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Elementary Education and Teaching

Journal

2018

Journal of Practitioner Research

Articles 1 - 6 of 6

Full-Text Articles in Education

What First-Year Teachers Really Want From Principals During Their Induction Year: A Beginning Teacher Study Group's Shared Inquiry, Patricia J. Norman, Sara A.S. Sherwood Oct 2018

What First-Year Teachers Really Want From Principals During Their Induction Year: A Beginning Teacher Study Group's Shared Inquiry, Patricia J. Norman, Sara A.S. Sherwood

Journal of Practitioner Research

University teacher educators have a role to play in helping their graduates manage the transition from formal teacher preparation to independent teaching. This study focuses on a shared inquiry that five first-year elementary teachers conducted while participating in a monthly study group facilitated by two teacher educators from their teaching preparation program. The novices regularly perceived a lack of support from their campus administrator, including failing to give the beginning teachers permission to carry out teacher research projects they had designed. After analyzing the degree and kinds of support that they did or did not receive from their principals, the …

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Clinical Field Experiences Of Nontraditional Pre-Service Teachers: Issues And Beliefs, Melanie Diloreto Oct 2018

Clinical Field Experiences Of Nontraditional Pre-Service Teachers: Issues And Beliefs, Melanie Diloreto

Journal of Practitioner Research

According to the American Association for Colleges of Teacher Education (AACTE, 2010), effective teaching practices and good clinical experiences share a mutually beneficial relationship. Additionally, according to research reported by AACTE (2010), an important link exists between future P–12 student-achievement and effective clinical practices experienced by pre-service teachers. This case study sought to determine experiences deemed effective or important by nontraditional pre-service teachers while engaged in fieldwork completed in an elementary and/or middle school classroom setting. Four themes were derived from the qualitative data obtained through semi-structured interviews of four junior or senior teacher education students engaged in clinical field …

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Coach And Evaluator: Exploring How To Negotiate Both Functions In The Role Of Supervisor, Andrea T. Scalzo Willson Jul 2018

Coach And Evaluator: Exploring How To Negotiate Both Functions In The Role Of Supervisor, Andrea T. Scalzo Willson

Journal of Practitioner Research

The tensions of engaging in both coaching and evaluation have driven this inquiry examining my practice as a university supervisor. I explored the ways I define the tasks that allow me to supervise in ways that align with my beliefs, while at the same time perform my duty as an evaluator. In order to examine my practice and the ways that I engage in evaluation and coaching as a supervisor, I considered those tasks in which I enacted such practices. Further, I envisioned a “hybrid” practice where both roles have a place and function while improving pre-service teaching practice.

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Social Studies In The Elementary Classroom: Helping Students Make Sense Of Their World, Lauren Clark, Angela Hooser Jul 2018

Social Studies In The Elementary Classroom: Helping Students Make Sense Of Their World, Lauren Clark, Angela Hooser

Journal of Practitioner Research

This paper documents my journey as a preservice teacher engaging in practitioner inquiry to make social studies more meaningful for my first grade students. I begin by briefly introducing my background with social studies as an elementary student and my growing interest in making improvements to my own social studies instruction. Next, I provide information on the data I collected and the social studies lessons that I designed and taught. Then, I discuss three themes identified from the data that encapsulate the most important learning related to planning and engaging students in meaningful social studies lessons. Finally, I share reflections …

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“Inquiry Is Confidence”: How Practitioner Inquiry Can Support New Teachers, Rachel Wolkenhauer, Angela Hooser Jan 2018

“Inquiry Is Confidence”: How Practitioner Inquiry Can Support New Teachers, Rachel Wolkenhauer, Angela Hooser

Journal of Practitioner Research

This paper focuses on the profile of “Hannah,” who was having a successful first year of teaching until February when her principal shifted gears. At this point administration expected, as Hannah quoted her principal, “to walk into your classroom, at any point of the day, and see you in front of the classroom and the kids sitting at desks answering bubble-in questions and not talking to each other.” Hannah teaches first grade. Rather than being discouraged by this, Hannah turned to her knowledge of practitioner inquiry to systematically study and stand behind the professional decisions she knew she needed to …

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Reaching Below Level Ell’S Reading Comprehension, Olivia T. Braunworth, Yvonne Franco Ph.D. Jan 2018

Reaching Below Level Ell’S Reading Comprehension, Olivia T. Braunworth, Yvonne Franco Ph.D.

Journal of Practitioner Research

The number of English Language Learners (ELLs) in mainstream classrooms is increasing every year. Developing reading comprehension skills in lower level ELL students can be a challenging but important task for educators. It is crucial for classroom teachers to identify students’ proficiency levels, and then differentiate instruction to meet the reading needs for each of these students. As an elementary classroom teacher, this teacher inquiry study investigates four strategies including: visuals/realia, graphic organizers, language objectives, and building background as a means to support reading comprehension skills among three participants in a third grade classroom. The study investigates the research question, …

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