Education Commons^™

Bridging The Gap: An Analysis Of Elementary Literacy Instruction, And Proposed Solutions To Exponentiate Literacy Skills, Avery E. Gray

Honors College Theses

The reading achievement gap is generally identified as the increasing disparity between higher-level students and lower-level students within the same grade or school level. Student data presented in the form of secondary reading assessment scores were analyzed for the state of Georgia, as well as nationally, for student achievement regarding reading skills in public schools from grades 3-5. Interviews conducted with educational professionals were conducted to reveal anecdotal manifestations of what the presented data looks like in terms of student ability, and how the teaching practice has reacted to such manifestations. The evaluation of these consistencies and explanations given to …

The Monster Mash: A Monster Studies Approach To Literature In The University Classroom, Megan L. Bowen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Monster Mash is a course proposal for an upper-division undergraduate literature course focused on exploring monsters in literature and building connections between classic and more contemporary texts using high-impact practices (HIPs) with student success in mind. I build on previous work in the field of Monster Studies and introduce my own original monster pattern that prompts students to interpret monsters as they trek through Origin, Separation, Power, Threat, and Diminishment. This pattern highlights commonalities when it comes to the representation of monsters and their stories, allowing students to identify them across texts. I also divide monsters into three categories …

Experiences With Ex Corde Ecclesiae In Faculty Teaching Practices At Southern Catholic Colleges, Maria R. Sarmiento, Pietro A. Sasso

Georgia Journal of College Student Affairs

As special-mission institutions, Catholic higher education institutions pursue similar goals of American higher education to develop graduates who are civically engaged and ready to address contemporary challenges. However, these institutions are often challenged to integrate their religious mission within the classroom through faculty pedagogy, which buttresses academic freedom and student consumerism issues. This descriptive phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of Catholic university faculty members as they described their pedagogical experiences and Catholic identity perspectives. Findings from this study suggested a connection with Catholic identity, but that their relationship with institutional mission related to teaching was ambiguous. Participants had little …

Responding To The Dialogue: Critical Digital Pedagogy Of Elementary Teachers, Aaron R. Gierhart

Georgia Educational Research Association Conference

Critical pedagogy has the power to transform learning experiences for all students, but also create seismic impacts on the futures of students; however, critical approaches to designing and implementing instruction in which digital technologies are integrated eludes many elementary teachers. Pedagogy is formed and evolves a lifetime of experiences and is never fully mastered. To understand how certain elementary teachers develop critical digital pedagogy, it was imperative to tell their stories. The purpose of this study was to describe the life stories of two elementary teachers who utilized critical digital approaches in their instruction. Each participant participated in an life …

Scalable Scaffolding For Information Literacy Instruction: A Tale Of Two Frameworks Collaboratively Applied, Jessy Polzer, Sylvia Tiala

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

Novice researchers experience significant cognitive load to perform research tasks. Entrenched in linear research processes, beginning students struggle to move beyond shallow engagement with information. Teaching research and information literacy skills based on past paradigms are inadequate given the immersive nature and lightning-fast development of the information eco-system. The ACRL Framework for Information Literacy (2015) articulates what was previously implicit – the threshold concepts underpinning a flexible and nuanced information consumer ready for engaged professionalism and citizenship. In practice, we are still wrestling to design and scaffold dynamic yet digestible learning experiences while also satisfying bloated instructional mandates. Searching for …

Analogy As Pedagogy: Using What Students Already Know In Library Instruction, Maggie Helen Murphy

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

Science teachers often employ analogies to help students understand new ideas and complicated processes. Orgill and Bodner (2004) write that “effective analogies can clarify thinking... and give students ways to visualize abstract concepts” (p. 15). Students are much more attentive in science class when instructors speak “a language that is more familiar and accessible” by using analogies and other similar rhetorical strategies (Lemke, 1990, p. 136).

Brandt (1996) wrote about developing a library instruction activity for “teaching the internet” to college students through analogy in the early days of the web: “It does not focus on the technical details of …

What The Craap?: Comparing Approaches To Teaching Web Evaluation In Fye Programs, Victoria Elmwood

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

Before the 2017-18 academic year, instruction librarians at Loyola University New Orleans’ Monroe Library had been using the highly popular CRAAP test to give students a framework for evaluating open Web resources. The traits of currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and purpose are meant to help undergraduates determine a source’s appropriateness for use in their academic work. The possible limitations of this model became evident to us at the conclusion of our assessment of incoming freshmen’s ability to apply the CRAAP test to a topic of their own choosing.

Responding to this demonstrated entry-level information literacy need, instruction librarians began teaching …

Libguides ~ Ways To Engage Students In First Year Seminars, Carol Wittig

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

The University of Richmond offers students an array of First Year Seminars to choose from during the fall and spring of their freshman year. All seminars provide opportunities for critical reading and thinking and establish a foundation for effective written and oral communications skills, information literacy, and library research skills. As a common student experience and taught in lieu of a freshman composition sequence, First Year Seminars offer ways for librarians to collaborate with faculty through Library Research Sessions. The overall goals of the FYS Library Research Sessions are to introduce students to fundamental library resources and services, while developing …

Embracing The Educational Value Of Imitation, Amy Burger

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

The threat of plagiarism accusations discourages students from using imitation in their work, and instructors from promoting it. As a result, a valuable pedagogical technique goes unused. This presentation will discuss the evidence in support of imitation as an educational tool and examine why it is widely discouraged. Imitation can serve as a valuable practice, both in course work, and for students’ overall academic success, especially for students as they undergo academic transitions, such as the beginning of their college careers, and the transition from core classes to upper-level major courses. Additionally, the reconsideration of imitation can add value to …

Developing Blended Learning In Library Instruction To Cultivate Research And Critical Thinking Skills In The Undergraduate Student Population, Bernadette López-Fitzsimmons

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

The ever-evolving digital resources in multiple types and formats have introduced numerous opportunities for enhanced teaching-and-learning environments focused on student–driven activities. Many of these strategies have already been implemented at educational institutions throughout the world.

This presentation will demonstrate how blended learning pedagogies in a library’s one-shot and for-credit courses cultivate research and critical thinking skills. The presenter will discuss how to customize library instruction for diverse student populations who have a complex history of multiple learning styles and varying literacy levels.

The presenter will describe several strategies that activate prior knowledge so that building new knowledge is seamlessly organic. …

Forensic Information Literacy: The Csi Approach To Inquiry And Scholarly Communication, Bernadette Maria Lopez-Fitzsimmons

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

Teaching Information Literacy using the CSI Investigation Methodology fulfills two ACRL Frameworks: No. 4, Research as Inquiry, and No. 5, Scholarship as Conversation. This methodology requires structuring lessons so that students use different sources. Students will experience the research process as they uncover new and unexpected information which may or may not confirm their original thesis statement, problem or question. They will realize that researching and critical thinking depend on consistently and continuously asking questions from different perspectives. Like a CSI, students will experience research as inquiry (ACRL No. 4).

Although this type of lesson requires structure, it also demands …

A Retracing In Praise Of The Unretraceable: Jazz Improvisation, Theatre Games And Curriculum, Barry E. Krakovsky

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work is an attempt to analyze some of the conditions and activities that surround improvisation. I will argue that the process of improvisation and even the attempt at improvisation can offer the curriculum scholar an important pedagogical model. Importantly, this model will offer no direct solutions which might improve one’s pedagogical stance. Instead, these models are best interpreted as a provocation, or an invitation to think of a better relationship, for example, of teacher and student. I interrogate jazz improvisation, theatrical improvisation, and popular culture. I also examine a version of performativity that could provide a degree of agency …

Efficacy Of Reflection Journals For Student Learning In An Online Environment, Patrick J. Holladay

Georgia Educational Research Association Conference

Across eight online classes, students were required to write a one-page meaning-making reflection after each week of class. This was an opportunity to critically evaluate new information learned that week, tie it to course materials and analyze how the information helped in becoming a better professional. The reflections were instructed to be free of jargon and not overly technical. The aim was for the students to continually build knowledge from week to week (i.e. a living document/diary), have a record of their thoughts, feelings, attitudes and "ah-ha" moments at the end of the term, as well as to give the …

Inquiry Into The Writing Pedagogy For Middle School Language Arts, William Love Moore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This is a narrative inquiry into writing pedagogies of middle school language arts teachers and an administrator. Six teacher participants were interviewed and observed, their lesson plans were analyzed, and their instructional practices and writing philosophies were examined. Overarching research questions were (1) What role does writing pedagogy play in a language arts program? (2) What strategies were used to teach writing? and (3) What types of assessments were utilized? The theoretical framework of my research was based on Dewey's (1897) philosophy of education with roots in hermeneutic phenomenology by van Manen (1990). Methods of inquiry were based on narrative …

Aera-Sig Curriculum Newsletter, American Educational Research Association

SIG Newsletters (1970-1995)

Issue No. 27