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Educational Methods

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Western Michigan University

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

2016

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Full-Text Articles in Education

Making Meaning With Friends: Exploring The Function, Direction And Tone Of Small Group Discussions Of Literature In Elementary School Classrooms, Katie Peterson Oct 2016

Making Meaning With Friends: Exploring The Function, Direction And Tone Of Small Group Discussions Of Literature In Elementary School Classrooms, Katie Peterson

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

The merits of decentralized small groups has been questioned in literature and by practicing teachers; thus this study shows the academic and identity work children do as they attempt to make meaning in these spaces.This study explores the affordances and drawbacks of decentralized small group discussion contexts in a multiage (3rd/ 4th) grade classroom. Practical and theoretical implications from the data suggest that decentralized small groups are valuable in a variety of ways, but children need to be guided in developing effective interactional styles. Data were analyzed using a combination of constant comparative methods and a micro analysis of talk …


Pre-Service Teachers' Growth In Understandings Of Best Practice Literacy Instruction Through Paired Course And Field Experience, Jamie Lipp, Sara R. Helfrich Jul 2016

Pre-Service Teachers' Growth In Understandings Of Best Practice Literacy Instruction Through Paired Course And Field Experience, Jamie Lipp, Sara R. Helfrich

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Illiteracy is on the rise in the United States, and the potential negative impact on today’s struggling reader is devastating. Now more than ever, preparing pre-service teachers to be effective teachers of literacy is crucial. This study examined the growth in understandings of best practice literacy of eleven pre-service teachers through paired course and field work. Results reveal that through paired course and field work, growth of best practice literacy instruction is shown by pre-service teachers’ enhanced abilities to define, assign importance, and relate to implications for student learning as well as develop efficacy around their use. Results of this …