Mary A. AvalosUniversity of Miami | UM · Department of Teaching and Learning
Mary A. Avalos
PhD
About
33
Publications
12,400
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195
Citations
Citations since 2017
Introduction
My research interests include classroom-based interventions, and teacher development and knowledge of pedagogies for culturally relevant teaching and learning using Critical Systemic Functional Linguistics (Harman, 2017) to build multilingual and multiregisterial linguistic resources for all students. I also seek to disrupt inequitable opportunities for systems change and broaden understandings of diverse perspectives through community engaged and participatory research.
Additional affiliations
October 1998 - present
Publications
Publications (33)
This infographic reports a Research-Practice Partnership (RPP) study around well-being in one middle school during 2021-22. The RPP was made possible by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) Covid-19 and Equity Education Research-Practice Partnership Network (https://www.air.org/covid-19-and-equity-education-research-practice-partnership-netwo...
Integrated Reading-Writing Instruction (IRWI) is an approach for English Language Arts (ELA) instruction that has gained much attention since the adoption of college and career standards. Previous studies have shown that connecting reading and writing during instruction positively affects students’ literacy outcomes as related cognitive processes a...
This article provides a “snapshot” of fourth grade English Language Arts (ELA) vocabulary instruction before and after implementation of college and career readiness standards. Our exploratory study's findings demonstrate the instructional shifts for teaching deep vocabulary knowledge as required by college and career readiness standards, including...
This study examines urban high school teachers’ perceptions (N = 50) of their strengths and needs in supporting diverse students in their classrooms. Qualitative analysis of responses revealed the emergence of four thematic categories: enactment of positive teacher dispositions; external challenges affecting student learning; strengths in the class...
In this paper we investigate how a maker-based integrative STEM graduate course impacted in-service STEM teachers’ understanding of making integration in STEM lessons. Guided by the existing literature on Maker Education in post-secondary educational settings, we attempt to address a gap in the literature vis-à-vis in-service STEM teacher preparati...
There is limited research of observed writing instruction in inclusive, secondary diverse urban contexts. This study contributes to the field by investigating four urban secondary English teachers’ perceptions of ideal writing instruction as compared with their actual instruction, which is primarily driven by high-stakes accountability measures. So...
We draw upon a co-teaching experience in a 6th grade mathematics classroom to discuss how mathematics teachers can carry out research-based suggestions to foster ELLs’ engagement and participation in mathematics discussions to apprentice use of the mathematics register and ultimately, to develop content understanding. We illustrate our approach bas...
Current rigorous learning standards position vocabulary learning and knowledge
as crucial for comprehension of complex texts, specifically for emergent bilinguals (EBs),
or those who have a potential to develop a bilingual proficiency. Drawing
on results of vocabulary instruction and learning activities for EBs from a recent
content analysis of a...
This chapter presents results from a content analysis study of a fourth-grade basal reading program's teacher guide. We explore the affordances of vocabulary learning during pre-, during-, and post-reading activities to enhance vocabulary knowledge in a widely used core reading program. Content analytic methods (Bazerman, 2006) using both inductive...
Drawing on examples of how two teacher educators have developed a critical SFL approach to teacher education, this chapter discusses specific principles of critical SFL to guide analysis of texts in the content areas and planning instruction that integrates these principles. It shows how we have prepared elementary and secondary teachers to use CSF...
The history of Haiti has had a lasting effect on its education system and planning efforts, resulting in Haiti’s current sociolinguistic situation. While there are two official languages recognized in Haiti, French is used for government, education, literature, and business, and Creole is generally used for informal exchanges among close friends, f...
This study investigated third graders’ use and variation of linguistic resources when writing a science explanation. Using systemic functional linguistics as a framework, we purposefully selected and analyzed writing samples of students with high and low scores to explore how the students’ use of language features (i.e., lexico grammatical resource...
Cite This Article as: Teachers College Record, Date Published: January 20, 2017
http://www.tcrecord.org ID Number: 21803, Date Accessed: 2/7/2017 10:33:32 AM
In this paper, we frame mathematics classrooms as heterogeneous spaces wherein students draw on multiple storylines based on different notions of schooling and school mathematics to both communicate mathematical ideas and position themselves and one another. We focus on a fourth grade (age range 9.4–10.8 years) mathematics classroom discussion in a...
Reading comprehension research in mathematics has focused primarily on the teaching of generic content area reading strategies (Alvermann & Moore, 1991; Pearson & Fielding, 1991). In contrast, mathematics education research has focused on ensuring that students understand and can translate the symbols and register of mathematics (Crandall et al, 19...
The Language in Mathematics (LiM) project builds on multiple theoretical perspectives to create an interdisciplinary professional learning or development (PL) framework for teachers of mathematics. This framework examines academic language and literacy development and mathematical content teaching and learning for English language learners. Specifi...
The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM, National Governors Association
Center for Best Practices [NGA] & Council of Chief State School Officers [CCSSO], 2010)
emphasize problem solving, reasoning, and communication; however, little guidance is available to
teachers regarding how to integrate these mathematical practices in general,...
Vocabulary knowledge becomes the most common source of difficulty faced by English learners (ELs) as they encounter increasing reading demands and unfamiliar, complex words in their second language (Droop & Verhoeven, 2003; Saville-Troike, 1984). Though academic language is more than word-level comprehension (Zwiers, 2008), vocabulary knowledge is...
Guided reading is an important component of a comprehensive literacy program. Using this approach to reading instruction is beneficial to all students, including English-language learners (ELLs). While guided reading is generally used in the early elementary grades, this approach is recommended for ELLs of all ages when appropriate methods and mate...
This study asked elementary school teachers how educational policies affected their science instruction with a majority of English language learners. The study employed a questionnaire followed by focus group interviews with 43 third and fourth grade teachers from six elementary schools in a large urban school district with high populations of Engl...
This study examines two questions involving students in a transitional bilingual education program learning to read in a second language. The first question deals with the impact of second-language (L2) text structure on comprehension processes, while the second deals with the level of oral language proficiency necessary to comprehend L2 texts. Fin...
Projects
Project (1)
1. To what extent does a CCSS TG differentiate vocabulary instruction for emergent, intermediate, and advanced English proficiency levels to support depth of vocabulary learning during whole group instruction? How does ELL differentiated instruction for 15 differentiated “scaffold” instructional blocks differ from “whole group” instruction (across whole group and EL groups)?
2. How does the teacher scaffolding of vocabulary instruction change from beginning to intermediate to advanced proficiency levels [15differentiated instructional blocks]?
3. How is ELL instruction differentiated by proficiency levels (within EL groups), and how do these differences align with appropriate practices for ELs based on English proficiency?
