Education Commons^™

A Study Of Preservice Teachers' Preparedness To Teach Reading, Kelli Williams-Page

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

Only 35% of fourth graders in the United States can read at the proficient level, and only 34% of eighth graders can read proficiently (National Assessment of Educational Progress [NAEP], 2022). The purpose of this study was to determine how preservice teachers (PSTs) describe their experience of the methodology of teaching reading in their literacy courses. In addition, what specific strategies for teaching reading do PSTs describe as the focus for their teaching reading preparation, and how do PSTs describe the potential of the strategies learned in their coursework to help them teach reading in their future positions? This study …

Imagination To Innovation: Design Thinking For Young Learners, Lindsey Herlehy, Cassandra Armstrong

Publications & Research

Design thinking is the intersection of engineering design and social-emotional learning. Today’s learners must be empathetic problem solvers capable of defining problems and designing appropriate solutions to meet the needs of the user. In this session, participants will experience design thinking through literature-based scenarios appropriate for early learners. They will analyze and compare their own models to those of others and compose a lesson that will engage students in the design thinking process.

Critical Literacy And Self Efficacy Among Secondary Students Repeatedly Engaged In Literacy Intervention, Haley Rowles

Theses and Dissertations

This mixed-methods study investigated how critical literacy questioning impacted the self-efficacy of secondary students who had been repeatedly engaged in literacy intervention because of failed standardized assessments as well as the teacher experience in using critical literacy questioning. The study was conducted over four and a half weeks in a secondary literacy intervention classroom. Data was collected using surveys, observations, and interviews, which were analyzed through inductive coding. The results of the study indicate that critical literacy questioning, on average, increased student self-efficacy under certain conditions. It also illustrated that the use of critical literacy questioning, which sometimes leads to …

The Use Of Project-Based Learning To Scaffold Student Social And Emotional Learning Skill Development, Science Identity, And Science Self-Efficacy, Michelle Sutton Spigner

Theses and Dissertations

Project-based learning (PBL) offers an ideal approach for cultivating a robust STEM workforce, empowering students to actively construct their knowledge. This process has the potential to enhance science identity and self-efficacy. Furthermore, because PBL is inherently collaborative, it fosters the development of 21st-century skills, many of which align with social and emotional learning (SEL). While past studies have explored the relationship between PBL, SEL, science identity, and self-efficacy, there is a research gap in examining all three variables collectively within a high school context. Thus, this mixed-methods action research study aimed to determine if the implementation of a PBL unit, …

Toward A Theory Of An Integrated Theoretical Approach Of Literacy For Black Boys, Aaron M. Johnson

Michigan Reading Journal

In the education landscape the literacy of Black boys is viewed from deficit framing. Often, educators, politicians, and laypeople point to scores on standardized assessments such as the MSTEP, NAEP, ACT, SAT, and NWEA, these tests only tell a part of the story. The part of the story that those assessments do tell is the abject failure of schools’ ability to engage Black boys in school-based literacy and catapult them into proficient and advanced proficient reading levels. The part of the story that those assessments do not tell is the literate lives that Black boys lead. Furthermore, schools do a …

Digitally Rural: Identifying How Technological Inequity Impacts Rural Students In First-Year Writing Courses, Jo Anna M. Nevada

English Language and Literature ETDs

To teach composition in this era means to engage students with technology; it is all but an unspoken requirement at the majority of universities. This dissertation theorizes, however, that the imbricated use of technology in first-year writing (FYW) classrooms places rural students at an inherent disadvantage, with issues of inadequate technological proficiency and inconsistent access causing a substantial learning disparity between this student population and their urban peers. Through mixed-methods data analysis of student survey responses and final FYW course portfolios, this study reveals that the expectation of technological access and presumption of digital literacy is detrimental to rural student …

The Effects Of Research-Based Strategies On Reading Achievement Among English Language Learners, India Chantel Graden

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative, causal-comparative study was to examine the results of phonics-based instruction versus guided reading instruction on reading achievement among minority students who are English Language Learners. This study is important because it addresses the gap in the literature that does not target research-based reading instructional strategies that are effective for English Language Learners separate from those that are observed as effective in students whose primary language is English. Archival data were obtained from 86 elementary school English Language Learners in the second grade at two Georgia suburban schools. The instrument used in this study is the …

Fostering Language Development And Literacy In Children From Birth To Two Years Old, Vanessa Vives

Honors Theses

This thesis explores what language is and how its development can impact literacy. It includes a brochure with practical tips for parents and guardians to foster language and literacy development in children from birth to two years old.

Examining Elementary Teacher Perceptions And Experiences Of Transitioning From Knowledge-Based To Inquiry-Based Social Studies Standards, Benjamin Stephen Pinnick

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Elementary educators are responsible for the earliest years of student learning in a public setting. The amount of content students are expected to master continues to grow in scope, and the methods that are utilized shift to align with educational research and social momentum. After a decade of Common Core policies, social studies education in elementary schools has become a deemphasized subject. Reading and math, as well as science, have taken a greater precedence in today’s classrooms.

Yet, expectations for the creation of knowledgeable and participatory citizens continue to serve as a goal in elementary schools. Conceptualization of citizenship form …

Wakanda: Opening The High School Classroom To Afrofuturism, Carrie M. Mattern

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

Afrofuturism has a solid place in high school classrooms thanks to the current work of Ryan Coogler, but also to those who have been in this work for decades including the Mother of Afrofuturism herself, Octavia Butler, adrienne maree brown, dream hampton, and a litany of Black poets and artists. This article leaps inside an Afrofuturistic unit curated for high school seniors with feedback and insight from their teachers and also the students who buckled up for a journey through time, space, and place.