Digital Commons Network^™

Insights Of International Faculty Into The Role Of Instructor Factors In Educating Counselors: A Qualitative Study, Paula Carina Lazarim Marques

Doctoral Dissertations

It is critical for counselor education (CE) to increase knowledge in effective teaching practices specific to CE (ETP-CE) in order to prepare counselors optimally. Research in higher education has established the significance of instructor factors (IF) in enhancing instructor-student relationship, predicting instructors’ self-efficacy, and informing quality teaching. However, the literature specific to ETP-CE reveals a limited focus on the connections of IF to counseling students learning and development and has has yet fully addressed the complexities and nuances of IF in CE. This highlights the need for further research investigating the roles of IF in CE to fill this gap …

Reading The Rainbow: Exploring The Educational Experiences Of Lgbtq+ Students, Ashley R. Stroud

Doctoral Dissertations

Research shows that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, Queer and questioning plus (LGBTQ+) youth are at high risk for bullying and violent victimization, poor mental health, alcohol and other drug use, and poor academic performance. According to the 2019 GLSEN school climate survey, LGBTQ+ students reported hearing hostile remarks, experiencing harassment and assault, feeling unsafe because of personal characteristics, and being subjected to discriminatory policies. The purpose of this narrative inquiry is to understand how secondary students experience school environments and how their teachers can be supportive and affirming of their diverse identities. The following research questions guided this study: 1) …

Highlighting Teacher Voices: Discussions On Race And Racism In The Elementary Classroom, Carrie Lynn Buckner

Doctoral Dissertations

Throughout my career in education, I have observed that teachers are challenged by engaging in discussions involving race and racism. This study seeks to understand teachers’ feelings further when discussing race and racism in the elementary classroom by answering the research question: How do elementary teachers experience race and racism in their schools and classrooms?

This qualitative, critical narrative inquiry dissertation focused on three participant interviews with public-school elementary teachers in Tennessee. The data generated from these interviews informed narratives and were then analyzed through the lens of Critical Race Theory. This was followed by In Vivo and structural coding …

Transformative White Identity As A Teacher Educator: A Poetic Narrative Autoethnography, Scott E. Jenkinson

Doctoral Dissertations

Whiteness, white privilege, and white supremacy are oppressive power structures that invisibly condition educational relationships among all students, teachers, and teacher educators. To undermine this destructive pattern, white teacher educators must actively commit to an ongoing and life-long process of white identity (re)formation that informs antiracist pedagogical praxis and models self -reflective practices for their pre-service teachers. The purpose of this poetic narrative evocative autoethnography is to show but one example of how a white teacher educator might begin this emotionally forward transformative experience.

The researcher, a white teacher educator at a southeastern United States public 4-year institution, developed a …

“What’S Happening?” Assessing The Sustainability Of Virtual Professional Learning Communities On Social Media: A Quantitative Study Of ‘Sense Of Community’, Matthew Hensley

Doctoral Dissertations

While research has highlighted the multifaceted benefits of Twitter as an informal professional learning resource, there remains a lack of literature that adequately teases apart the dynamic underpinnings of these types of informal professional learning communities (Thacker, 2017; Visser et al., 2014). Greenhow & Gleason (2012) posited that there is a need to better understand Twitter’s place within the education profession, as well as “how participants understand their experiences and place within the Twitter community and beyond” (p. 473).

Grounded in ‘sense of community’ theory, this study examined ‘sense of community’ as a construct supporting the #SSChat community’s sustainability. Additionally, …

Through The Lens Of Equity: Impacts Of Course Material Costs For Tennessee Community College Students, Elizabeth Spica

Doctoral Dissertations

The goal of this nonexperimental, multi-part dissertation was to explore issues of course material affordability for students at Tennessee community colleges. Data were drawn from two sources: a 53-item student survey (n = 1,912) and three years of anonymized outcomes data provided by the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR). Guided by Bensimon’s conceptual framework on equity in higher education (Bensimon, 2005, 2012), data for each study were disaggregated to examine findings through the lens of equity, with attention to three populations of concern for Tennessee higher education (race/ethnicity, low-income, and Adult Learners over age 25).

The first article, Prices …

Gender Differences In Second Language Learning: Why They Exist And What We Can Do About It, Merideth Wightman

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

The Use Of Ell Specific Assessment Accommodations: A Comparative Case Study Of Classroom Practices, Natalia Yeremina Ward

Doctoral Dissertations

Access and equity of instructional and assessment practices used with English Language Learners (ELLs) have been in the forefront of educational research. In recent years, the developments in computerized assessment design and the prevalence of Universal Design for Learning have complicated the already complex terrain of literacy and language instruction and assessment of ELLs. Within this context, the present study focuses on the daily experiences of two third-grade ELLs in a small city school system in the southeast United States. Through classroom observations, interviews with teachers and administrators, and document analysis, this comparative ethnographic case study aims to explore systematic …

Living The Change They Seek: Social Studies Teacher Educators Who Incorporate Race Into The Curriculum, Sara Beth Demoiny

Doctoral Dissertations

Despite the increasingly diverse K-12 study body within the United States (National Center for Education Statistics, 2014) and the numerous examples of racism and racial tension that continue to be exposed through news outlets and social media, race and racism remain at the periphery of social studies teacher education. Although social studies is a discipline whose main goal is citizenship education, race, which has been intertwined with citizenship through U.S. history, continues to be marginalized in social studies curriculum and instruction.

Grounded in critical race theory, I developed a study exploring the perspectives of 11 social studies teacher educators who …

Family Experiences With Standardized Assessments Leading To Participation In The Opt Out Movement, Christy Lee Evans

Doctoral Dissertations

With the hope of giving voice to individuals who are usually left out of conversations regarding standardized assessments—the families who live with the effects of those tests on their children—this study was designed to answer the following research questions:

1) Who are some of the individuals who are participating in the opt out movement?

2) How are some individuals making the decision to participate in the opt out movement?

a) What knowledge do these individuals who are participating in the opt out movement have regarding the standardized assessments that their children are being given in public schools?

b) How have …

Learning To Teach Online: An Investigation Of The Impacts Of Faculty Development Training On Teaching Effectiveness And Attitudes Toward Online Instruction, Karen Elizabeth Brinkley

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between one approach to training for online faculty and the ways in which the program influenced the participants’ teaching effectiveness and attitudes toward online instruction. Two research questions guided this study: (1) how did participating in an intensive course redesign intervention influence instructors’ teaching effectiveness in the online environment? and (2) how did participating in the training influence instructors’ beliefs or attitudes about online teaching? The theoretical framework guiding this study was the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) model, developed by Mishra and Koehler (2005). Using a concurrent, mixed-methods design, …

“Do I Want To Die On That Hill?”: Perceptions Of Rural Appalachian English Teachers About Using Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, And Queer/Questioning Young Adult Literature In The Secondary English Classroom, Stacey Rochelle Reece

Doctoral Dissertations

Research from GLSEN has shown that rural, Southern schools are some of the most dangerous places to be for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning students. These students hear more disparaging language, face more bullying, have less resources for information, and are less likely to see positive representations of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) people in their school’s curriculum. Based on this research, I wanted to understand the perceptions of secondary English teachers in a small, Southern rural school district of using LGBTQ young adult literature (YAL) in the classroom.

Drawing on parts of Paulo Freire’s dialogic method …

The Student Experience Of Other Students, Brian Kelleher Sohn

Doctoral Dissertations

The literature on higher education classroom climate and its relationship to teaching and learning is dominated by studies and theorizing regarding the role of the instructor. But when instructors use learner-centered approaches and diffuse the role and authority of the teacher, students gain a higher level of influence in the learning experience of their peers. In this phenomenological case study of a unique graduate seminar, I interpreted the thematic structure of the student experience of other students (SEOS). Data sources included field notes, audio recordings of class sessions, weekly student post-class reflections, and individual and focus group interviews with students. …

#Learningtoteach: Using Instagram To Elicit Pre-Service Teacher Reflection, Monica Thomas Billen

Doctoral Dissertations

The ability to reflect has been identified as a crucial element of teacher expertise. In the past, teacher education programs have encouraged pre-service teachers to become reflective practitioners by keeping journals, creating portfolios, and/or engaging in conversation. However, these methods do not allow individuals to utilize parts of the brain that process visual information. This qualitative study investigated the reflective practice of fourteen pre-service teachers who utilized visual information through photos on Instagram. The purpose of this naturalistic qualitative study was to describe and better understand the development and reflective practice of beginning teachers through observation, interview, and documents. Specifically, …

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 …

Critical Social Justice In Teacher Education: Beginning Teachers' Pedagogy And Practice, Brittany Alexis Aronson

Doctoral Dissertations

Teaching for social justice is an attempt by classroom teachers to promote equity within their classrooms. Researchers have analyzed the impact of pre-service teachers’ readiness to address social justice issues in their classrooms upon exiting their teacher preparation programs. However, despite reports of already practicing K-12 teachers’ attempts to teach for social justice in their classrooms, there is little connection to teacher education programs and/or the impact of teacher practice in the classroom.

This ethnographic qualitative study addresses the research gap by highlighting the understandings and experiences of four intern teachers simultaneously enrolled in a teacher education program while participating …

Communicating With Hispanic Parents Of Young, School-Age Children, Sarah Grace Williams

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Critical Teacher Inquiry: Collaborative Action Research Using Post-Structuralist And Cross-National Provocations, Robyn Anne Brookshire

Doctoral Dissertations

This study reports on the work of six early childhood teachers and the researcher as they enacted a variation of collaborative action research in a university-based early childhood center. The project included cross-national provocation via a “day in the life” video from an infant-toddler center in Milan, Italy. In addition, the model utilized a post-structural approach known as deconstructive talk (Lenz Taguchi, 2008) to facilitate teachers’ critical reflective inquiry into their own narratives. Teachers viewed the video from Milan, discussed provocations from the video, set foci of inquiry for their own classrooms, video recorded in their own classrooms, and undertook …

A Multi-Case Study Of Teens Who Write Outside Of School For Their Own Purposes, Paula Jill Henderson

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to investigate the phenomenon of the teen writer as defined as one who answers readily to the label of writer and who reports writing regularly outside of school for his or her own purposes. The research questions guiding this work are: (1) What do these young people write on their own time and for their own purposes? and (2) Why do young writers choose to write and how do they value and understand their own writing practices? In this multi-case study, seven teenage participants were interviewed twice, invited into any of three focus groups …

The Impact Of Beliefs And Curricular Knowledge On Planning For Science: A Multisite Case Study Of Four Teachers, Jessica L. Horton

Doctoral Dissertations

This descriptive multisite case study details how the beliefs and curricular knowledge of four science teachers in a southeastern school district affected their planning for science instruction.

Through the analysis of interviews, think-aloud planning records for one unit of instruction, and related documentation, categories were identified and connections drawn to how their beliefs and knowledge influenced planning for instruction.

The four teachers in this study jointly expressed certain beliefs about how students best learn science. They expressed beliefs that students best learn science through hands-on activities, through discourse, and by building the student’s knowledge base. The teachers also expressed beliefs …

“Those Events Really Happened!” How Elementary Students Transact With History And Historical Fiction While Reading The American Girl Series, Sarah Lewis Philpott

Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative study examines how elementary readers transact with history and historical fiction while reading the American Girl series. A review of literature revealed a lack of educational research about the AG series and a need for research concerning how elementary students transact with historical fiction. The researcher attempted to answer the following questions:

1. How do fourth grade students transact with history while reading the AG series of historical fiction?
2. How do fourth grade students transact with the AG series of historical fiction?

The researcher interviewed, observed, and participated in a book club with seven public school females. Data were …

Undergraduate Perception Of Introductory Lecture And Laboratory Biology Instructors At The University Of Tennessee Knoxville, Katharina Denise Kendall

Doctoral Dissertations

Undergraduate students entering the higher education system are often unaware of the diverse teaching and learning community they will encounter, including the different instructor types who will teach their classes. In order to accommodate the growing numbers of enrolled students, the higher education system is increasingly reliant on contingent instructors such as non-tenure track faculty members and graduate teaching assistants (GTAs). This dissertation explores undergraduate student perspective of the different instructor types who teach introductory biology courses, with a focus on the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK). The goal of this work is to provide insight regarding how perceived differences …

Nobel Women: Readers' Theater For Global Education, Dorothy Elizabeth Blanks

Doctoral Dissertations

Global interdependence has huge implications for the field of education. As economic, technological, cultural, transportation, and environmental concerns become not only local but international, students today must gain awareness outside of their immediate city, county, state, and country if they are to be successful citizens of the earth. The global education movement has developed in response to this need. Teacher training is a major pre-requisite for global education to be implemented meaningfully in the schools. Once teachers know and value the precepts of global education, they must be provided with effective pedagogy, activities, and topics for instruction.

This study sought …

(Un)Packing Your Backpack: Educational Philosophy, Positionality, And Pedagogical Praxis, Yvette Prinsloo Franklin

Doctoral Dissertations

In this philosophical research project, the author examines the question: How can the case be made that there is an imperative need to change the trajectory of current efforts to reduce “achievement gaps” in the United States and (re)vision a transformation of our school settings through conscious-raising sensitivity regarding issues of equity towards equality amongst educators that harnesses the work of philosophy of education scholars? She engages the reader in a theoretical hike through a philosophical argument for attending to philosophical theories of education, extending the work of Jane Roland Martin regarding sensitivity and drawing heavily on the scholarship of …

The Intersection Between Home And School: Developing A Scale To Measure Parental Perceptions Of Childhood School Stress, Teresa Marie Henke

Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract

Parents in the home and educators in the schools are key adults in the most important contexts in the daily lives of school-age children. In the demanding, achievement, and accountability oriented culture of today, it is expected that children experience normal everyday stressors as they move between these two environments. The impact of stress related to daily hassles has been reported to have both cognitive and physical effects on the present and future well-being of children. This study represented an attempt to advance the understanding of childhood stress in the intersection between school and home by investigating the perceptions …

Pretending Teaching Is A Profession: Why Public School Teaching Will Never Be Considered A True Profession, Melissa Ann Harness

Masters Theses

My endeavor in this thesis is to discuss why teaching is not, and has never been considered, part of the true professions. Although much rhetoric is aimed at classifying teachers as true professionals and the teaching field as a true profession, the historical, sociological, and societal means that govern the ideological foundation of a true profession are lacking in the field of education. By using a historical, sociological, philosophical, and linguistic analysis of the words “true profession”, along with “unions”, private teaching organizations, etc., I am able to demonstrate not only why teaching is not a profession, but that …

Decolonial Multiculturalism And Local-Global Contexts: A Postcritical Feminist Bricolage For Developing New Praxes In Education, Katharine Matthaei Sprecher

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation presents a conceptual bricolage that explores complex, reflexive, and interrelated dimensions of educational praxes. My work is grounded in the assertion that the ever-changing, local-global nature of contemporary societies requires new approaches to curricula, pedagogies, policies, and practices in U.S. schools to meet the challenges and opportunities of a global era. Presenting my research and findings as four articles, I begin with a dialectical analysis of theoretical and pedagogical literatures to develop an adaptable framework for decolonial multicultural education. In Article 1, I demonstrate how this framework synergizes aspects of social reconstructionist and critical multicultural, global, and …

A Comparison Of Four Frameworks Of Teacher Leadership For Model Fit, Corey Alan Dehart

Doctoral Dissertations

Research has shown that effective school leadership has a positive influence on school effectiveness and student achievement. Current reform efforts include teachers, both formally and informally, as leaders of schools. However, there are currently no widely-accepted measurements or models to assess both formal and informal teacher leadership in schools. The purpose of this study was to compare model fit for the four-factor model of teacher leadership to model fit for three alternative models. The four-factor model was developed during the second administration of the Teacher Leadership Inventory (TLI), and the three alternative models were developed from the results and recommendations …

Using Transformative Learning Theory To Investigate Ways To Enrich University Teaching: Focus On The Implementation Of Student-Centered Teaching In Large Introductory Science Courses, Ioana Alexandra Badara

Doctoral Dissertations

Previous studies have reported high attrition rates in large-enrollment science courses where teacher-centered instruction was prevalent. The scientific literature provides strong evidence that student-centered teaching, which involves extensive active learning, leads to deepened learning as the result of effective student engagement. Consequently, professional development initiatives have continually focused on assisting academics with the implementation of active learning. Generally, higher education institutions engage faculty in professional development through in-service workshops that facilitate learning new teaching techniques in a specific context. These workshops usually do not include self-scrutiny concerning teaching or do they provide continuous support for the implementation of strategies learned …

Enhancing Teacher-Child Interactions: A Pilot Study Using Focal Child Data, Kaitlin Noel Bargreen

Doctoral Dissertations

Research suggests that teacher-child interactions in early childhood classrooms are an essential element to high quality programs and child outcomes. With the increase in state funded pre-kindergarten classrooms across the nation and the growing concentration on academic content for young children, careful attention is needed to children’s social-emotional development. Research suggests that it is a strong social emotional foundation that contributes to children’s successful transition into their elementary school years. Therefore, the purpose of this mixed method study was to pilot the use of focal child data as a professional development tool for pre-kindergarten teachers to examine teacher-child interactions. Studying …