in a predominantly White institution of higher education located in the Deep South of the United States. Drawing upon a methodological rhythm of sorts, a Black scholar acts as a muse providing testimonios and interpretations of a relationship existing among Latin@ scholars in predominantly White intellectual spaces. Findings from this critical co-constructed autoethnography note that a safe colored space supports effective mentoring, familismo, personalismo, enabling effective cross-cultural mentorship.

Critical Multicultural Latin@ Mentoring in Higher Education

Despite the initiatives for diverse faculty, the recruitment, retention and percentage of faculty of diverse cultural backgrounds, Latin@s in particular, remain low. This speaks to the apparent disinterest of many institutions in acknowledging the visible and invisible obstacles that impede the full and equal integration of Latin@ faculty into the ranks of the professoriate and academe. Assistance from a mentor can help this transition by clarifying short and long term priorities, as well as balancing strategies to move forward in teaching and other scholarly work. Of course, when first-year tenure-track faculty thrive, recruitment of quality colleagues and retention increase, as well as the respective programs and the students enrolled within the programs. The authors examine current themes of their mentoring experiences in higher education and highlight the importance of critical multicultural mentorship in closing the gaps in mentoring for non-dominant faculty in higher education. In their conclusion, the protege and mentor suggest the need to disrupt deficit ideology by engaging in critical reflections on the complexity of cross-race/ethnicity mentoring in higher education.

Effects of story mapping on third-grade students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of story mapping on the reading comprehension scores, on-task behaviors, and attitudes of third- -grade students (N = 6) with ADHD. Students’ reading grade equivalencies were assessed before and after the study. The teacher-researcher compared two other achievement measures before and during story mapping to assess growth. The practical difference in scores as calculated with Cohen’s d revealed that story mapping was successful in improving students’ comprehension. On tests from the reading basal, students’ scores improved an average of 16.00%, while tests from a computerized reading program improved 20.00%. Students exhibited on-task behavior 79.33% of the time and positive attitudes 82.33% of the time during the intervention. The implications of this study are important in determining effective instructional strategies to promote the active engagement of students and combat the core symptoms of ADHD.