Junior High, Intermediate, Middle School Education and Teaching Commons^™

A Phenomenological Study Of Facebook Messages From Female Friends To Middle School Girls And The Multi-Dimensional Effect On Self-Esteem, Eileen Elizabeth Hegel

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This phenomenological study investigated positive and negative Facebook messages from female friends to middle school girls and the multi-dimensional effect on self-esteem. This study also examined what role these messages play in female friendships. Purposeful sampling was used to recruit nine participants, 13 years old, the minimum age to have a Facebook account or 14 years old, in the 7th or 8th grade in the South Atlantic region of the United States. Gilligan's theory of moral development underpinned this study. Data collection included a descriptive survey, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, semi-structured interviews, journals, and site artifacts. The questions framing the …

Meeting The Challenge Of Disciplinary Literacies, Marion Meiers

Marion Meiers

An Analysis Of The Impact Of Emotional Literacy Instruction On At-Risk Students, Shannon H. Garcia

Dissertations

This study examined the impact of social-emotional literacy instruction for at-risk adolescents ages 13 to 18 at the high school level. Of particular interest is the impact of social-emotional literacy instruction on at-risk youth Grades 9-12 in secondary high schools’ 8-week-long social-emotional literacy class through Project AWARE, particularly in the areas of suspension, expulsion, attendance, connectivity, attitude toward school, resiliency, and relational aggression rates; the data were analyzed using archival data and teacher interview. Project AWARE, the social-emotional literacy intervention examined in this study, educates and provides mentorship for at-risk students, while also providing a group educational component on relationships …

From The Co-Editors, Todd Pagano

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

We continue to work diligently to improve JSESD. One of the largest challenges to the journal remains the solicitation of manuscript submissions. As such, we are asking the journal’s readership to assist us in advertising the journal. If you are familiar with individuals who might be interested in submitting a manuscript, please pass along the JSESD author link provided above. We are especially interested in articles on science education for students with varying types of disabilities and at a full range of grade levels (K-12 and postsecondary).

"A Boy Told Me I Was Ugly." Voices Of At Risk Adolescent Girls On Gender Identity And Dating Roles, Mellinee Lesley Ph.D., Heather M. Kelley Ph.D.

MLET: The Journal of Middle Level Education in Texas

Through an exploration of urban middle school girls’ Discourse, this study sought to investigate how at risk females defined their gendered identity. Based on an analysis of spoken and written Discourse in a Third Space writing group, we discovered that at risk girls’ notions of patriarchal dating roles, which were predicated upon ideas of physical attractiveness and “datability,” drove much of their perspectives about gender. This study reveals girls’ strong desire to conform and adhere to dating roles with boys despite their depiction of relationships as tumultuous, necessary, exciting, and inevitably painful. Implications for educators pertain to the importance of …

Middle School Single-Gender Science Classes: Self-Concept And Discourse Analysis, Pauline M. Sampson, Gloria J. Gresham Dr., Melissa M. Leigh, Denice Mccormick Myers Ed.D

MLET: The Journal of Middle Level Education in Texas

One southwestern, suburban middle school in the United States implemented a voluntary, single-gender science program. Although other studies have documented the effects of single-gender instruction and recent educational innovations have focused on its benefits, minimal current research has investigated the effects in middle school science classroom contexts. This study indicated that the patterns of discourse differed between single-gender and mixed-gender classes, with single-gender male classes participating in higher levels of discourse than females in middle school single-gender classes. Overall, the self-concept for females was low in science and school performance. The discourse analysis revealed that males and females used higher …

A Historical Perspective On The Revolution Of Science Education For Students Who Are Blind Or Visually Impaired In The United States, Cary A. Supalo Dr.

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

The following was an invited presentation given by Dr. Cary A. Supalo to the National Federation of the Blind of Illinois annual state convention that was held in Chicago, Illinois on Saturday, October 28, 2011. These remarks were slightly modified for the Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities.

Cary A. Supalo

What does the term Revolution mean? To some it can simply mean change. To others, it can mean drastic change, and still to others, revolution is no more than a descriptor for something else. In this context, I believe revolution refers to a time of significant change.1 …

Improving Motivation, Engagement And Differentiation In Lesson Development Using An Interactive White Board: 10-Hour Workshop Cycle Toward Professional Development Certificate, Leslie Lieman, Jenelle Fiori, Naliza Sadik

Publications and Research

The School of Education prepares aspiring teachers for teaching in 21st century classrooms by offering intensive interactive white board training cycles. In designing interactive lessons, the workshop cycle focuses on the pedagogical decision making that can improve classroom teaching and student engagement and understanding.

Adolescent Literacy In The Common Core Classroom, Kelsey Montgomery

Honors Projects

This project focuses on the advantages of utilizing reading fluency assessments and targeted reading instruction in adolescent language arts classrooms. Typically, as students progress beyond about sixth grade, many teachers do not continue to instruct and assess students specifically on their reading fluency; however, research shows that continuing to focus on these skills is beneficial to students, especially with the increased pressures for students to be "college and career ready" from forces such as the Common Core State Standards. Learning to read is a skill that grows as students grow - the data in this project shows that when students …

Technology, Pedagogical, And Content Knowledge (Tpack) For Web 2.0 Tools, Amber N. Hall

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the College of Education at Morehead State University ay Amber N. Hall on May 4, 2015.

An Exploration Of The Implementation Of Music Integration In The Middle School Social Studies Classrooms, Nicole Skeen

HIM 1990-2015

“Music is the biggest tool of revolution – the best way to reach out [to] the youth and involve them…” (Kher, n.d.). Music has the ability to impact so many areas of life. Music is universal, and regardless of language, meaning and emotions can be conveyed. Imagine if this was harnessed and utilized as an effective teaching tool for students? Music has played a significant role in history, but is often overlooked when history is taught. Utilization of music in the social studies classroom can take the form of time period pieces, cultural music, mnemonics for memorization, films, and much …

The Relationship Between Demands And Resources And Teacher Burnout: A Fifteen-Year Meta-Analysis, Tammy Marie Stewart

Doctoral Dissertations

This meta-analysis explored the phenomenon of teacher burnout— the biggest contributor to teacher attrition (Owens, 2013; Unterbrink, 2014; Yu, 2015). The focus of this study was to use meta-analytical procedures to explore the relationship between burnout dimensions (i.e., emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and feelings of personal accomplishment) and specific demand and resource correlates. Demand correlates included work overload, role conflict, role ambiguity, and student misbehavior. Resource correlates included peer support, supervisory support, and decision-making. This meta-analytical research method encompassed fifteen years of published and unpublished studies from January 2000 through January 2015. A total of 116 studies met the following inclusion …

What Middle Schoolers Want: An Analysis Of The Most Circulated Texts In A Public School District, Kimberly Flanders Mccuiston

Doctoral Dissertations

In today’s climate of education reform and the classroom concentration on texts that are academically rigorous, it is easy to forget the importance of encouraging voluntary reading for adolescents. Understanding students’ interests in texts can provide teachers with the knowledge to promote voluntary reading within the classroom. This embedded case study examined the popularity of texts in a public school district’s middle school libraries through quantitative data drawn from library circulation records. The records from 12 public middle school libraries from a school district in the southeastern United States were used to determine the 10 most frequently checked out books …

The Implementation Of Common Core: Graphic Novels In The Classroom, Chesnie R. Keeler

Honors Theses

The Common Core State Standards are alive and thriving in schools across the nation, and teachers are constantly looking for the best possible ways to implement these rigorous standards with student interests in mind. These standards set goals, or benchmarks, for students to reach at any specified grade level throughout their primary and secondary education; school districts, administrators, and teachers have the choice of deciding how students meet these standards. As a pre-service teacher who will enter the teaching profession, I examine how graphic novels can be implemented into the English Language Arts classroom by analyzing Maus, Persepolis, …

Teachers' Sense Of Efficacy: Examining The Relationship Of Teacher Efficacy And Student Achievement, Nouf Abdullah Alrefaei

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate which teachers’ characteristics have an impact on teachers’ sense of efficacy. In addition, the relationship between mathematics and science fifth grade teachers’ sense of efficacy and student achievement was examined. Two characteristics related to teachers were examined: teachers’ years of teaching experience and teachers’ highest degree. Participants included 62 mathematics and science teachers from three school districts in Northwest Arkansas. When comparing fifth grade mathematics and science teachers’ efficacy beliefs based on their highest degree, a significant difference in teachers’ efficacy beliefs was found based on their degrees. Teachers with a Bachelor …

Impact Of Professional Learning Community Design On Teacher Instruction, Carol Jeanette Turner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This descriptive case study closely examined a professional learning community in an Arkansas middle school. The site was selected because the school was removed from the state's school improvement list after implementing professional learning communities. The purpose of the study was to determine how the design of a professional learning community impacts teacher instruction in a middle school setting. The literature reviewed included historical perspective, definitions and characteristics of professional learning communities, teacher professional development, and teacher effect on student achievement. Eight teachers, one principal, and one instructional facilitator were interviewed about the professional learning communities in their school. The …

A Multi-Case Study Examining Co-Teaching Approaches And Practices In High School Mathematics And Literature/Composition Classes, Patti A. Cleaveland

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Special education provides a variety of instructional models to ensure the success of students with disabilities. The increasingly utilized model of co-teaching allows students with disabilities access to the general education environment with the support of special education teachers. The co-teaching model consists of one general and one special education teacher who work together to ensure the success of both the special education and general education students. This qualitative study investigated and explained the co-teaching approaches and practices used by co-teaching partners participating in the academic areas of literature/composition and mathematics classes at the high school level. A multiple case …

Defining Primary And Academic Discourse Through Instructional Methods In A Single Junior High Classroom, Ashley Nicole Gerhardson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this study, I examine the use of academic discourse in the school setting and discuss the relation of the primary discourse to academic discourse. I focus on the verbal exchanges between a teacher and her students as these students acquire the academic discourse of the English classroom. The study focuses on the ideas of primary discourse and secondary or academic discourse as presented by Gee (1996) and focuses on his idea of Social languages.

Using a microethnographic study, I develop the idea of how the teacher related to her students and how a single educator felt about the purpose …

"Keep Funding Or Else... It's Mustaches": Building A Community Of Literacy At Owl Creek, Ian Whitlow

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The following research report on literacy practices presents an analysis of the data collected over the course of four months at Owl Creek middle school in Northwest Arkansas. Following a qualitative research protocol, I interacted with middle school students who participated in the Razorback Writers after-school literacy outreach program sponsored by the University of Arkansas. This report details the two major literacy practices encouraged in this after school program - the collective read-aloud sessions focusing on the graphic novel I Kill Giants, and the students' creation of their own graphic novels, which were developed in group workshops. In the following …

Xenopus! Spiraling Scientific Journal Articles With High School Science English Language Learners, Gillian Bayne, Cristie Peralta

Publications and Research

This poster describes a journal article that is geared specifically towards assisting science teachers as they create lessons that are specifically focused toward ELLs. The article involves reading and analyzing scientific primary sources with ELLs, a challenge not only specific to ELLs but commonly experienced by all students. This article will be submitted to The Science Teacher journal.