Education Commons^™

Using The Instructional Coaching Model To Implement Positive Behavior Supports In Early Childhood Special Education Programs, Heather Donoho

Graduate Research Papers

Challenging behaviors in early childhood programs are of increasing concern to teachers in preschool programs. The use of Positive Behavior Supports, or PBS, has been on the rise in a variety of preschool programs as a way to increase acceptable behaviors while using tiered interventions to identify children in need of specific skills training in hopes of decreasing the chances of negative behaviors. While most teachers are in favor of the PBS initiative, many teachers report not having enough time or expertise to implement the program to the best of their ability. Another new initiative in preschool programs is that …

Improving 21st Century Literacy Skills And Student Engagement By Integrating Digital Storytelling Across The Curriculum, Sandra J. Steinfadt

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this literature review is to explore how literacy skills and engagement are increased through the integration of digital story telling into multiple content areas. Thirty peer reviewed articles were analyzed for this peer review. It has been revealed that the use of digital storytelling allows students more creative freedom and increases self-expression and helps students that normally struggle to create written pieces have greater success. Digital storytelling connects classroom content to students' lives, encourages deeper reflection, helps students analyze information and increases their motivation to succeed.

A Need For Motivation : Increasing Engagement To Bolster Success, Libbie M. Willert

Graduate Research Papers

Educators want to create a sustained, life-long reader in their students. This overview of the literature will share with educators valuable insight into how increasing motivation and student engagement will help create more involved readers. Key themes in the literature include: increasing literacy motivation, increasing literacy engagement, and applying thoughtful literacy practices. This review will also highlight several helpful strategies on how educators in today's classrooms can help increase student motivation and engagement related to literacy.

Vocabulary Acquisition In Kindergarten For English Language Learners: Ventriglia's Rule Of 3, Or Marzano's Six Steps To Effective Vocabulary Instruction?, Danielle Marie Rose

Graduate Research Papers

Teaching kindergarten is my passion. I love the excitement five and six year old children bring to the classroom. Their sense of wonder, their smiles and their laughter bring constant joy to my life. A group of children that I especially love teaching is the English language learners in my classroom. These children are always so curious to learn, but many times lack the adequate vocabulary to understand conversations between peers or comprehend the meaning of books. This lack of vocabulary knowledge decreases their success in the classroom. Throughout my teaching career, it has been my constant desire to implement …

Literature Circles And Technology : A Study Of Students' Attitudes, Laura Ann Edwards

Graduate Research Papers

Technology and collaboration are important to students in the reading classroom. This paper investigates students' reading attitudes after participating in a literature circle with technology. This study compared students' reading attitudes prior to participating in the literature circle with technology unit and after participating in the unit using a survey and interview of selected students. The selected students were to represent four categories: introverted, unmotivated, high achieving, and low achieving. The results suggest that students have positive reading experiences when using technology. Additionally, the results suggest that students' reading attitudes are more positive when they are able to collaborate with …

Using Virtual Worlds In Medical And Health Education, Amy J. Renze

Graduate Research Papers

This review examines the use of virtual worlds in medical and health education. The purpose of this review is to outline various, enabling and three-dimensional, virtual world technologies that prove to have a positive impact on the development and retention of medical knowledge and skills. Virtual worlds offer unique design features for disseminating health information, training health professionals, and enabling patient education. The primary sources used in this review include published literature and electronic media sources. Conclusions derived from this review support the use of virtual worlds as part of the educational technology landscape. Although the potential of virtual worlds …

The Uniqueness Of The English Language Learner : Research Based Strategies For English Language Learners, Carolyn Lindgren Dietz

Graduate Research Papers

Currently, the United States is experiencing a growth in the number of English Language Learners. At the same time, the US economy has shifted to a more knowledge based focus, making higher education a requirement (in order to be) able to compete for higher paying jobs. Using a "scientifically validated approach" (Short, Vogt, & Echevarria, 2008), the SIOP model is a framework for instructing English Language Learners. This research targets research based professional development for teachers, to provide the essential programming to meet the literacy learning needs of the English Language Learner.

Scheduled Library Visits And Reading Achievement, David Stanfield

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this study was to measure the correlation between the number of materials checked out from the school library and students’ achievement on two reading assessments. Students in a setting with a flexible library schedule had a fixed visit scheduled with their literature classes so that all students could regularly visit the library. A quantitative bibliometric method was used to analyze the number of books checked out by students and how often their classes visited and compare the data with their achievement on two reading assessments. Results showed students that checked out more material did not have significantly …

Vocabulary Instruction : Becoming Word Conscious To Support Reading Comprehension, Amy Evelyn Bries

Graduate Research Papers

Currently, many classroom teachers are striving to support students' comprehension skills. Teachers are currently teaching vocabulary through incidental exposures. The dependency of vocabulary skills are falling to the students. The students might be asked to memorize rather than gathering a deeper meaning of a word and how we use the word within context. Over the past several years research has shown that vocabulary develops more rapidly after grade three, but the primary grades need to begin with a strong literacy foundation in word learning strategies (Biemiller, 2003, 2006). This research project organized professional development sessions for teachers, to provide the …

Effective Comprehension Strategies In The Elementary Classroom, Melissa Ann Determan

Graduate Research Papers

This paper focuses on key fiction and nonfiction comprehension strategies and different methods for teaching these strategies in the elementary classroom. It is essential to use effective comprehension instruction within the classroom to unlock meaning and to build student success. These strategies include activating background knowledge, questioning, summarizing, and text structures.

The Effects Of Peer-Conferencing On Writing Revisions In A Second Grade Classroom, Emily C. Guetzlaff

Graduate Research Papers

Writing has long been known as one of the three "R's" in education. However, many educators lack instructional knowledge on how to teach writing. Revision and conferencing are part of the writing teacher's vocabulary, but little research exists on these topics. This study utilized qualitative and quantitative data to compare the effects of students trained in peer-conferencing and students not trained in peer-conferencing and the effect on their writing. The introduction presents the problem that led to the development of this study. A literature review provides existing research related to writing workshop, instruction in writing, revision, and collaboration through conferring. …

Books, Blogging, And Boredom : The Impact Of One-To-One Computing On Student Engagement And Literacy, Amanda M. Hudson

Graduate Research Papers

As one-to-one computing infiltrates education across the United States, stakeholders question the impact this technology will have on all involved. Teachers are realizing the effect that one-to-one computing has on the school, classroom, and curriculum as districts jump on the bandwagon and purchase laptops for every student. Research shows that classrooms, including language arts classrooms, incur many positive changes. One such change is the inclusion of new literacies into the curriculum. These new literacies will change how students read and write. Course management systems have also become common in many classrooms; and teachers, students, and parents are learning to negotiate …

How Educators And Parents Can Collaborate To Improve Student Reading Fluency, Jackie M. Mcdermott

Graduate Research Papers

In this project, fluency practices are defined and explored in relation to an elementary school setting that is partnering with parents on how to promote fluency practices in the home. The Literature Review describes the importance of fluency instruction, how fluency instruction supports literacy instruction, and finally how educators and parents can begin partnering to provide literacy practices in the home. Following the literature review, there is a professional development plan that lays out the key components of collaborating with parents to implement fluency practices in the home.

A Professional Development Program For Balanced Literacy, Sheila Charlene Mccullough

Graduate Research Papers

A balanced literacy framework is a complex yet comprehensive avenue for literacy instruction that has been successfully implemented by the author in a low socioeconomic kindergarten classroom with remarkable achievement gains. This research project first describes the successful implementation and relates it to the professional literature on balanced literacy. A professional development program is then developed that will help teachers discover the importance of implementing balanced literacy practices and gain knowledge and understanding on how to implement the components of a comprehensive balanced literacy framework into their practice.

Facilitating Transfer For Adult Learners Through Cross-Cultural E-Learning, Min Zhang

Graduate Research Papers

Benefiting from globalization and technology advancement, e-leaming is increasingly being used by work organizations for improving the skills of knowledge workers. However, most workplace e-leaming is too theoretical to impact on-the-job and ultimately fails to serve the organizations' quest for success. The purpose of this literature review is to investigate the variables that affect transfer of learning, and to provide feasible strategies to enhance transfer of learning for international adult learners in cross-cultural online learning environments. By conducting a critical review of purposefully selected peer reviewed journal articles, this review highlights the relationship between cultural differences and learning style preferences …

Gifted Student Achievement And Motivation Levels Related To Participation In Gifted Programming, Stacey M. Jambura

Graduate Research Papers

This study evaluated the gifted program of an urban school district in the Midwestern United States. Fifteen identified gifted students ( 4 male, 11 female; 11 European-American, 4 African-American; 7 ninth grade, 4 tenth grade, and 4 eleventh grade students) participated in the study by replying to a survey. High school gifted student attitudes toward achievement and motivation were examined and open-ended prompts supplied information on program strengths and weaknesses. Results indicate that participation in the program has led to the development of critical thinking skills, increased students ' desires to strive for excellence, and allowed students to examine different …

Comparison Of Student Achievement, Understanding, Enjoyment, And Motivation In Mathematics Units For High-Achieving Fifth Graders With And Without Creative Problem Solving Games, Kalyn Jon Cody

Graduate Research Papers

Students in our public schools often struggle to create deep, personal meaning regarding mathematical concepts. Perhaps our students do not spend enough time studying mathematics during the day. Perhaps our teachers do not have a deep understanding, which leads to problems in teaching at a deep level. Or perhaps our students simply are not motivated to study the subject at a deep level because it does not seem interesting. In this pretest/post-test repeated measures study of 24 fifth grade students in a grade-accelerated mathematics class, a link between achievement scores and understanding of mathematical concepts through the use of invented …

Technology, Toddlers And Vocabulary Development, Gwendolyn Dayton

Graduate Research Papers

Emergent literacy with toddler age children has a strong foundation in vocabulary development. There are many methods currently being employed to foster vocabulary development. Dialogic reading, sign language, finger plays and songs are just a few of those methods. It is important to look for a curriculum that provides a format to combine these strategies into a cohesive presentation. Understanding the increasing importance that technology plays in the lives of our children is also crucial. Selecting the right technology may provide the solution for infusing vocabulary development into the early learning environment. This project will design a curriculum to implement …

Integrated Curriculum In The Elementary Classroom, Katherine Decker Simpson

Graduate Research Papers

Integrated curriculum can be broadly defined as using a theme to connect standards and objectives from multiple subject areas in a meaningful way to create relevant, student-centered learning tasks that promote social growth and deep comprehension. This type of instruction can promote higher-order thinking skills, cooperative learning, motivate students to engage in their own learning, and many other "intangibles".

The purpose of this project was to create an integrated unit for a first-grade classroom. The outcome will be an actual unit that can be used as a guide for teachers. However, another purpose of the project was to grasp the …

The Effects Of Explicit Writing Instruction, Christine M. Clark

Graduate Research Papers

This study explores the effects of explicit writing instruction. Twenty-four seventh graders, attending a low socio-economic middle school, are the participants in this study. Eight of the twenty-four students have a writing goal, which in turn allows the language arts class to be co-taught with a general education teacher and a special education teacher. The study focuses on the effects that writing instruction can have on student writing abilities and attitudes. The general education teacher, in a whole group setting, gave the majority of instruction. Within small groups, some students were able to get additional support from either the general …

Using Tpack To Promote Effective Language Teaching In An Esl/Efl Classroom, Wilson M. R. Bugueño

Graduate Research Papers

Technology integration in English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) using Technological Pedagogical And Content Knowledge (TPACK) (Mishra & Koehler, 2006) seems to be a new territory for teachers and researchers. For this reason, this literature review explores the use of TPACK in the EFL/ESL classroom. In this review, principles, methods and activities related to English teaching are reviewed and discussed. Also, the foundations of TPACK, activity types and their applications not only in other subject areas, but also in the EFL/ESL area are explored. For this purpose, articles, studies and books were consulted …

What Are The Mechanisms Of Action Of Stereotype Threat And How Does It Contribute To The Development Of Cardiovascular Disease In African Americans, Anthony Gage

Graduate Research Papers

The rate of hypertension and cardiovascular disease for African Americans is disproportionately higher compared to Whites Americans. Previous research has focused much of its attention on biological and socioeconomic differences as a pathway to explain the disparity in rates of cardiovascular disease. Reviewed is the connection between socioeconomic status and cardiovascular disease, but also extends the reach of etiology to include racially induced cardiovascular reactivity responses in African American. Stereotype threat occurs when a member of a stereotyped group encounters a situation where a stereotype exists, the threat of confirming the stereotype produces an exaggerated cardiovascular response. This model takes …

Using Readers Theaters To Help Students Develop Reading Fluency, Adrianna D. Cavanaugh

Graduate Research Papers

This study examines how Readers Theater can support the literacy development of struggling readers, especially in regards to improving fluency. The study was done over two school years, each time focusing on four students with the lowest fluency scores. The study focuses on using Readers Theater to increase student's fluency. The first year fiction Readers Theater was used, while the second year the focus was on using nonfiction Readers Theater. The results indicate that using Readers Theater has a positive impact on increasing student's fluency and disposition towards reading. The study showed an increase in students' WCPM from their baseline …

Examining The Benefits Of Technology In Training, Nelson Rokke

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this literature review is to provide an overview of significant literature published on the topic of the benefits of increased technology use for training as an integral component of business strategy. After satisfying initial research requirements set forth by the researcher, 34 peer-reviewed articles published after 2001 were purposefully selected based upon relevancy to the research topic and critically analyzed to identify consistencies, similarities, and differences, in an attempt to explain the motives behind increased investments in technology for training. Three major trends are identified: Globalization Challenges and Benefits for Training Programs Organizational Training and Performance Assessment. …

Improving Multiplication Fact Recall; Interventions That Lead To Proficiency With Mathematical Facts, Brandon J. Bauer

Graduate Research Papers

This three-week study focuses on basic multiplication fact recall. Twenty-six fourth grade students from a public school took a baseline test to quantify their multiplication fact recall. These 26 students then received 11 ten-minute practice sessions targeted to improve automaticity with multiplication facts. Each student was placed in a randomly assigned group for 11 practice sessions. Each of the four groups were assigned different modes of practice including: 1) flash cards; 2) paper and pencil practice; 3) website – XtraMath.org; 4) website – Multiplication.com. The results show that all students experienced growth from the baseline test to the post-test, with …

Building Empathy Through Literacy: A Review Of Classroom Literacy Practices, Alyssa J. Bruecken

Graduate Research Papers

The discussion of the reciprocal relationship between empathy and literacy practices is arguably non-existent. This review discusses classroom literacy practices and the empathy flow in each practice. These classroom literacy practices were chosen because of their value in modeling empathy in the classroom while at the same time producing essential literacy skills in students. A reflective framework guides the de-construction of these lesson plans and can be applied to any classroom literacy practice. This reflective framework unveiled empathetic practices in literacy teaching.

101 Books For Youth That Feature Hunters & Hunting, Leann Seddon

Graduate Research Papers

Librarians, teachers and other adults concerned with motivating reading among youth hunters want to provide them with books that feature the sport; however many sources cite a concern at the lack of positive, or at least neutral, portrayal of hunting in books for youth. There was also a lack of any comprehensive bibliography that identified books that feature hunters and hunting, yet alone one that identified how they were portrayed in those books. The purpose of this project was to create an annotated bibliography which would fill that gap and support recommendations for reading and purchase. The annotated bibliography consists …

A Training Guide And Reference Handbook For Elementary School Library Secretaries In The Iowa City Community School District, Lisa Collier

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this project was to create a document that can be used as both a training guide and reference handbook containing of the some basic philosophical and practical information needed for library secretaries in the Iowa City Community School District to perform their jobs as effectively and efficiently as possible. This training guide and reference handbook is presented in two parts. Part 1: Principles of Librarianship, and Part 2: Destiny Basics. Library policies and procedures that are supported by professional organizations and publications have integrity. The goal of Part 1: Principles of Librarianship is to provide ICCSD library …

Teacher Perceptions Of Graphic Novels, Katherine Block

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this research study is to ascertain classroom teachers’ dispositions toward graphic novels as quality literature and the rationale for their beliefs and attitudes. Of particular interest in this study is how teacher dispositions toward graphic novels may differ across teacher age groups. In conducting research, a survey was given to a variety of classroom teachers. These participants are language arts teachers for grades three through eight and range in age from 20 to 60 years. The researcher recorded the frequencies and percentages of responses, looking for teachers’ perceptions of graphic novels, the origin of these perceptions, and …

The Effects Of Stem Inquiry Practices On English Language Acquisition In A First Grade Classroom In Thailand, Rebecca J. Fuhrman-Petersen

Graduate Research Papers

This mixed-methods teacher action research project describes and interprets the effects of one American teacher's bicultural critical inquiry praxis on Thai first grade students' English language acquisition. The observations were conducted for one full academic year for 37 students enrolled in a bilingual, multicultural STEM pilot program. The results are based upon participant observation and narrative inquiry from a qualitative standpoint. However, quantitative methods were used to analyze 1) students' questioning, answering techniques and physical activities based on video recordings of STEM lesson activities; 2) students' growth in critical thinking skills as measured by their writing in relation to their …