Education Commons^™

Exploring Teacher Candidates’ Civic Efficacy Through Civic Engagement And Critical Literacy In A Literacy Methods Course, Dana M. Karraker

Theses and Dissertations

Public school spaces play a large role in developing people’s understandings of civic knowledge and responsibility. Teachers, administrators, and policy-makers design school curriculum to reflect the types of citizens they believe a society needs, and thus, determines approaches to teaching and curriculum development (Labaree, 1997). This action research study examined the civic efficacy and critical literacy understandings of seven elementary education teacher candidates enrolled in a content area literacy course. The course and the study were designed using a critical literacy and civic efficacy framework as literacy practices are closely connected to the ways in which people are able to …

The Impact Of A Reflective Practice Series On The Awareness Level Of Six Teacher Candidates At A Public University In The Southeast, Lindsay M. Sturkie

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the impact of a Reflective Practice Series (RPS) on the awareness level of preservice teachers enrolled in a field experience course in a teacher education program at a university in the southeast United States. This study took place during the Fall 2016 semester with six participants, two early childhood majors, two elementary majors, and two middle level majors. Data were collected through pre- and post-questionnaires, course assignments, and field observations. The results revealed that the teacher candidates were able to make connections between theory and reflective teaching, had varying viewpoints about the process of reflection, and most …

An Investigation Into The Self-Efficacy Of Jamaican Preservice Teachers For Working In Inclusive Classrooms, Sharon A. Anderson Morgan

Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this applied dissertation was to examine changes in the self-efficacy of preservice teachers on completion of a special needs course and to determine whether there is a correlation between self-efficacy and several demographic variables. Studies conducted in several countries revealed that, despite participation in a special needs course, preservice teachers often expressed low levels of confidence for the inclusion of students with special needs in their general education classrooms. Because there is not much research in the Caribbean on this subject, this study sought to further explore this issue within a different cultural context. The case study, …

How Master Teachers Conceptualize Student Engagement: A Comparison Of Theoretical And Practitioner Perspectives, Andrew D. Baker

Theses and Dissertations

Over the past twenty years, an increasing amount of research has been devoted to the study of student engagement within the field of educational psychology. This led to a growing body of research touting the benefits of engaged learning—from increased student achievement to more positive school experiences for learners. However, the literature is characterized by competing theoretical frameworks and multiple definitions of the construct of student engagement. Additionally, few works seek to capitalized on the expertise of classroom teachers to hone and develop what is known about engagement from the theoretical perspective.

The current study used qualitative methodology to observe …

A Dialogue Of Learning: The Exploration Of A Service-Learning Practicum And The Development Of Democratic Educational Values, Margaret P. Pienkowski

Theses and Dissertations

Using a hybrid portraiture interpretivist case study methodology, this study explores the development of democratic educational values of pre-service teachers who participated in a “nested” service-learning practicum during their first semester in a secondary teacher preparation program. In this nested model, both the pre-service teachers and the middle school students with whom they worked participated in service-learning. The study is in response to the findings of previous researchers that democratic educational values have, in many classrooms, been pushed aside by the pressures of the standardization and accountability movement and by the belief that democratic educational values are critical to a …